Ok, I want to get a new GPU, so I’m interested in which one to choose.
The first option is the RTX 3070Ti
Another option is the two-piece RTX 206012GB.
Would I render faster if I used a dual 2060 or RTX 3070Ti
I’m only interested in the speed of rendering still images and animations. Thank you!
I would say, there are a couple of things to consider.
First of all, the power of each card. A 2060 scores 1691 points, while the 3070 ti scores 3786 points. So, two 2060 would be just slightly behind a single 3070 ti. That being said, You could win a considerable amount of time using two cards while rendering animations by assigning each GPU to render a different frame in parallel. This way, your BVH portion of rendering would be essentially halved. Over hundreds of frames, this really adds up.
What I would do though, is see If it is possible to stretch the budget to get two 3060s. They are much closer to the speed of the 3070ti. That would be the sweet spot in terms of performance per spent currency, in my opinion. You get the 12 gigs of ram and a level of performance that would easily surpass the single 3070ti.
Thank you very much for this help. Unfortunately, my budget is not that big because I have to buy a power supply and a motherboard. If it’s like you wrote then I’ll buy a 3070Ti but I’ll take a motherboard with the option to put another GPU later
Buying with the consideration for future upgrade is certainly a good route to take. In that case, also look out for a power supply that could accommodate a second high power GPU. Best of luck.
1 Like
Maybe I managed to find an option for 2 GPU RTX 3060 and all I have to do is check if it is possible to put them on this motherboard? MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus Soket AM4. I apologize if the questions are stupid I don’t understand anything about hardware.
Ok, let’s see.
MSI in their own specification page state that the motherboard has two PCI-e slots (expansion slots). They both support Gen 4.0 and gen 3.0 technologies (gen 4 allows for double the data transfer). The primary slot is wired for 16 lanes, while the extra slot goes only up to 4 lanes. The more lanes the better transfer of data. That being said, for rendering purposes, 4 is going to be just fine. I am running cards in 16x, 8x and 4x configurations and have not observed any difference in performance between them. So, yes, the motherboard can run two GPUs.
Now, the board itself. When picking a motherboard you have to read the fine print very carefully. There are lots of stats and lots of ways for manufacturers to cut corners at the expense of the user experience. This Gaming Plus board, according to the reviews and MSIs own specs have a few things to look out for.
As far as I have gathered, the power delivery of the board is best suited for processors up to 12 cores, like a Ryzen 5900X. It seems like later MSI has also added support for the 16 core Ryzen 5950X, but there is limited data on performance. Running a power hungry CPU may cause some of the components of the motherboard to run hot, and although the temperatures will still be within spec, high temperatures may shorten the life of the board. Also, the 16 core may not be able to reach its maximum potential (may run at lower clocks) due to insufficient power delivery. What is the CPU that you are planning to run in your build?
Another thing to pay attention to is the storage configuration. There are two M.2 slots on the board. MSI claims that the primary M.2 slot supports gen 4.0 technology, allowing you to run very fast storage (about 7000 MB/s). The secondary slot only supports gen 3.0 technology, meaning you can only run storage that tops out at about 3500 MB/s. It is up to you to decide if this is an issue or not. M.2 is a very fast storage technology and even 3500 MB/s is plentiful.
Another thing to pay attention to is if you plan to run SATA storage. People claim that some SATA connections get disabled once a second GPU is installed. I cannot verify that, but it is something to consider.
Overall, MSI as a brand, from what I have observed over the years, produces some good products and some bad ones. This happens every generation and every in product category. So, my advice would be to read some reviews of the specific model you are interest in, be that a motherboard, a GPU, a monitor, a laptop, etc., just to make sure you avoid the duds.
Also, for double GPU set up, make sure to pick “slim” models, otherwise one card will be choking the air flow of another. There are also ways to avoid this, by using a PCIe riser cable. It would allow you to space the GPUs further apart, allowing for better cooling. One thing to note, pay attention to which version of the cable it is, 4.0 or 3.0. I would suggest keeping both cards on the same generation of PCIe. They are generally not cheap, but I think worth the investment.
Some links:
MSI X570 Gaming Plus specification page
Tom’s Hardware review of the board
1 Like
Oh boy, this is real help. Thank you a million. Looks like I’m lucky. I use Ryzen 9 3900x (12 cores), one m2 and two SATAIII disks so I think I will go with this board for a transitional period. It all arrives on Friday and one day the guy at the service packs it all up. I also bought a 1200w power supply. It’s good that you pointed out to me that I take into account the distance of the cards, I also don’t know anything about that, haha. Thanks again, thanks.
No problem, good luck with the build.
1 Like