6 GPUs on mobo MSI Z77A-G45 | Bitcointalksearch.org

tsg

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Quote from: Gazza1 on February 09, 2014, 02:41:50 PM

Quote from: tsg on February 09, 2014, 02:37:59 PM

jch9678 I'm using 3x 1x1 risers (19,5cm), 1 riser 16x16 (19,2 cm. Riser 16x16 is needed in the middle 16x slot) and 2 risers 1x1 (30cm)

Slots:
-1 (1x1)
-2 (1x1)
-3 (1x1)
-4 (empty)
-5 (16x16)
-6 (1x1)
-7 (1x1)

Show us picture. That makes sense though, the x16 providing the presence needed on that slot. Very interesting. Cheesy

I bet a x4 would work too then.

6 gpus are possible and not really hard. I've just built another rig on that motherboard (6x r9 270x).

The key is Linux and using 16x16 riser (Maybe x4 would work too, but I had only x16 Wink

)

jch9678

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Ah good to hear.

I was thinking the power supply may have an effect on the risers using the molex connection. I'm just speculating about my problem.

Looking forward to trying your risers.

RickJamesBTC

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Activity: 378

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The USB risers work at quite a long length. I've got some on 10' cables. Some on 6' cables. All work fine.

I have no interest in running windows on my machines. I have far too many rigs to bother with those installations.

Power supply has zero effect on the performance of cards, as long as there is enough power available for your system it will be fine.

Thanks

jch9678

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RickJamesBTC, did you ever try running windows to see if that works. Just curious because I may be in the same situation as you except I'm running windows 8.1 with 8GB of Ram. I just bought 2 of your usb risers to test and they get delivered today. At least I know your risers worked for you.

Someone told me he had trouble with some long ribbon risers and 290s. My 8x-16x risers work, they are ~17cm and have 2 capacitors but my 1x-16x risers are 30cm and have only 1 capacitor. I thought the extra capacitor might be reducing the extra 'noise' the 290s introduce (speculation) or the length could be the problem? Although all the risers work just fine on a test motherboard. Very weird. I had to order the long USB risers from you because that was all that was left in stock, has anyone reported trouble with the risers due to length?

Long shot, but do you run a Corsair AX1200 or an Antec HCG 900? I noticed in your thread about the risers someone was having trouble with that Corsair.

Gazza1, is this the modified driver you are talking about? https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=11761.0

RickJamesBTC

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htop, I'm running linux not windows.

Gazza1

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I assume you're monitoring with a program other than taskmanager? Because task manager doesn't show it.

Which cards are you using on the other rigs?

RickJamesBTC

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Quote from: Gazza1 on February 09, 2014, 05:57:59 PM

Weird. I've got a few of those boards running 6 cards each. RAM usage never goes above 4, but the system allocates 7.9GB with 6 cards if you watch with RAMmap or an in depth ram watcher.

None of my other rigs with 5-6 cards use more than 2-3 gb (none of them have more than 4gb installed). I've never had one of these msi boards start up with more than 3 cards plugged in, so I can't monitor that.

It's not a big deal, I took them out of the racks and they just run their three cards in the pc case and heat up my downstairs rooms.

Gazza1

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Weird. I've got a few of those boards running 6 cards each. RAM usage never goes above 4, but the system allocates 7.9GB with 6 cards if you watch with RAMmap or an in depth ram watcher.

RickJamesBTC

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Quote from: Gazza1 on February 09, 2014, 05:53:14 PM

Quote from: RickJamesBTC on February 09, 2014, 05:51:00 PM

I've got three of them. Tried it on all three. Each has a celeron G1610, 4gb ram, xubuntu 12.10 or 13.04 (also tried bamt 1.3) running from usb drives. Cards on risers, because you can only run three cards on the motherboard without risers. Risers and gpus are all known good. The boards just don't boot when I have more than three cards plugged in.

