Balancing Your GPU Power Budget

While the rate of increase of CPU frequency has plateaued over the last several years,*1 overall performance of high-end GPUs continues to rise.*2 Meanwhile, burgeoning industries like AI and Big Data are demanding better performance for unprecedented workloads. Thankfully, companies like NVIDIA have been pumping out faster and more efficient products to meet those needs, and BOXX has risen right along with them.

However, with more power comes higher power consumption. For example, a single GeForce® RTX™ 2080 Ti, NVIDIA’s latest flagship video card, can pull 250 watts all by itself. On top of that, more workloads are becoming dependent on the capabilities of the GPU to get more throughput. Therefore, it seems wise to talk about workstations through the lens of current GPU power constraints. Knowing how many video cards you need for your workflow, and taking stock of the total wattage your system can maintain, is a great way to help determine which BOXX model is right for you. Let’s take the APEXX X4 as an example. It’s a perfect solution for editing feature films, deploying VR experiences, or any workflow that requires a high core count coupled with high frequencies. With its hefty 1500-watt power supply, it has a GPU power budget of 1,000 watts. With that, you can power four full-size dual-slot GPUs. That said, there is another factor at play that could influence your final build. There are several CPUs that can be bought with this model, *3 and one of them—the Intel® Core™ i9-9980XE—are sold with the option to be overclocked. *4 However, overclocking that CPU requires additional power (about 300 watts). This means, if you want that higher clock speed on those cores, you lose the power budget for a fourth 2080 Ti

So why not just use a bigger power supply? Sure, you can build a workstation with a 2-kilowatt PSU, but odds are you won’t be able to reliably draw enough power. If you’re using a 15-amp outlet, which is common in the United States, you’re limited to 1800 watts before the breaker trips, or even less if it’s under continuous load. It’s easy to see that you could run the risk of overloading your circuit, which won’t get your work done any faster. But let’s say you’re dead-set on that quad-GPU setup. Fair enough. You may be served just as well—or even better—with four NVIDIA® Quadro RTX™ 4000 cards instead. That would fit nicely within your GPU power budget. And with wattage to spare, you’ll also be able to overclock your APEXX X4 and know you won’t risk angering your circuit breaker. It’s all about finding that balance. (See the table below for a full list of our desktop models and their GPU power limitations.)

Now, this example may not apply to every professional looking to upgrade to a new workstation. If you want to know more about your specific workflow, consult a BOXX performance specialist.*5. They not only know hardware they also know your software. With years of experience and expertise, they can help you figure out which configuration best serves your needs, and help you balance that budget.

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*1Source

*2 Source

*3 Check out the X-Class model page

*4 4 cores at 4.5 GHz and 5–18 cores at 4.4GHz, depending on current core usage.

*5 01256 378044

Why Liquid Cooling is So Cool

In the tech world, the general consensus used to be that if you weren’t planning to overclock your processor, there was no need to use liquid cooling. These days, particularly in recognition of AMD’s new Ryzen 3000 series, the benefits of liquid cooling the CPU have become much broader, and apply to anyone looking for the simplest way to get the most out of their system.

This is due in part to AMD’s new frequency boosting algorithms. Without getting too into the weeds, the days of manually overclocking AMD CPUs are mostly over. The reason is, that these new algorithms do most of the tedious work for you, and push each CPU to the physical limits of the hardware, which are all kept in check with pre-defined limits. Those limits can be broadened or tweaked, so there’s still some fun to be had, but for the most part, overclocking on AMD is now baked in.

In fact, AMD created such finely-tuned algorithms that overclockers were suddenly not finding as much performance left on the table as anticipated. It’s been interesting to watch AMD communicate back and forth with the enthusiast community on this point, as most people have spent the last decade getting reasonably high-performance gains by manually overclocking their CPUs. Even though they defied expectations, they eventually managed to give most customers what they wanted—just not in the way they were expecting

Having said that, if you’re using a stock air cooler on a Ryzen 3000 CPU, you may not be getting all the performance you paid for, as the processor will likely hit its pre-defined thermal limit sooner, and therefore will not boost to what it’s fully capable of out of the box. That’s where liquid cooling comes in. Simply by using a more robust cooling solution that keeps the heat down, you stay under that thermal limit longer and therefore have the chance to achieve better performance under a variety of CPU loads.

Speaking of CPUs more broadly (i.e., both Intel and AMD), there’s another benefit to using liquid cooling, and that is that it can extend the life of the CPU. Every processor gets hot, but liquid cooling removes that heat more efficiently and quietly than air. By sustaining a lower average operating temperature, it slows the onset of what’s known as electromigration, which is an inevitable outcome of any modern CPU

Transistors are so small these days that electrons eventually begin to “leak” out from where they’re supposed to go, and getting them on the right path requires more and more voltage, which brings more heat, which brings more electromigration—and so on. If, however, you are using liquid cooling from the get-go, and maintain a lower operating temperature over the entire life of the system, it pushes that inevitability farther and farther out, giving you better performance today, and better value overall.

It’s not just liquid cooling, but closed loop (as opposed to open loop) liquid cooling that BOXX uses, which means it requires no maintenance whatsoever on your part and is less prone to leaks. There’s no need to add water or anything like that, as the liquid is constantly being cooled by fans as a tiny, silent motor circulates the coolant.

Looking forward, it’s possible that you’ll see more manufacturers turn to liquid cooling CPUs as the rule rather than the exception, as newer CPUs trickle out with higher thermal requirements. In fact, AMD recently announced a new 64-core Epyc processor, the 7H12, that caters to server environments that specifically use liquid cooling. As we use liquid cooling on all our APEXX models, BOXX is ahead of the curve on that one.

If you know you’re going to be stressing your CPU daily for the next few years, it’s a good idea to get one that can handle that stress. The new APEXX A3, with an equally new Ryzen 3rd gen processor, is particularly suited for creative professionals who require a compact, deskside workstation that’s unbeatable in multi-threaded workloads. If you think it may be time to upgrade, check out our website or consult with a BOXX performance specialist to see which BOXX is right for you