Are there any external CUDA devices?

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I have a workstation with a recent graphics adapter: Nvidia Gefore FX3700. As I want to use that adapter for long running CUDA programms, it might be very useful not to run also my desktop graphics on the same device. Unfortunately I cannot plug in further graphics boards into that machine. So I've searched and found that display link might be a solution: Not using the FX3700 for graphics but for CUDA and then using the DisplayLink for desktop. As I've read this I thought: "wait!, it would be awesome to just not plug a normal graphics board into the computer but a high performance CUDA device" which would have the enormous advantage of being portable.

But I guess this is not possible since I assume that no external interface has a memory bandwidth which capable of high performance computing (e.g. similar to PCIe), right?

math

Posted 2012-03-09T10:01:23.897

Reputation: 2 376

It is now the future and it has happened. Still bloody expensive though (about EUR 200 for an external PCIe case with power, connected via thunderbolt) – Hennes – 2015-12-10T15:58:16.890

This article is a very nice reading about external GPUs: https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/5jpf2x/diy_egpu_101_introduction_to_egpu/

– jjmontes – 2017-12-11T18:31:43.007

Thunderbolt can handle PCIe - don't know how many x's though. Also don't think there are any external PCIe cards yet but it seems to be something that might happen in the future. – LawrenceC – 2012-03-12T16:27:26.583

Answers

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There is ViDock (and it's DIY clones), which probably might enable using CUDA-capable GPU via ExpressCard, which provides 2.5Gb/s bandwidth (PCIExpress 1.0x8 has 2Gb/s). However, ExpressCard slot is common for laptops, but would require installing additional PCIExpress board into desktop.

It is reported to provide a descent performance in games, but when new textures are loaded the lags begin, so the CPU<->GPU bandwidth is indeed a bottleneck. However, its severity depends on what computations you are going to run.

Also, nVidia Tesla S-series (pic) IS an external CUDA-capable GPU, though probbably not of a kind you are looking for.

aland

Posted 2012-03-09T10:01:23.897

Reputation: 2 644

Asked: 2012-03-09T10:01:23.897

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Active: 2015-12-10T15:58:25.163