Pop in another stick of ram, for 8GB. Now that you mention it, I was never able to run more than 3 cards with 4GB either.

Tried that, also monitoring through htop. Never even gets close to using 4gb of ram, and that wouldn't matter on boot. The motherboards won't even start.

Gazza1

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Quote from: RickJamesBTC on February 09, 2014, 05:51:00 PM

I've got three of them. Tried it on all three. Each has a celeron G1610, 4gb ram, xubuntu 12.10 or 13.04 (also tried bamt 1.3) running from usb drives. Cards on risers, because you can only run three cards on the motherboard without risers. Risers and gpus are all known good. The boards just don't boot when I have more than three cards plugged in.

Pop in another stick of ram, for 8GB. Now that you mention it, I was never able to run more than 3 cards with 4GB either.

RickJamesBTC

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Activity: 378

Merit: 250

I've got three of them. Tried it on all three. Each has a celeron G1610, 4gb ram, xubuntu 12.10 or 13.04 (also tried bamt 1.3) running from usb drives. Cards on risers, because you can only run three cards on the motherboard without risers. Risers and gpus are all known good. The boards just don't boot when I have more than three cards plugged in.

Gazza1

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Your mobo must have been defective. I've run 5 on handfuls of different drivers on win7, win8. Win8 runs 6 with special driver mod. Linux will run the 6 out of the box.

RickJamesBTC

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wtf, I couldn't get more than 3 cards to work on these motherboards no matter what I tried. Different xubuntu versions, different driver versions. Total pain. OP what xubuntu and amd drivers are you running?

My risers work fine on the board, I just could only use 3 at a time, adding a fourth made the computer fail to boot.

Gazza1

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Quote from: tsg on February 09, 2014, 02:37:59 PM

jch9678 I'm using 3x 1x1 risers (19,5cm), 1 riser 16x16 (19,2 cm. Riser 16x16 is needed in the middle 16x slot) and 2 risers 1x1 (30cm)

Slots:
-1 (1x1)
-2 (1x1)
-3 (1x1)
-4 (empty)
-5 (16x16)
-6 (1x1)
-7 (1x1)

Show us picture. That makes sense though, the x16 providing the presence needed on that slot. Very interesting. Cheesy

I bet a x4 would work too then.

tsg

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jch9678 I'm using 3x 1x1 risers (19,5cm), 1 riser 16x16 (19,2 cm. Riser 16x16 is needed in the middle 16x slot) and 2 risers 1x1 (30cm)

SHORTING SLOTS IS NOT NECESSARY.
Bios settings -> DEFAULT

Slots:
-1 (1x1)
-2 (1x1)
-3 (1x1)
-4 (empty)
-5 (16x16)
-6 (1x1)
-7 (1x1)

So 6 cards works well!

techniquev3

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Risers are a nightmare, you will need powered definatley! I can only run 4 without powered as it's a quad x-fire board

Gazza1

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Yes I have a few of those mobos that are running 6 cards each, one has 6x sapphire 280x. using all 1x powered risers. It sounds like the 1x risers you have may be damaged.

jch9678

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So I tested all my risers and found that the only ones that work reliably are the 8x-16x. The others don't work at all. With the 1x-16x I get artifacts and windows cannot boot. With the 16x-16x I can't even get to bios, the screen just stays black. I had an older nvidia card laying around so I tested it and it worked with all the risers. I'm going to now test a 5770 but I have a feeling it's going to work also. Somehow I think my r9 s are not compatible with my risers. I thought it could be my psu (corsair ax1200) but it works great when no risers are involved and it has good reviews.

Anyone got any ideas?

btw Gazza1, are you using r9 s in your z77?

Eastwind

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Which Catalyst version do you use to get 6 cards working?

Gazza1

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Na slot 5 only needs shorting if there is a card in it. Yeah my BIOS were bone stock default.

Topic: 6 GPUs on mobo MSI Z77A-G45 (Read 4245 times)