I'm about to come into a couple of Dell PowerEdge 1950 servers which I'm going to throw a flavour of Linux on and hope for the best...

I know they're old but the specs say there are 2 x PCIe slots so I was thinking of getting an nVidia 750ti (or 2) for each of them to give them an added bit of kick.

I'm worried about the size of fans and heatsinks. Does anyone have any experience with the PowerEdge series, would one of these fit? They look small enough. Or would I be better off with one of these?

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~W

Of course I'm willing to accept suggestions for ANY graphics cards which would do the job and are reasonably priced.

And maybe some which aren't...

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~W

Well Generally, if it is made to fit in 2 slots - it will fit.

Just look at the computer and see if there is anything that would be in the way if you put 2 cards in it.

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I'm worried about the height in those servers.

Seems to me that they might require low profile GPUs.

If that is the case, then better off with the GT 730.

Check the specs or get a tape measure and see what the height is in there.

Happy Crunching...

Zalster


Edit...

I should have checked NewEgg before I posted.

There are low profile GTX 750 from gigabyte and MSI if you should require one of those.

Well Generally, if it is made to fit in 2 slots - it will fit.

Just look at the computer and see if there is anything that would be in the way if you put 2 cards in it.

The 1950 is a 1U rack server (1 5/8 inches high): the PCIe expansion cards would be lying flat, or two separate buses. I suspect the thickness of typical 750Ti would be the limiting value.

Also, I've heard one of these servers powered up while lying flat on a desk: the cooling fans are LOUD, even when they haven't got the extra heat from two GPUs to dispose of. I hope you've got a brick outhouse to run them in.

There are low profile GTX 750 from gigabyte and MSI if you should require one of those.

'Low profile' normally means height, measured outwards from the interface connectors. The 1950 specs say it takes full-height cards in that dimension, but not full length, and almost certainly not double thickness.

Here's a 1950 video, kinda thin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpx1D2wyZ2Y

Opps, I didn't realize it was a rack mount model. I believe 1 RU is 1.75 inches, but I could be wrong.

I just measured my computer and 2 PCI unit (if you want to call it that) is just under 1-5/8 inch. So it would be really tight.

And, YESSsss, those little 1.5 inch fans WILL drive you nuts! They scream like a chainsaw all day-and-night.

I hope your not married, LMAO.

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Well Generally, if it is made to fit in 2 slots - it will fit.

Just look at the computer and see if there is anything that would be in the way if you put 2 cards in it.

The 1950 is a 1U rack server (1 5/8 inches high): the PCIe expansion cards would be lying flat, or two separate buses. I suspect the thickness of typical 750Ti would be the limiting value.

Also, I've heard one of these servers powered up while lying flat on a desk: the cooling fans are LOUD, even when they haven't got the extra heat from two GPUs to dispose of. I hope you've got a brick outhouse to run them in.

I have a server room in which to run them with proper cooling etc. so that isn't going to be much of a problem.

I see what people are saying about thickness. That was my worry, the thickness of the heatsink/fan. I don't have them yet but a tape measure will be the first thing I put in them.

Thanks everyone.

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~W

I've got a 2950 here at home. It has 3 PCIe slots of which one is occupied by the PERC 6i RAID controller and the other two sit on a raiser card which seem to be full length slots (quick glance). I would expect a 1950 (1U height instead of 2U) to only have one PCIe slot on that raiser card. So you may only have one available slot anyway.

HOWEVER, the position of the upper PCIe slot on that 2950 raiser card looks as if any card mounted there (horizontally) would sit right underneath the top of the case, which might cause problems with the card's on-board fan. If my assumptions are right, then I would expect the single slot of the 1950 to sit right underneath the top as well.

You cannot reasonably run these types of servers with the top of the case permanently removed. When I open the case it very quickly runs all 4 cooling fans on full bore and the noise level goes from vacuum cleaner to fighter jet engine, the cat is hiding and my wife starts having wrinkles on her forehead. And that even though the server is sitting in the basement.

I haven't bothered trying to install anything in those PCIe slots ever since I need it for many other things. For that reason, the server itself is running VMware ESXi and a VM configured with 8 VCPUs but tiny CPU shares is getting all "spare" CPU cycles for BOINC, but doesn't interfere with the performance of any other VM running on that server.

The 1950 has two riser cards, with one PCIe slot on each.

From the video that TBar sent you can see that a dual height PCI card will NEVER fit.

Between the top and bottom case covers is the mother board! So you only have a single card height - but it looks like it has 2 separate PCI risers.

Also on the back of it you can see that there is not room for a dual height card. The height is shared with the video ports and Ethernet ports, and only has room to remove 1 slot.

so single height card it is!

IF you have a GPU card it would be worth "dry fit" it into the 1950 just to get a feel for what room you have.

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What about those single slot gtx 750 they are testing over in Japan?

Would one of those work when they become available here?

Heat wise, the 750 tend to do pretty well keeping cool under full load.

http://www.techpowerup.com/204989/elsa-announces-single-slot-geforce-gtx-750-ti-graphics-card.html

From the video that TBar sent you can see that a dual height PCI card will NEVER fit.

Yeah, after seeing that video, the 1950 is quite different from the 2950 WRT the PCIe slot space as well as the cooling.

Yes, one PCIe slot is used for the Ethernet card. Remove that and you have No internet.
The other PCIe slot seems meant for a proprietary Dell video/NIC card. It's doubtful a standard video card would even work in that machine. More research is needed...

I had to use Google to check MY memory, LOL

1RU is 1.75 inches.

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The PCIe risers in my two 1950s are only x8 slots. Which kind of makes installing GPUs a bit of an issue. The right hand riser could be removed and a x8 to x16 cable could be used to fit 1 GPU in the system if it were small enough. IIRC Mine are Generation II 1950s. The Generation III 1950s may have x16 slots, but I can't verify that.
I don't know what this talk about the NICs being on the riser is about, but the dual GB NICs are built into the MB. Maybe someone was looking at optional NICs installed in a system?

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[

Watch these 2 videos;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpx1D2wyZ2Y

Near the end of this one, time 11:15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbOhYwVvNNc

Of course, there appear to be at least 3 different 1950s.
But, the rear looks the same on the ones I've seen.
Looking at the second video it's clear the 2 PCIe slots are for single height short cards.
Oh well.

Watch these 2 videos;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpx1D2wyZ2Y

Near the end of this one, time 11:15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbOhYwVvNNc

Of course, there appear to be at least 3 different 1950s.
But, the rear looks the same on the ones I've seen.

That is defiantly an additional NIC in that slot & an x8 slot at that.
Looking at the rear of the unit you can see the DRAC NIC port below the left slot and the two built in NICs below the right slot just to the right of the USB ports.

Also I found the spec sheet for the 3rd gen systems. They also only have x8 slots it seems.

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[

Watch these 2 videos;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpx1D2wyZ2Y

Near the end of this one, time 11:15
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbOhYwVvNNc

Of course, there appear to be at least 3 different 1950s.
But, the rear looks the same on the ones I've seen.

That is defiantly an additional NIC in that slot & an x8 slot at that.
Looking at the rear of the unit you can see the DRAC NIC port below the left slot and the two built in NICs below the right slot just to the right of the USB ports.

Yes, the second video makes it clear. The slots are at the top, are 8x, and will not work with a double height card.
I doubt a single height card would work either, and would probably run too hot if they fit.
Seems the only way would be an external setup, if you're into that sort of thing.