AMD radeon 6000 series (big navi)

Tom M
Tom M
Joined: 2 Feb 06
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Gavin wrote: My (very loose)

Gavin wrote:

My (very loose) prediction is that with my current x2 task concurrency (and also assuming the faster running GRP tasks we are currently enjoying continue) the 6900XT will peak at around 2,150,00 RAC.

Gav.

Thank you for the additional information and the guesstimate.  I spend a fair amount of time doing calculations and they are often very far off because I can't get my assumptions to track with what turns out to happen.

Tom M

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).  Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)  I want some more patience. RIGHT NOW!

archae86
archae86
Joined: 6 Dec 05
Posts: 3160
Credit: 7255439002
RAC: 1456571

I took delivery today on the

I took delivery today on the specific XFX 6800 XT card I had my eye on for weeks. (XFX RX-68XTACBD9)

My careful plan of where to put it, hoping it would be wonderful, and I'd then get another for a second PC blew up in my face when I realized that the case simply had too short a cage to allow the card to fit in.  Well, were I brave enough I could do some cutting on the card or the cage, but...  I've had a 2080 and a Radeon VII, which are not tiny, but this thing is huge.  I'm posting this otherwise useless comment just in case it might save someone some pain by reminding them to check physical dimensions before ordering any of the Big Navi cards.

I'm almost sure my other candidate PC's case can handle a bit longer card, but at the earliest it will be tomorrow afternoon before I open the box and take a measurement.  If it also will not fit there I'll need to ponder my next move.

Sigh.

If the lengths listed on this page are to be trusted, the specific card model I chose was the longest of the partner cards announced at the time the list was made at 340mm.  But many of the others are almost as long.

Tom M
Tom M
Joined: 2 Feb 06
Posts: 6529
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archae86 wrote: I took

archae86 wrote:

I took delivery today on the specific XFX 6800 XT card I had my eye on for weeks. (XFX RX-68XTACBD9)

===edit====

If it also will not fit there I'll need to ponder my next move.

Sigh.

Congratulations.  So you found a card near the MSRP!

I have had to migrate into larger cases due to space issues.  I am pretty sure there are some good, low-cost, mid-tower cases that have enough space.  I know the full-tower/server cases have enough space :)

And so do small mining racks ;)

Tom M

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).  Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)  I want some more patience. RIGHT NOW!

archae86
archae86
Joined: 6 Dec 05
Posts: 3160
Credit: 7255439002
RAC: 1456571

archae86 wrote:I took

archae86 wrote:
I took delivery today on the specific XFX 6800 XT card I had my eye on for weeks. (XFX RX-68XTACBD9)
<snip>
If it also will not fit there I'll need to ponder my next move.

Grumble.  I looked inside the second case, and don't see what looks like 2 inches of spare room for longer than the current GPU.

Finally, I found the model numbers and claimed capacities for my two cases:
Antec Gaming Series Three Hundred Two: 318mm max video card
Corsair Carbide series 400R: 316mm max GPU length

So neither one give me any reason to expect my 340mm card to fit.  I intend to look at both cases with a view to the alarming possibility of cutting into the HDD cage to make a recess for the end of the graphics card.  I don't know whether there is other interfering structure, nor whether the card cage contributes enough structural stability to the overall case for this to be a bad idea.

I also don't know a great way to make the cuts, though I hope my Milwaukee aircraft snips might just do the job without making metal dust.

Failing that, the main options are to buy a new case and transplant my current contents, or to sell this nice card on eBay.  As I already opened the box and peeled off the cosmetic protection film, I'd have to call it used.  But I suspect in the current GPU mania I could recover a large fraction of what I spent.  

Tom M
Tom M
Joined: 2 Feb 06
Posts: 6529
Credit: 9632028158
RAC: 2859116

archae86 wrote: archae86

archae86 wrote:

archae86 wrote:
I took delivery today on the specific XFX 6800 XT card I had my eye on for weeks. (XFX RX-68XTACBD9)
<snip>
If it also will not fit there I'll need to ponder my next move.

Grumble.  I looked inside the second case, and don't see what looks like 2 inches of spare room for longer than the current GPU.

I believe that buying a used/new larger case would make the most sense. And be the least risky. 

However, I have "butchered" at least one Micro-case to fit a larger PSU into it.  So I think you can likely make the cuts but you might need a hack saw for some pieces of the cut.

I would dismount the guts of the case (including the MB) before you started any surgery.

Or you could spend $20? (inflation may have driven them up to $50 though) on a small mining rack :)

Just saw this on eBay.

Full Atx /mini Phanteks LED Enthoo Pro Full Tower Chassis Case easy expandable

if it is what I think it is, it's a full-sized case for $50.  I am very happy with mine.

Tom M

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).  Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)  I want some more patience. RIGHT NOW!

