x8 Raid card in x4 Slot?

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x8 Raid card in x4 Slot?
by Chris Jones on Apr 3, 2012 at 12:23:24 am

Because Resolve requires a GPU running in the second x16 PCIe slot - a RAID adapter must be put elsewhere (If you are not using a Cubix)

Since a lot of RAID cards are x8 that leaves only (1) x4 slot for the RAID card (the other of course being used for the Decklink card).

I've read that using a x8 Raid card in a x4 slot slows performance.... but I'm wondering if it might also cause fluctuating read/write speeds or even damage the card?

Does this work for anyone? Or are you all using a Cubix to run your GPUs and RAID cards in x8 and x16 slots?

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Re: x8 Raid card in x4 Slot?
by Robert Houllahan on Apr 3, 2012 at 2:19:43 am

Having the card running at 4X will not damage it in any way it just throttles the bandwidth to and from the card. It will not effect how the card interfaces with the drives in the array at all. 4X Bandwidth is still pretty big and you may find that the drives are still the limiting factor.

-Rob-

Robert Houllahan
Director / Colorist
Cinelab Inc.
http://www.cinelab.com

MAHC-PRO 6-Core 3X GTX285 20Tb SAS Wave Panel Panny 11UK SDI Plasma.

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Re: x8 Raid card in x4 Slot?
by Chris Jones on Apr 3, 2012 at 2:44:48 am

Thanks, that is good to hear :)

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Re: x8 Raid card in x4 Slot?
by Joseph Owens on Apr 3, 2012 at 3:41:39 pm

Actually, I'd be eager to hear opinions on dropping my ATTO optical 4-lane FC-44ES into one of the Cubix slots (where it would be co-habiting with a couple of GTX GPUs), as I'd really love to be able to configure the MacPro to be able to use both my optical RAID and have access to external drives via eSATA/PCIe.

jPo

You mean "Old Ben"? Ben Kenobi?

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Re: x8 Raid card in x4 Slot?
by Paul Nordin on Apr 3, 2012 at 5:07:00 pm

I've got my ATTO R680 Iin my MacPro, and my ATTO H680 in my Cubix, which allows me to connect to esata drives. I am seeing about the level of performance I would expect from that card.

_______________________
EMB Studios
http://www.EMBstudios.com
Emeryville, CA
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Re: x8 Raid card in x4 Slot?
by Joseph Owens on Apr 3, 2012 at 8:13:13 pm

[Paul Nordin] "ATTO H680 in my Cubix"

It doesn't throttle down the GPU performance?

jPo

You mean "Old Ben"? Ben Kenobi?

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Re: x8 Raid card in x4 Slot?
by Eric Fiegehen on Apr 4, 2012 at 4:26:39 pm

Hi Joseph,

That's not the way PCIe works. I believe Paul's got an 80Gbps connection between host and Xpander, which means that any of those slots would have up to 80Gbps bandwidth performance at any given time.

Eric Fiegehen
Director, Visualization & GPU Compute Solutions
Cubix Corporation
ericc@cubix.com
http://www.cubixgpu.com

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Re: x8 Raid card in x4 Slot?
by Eric Santiago on Apr 5, 2012 at 7:19:22 pm

On this subject is it safe that I have my GPU sharing with DeckLink and RED ROCKET card in the CUBIX?
I did the research and was told it was okay to do this.
Just ordered two more Quadro's to fill that baby up :)

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Re: x8 Raid card in x4 Slot?
by Joseph Owens on Apr 5, 2012 at 8:59:35 pm

Hmmm... well, I inserted a Sonnet Tempo SATA E2P in slot 4 of the Cubix and the system utterly fails to see it. It was previously in Slot 4 of the MacPro.

jPo

You mean "Old Ben"? Ben Kenobi?

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