Question How can I build a gaming PC with Gen 3 or coming newer Gen 4 AMD Ryzen and X570 support two NVIDIA RTX3080s and one SSD all with PCI Express 4.0

[jeffntate]

For maximum performance I want to use PCI Express 4.0 to hook up two NVIDIA RTX 3080 video cards (not for SLI but multiple 4k monitors) and one solid state drive. Intel doesn't have a CPU with PCI Express 4.0 and the Rocket Lake processors coming out in March only have 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes plus PCIe 3.0 lanes, but AMD has more lanes but I don't know if they can be configured as x16 for GTX 3080 video 1, x16 for RTX 3080 video card 2, and x4 for a SSD. I've read studies that suggest that 8 lanes of PCIe 4.0 are plenty for the GTX 3080 processing wise but can they be configured as anything other than 16 PCIe lanes? How can I architect this and with what motherboard to host two double slot 4.4 inch wide RTX 3080 NVIDIA cards? I've seen some custom pre-built desktops coming with two GTX 3090's so it must be possible.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you want BOTH RTX 3080 (not GTX) cards, to have a PCI-E 4.0 x16 slot, I believe that you need to go with the TRX4 platform. (Newest ThreadRipper.)

Otherwise, if PCI-E 4.0 x8/x8 is acceptable for each card, then a decent X570 mobo would handle that. (AM4).

 

[Fanatical Meat]

For maximum performance I want to use PCI Express 4.0 to hook up two NVIDIA RTX 3080 video cards (not for SLI but multiple 4k monitors) and one solid state drive. Intel doesn't have a CPU with PCI Express 4.0 and the Rocket Lake processors coming out in March only have 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes plus PCIe 3.0 lanes, but AMD has more lanes but I don't know if they can be configured as x16 for GTX 3080 video 1, x16 for RTX 3080 video card 2, and x4 for a SSD. I've read studies that suggest that 8 lanes of PCIe 4.0 are plenty for the GTX 3080 processing wise but can they be configured as anything other than 16 PCIe lanes? How can I architect this and with what motherboard to host two double slot 4.4 inch wide RTX 3080 NVIDIA cards? I've seen some custom pre-built desktops coming with two GTX 3090's so it must be possible.

What is the purpose of this expensive and Uber complicated set up?
I mean you are above $2k on video cards alone.

 

[VirtualLarry]

What is the purpose of this expensive and Uber complicated set up?
I mean you are above $2k on video cards alone.

MAXIMUM MineSweeper performance.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

MAXIMUM MineSweeper performance.

I’m not trying to crap in the idea, I’m just saying I had desires like this when I was younger. I have realized good performance with a simple setup is far better for nearly everything. Getting home from a busy day and being able to to what I want have far more value than screwing around with a high Rez multi monitor set up and the anxiety it causes.
This isn’t saying there is no use case for what OP wants to do, just saying why bother if it is not required. Next best thing is likely much cheaper and will require much less support.
Yeah having multiple 4k monitors and playing a flight sim would be fun but it is temporary fun. You’ll get bored of it.
The perpetual messing with display settings, dealing with cables and the inevitable windows update that screws everything up. This isn’t even touching drivers which can be another deep rabbit hole to head down.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Question - If I build a PC using an Intel I7-10700K CPU or the soon to be released AMD Ryzen Gen 4 CPU, how video cards and displays will Windows 10 support?

I need a computer to drive at least 6 displays and preferably more, up to 12 displays, for day trading. Will Windows 10, an older Intel I7, and two Nvidia GTX 770's not in SLI mode drive 6 displays? Also, if I decided to build a custom PC for this purpose of day trading but also to play video...

forums.anandtech.com

Can we stick to ONE thread about your build, please?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Question - If I build a PC using an Intel I7-10700K CPU or the soon to be released AMD Ryzen Gen 4 CPU, how video cards and displays will Windows 10 support?

I need a computer to drive at least 6 displays and preferably more, up to 12 displays, for day trading. Will Windows 10, an older Intel I7, and two Nvidia GTX 770's not in SLI mode drive 6 displays? Also, if I decided to build a custom PC for this purpose of day trading but also to play video...

forums.anandtech.com

Can we stick to ONE thread about your build, please?

Ah trading, well that is a respectable use case for a huge amount of displays.
Wouldn’t an easier choice be to buy two or three ultra wide displays. I guess we end up with the same what sort of video card to drive all the ultra wide displays. I just don’t get why the cards bandwidth is important for this project.


