Eric Fiegehen
Forum Replies Created
-
Yes, that is a very good question Margus. I think alot of people will be interested in this info from the good folks at Blackmagic Design, which I’m guessing we’ll know once Resolve 10 is released.
Eric
-
Margus,
The mother board they’re using is / will be Intel Falcon Ridge-based with the internal PCIe running at 160Gbps for the GPUs, PCIe Gen3 x1 or 4x for the flash drive. HP and others will be able to match bus speed, plus have available slots for whatever cards you want to put in these systems.
If you’re using an HP/Dell/whatever flavor, its chipset is Intel Falcon Ridge, and you want your power-hungry state-of-the art GPUs to run cool, or you don’t have more than a couple of expansion slots available, then you add a Cubix PCIe Gen3 x16 HIC plus Xpander to an open slot in the host and add 4,6, or 8 cards.
Eric
-
Hi Christian,
Cubix has extensive experience working with 3x GTX 680 or multiple Quadro 4000 cards running in Xpander, which is attached to the Mac Pro in Slot 2. I would recommend staying away from GTX 690 since Apple limits OSX support to 4x GPUs maximum, and those GTX 690 cards require lots of power (therefore requiring lots of fan noise to cool).
Other I/O cards people attach to the current Mac Pro via Xpander include RED Rocket(s), ATTO, Fusion-io ioFX, and several others.
Eric Fiegehen
Director, Visualization & GPU Compute Solutions
Cubix Corporation
ericc@cubix.com
https://www.cubix.com -
TB2 = Half the speed of PCIe Gen 1.1 x16, I believe, which was 40Gbps bi-directional. PCIe Gen2 x16 = 80Gbps (Xpander Desktop 4, Xpander Desktop Elite specified transfer rates). PCIe Gen3 x16 Xpander data transfers will be at the theoretical 160Gbps, or close, depending on OS and host system overhead.
Eric
-
Chris – TB2 does not even come close to PCIe Gen3 x16’s 160Gbps data transfer rate. Will most Mac Pro users need this much bandwidth? Probably not. Would most Resolve users make use of 160Gbps data transfer rates if their host system supports it? Probably yes, when Resolve 10 is released (I’ll need to check with DaVinci on this question).
I think it will be interesting to see what, if any, influence the PCIe adapter partners and current Mac Pro customers will add to any revisions made between now and later this year.
Eric
-
😉 Don’t be too shocked when we do release one later in the year (NOT an official company statement, BTW). I would, however, be shocked when / if Apple supports external discrete graphics controllers (AMD or NVIDIA) connected via TB or TB2.
This one drawback kept us from committing to TB in the past, but we would commit to it regardless of this deficiency if Resolve users out there are hungry enough for a Cubix-built TB expansion device which would allow them to reliably run 1-2 RED Rockets, ATTO, and other PCIe-based devices that could accelerate Resolve performance beyond what this new Mac Pro would be able to accomplish out of the box.
Eric
-
Apple has not, up to this point, supported discrete GPUs external to Mac Book Pro or iMac – through Thunderbolt or ExpressCard 34/54. It’s a BIOS support issue, which I’m sure would be a simple update for any Apple OSX user, if Apple choose to support external graphics processing. What makes you think they will with the upcoming new Mac Pro? (Anybody know of a release date?)
Seems like an interesting product, if you can accept that all of the I/O drivers for any current OSX-supported PCIe adapter will need to be re-written for Thunderbolt / Thunderbolt 2. Your standard PCIe drivers for OSX-supported cards are not supported through Thunderbolt.
Also, assuming Apple sticks to it’s policy of not allowing a GPU(s) to be attached externally to the Thunderbolt port, what happens in 6-12 months when NVIDIA comes out with either a graphics card(s) which are double the speed of the AMD cards (which appear to be integrated into the system and non-upgradeable), or if next-gen CUDA blows the doors off of OpenCL? Looks to me like Apple has found a way to force OSX professional users who depend on hardware acceleration to upgrade every 12-18 months. Clever
Eric Fiegehen
Director, Visualization & GPU Compute Solutions
Cubix Corporation
ericc@cubix.com
https://www.cubix.com -
Hi Laco,
Please e-mail me at ericc@cubix.com with your contact info. The Xpander Elite Desktop info should be at https://www.cubix.com later this week, but I’m happy to send you what I have so far.
Eric Fiegehen
Director, Visualization & GPU Compute Solutions
Cubix Corporation
ericc@cubix.com
https://www.cubix.com -
And you propose to cool this proposed dual-Titan GPU monster how Nicholas??? 😉
Robert’s numbers above appear correct. My recommended Xpander model for hosting 3x or 4x GTX Titans external to the host machine is the new Xpander Desktop Elite, which features a 1500W power supply, variable speed temperature controlled exhaust fan, LCD front panel status and control buttons. Same price as the Desktop 4 part numbers.
Eric Fiegehen
Cubix -
FYI – Cubix’s 3m limit on cable length upgrades is due to PCIe spec (and physics) limitation on 16-channel signal extension via copper cabling.
When / If Cubix figures out a way to put all 16-channels of native PCIe bus signal through fiber optic, that would not only be a really cool solution to present, but also make your workstation environment much quieter. We’re talking distances supported of up to hundreds of meters between Cubix device and Mac Pro.
Regards,
Eric Fiegehen
Cubix