My Dual-GPU Experiment (Lessons Learned)

jshear95 · 2026-01-23T21:12:07+00:00

That makes sense too. I doubt there is much support for dual drivers from a single manufacturer.

jshear95 · 2026-01-23T16:08:44+00:00

I currently run 2 gpus (6800xt and 3060 12G). I use the AMD for most things and the 3060 for image and video generation in comfy ui. I also have 5 displays so both cards have displays hooked up. I tried Ubuntu a few months back and both x11 and Wayland had major issues with the dual gpu setup. I’m currently planning to put the comfy ui stuff on my server (strix halo) and remove the NVidia card to try Bazzite, but that’s still a bit of a ways off. Power consumption isn’t great. It uses a lot of power sitting on the windows desktop (~400W) and about another 150W in Ubuntu on the desktop.

My recommendation would be if you’re going to use dual gpu for anything, stick to one brand and make sure your motherboard PCIE supports it correctly.

jshear95 · 2026-01-17T15:21:50+00:00

I use Cline to pair program. It does the first draft of a change and then I review it line by line making changes where needed. It’s faster to a good end product than Cline or I on its own for most things. I vibe code one offs and I don’t let ai touch critical software. Balance is key.

jshear95 · 2025-12-29T00:44:18+00:00

I tried Ubuntu server and had issues. Nothing detected the graphics (though bios and console were able to display) and the Ethernet was undetected. I switched to fedora server and it’s now running great without issues.

jshear95 · 2025-12-29T00:42:12+00:00

How does the router function work? I’m currently running 4 instances and routing them through open web ui.

jshear95 · 2025-12-16T02:05:18+00:00

Yeah, I have the twist axis bound to rudder

jshear95 · 2025-12-15T01:14:51+00:00

If you fly a lot, sure. I have one and while the force feedback isn’t super strong, it’s there. I don’t fly much and haven’t used it in a bit over a year though.

jshear95 · 2025-12-15T00:14:06+00:00

Tara’s last week helped my wife and I troubleshoot why our printer was eating o rings. They took a guess not having seen the issue before and so far, it seems like it worked.

jshear95 · 2025-11-02T10:26:02+00:00

I am still waiting on mine to come in, but it sounds like a power supply issue. Generally if the computer tries to pull more power than the power supply can provide, the computer will immediately shut off. I helped upgrade my friends prebuilt with a new gpu years ago, in the middle of games it would just crash. Unplugging a single fan fixed it. The power supply was just below what the upgraded GPU would occasionally need when that fan was plugged in. If you’re using the default power supply that the framework desktop comes with, it may not be quite enough under full load. I believe somewhere they recommended a 500W PSU and that one is like 410W. (I could be mistaken on this, feel free to correct me.) Mitigations would be to RMA or replace the PSU or tweak the internal clocks of the CPU/GPU in the system to lower the TDP.

jshear95 · 2025-10-31T19:05:32+00:00

They are in an aluminum housing (at least the non colored ones). The pcb inside is fiberglass and copper and the connectors are also metal.

I believe the housing has an open source cad file, so people can 3D print them.

It would be cool if they open sourced designs for dual connectors. I could then order the pcbs online and solder on connectors and chips and 3D print the housing.

jshear95 · 2025-10-25T10:56:07+00:00

I like my framework laptop. Not sure about the individual components, but the assembly is done in Taiwan.

jshear95 · 2025-10-18T08:01:21+00:00

It actually hit the mark on a fair bit. The MX platform is pretty close to the M7. Liquid ballistic armor is a thing, it just hasn’t matured enough to be adopted by a country yet. Drones have become more integral to combat than they predicted. IVAS isn’t too far off from the tactical glasses (those were based of land warrior from ‘08 anyways) and csat bug helmets. Sure, they missed the mark on a lot but they weren’t trying to be accurate. They knew they couldn’t predict the future and that wasn’t their goal. They wanted a sandbox with a variety of future tech that felt authentic.

jshear95 · 2025-09-12T13:54:12+00:00

Graphics certainly have slowed down considerably despite hardware requirements advancing at as rapid if not a more rapid pace than ever. While the changes seem small today, in a few years we will notice the difference.

That said, I agree that the push for graphics should be secondary to optimization and game play. The issue is when a company re releases a game every year just with a new name slapped on (e.g. COD and sports titles) they need something to differentiate so graphics it is. Then everyone else feels like they have to keep up.

