# How to hook my 2nd card?



## Carsomyr (Jun 23, 2021)

Hi I just received my new rtx 3070 card which I intend to use for mining. My case is the Thermaltake core p90 case. The rtx 2080 ti I currently have in there is connected to one of the pcie 16x slots of my motherboard with a riser/extension cable that came with the pc case. 

For my 2nd gpu (rtx 3070) I'm hesitating between two ways of connecting it. Either on the second x16 slot, which I'll need to get another 300mm or 400mm extension cable. That would allow me to use the rtx 3070 for my physx and crypto mining when I'm not gaming.... Or I could use another type of connector which I'm not familiar with at all. I've seen pictures of "risers" for GPUs. The kind they use in crypto mining rigs. I'm not a all familiar with those and don't know which one to buy. Could you help me pick the right setup? 

Usefel info. My mobo is the asrock Z390 phantom gaming 4. 
My psu is a 1200w psu. 

Which risers/cables would do the job for what I need? 
Would you be so inclined as to shoot me a link to the risers you propose? So I can see what they look like. 

I live in Canada and tend to order from Canadian websites for faster shipping


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## xcescxa (Jul 3, 2021)

Hello, i dont know much about connecting multiple cards because i have only 1, but i dont think its a good idea to mix cards that arent the same. Its like mixing the current and newest one with the oldest one. might end up bad compatibility. Anyway, you might be able to get an external gpu enclosure, which has everything, and its just plug and play.


Carsomyr said:


> Hi I just received my new rtx 3070 card which I intend to use for mining. My case is the Thermaltake core p90 case. The rtx 2080 ti I currently have in there is connected to one of the pcie 16x slots of my motherboard with a riser/extension cable that came with the pc case.
> 
> For my 2nd gpu (rtx 3070) I'm hesitating between two ways of connecting it. Either on the second x16 slot, which I'll need to get another 300mm or 400mm extension cable. That would allow me to use the rtx 3070 for my physx and crypto mining when I'm not gaming.... Or I could use another type of connector which I'm not familiar with at all. I've seen pictures of "risers" for GPUs. The kind they use in crypto mining rigs. I'm not a all familiar with those and don't know which one to buy. Could you help me pick the right setup?
> 
> ...


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## MentalAcetylide (Jul 3, 2021)

IrishCrispy said:


> Hello, i dont know much about connecting multiple cards because i have only 1, but i dont think its a good idea to mix cards that arent the same. Its like mixing the current and newest one with the oldest one. might end up bad compatibility. Anyway, you might be able to get an external gpu enclosure, which has everything, and its just plug and play.


I never heard of this. I know of many individuals using both older and newer cards in the same desktop together to render in Iray using Daz. The only thing I know where card compatibility would be an issue with two or more different cards is if you're going to use SLI OR if the program you're running requires multiple graphics cards to be the same(brand, memory size/type, model) in order to be used together within it. Lots of crypto-currency miners run different graphics cards in their mining rigs.


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## RealKGB (Jul 3, 2021)

IrishCrispy said:


> Hello, i dont know much about connecting multiple cards because i have only 1, but i dont think its a good idea to mix cards that arent the same. Its like mixing the current and newest one with the oldest one. might end up bad compatibility. Anyway, you might be able to get an external gpu enclosure, which has everything, and its just plug and play.


Mixing card generations is perfectly fine. I've done it with a GTX 750 (Maxwell) and a GTX 650 Ti BOOST (Kepler). Nothing catastrophic happened.


MentalAcetylide said:


> if the program you're running requires multiple graphics cards to be the same(brand, memory size/type, model) in order to be used together within it.


I've never heard of a program that requires multi-GPU to run and/or to use multi-GPU, require the cards to be the same brand. Though I guess it could exist.
Irrelevant to the OP's situation, but interesting still.

Anyway, OP, I'd advise using a regular PCIe 16x riser cable. The 1x-to-16x risers are fine for mining since mining doesn't require much data transfer, but for gaming it will severely limit your performance.


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## xcescxa (Jul 3, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> Mixing card generations is perfectly fine. I've done it with a GTX 750 (Maxwell) and a GTX 650 Ti BOOST (Kepler). Nothing catastrophic happened.
> 
> I've never heard of a program that requires multi-GPU to run and/or to use multi-GPU, require the cards to be the same brand. Though I guess it could exist.
> Irrelevant to the OP's situation, but interesting still.
> ...


Im just saying it would be a bottleneck in performance related issues.


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## MentalAcetylide (Jul 3, 2021)

RealKGB said:


> Mixing card generations is perfectly fine. I've done it with a GTX 750 (Maxwell) and a GTX 650 Ti BOOST (Kepler). Nothing catastrophic happened.
> 
> I've never heard of a program that requires multi-GPU to run and/or to use multi-GPU, require the cards to be the same brand. Though I guess it could exist.
> Irrelevant to the OP's situation, but interesting still.
> ...


AMD graphics cards will not work for iray rendering in Daz Studios, and if you have 16Gb VRAM on one card and 11Gb VRAM on the other when a scene requires >11Gb VRAM, the 11Gb card won't be utilized since the entire scene needs to fully fit on each card. Its screwy, but that's what it is until Daz supports memory pooling, NVLink, and/or out-of-core rendering.



IrishCrispy said:


> Im just saying it would be a bottleneck in performance related issues.


In relation to what? The OP is talking about mining. The more cards that are being used = more hash rate. Granted, a lower end card won't add as much vs. a higher end card, but I wouldn't consider that to be a bottleneck.


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## xcescxa (Jul 3, 2021)

MentalAcetylide said:


> AMD graphics cards will not work for iray rendering in Daz Studios, and if you have 16Gb VRAM on one card and 11Gb VRAM on the other when a scene requires >11Gb VRAM, the 11Gb card won't be utilized since the entire scene needs to fully fit on each card. Its screwy, but that's what it is until Daz supports memory pooling, NVLink, and/or out-of-core rendering.
> 
> 
> In relation to what? The OP is talking about mining. The more cards that are being used = more hash rate. Granted, a lower end card won't add as much vs. a higher end card, but I wouldn't consider that to be a bottleneck.


performance in relation to maximum potential!!


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## MentalAcetylide (Jul 3, 2021)

IrishCrispy said:


> performance in relation to maximum potential!!


I'm sorry, but I'm just not understanding. Could you elaborate further for the rest of us?


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## xcescxa (Jul 3, 2021)

MentalAcetylide said:


> I'm sorry, but I'm just not understanding. Could you elaborate further for the rest of us?


look, i mine myself. I would not just say things to say it, i get enjoyment from helping people. At this point the op should do what he thinks it right. i found this in un answered, so i tried to answer it


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