Nvidia GPU upgrade advice for cMP

[hifimac]

I inherited two 5,1 cMPs and have been using them to assist in CPU rendering for Cinema 4D. I need to up my game and get into GPU rendering. Here's a couple of options I've been pondering.

• Buy some used GTX 1080ti's and keep them on macOS HS.
• Buy some new RTX's and convert the cMPs over to Windows boxes.
• Make the extra investment and build a PC render box.

I've been looking at RTX specs and it seems like the RTX 2070 is the best bang for the buck. I would do a Plexas mod on the machines. Would 2x 2070's be fine on the PSU? Seems like they have less of a power draw than 2x 1080ti's? I've upgraded one machines CPU's to 12 Core X5680, is this a requirement to take advantage of the GPU upgrades? Would the time and money spent on keeping these running be better spent just building a render PC? I have a iMac Pro with a eGPU and a 980ti that I do most of my work on. I just need to speed up my renders.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[bsbeamer]

If you are serious about upping your NVIDIA GPU rendering "game" move to Windows or Linux. NVIDIA on Mac is on life support.

 

[hifimac]

I totally get this. Is it worth trying to convert these into Windows render boxes and save some cash on the build beyond the GPU expense or will they be severely limited and more trouble than it is worth?

 

[bsbeamer]

It's not the right tool for the job. Get you're trying to do this on the cheap, but set yourself an actual budget and go from there. Trying to scrape a few dollars off here and there will not result in a worthy long-term solution. The MacPro5,1 will never be as capable as an APEXX W5, APEXX 8R or similar system for multiple NVIDIA GPU rendering. Don't care how they're networked or cobbled together for "team rendering" approaches. You can modify with PCIe expansion, external PSUs, etc. but those all cost serious money that can be better spent on more purposeful hardware solutions. The reality is these machines/boxes are at or near EOL and lack modern throughput interfaces. It's not saying the MP5,1 cannot be useful and still serve a purpose, but the purpose you're looking to use it for is better spent researching more long-term solutions.

(Wish I could say buy professional Apple product solution "X" that's coming in three months, but none of us know what it will be or when it will be released and it's doubtful it will support NVIDIA GPUs at this time.)

 

[startergo]

I wonder what will be to run bare metal esxi running Windows and OSX on demand. Has somebody tried that?
[doublepost=1551795634][/doublepost]Esxi has passthrough PCIE.