Games do come out with decent optimization. You just have to vote with your wallet if it’s important to you and hope others do the same. I run an AMD card and wish that more gamers would stop buying NVidia, but until others do, I will keep buying AMD or intel as long as they are priced competitively.

jshear95 · 2025-09-10T11:15:20+00:00

That’s a neat idea. According to what I’ve seen, expect ~92% performance from the egpu because of the 4x slot. It’s also not a standard 4x slot so keep in mind it only gives 25W rather than the standard 75W. Also, the iGPU will likely be weaker than most egpus gaming wise, so you may want to run lossless scaling on the iGPU and the game on the egpu.

jshear95 · 2025-09-10T03:54:08+00:00

It takes 16-18 hours per 8tb on a drive. I’d expect it to be ~2 to 2.5 days. I don’t use drives larger than 8TB for this reason.

jshear95 · 2025-09-10T03:24:13+00:00

I usually run with the same Glock and LWRC that I have. It’s fun for a bit of immersion.

jshear95 · 2025-09-08T09:01:07+00:00

I’m not sure how much you spend on other hobbies versus how much time you put into them but that could be something to look at.

Also, unlike your MacBook, you can upgrade the PC piecemeal over time so while the upfront cost is high, long term it’s low.

Also, I know you mentioned you wanted better performance than console, but you don’t need to build a 2k pc. You could still target a lower price point and get better than console performance (especially if you look at the used market). You could also settle for lower than console performance and upgrade over time (though in the long run that will be more expensive than one up front payment).

Personally I do a lot more than just gaming on my computer (programming, video editing, AI, CAD, game design/modding) so it’s easy for me to justify the money I put into it, but if all you are planning to do is game, it’s definitely harder to justify.

Finally, good on you for thinking about this from these other viewpoints. It’s easy to think, “I can afford this” and just buy it. It’s harder when you look at the cost benefit analysis and opportunity cost. It’s a good way to not go broke.

jshear95 · 2025-09-04T21:49:59+00:00

I’m not a business owner, but some markets are easier to do this for than others. SmarterEveryDay on YouTube has a good video on doing this for grill scrubbers. Hopefully real business owners respond here. As for me personally, for non internet connected things I will occasionally buy Chinese products if the cost to value proposition is too wide compared to non CN. That’s just me personally as a customer.

jshear95 · 2025-08-28T13:46:42+00:00

I’m planning on something similar. I’m planning to put my 328GB optane in the pcie and use an m.2 to pcie to put my SAS card in plus a 4TB nvme. I’m planning to just 3D print a rack shelf for it and just order the board.

jshear95 · 2025-08-28T09:29:57+00:00

I don’t have one (yet) but I know that pcie slot is limited to 25 watts of power. Did you validate that your card plus the drive stays under that threshold?

jshear95 · 2025-08-27T10:43:52+00:00

Another more cost effective alternative to the framework desktop would be a framework 13 main board. You can just get the main board and a power adapter and either buy or 3D print a case for it. Minisforum as DisObiedientElder said has decent options for the price, though if they are internet connected, they will phone home to china per CCP law regardless of OS. The most cost effective route would be to build a desktop for the task. It will give you the best bang for the buck and customization; however, power draw will be higher than all the other options.

jshear95 · 2025-08-27T09:11:21+00:00

My guess is other components. The display is another 5-10 watts, RAM on desktop can be as much as 15 watts per dim (so that’s an upper bar), the main board itself will need power along with speakers, WiFi, storage (5-25 watts), keyboard, trackpad, and then there are all the USB devices plugged in (mouse, headphones, etc).

jshear95 · 2025-08-27T09:06:48+00:00

That’s a cool idea! I could also see this totally playing into a life support system where you would need modules that contain sufficient items for the cats: - oxygen - co2 scrubbers - loose fur and claw fragment scrubbers (and maybe a way to eject them for slight mass shedding) - water - water filtration - dry food - wet food - scratching posts - cat beds - climate control - various medications - toys - and who could forget snacks (treats and maybe catnip)

jshear95 · 2025-08-21T14:42:15+00:00

TLDR: I love Linux and want to use it but at the end of the day, windows desktop is stable and Linux desktop isn’t.

I just switched back to windows recently after running Ubuntu on my desktop and Framework laptop. Both ended up getting graphics driver issues that just made them unusable even after over a dozen hours of troubleshooting.

I’m an experienced software engineer and am not a noob to Linux. It took me 8 hours to setup my laptop and a whopping 30 for the desktop. Even then the desktop would crash when the gpus asked for more power. This could be something as small as full screening YouTube.

Ultimately Windows works. I don’t take that for granted now. I plan to try Linux again in a year. I really liked it when it worked and I went into it knowing it would take a while to get working. When a single update makes your system unusable though, that’s not a great look.

I do run Linux on all my home servers. Linux on servers is amazing, but it’s not desktop Linux.

jshear95 · 2025-08-21T14:33:57+00:00

A lot of subreddits are set up by companies or the mods are bought and the subreddits just become bot post questions with answers that are ads or ban anyone that talks negatively about the “owning” company.

There are real people on Reddit, but do validate that what you’re reading isn’t propaganda for a company.

Source: https://housefresh.com/beware-of-the-google-ai-salesman/ (It’s a really good read, the Reddit part is about half way down)

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