PCIe x1 Graphics Card for OMV
Hey all,
I'm running a DIY-built server on a J5040-ITX Link to the manual (PDF-Download), which features a PCIe x1 slot which I'd like to utilize with a graphics card. I found the Nvidia GT 730 2 GB which would fit, but I'm unsure, if it…
… works with nouveau, as I'm unable to find the GT 730, only the GT 730M in the list of codenames.
… if OMV (currently running OMV 7, going to upgrade to OMV 8 soonish) aka. Debian 12 (or 13, depends on OMV version) supports the proprietary driver.
Any ideas or recommendations?
As otherwise mentioned a 16x/8x/4x card can be used in a 1x slot.
Any 1x physical GPU will be extremely overpriced for what it is as they're incredibly niche products.
I don't remember and I am not near it, but some pcie 1x slots cannot be used because they don't have a slit cut on the right hand side. But that is not really that big of a problem because one can use a Dremel tool very carefully to cut that slit in the pcie slot plastic.
Dremel is probably a bit overboard, a utility knife will do it. But you're right, there can be required modification (or just using a 1x to 16x riser for ~$2 from AliExpress)
A utility knife is probably a much better tool!
The GT 730 uses a GF108 chip according to https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-gt-730.c2590, which you can find under the codename NVC1 on the nouveau website.
Thank you very much!
I think your bigger problem with that board is going to be that PCIe slot is a PCIe 2.0 x1 slot so it will be slow but you can just use an adapter like this:
https://www.newegg.com/startech-com-model-pex1to162-pci-express-to-pci-card/p/N82E16815158223
Flexible versions exist too! I’m also not sure you would get a lot of benefit out of a GT730 really so YMMV.
I know, that's why I don't even bother with looking for a more beefy card.
I got some Matrox G400 on PCIx1 for this from ebay. (Yes they still making them) Really cheap. native linux support, very low power consumption.
Can't go wrong with an arc a310
It requires an x16 slot though
Only mechanically. You could technically remove the small piece of plastic at the end of the slot, and still put a x16 card in a x1 or x4 slot, should work anyways. Some mainboards even have open-ended slots directly instead of closed ended. Haven't done it and wouldn't recommend it, but it would technically be possible.
This was mentioned in another comment already, yet I'm explicitly looking for a “non-invasive” solution.
You may be out of luck, but doesn't that board have onboard VGA graphics which you can use?
OMV is a web page dashboard and there's SSH. What is the usecase for a GPU I wondered?
It has, and I use this setup for years already. Thought about tinkering a bit, y'know? :-)
A good use case for GPU on OMV is jellyfin transcoding.
https://forum.openmediavault.org/index.php?thread/56737-hardware-acceleration-for-jellyfin-container/
Try for a card with NVENC support.
P400 looks like you'd need a notched slot, tho.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/n7ppkl/can_a_pcie_1x_slot_run_nvenc_encoding_with_a/
https://www.reddit.com/r/jellyfin/comments/13blpdq/best_cheap_gpu_for_transcoding_1080p_4k/
Oh yes!
It probably works.
If you have a very steady hand, you can cut the PCIe slot at the back to allow longer cards to fit, too. Most of them support running at reduced bandwidth (though I would check for x1 specifically, they might only go down to x4).
Thank you for the recommendation, but I would prefer not to tamper with the board.