Two full height MPX modules covers slot 1,2,3,4. That leaves slot 5,6,7 which are full length slots. Since the WX9100 is a two slot card, slot 7 will be free.
See the Mac_Pro_White_Paper_Feb_2020.pdf
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MP 7,1 How many GPU's can fit inside the Mac Pro 7.1?
- Thread starter Korie Cull
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See the Mac_Pro_White_Paper_Feb_2020.pdf
Page 22 discusses the afterburner card. I'm surprised more posters who edit video don't talk about it more.
Afterburner card is only good for ProRes and ProRes RAW decoding. The Afterburner card is a single slot card so it should be usable with a two slot card and both MPX module slots filled. Does the Afterburner card support x16? If so, then you need to decide between:
1) the two slot GPU in slot 5 (x16) and Afterburner in slot 7 (x8)
2) the two slot GPU in slot 6 (x8) and Afterburner in slot 5 (x16)
But if one Afterburner is beneficial, then you could add additional Afterburner cards instead of a GPU.
Yes. To me, the Rageon Pro Vega II Duo with Afterburner Card is a great combination. You can add another GPU or another Afterburner Card if that fits your workflow.
I need GPU power purely for upcoming OTOY Octane X rendering and occasional video edits. The Radeon 5700 XT which is supported by Apple and is RDNA 1.0 is looking like a good fit at the moment. It's pretty cheap also compared to the Workstation class cards. The Power draw is around 225w, so I think I'd get away with adding 3 cards in. I feel like I'm going round in circles.
I wonder how many people are willing to spend ~6k to try this, TBH. Especially since people have pointed out the limitation is in power rails available to third party cards.
3 WX 9100s are definitely doable, but I don’t know how you‘d power the fourth without sharing a rail with one of the other cards. I really wouldn’t want to be the one having to replace a logic board because of power overdraw through the traces. Especially right now.
Those both pull power over the MPX slot, and intentionally cover the 8-pin power connectors, since they are effectively pulling their extra power from the same traces that power the 8-pin connectors.
That only leaves the 6-pin connector accessible, so while it might be possible to route a cable (with extensions) down there and share power with one of the MPX modules, I wouldn’t recommend it.
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Honestly, triple 5700 XTs doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Especially if you aren’t entirely sure where your power needs will land.