[RobertHB]

Hello together,
i'm writing in hope that somebody can add some detail to my upgrade ideas.

Background: My professor asked me to find a way to run the Avizio 3D software whichs is required by one of our PhD students to do 3D image processing of micro-ct data. Due to the high RAM requirements of the image processing i came up with the idea to upgrade one of our server workstations. So we would only need to buy a GPU which would be used to carry out the operation. Our workstation is housed in a 4U Supermicro chassis with a size of 7"x17.2"x27.5". The X10DRH-C motherboard features one PCI-E 3.0 x16 expansion slot which could mount the GPU.

The plan: After a bit of research i would opt for buying a NVIDIA Quadro M4000 (Full hight, single slot, 4.4"x9.5") and place it in the PCIe slot of the mobo.

The Question: Does anybody know if it is possible to fit the GPU into the chassis and if such a constellation would work?

It is my first time planing a server workstation or the upgrade thereoff, so i am unsure if my idea can work. I would appreciate any comments and help in this matter.

With kind regards,
Robert

[flotus1]

Do I understand you correctly that you don't need a graphics output from this node, just a GPU to offload some of the computations?
According to the information found here, Quadro cards are not necessary. A consumer graphics card (GTX 1080/TI) will yield more bang for the buck.
Whatever you buy, I would not recommend a Maxwell card. Current gen is Pascal -Quadro P4000- which is also at the end of its life cycle.

Full-height cards fit into a 4U chassis. The question is if the card has enough space in the chassis in the other two directions and if the PSU has enough wattage and PCIe power connectors.

[RobertHB]

Thanks for your quick response, Alex. As far as i understand the Avizio software, we really only need the GPU to offload computations. Your link was quite some help, and buing and consumer GPU will save us 300-400€.

Originally Posted by flotus1

Full-height cards fit into a 4U chassis. The question is if the card has enough space in the chassis in the other two directions and if the PSU has enough wattage and PCIe power connectors.

I guess thats not something i can figure out that easily, as disconnecting and opening the node is not an option. We only used 8 of 16 RAM banks, so there might be a bit space behind the PCIe slot.

[flotus1]

I guess the safest way to find out is looking in the manual of your chassis or giving Supermicro a call. Do you happen to know the model number of the chassis?

[RobertHB]

Originally Posted by flotus1

I guess the safest way to find out is looking in the manual of your chassis or giving Supermicro a call. Do you happen to know the model number of the chassis?

No. I would need to access the server housing and hope that it is obvious from the outside of the node.


Anyhow, i just received the pricing for the software and the costs are my hight than sending our student to our partner institution that allready owns the software. Thats the end to our upgrade plans i guess.