Hello,

My first post here. I got a refurbished Lenovo ThinkStation S30 0606-EY1 that I upgraded about CPU (from Xeon E5 1620 to 2690 v1) and RAM (from DDR3 16GB to 128GB). Now, it's the turn of the GPU for an AI/ML-oriented goal (I'm a desktop/web senior dev, but new in the machine learning realm)  ; current one being just an NVIDIA Quadro 400. 

The BIOS is up to date (A0KT61AUS of 2017/03/27), the OS is Windows 10 64-bit Pro FR (22H2), the power supply is a 600W one and there are 6 drives in the box (2 SSD and 4 HDD, all SATA).

So, could you tell me if there are some limitations or incompatibility with these GPUs in the NVIDIA's RTX series: 2060, 2070, 2080, 3060, 3090? If there's something I should take care (e.g. some brands I should avoid because of physical size which couldn't fit in the S30 box)?

TIA

Tough question to answer fully due to a lot of different variables.

First, GeForce cards were never officially tested or supported on S30.  I'm guessing you know that, but just have to lead off with that :)

The power supply is going to be a major limiting factor when trying to bring your 13(ish) year old system up to more recent GPUs.  The simple fact of the matter here is the 610W PSU that was used in S30 was never appropriately sized for today's larger and more power hungry GPUs.  And making matters worse, the specs for GPUs in recent generations have a significantly higher input EDP current rating than those GPUs that existed when S30 was current.  As we've not tested any of the GPUs in question on that platform, I can't give you a definitive answer on the power question.  But I can relay that the top GPU we supported on that platform was the K5000, with a TDP of ~122W.

Also complicating matters on the PSU front was the fact that early S30 models went out with a single 6-pin PCIe power connector available.  Later, that PSU was updated to add in a second 6-pin PCIe power connector.  But that was mainly done to make it easier to enable dual GPU configs...the PSU is still rated at 610W and adding that connector didn't really add higher end power capabilities to that supply or anything.

As far as form factor, S30 utilizes a large plastic swing arm assembly to retain cards within the system.  This arm generally interferes with the power connectors on most GeForce GPUs as far as I can recall.  You could potentially remove the swing arm to allow for these GPUs, but just keep in mind that is an integral part of the physical design for that system, and removing it could result in increase risk of damage to the board when large/heavy GPUs are used.

Last thing to keep in mind is the fact that your S30 (running A0 BIOS) is a first gen S30 that was limited to Legacy BIOS support only.  This means whatever GPU you attempt to use is going to need a Legacy OPROM available in order for the the system to boot properly.  Many devices utilize a hybrid OPROM design that supports Legacy and UEFI, but just a warning that UEFI only devices would likely have issues booting in this system.

Hopefully somebody else from the forums can chime in with their experiences running non-supported GPUs on that platform.  Most of what I've listed above are more things to watch out for as opposed to guidance on using specific GPUs from your list.

OK, thanks for these detailed info, psuturtle.

So, to sum up, the power supply could be insufficient in various aspects, but I can change it if necessary. The allocated room could be insufficient, but I can manage it if I take care of the length. Do you agree with these conclusions?

Looking with msinfo32, it reports that I'm in UEFI mode. What do you think?


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EDIT: Looking at my current PSU, I don't see any PCIe power connector (the 6-pin one you talked about @psuturtle). I just see three connectors: the ATX 24-pin, a 4-pin for the motherboard power and the 8-pin for the CPU (+ the ones to the disks, of course). So, does it means my current power supply would be not an original one?

@elroot wrote:

So, to sum up, the power supply could be insufficient in various aspects, but I can change it if necessary.

 

This might not be as easy as you think it is.  S30 doesn't utilize a standard off-the-shelf ATX power supply.  Not saying an aftermarket PSU wouldn't work, but you would need to ensure it would fit properly in the chassis, and has the proper connectors to mate to the motherboard.  There's an 8-pin (2x4) connector meant for CPU/memory VR and a 4-pin (2x2) connector meant for PCI 12V power that tend to give people fits sometimes.

@elroot wrote:

Looking with msinfo32, it reports that I'm in UEFI mode. What do you think?

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S30 systems running A0 BIOS did not fully support UEFI.  I believe there were some aspects of UEFI implemented in the BIOS core, which might be why msinfo is reporting what it is, but in general it's not safe to assume that system has full UEFI support.  That didn't come along in S30 until new machine types were released running A2 BIOS.  And before you ask, no, you cannot simply flash A0 BIOS over to A2 BIOS  :)

@elroot wrote:

EDIT: Looking at my current PSU, I don't see any PCIe power connector (the 6-pin one you talked about @psuturtle). I just see three connectors: the ATX 24-pin, a 4-pin for the motherboard power and the 8-pin for the CPU (+ the ones to the disks, of course). So, does it means my current power supply would be not an original one?

All S30 PSUs have at least one 6-pin PCIe power connector (some had 2).  If necessary, trace the cable bundles exiting the PSU to track it down.  I can't tell you if your system has an aftermarket PSU installed.  A picture of the PSU label might be helpful in determining that.

You're right @psuturtle, the 6-pin PCIe power connector was there, attached along the ATX 24-pin sheath, on the far (dark) side. About the UEFI support, in case it would be not fully supported, what if I keep my current graphics card (connected to the monitor) in addition to an RTX-based one (which will be for computation only this way)? Promise, I won't flash the A2 BIOS ;)

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EDIT:
And better, there were two 6-pin PCIe connectors; maybe time to change my glasses °O°

Well, however, some news (we never stop a mission in the middle LOL): just bought a refurbished MSI GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER VENTUS OC 8G today. I'll tell you when I'll receive it. About the power, it needs one 6-pin and one 8-pin. I have two 6-pins and I saw there're adapters from 6-pin to 8-pin. The power consumption I can read here is 215W and each PSU's 12V rail delivers 18A (so 216W)... Why do we need two connectors? And if so, what 6-pin to 8-pin adaptor would you recommend (or avoid if you don't want to recommend anything)?

Keeping your existing working GPU for display output is probably a viable option.  I'm not saying a new GPU won't work, but just in case you run into issues with Legacy vs. UEFI support with POST, that other card should be enough to get you booting correctly.

Well Done! 

If you are not familiar with it, GPU-Z is a good, light-weight utility that can be used to monitor graphics cards, including temp and power. 

@Thanks @BiggAl , No, I don't know GPU-Z (of course, I have CPU-Z) since I never took care of the graphics card side of the power ; sounds like, I'm not a gamer, it's true ;) So, for me this card is an entry point to the machine learning (and eventually CUDA-based development). I'm going to download GPU-Z without delay :)