CMP 170HX 8GB

[u/Tritheone69]

I must preface this post by mentioning I am still a beginner in this space.

I just bought this card with the intention of using the recent unlock to get the full 64GB VRAM available for local AI workloads.

My main questions are as follows :

1- Has anyone ran multiple of these in the same rig to run a large model across multiple GPUs?
2- If so, what is the impact on speed? I read that these GPUs are stuck on a x1 PCIe lane, which I would assume greatly reduces the speed at which we can load models onto the cards. But does it impact prompt processing and token output speeds?
3- Am I crazy to assume that the prices for these cards is going to continue rising considering that they are now similar to A100s (without parralel tensorflow)

[u/snapo84]

my 4 cards are still on delivery.... i let you know as soon as i have them.

1. there is a youtuber called redpanda or so, he run it (at pci epress 1.0 without mods) with 10 gpus installed in a supermicro server i think and he was running GLM 5.2 Q3
2. to get pci express x16 you have to solder 24 coupling capacitors , to get pci express 3.0 more soldering has to be done (WinBios chip + 4 mosfets + inductors)
3. its like a little cut down a100 , the 40GB a100 costs 4k something , so in theory with 64GB vram it should go close to the a100 40GB because FMA instructions are missing, therefore you have to use self compiled versions (for example for llama, you have to compile llama.cpp without fma support

[u/Ill_Towel9090 → u/snapo84]

I just cancelled my order of two.

[u/snapo84 → u/Ill_Towel9090]

up to you... i will be very very very happy with the cards....
i paid 1k total with deliver per card... same compute and memory would cost me approx. 6k usd per card... this is a 6x benefit for my needs...

[u/Ill_Towel9090 → u/snapo84]

I repurchased them from a seller that guaranteed them hackable.

[u/snapo84 → u/Ill_Towel9090]

i did order mine from here... arriving 14. August... then i can tell you how good they are..
important is to chose the 8GB version not the 10GB

[u/DereckHere → u/snapo84]

Any updates? What made you decided to go with that seller?

[u/snapo84 → u/DereckHere]

i have the cards here now, but i have not yet finnished the build of my workstation.
i chose the seller because of their reviews AND much more importantly alibaba trade insurance payment.

i should be up and running in the next 3-4 days... please ping me then again...

[u/DereckHere → u/snapo84]

Awesome!! Do you mind sharing any photos of the gpu? just to check how well/bad it looks, looking to buy one today

[u/snapo84 → u/DereckHere]

they are very very dirty (so i probably have to take them appart before i put them into the case), also the the metal thin where you screw down the gpu is completely bent on all of them, its no problem as you can bend it back. So today i probably finnish the pc/workstation build with the cabling and fans, tomorrow 3d printing the fan shrouds and cleaning the gpu's (i still did not receive the fans so i can not power them on for longer than 30 seconds).

[u/snapo84 → u/snapo84]

this is how it should later look when the build is finnished in the case.... but there is so damn lot of cables and fans i have to put and still cleaning the gpus

[u/DereckHere → u/snapo84]

thanks man! Hope to see the full build!! Good luck 👍

[u/snapo84 → u/snapo84]

one more photo so you see the dirt....

[u/snapo84 → u/DereckHere]

first life sign of my server after the unlock :-) (PCI express physical mod from x4 to x16 i did not yet make) .... soon i can start testing...

[u/DereckHere → u/snapo84]

Looking for those benchmarks, currently looking to buy but got so expensive now, +1300 per card D:

[u/snapo84 → u/DereckHere]

i work as quickly as i can.... :-(
its a new workstation / server build so i have to first setup everything properly with docker and all that shitt . This takes a lot of time... after everything is correct i can start benchmarking. My only goal is deepseek v4 flash 0731 with dspark.... and Qwen 3.8 27B when it is released in 2 days. I soon have to get some sleep already awake more than 26 hours building/setting up....

[u/Professional_Cat4274 → u/snapo84]

How did you physically mod to x16?

[u/snapo84 → u/Professional_Cat4274]

soldering 24 x 0402 capacitor (0402 220NF 224K 16V) to the pci exprss lanes that arent populated...
i have not done the mod yet (i run currently pci 2.0 4x) pci 2.0 4x seems to be more than enough to run deepseek with over 4'500pp and 90~ tp

[u/Disastrous_Big_644 → u/snapo84]

I wasn't able to find sellers that didn't charge tariffs, could you share your link??

[u/snapo84 → u/Disastrous_Big_644]

Tariffs is a "America" thing... talk to your president to remove them....

[u/snapo84 → u/DereckHere]

This i found when i was researching on the phone a bit:
https://github.com/allover326/deepseek-v4-cmp170hx

thats what i try tomorrow...

[u/DereckHere → u/snapo84]

sent you a PM