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Processor: i5 12600kf

Graphics Cards: RTX 3090 and RTX 3050

I have the MAG Z690 TORPEDO motherboard. This board has 3x PCIe x16 slots, as follows:

PCI_E1 (From CPU) Supports up to PCIe 5.0 x16

PCI_E3 (From Z690 chipset) Supports up to PCIe 3.0 x4

PCI_E4 (From Z690 chipset) Supports up to PCIe 3.0 x1

I want to use the RTX3090 for machine learning processing only and the RTX3050 for rendering computer video.

My question is in which slots do I put the video cards and what are the pros and cons of each slot for each video card?

OBS: I don't use the computer to play games, only to work.

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It depends on what you need most. Video-rendering performance on the RTX3050 or memory throughput for the computational needs on the RTX3070.

If you only need the RTX3050 to display a desktop and application windows by all means put in the E3 slot. That's fast enough for that. (Even the E4 will probably do.)

But if you need heavy video performance on the RTX3050 (and I presume you do otherwise you would have bought a much cheaper low performance card) it depends on how much bandwidth the RTX3070 is going to need.
PCE_E1 will only run at PCIe 4.0 speeds with either card (as both the RTX cards are PCIe 4.0), but that still gives it 8x the bandwidth (if maxed out) as that PCI_E3 slot can possibly deliver.

As we can't guess what you specific deep-learning application needs and what your rendering requires we can't give a recommendation.

You will have to decide where to allocate the bandwidth and place the cards accordingly.
Worst case you need to test-drive with both scenarios and see what works best in your setup.

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The GeForce RTX 3050 needs 1x PCIe 8-pin, so there is no problem connecting it.

However, the GeForce RTX 3090 needs 2x PCIe 8-pin.

To use the RTX 3090 you will need to put in the PCIe x16 slot a PCIe splitter, aka riser, which will fan out the x16 to two external PCIe x8 slots.

The RTX 3090 might still work at reduced speed on an x16 slot using it as an x8, or even on an x8 slot, but I can't guarantee that this will work.

Everything depends on your motherboard and what configuration it's able to support.

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  • Not sure about the riser: x8 cards will work in x16 slots. Also, I think perhaps the "2x PCIe 8-pin" in the specs is actually referring to the power connectors (molex-like power plugs)? Or maybe I am just misunderstanding.
    – Yorik
    Commented Aug 23, 2022 at 21:12
  • @Yorik - You only have one PCIe slot capable of PCI Express Gen 4 speeds, so typically, you would install the faster card in that slot. The other card is unlikely to be affected by the performance decrease from PCI Express Gen 4 to PCI Express Gen 3. Neither of those cards use molex connectors for power.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Aug 24, 2022 at 2:50

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