Question Can Dell's New Workstation 3660 run two GPUs ?

[dan99t]

Hi,
I am looking to buy new Dell workstation 3660 with i-7, 12700 CPU.
I would like to run a minimun of 8 Monitors.
This workstation has only following slots.
One PCIe x16 Gen5
One PCIe x4 Gen4
One PCIe x4 Gen3
When configuring on their website it allows me to install Two Nvidia T1000 GPUs & each has 4 miniDP ports so two will run 8 monitors.
Dell Workstation 3660
But i-7 cpu supports only 20 PCIe lanes & each T1000 GPU requires 16 lanes.
So how Dell will put two GPUs & will they drive eight 24" monitors ( 1920x1200 ) ?
There is one open end x4 slot so will they put it there & if yes what about only 20 PCIe lanes for two GPUs ?
Thank You

 

[rgd1101]

can split to 2x8 lanes

each T1000 GPU requires 16 lanes.

that little thing. no it is not required 16 lanes

 

[Eximo]

If you are just running displays, this is not a problem. Not sure you need an i7 for that either, but it won't hurt.

Each card can run 4 5K displays, so you have more than enough to run 1920x1200 displays.

 

[Lutfij]

Per the manual for the prebuilt workstation, here,
● One PCIe x16 Gen5 (discrete graphics card only)
That means you can't go multiple GPU in spite of the brochure stating you can go for a 350W TDP GPU, most likely they were referring to a single powerful GPU.

You could opt for a W6800 which has 6 display output ports and you can then rely on the motherboard/iGPU's display ports to power the other two.

 

[dan99t]

You could opt for a W6800 which has 6 display output ports and you can then rely on the motherboard/iGPU's display ports to power the other two.

That GPU costs More than 50% of the whole system. But according to your suggestion why not use just one T-600 to run 4 monitors & use 2DP & 2 USB 3.2 Type C to run another 4 monitors ? Just my 2 cents, I could be entirely wrong.

 

[dan99t]

Each card can run 4 5K displays, so you have more than enough to run 1920x1200 displays.

But the question is, would the second card mounted on 4x slot would run at all & if yes, at what speed ? Do you mean that it would borrow 8 lanes from the card on 16X slot ?

 

[rgd1101]

chipset have pcie lanes too. and that low end card doesn't need much.

 

[dan99t]

chipset have pcie lanes too. and that low end card doesn't need much.

Dell 3660 has W680 Chipset & according to Intel it has maximum of 28 PCIe lanes. What are they for & could some of them be used for the 2nd T600 card ?
They are giving THREE M.2 NVMe SSDs. How many lanes would they use ?

 

[Eximo]

PCIe lanes are for connecting PCIe devices.

Yes. M.2 drives will consume PCIe lanes, so will SATA controllers, onboard sound, ethernet controllers, USB controllers, etc. How many lanes get used depends on what you plug in, where, and how.

Consult the motherboard manual or ask Dell.

 

[rgd1101]

https://www.anandtech.com/show/17308/the-intel-w680-chipset-overview-ecc-for-alder-lake-workstations
https://images.anandtech.com/doci/17308/hlg-intel-prod-brief-w680chipset-block-diagram.jpg

 

[dan99t]

https://www.anandtech.com/show/17308/the-intel-w680-chipset-overview-ecc-for-alder-lake-workstations
https://images.anandtech.com/doci/17308/hlg-intel-prod-brief-w680chipset-block-diagram.jpg

Thank you so much. Such a wealth of information.

One question : Are PCIe lanes from Chipset independent of CPU Lanes ? What I mean is that W680 Chipset has 28 PCIe lanes, does that include 20 PCIe lanes from i-7 12700 CPU or the total PCIe lanes are 28 + 20 = 48 ?

And do graphics cards slots borrow PCIe lanes from Chipset if needed ?