OP don’t forget the more components you add the higher the failure risk.
Imagine missing a day of active trading because a power brick burned out or as I said earlier a windows update or driver update screws up your setup and it takes 3 hours to fix.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The thing is, unless you're going with a massive multi-mon array of 240Hz or 360Hz monitors, even an older "Eyefinity 6" card would probably suffice (x2 for 12 displays, since they have six mini-DP outputs). There's really no need to get the latest and greatest NVidia cards for 2D work... unless you plan on putting those tensor cores to work with some sort of AI trading algorithm, perhaps.

Edit: My point of the first sentence is, if your monitor is only refreshing @ 60Hz, then you don't need massive bandwidth for multi-mon, past a certain point (although, don't go lower than a GDDR5 cad, and GDDR6 or 6x would be preferred.)

Edit: Consider getting 2x of these (~$200 ea.), run 6x 4K monitors off of each card. No need for PCI-E 4.0, just get (say, an AM4, or Intel 10th-Gen if possibly for more stability) mobo with dual PCI-E x16 (physical) slots. Bonus if they are arranged x8/x8, rather than x16/x4 (from chipset).

https://www.amazon.com/VisionTek-Radeon-7750-GDDR5-MiniDP/dp/B00C7EPSVS

 

[jeffntate]

Question - If I build a PC using an Intel I7-10700K CPU or the soon to be released AMD Ryzen Gen 4 CPU, how video cards and displays will Windows 10 support?

I need a computer to drive at least 6 displays and preferably more, up to 12 displays, for day trading. Will Windows 10, an older Intel I7, and two Nvidia GTX 770's not in SLI mode drive 6 displays? Also, if I decided to build a custom PC for this purpose of day trading but also to play video...

forums.anandtech.com

Can we stick to ONE thread about your build, please?

Its two different builds for 2 different people.

 

[jeffntate]

One build is for my son in grad school, and one is for me. We both play Battlefield 5 and I day trade as well, so I want 2-3 4K 120 Hz displays for the gaming. I also want to be able to do virtual reality with the latest headsets, and I may write a custom AI algorithm for day trading with a lot of computations. I need 8-12 displays running at a time, each tracking a stock in real time with a complex chart of technical factors, then be able to swap over and play games with my son. I am disabled and retired. I want to avoid any upgrades for 5 years and be able to do a variety of things including high end gaming, virtual reality, AI computations of up to 12 live stocks tracking up to 20 parameters at a time per stock (technical indicators), and displays to show those complex graphs for quick decision making of a lot of money. My son's build is somewhat the same but not as many monitors, but I want enough so if I'm at his place, I can still day trade (I have a power wheelchair and we live not far apart so I can get from place to place and I'd rather have his setup close to mine if possible without spending a fortune). He wants a RTX 3090 and I plan to have an RTX 3080 plus I have two GTX 770 cards to put into his PC or mine that run off PCI Express 3.0, but I may go with 3 RTX 3080s in one PC. So I'm probing questions for two related builds but with a bit of different priorities. My son doesn't have time to do much but study but when he takes a break, some intense gaming is a stress reliever since he's been gaming since he was 7 years old.

 

[jeffntate]

So I guess for my son, he would want 3 each of 4K monitors running at the highest possible frame rate (120 FPS plus) or possibly even 3 8K monitors, and I'd like to have the GTX 770 cards in his in system because I'll wind up at his place at times and want to day trade with his system, so I'd like to have another 4-6 HD monitors on his system in addition to his the 3 gaming monitors. For my system, I only want three 4k monitors for gaming that will also run at the highest possible frame rate, plus as many other monitors that only need to be 1920 x 1080 running much slower speeds of 30 to 60 FPS. I could actually use up to 15 monitors with the way I day trade, swing trade, momentum trade, and invest in stocks. If needed I could have 2-3 desktops to serve this purpose, but I hate buying Microsoft software for 3 different systems, so if I can do this all in one built PC, it would avoid all those software costs which can swamp the hardware price long term since i have a ton of applications such as Etrade Pro, Fidelity Pro, Think or Swim, and others all running at the same time, plus Microsoft office, and automated day trading algorithms that I intend to develop and use over time. It might be too much to ask for one PC, but I have to see what is possible before I give up and go with multiple desktops. And yes I got 1 gigabitgoogle fiber internet and a screaming Asus router 802.11ax better know as WiFi 6