[SOLVED] Use one GPU at a time

[Ca3m0n]

So my current system has 2 Rx580s in crossfire and I quite like this setup for games. But when it comes to rendering and editing and processing video and blender it doesn't seem to be the most efficient. I just ordered a Radeon Vega Frontier Edition on Amazon, but I don't wanna switch the cards in and out and I definitely don't want to game on a Radeon Vega Frontier Edition because that's over kill and using the life of a $1000 card. Plus my PSU is only rated for 850 watts and this system would use around 875. I have enough PCI 16x for all the cards to go into but is there a way to turn cards on and off easily, or at least some with a reboot or something.

 

[lthampton]

The only way to disable a card is going to be removing it. You might look into just building a system specifically for editing, or building a gaming rig around that Vega.

 

[WildCard999]

The only way to disable a card is going to be removing it. You might look into just building a system specifically for editing, or building a gaming rig around that Vega.

That's incorrect, you can disable it by going into the AMD Radeon Software and disabling Crossfire.

 

[lthampton]

Yes but thats not disabling the card itself, just its crossfire capability. TECHNICALLY i assume that would work, but the OP isnt wanting the cards to draw power.

 

[k1114]

Are you sure the gpus are being used for your uses? They're more powerful than a single vega fe for the uses that support multi gpu. Most content creation software can perform worse with cf/sli on. It needs to be disabled to have better multi gpu performance. Cf/sli is for gaming.

I wouldn't worry about using the card because any card typically last 10+ years. But you don't have the psu to have all the cards in. A good psu wouldn't even turn on when you could overload it.

Disabling cf never disabled a gpu. It can still be used, it just won't be in cf. The only way to not make it take power is to remove them. Otherwise it's going to be powered on.

 

[WildCard999]

Well the GPU when disabled from Crossfire would be in a idle state, unless the program can use both cards with CF disabled, so it would be a bit more power efficient and definitely less annoying then having to remove the GPU every time OP wants to edit/render.

 

[lthampton]

Well the GPU when disabled from Crossfire would be in a idle state, unless the program can use both cards with CF disabled, so it would be a bit more power efficient and definitely less annoying then having to remove the GPU every time OP wants to edit/render.

You would be suprised at how much those are going to draw just idling, those RX580's suck the power.

 

[WildCard999]

Well the GPU when disabled from Crossfire would be in a idle state, unless the program can use both cards with CF disabled, so it would be a bit more power efficient and definitely less annoying then having to remove the GPU every time OP wants to edit/render.

You would be suprised at how much those are going to draw just idling, those RX580's suck the power.

Depends on the model, some such as my Asus Dual at idle now is 0.765 V per HWmonitor. Fans also stop when under 60C.

 

[k1114]

Most content creation software does not like cf/sli and often performs worse with them on. This is because renders are compartmentalized so the gpus can work separately unlike alternate frame rendering in games which needs the gpus to talk to each other hence cf/sli. If the software can use multiple gpus, it will use all 3 and the psu won't be able to handle it. I wouldn't even trust a psu with $2k+ components on it that turns the pc on and can't handle the load.

Modern gpus don't suck a lot of power at idle. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-vega-frontier-edition-16gb,5128-10.html Vega fe is ~14w idle. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-580-review,5020-6.html A 580 is 16w at idle. Other gpus I've seen tested were all <20w.