Gavin
Gavin
Joined: 21 Sep 10
Posts: 191
Credit: 40644337738
RAC: 0

Until now the size of the

Until now the size of the majority of 6xxx series cards has been ignored, they are huge and most are triple slot affairs that consume even more room than you would think.

I have a Red Devil 6900XT in a Corsair 750D airflow case, plenty of room left for much longer cards but I will be buggered if I wanted to fit a second one!

I have cut up cases in the past to make space for big cards but in reality spending a few quid or dollars on better cases would be the quickest and safest option.

I hope you can get your new 6800XT to work soon Archae86 and I wouldn't be surprised if your card performs as well as my 6900, I'm currently thinking the vanilla 6800 will be the best of the bunch in terms of price and performance here at Einstein due to the memory bus width and speed that is shared amongst the these cards...

solling2
solling2
Joined: 20 Nov 14
Posts: 219
Credit: 1577881279
RAC: 11411

Tom M schrieb: ... Or you

Tom M wrote:

...

Or you could spend $20? (inflation may have driven them up to $50 though) on a small mining rack :)

...

A PCIe Riser Card would allow to keep the running system, at lowest costs, wouldn't it? :-)

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
Joined: 11 Feb 11
Posts: 5002
Credit: 18874168539
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solling2 wrote: Tom M

solling2 wrote:

Tom M wrote:

...

Or you could spend $20? (inflation may have driven them up to $50 though) on a small mining rack :)

...

A PCIe Riser Card would allow to keep the running system, at lowest costs, wouldn't it? :-)

That is what I was thinking.  Get a riser card and cable and move the card to vertical orientation out near the side of the case.

 

archae86
archae86
Joined: 6 Dec 05
Posts: 3160
Credit: 7255439002
RAC: 1456571

Gavin wrote:I have cut up

Gavin wrote:
I have cut up cases in the past to make space for big cards but in reality spending a few quid or dollars on better cases would be the quickest and safest option.

I spent some time pondering my options, and more time looking at a lot of PC cases I did not like.  I want a lot of fan mounts, and ability to place a really long GPU.  I don't want bling, huge size, provided PSU, provided fans, LEDs, windows...

Eventually I stumbled on and ordered a Corsair Carbide 200R.  It is only described as Compact ATX size.  The trick to allow a very long GPU card (probably just one) is that there is a gap between the optical drive bay at the top, and the rather small hard drive bay at the bottom.  So, in principle, a long GPU card which fully fits into that gap can extend almost from the back to the front of the case.  It remains to be seen whether the quite fat 6800 XT I now own actually fits in that gap when plugged into one of the suitable slots on my motherboard.

I got here this way:  In opening my case again with my aircraft snips in mind, I quickly decided the cage materials were not snippable.  So I'd probably want to use a saw which would certainly make metal particles.  So for sure I'd be doing a full tear-down-modify-rebuild.  But those are exactly the steps I wished to avoid in seeking the modification option in the first place.

So I'll be doing a full guts transplant, except that I'll uninstall the graphics driver just before I shut down, and put the 6800 XT into the box and not the previous 5700.  I just hope I see pixels soon after I hook things up and power up (I've only done ten PC builds.  Twice I got nothing on first try...that was bad).

Thanks to those here who gave me advice.  Just as important, trying to write down what I might do, considering you as my audience, helped me to think about it.

 

Wedge009
Wedge009
Joined: 5 Mar 05
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I had the same experience

I had the same experience years ago with huge video card coolers requiring me to buy new cases. I think it was the R9 290(X) (Hawaii) cards that were particularly long. I still use the old Antec 302 for my 'lower' machines - including one I had built for my brother till he felt it was time to buy his own. I can still squeeze ASUS Vega 64s in there (and they're pretty big), so your 6800 XT must be pretty darn long.

Yes, that is a common trick to fit longer video cards in smaller cases, to have a 'cut out' section in the drive bay area. Depending on the design it can still limit card length in the second video card slot area (if such a thing exists on the motherboard). Basically no upmarket case seems to have optical or hard drive bays any more - at least not at the front - in favour of making the whole front face an intake vent. I never really liked that, but it seems to be the current fashion.

Another trend that's current is for high-end video card coolers to take up at least 2.5 or 3-slots. I suppose with CrossFire and SLI basically being dead and most average builders only requiring/using one GPU, manufacturers seem to feel free to stick the biggest heat-sink on their video cards that they can manage. It really limits options with motherboards and big video cards if one wants to use two GPUs without resorting to risers.

Anyway, back on topic, I gather the consensus is that last-gen GCN still seems to be better for E@H processing than RDNA. I remember when the first-gen GCN replaced the previous TeraScale architecture - while GCN was way better for GPGPU, as a general trend it seemed to suck a lot more power than TeraScale, reversing the previous generation pattern where Nvidia's Fermi ran notoriously hot. Feels like RDNA is a move back towards graphics-specific performance and power efficiency for AMD.

Soli Deo Gloria

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