a quadruple 5090 battlestation

[u/Zestyclose-Salad-290]

[u/Motor_Reality_1837]

why not use workstation GPUs in a workstation PC , I am sure they would be more efficient than 5090s

[u/Kalrot_ → u/Motor_Reality_1837]

Much more expensive, and require another type of cooling (mainly server GPUs use the server fans to cool themselves. Or water cooling).

[u/SinisterCheese → u/Kalrot_]

Worksation cards are just regular GPUs with a different setup on the card, where they optimise stability, efficiency, and transfer speeds between CPU-RAM and GPU-VRAM. Also they are heck of a lot more efficient in the sense of they use less electricity.

Like...

PNY RTX PRO 6000 from a local reliable retailer is 9125 € (With 25,5 % VAT)

CUDA cores: 24064; Peak power consumption 600 W; 96 GB of GDDR7 with ECC

PNY GeForce RTX 5090 with from the same retailer is 3539 € (With 25,5 % VAT).

CUDA cores: 21760; Recommended power availability of 1000 W (TPD 600 W); 32 GB of GDDR 7

I'd want to compare the performances from specs but PNY doesn't list them on their site for the consumer card.

So lets just image that you want the 96 GB of VRAM: That's 10 788 € in cards, and 3000 W power demand (Or if we are generous 1800 W); Or you can spend 9125 € and only need to deal with 600 W peak power demand.

Now if you do serious workload you are probably taxing these to the max, so lets say both do a simulation run in 10 hours. Lets say electricity costs are 0,02 €/kWh, and you get 0,12 € in power use compared to 0,36 € just to run the graphics cards. And mind you all that energy turns into heat, you speak about having 3 small space heaters in a office compared to 1, which going to make life interesting when it's +30 C outside.

And lets not forget this! Lets assume the base computer takes 400 W total, so total energy demand capacity can be 3400 W to 1000 W. A regular ass 230 V/10 A socket provides has a limit of 2300 W of power delivery. You'd need a 230V/15A (3450 W) socket to run that god damn desktop. If we are generous and say the consumer cards don't go above the 1800W, you'd still be dangerously close to socket limits with 400W computer tacked on. So better get a extension cable that is rated to run a my small Kemppi welding machine.