Topic: Good Logic Board for a Beginner Rig (Read 787 times)
Figures.... Since I posted this thread last night, the GPUs I found a great deal on... out of stock.
Most serious GPU'ers get PCIe Riser Cables and don't use a case in order to get more air flow. The cables would work for you as well if you can position cards somewhere.
I wanted to start with just two respectable cards in this case and if I get hooked, expand from there. The case I'm using can get plenty of air flow. I can add an additional fan in the front. And remove the FLOPPY drive slot (yes, floppy drive slot) cover for even more air flow.
Most serious GPU'ers get PCIe Riser Cables and don't use a case in order to get more air flow. The cables would work for you as well if you can position cards somewhere.
After plenty of half-assed mining, I want to try something more serious. But still, not too serious.
So I have this old Dell tower. It was in my junk pile to head to the recycler. But it's fully functional, it's just a deal. It's a pentium 4 with only PCI slots. So pulled the logic board out and tossed it. Now I have a case with a power supply (low wattage), heatsink and plenty of fans. This seems like a good starting point.
The case has for card slots in the back. Since all the high end GPUs are double wide, that means I can run two GPUs in this thing - 1 to start, and a second after replacing the power supply. I've got plenty of old RAM lying around, and drives. So all I really need is a logic board, the cheapest CPU I can find for that board, and the GPUs.
With all that great reasoning, I'm still having trouble finding one thing: the logic board!
If I'm going to put two high end GPUs in a 4-slot case, that means I need a logic board that has two full length PCIe slots, and they have to be slots #2 and #4, counting from the bottom, up. Otherwise the cards won't line up with the holes in the case. I've looked all over newegg etc, and all the logic boards seem to have a big jumble of 1x, 16x, and old school PCI slots, and none have what I need, which is 16x PCIe in #2 & #4.
I also, of course, want the most affordable board I can find. I want to make sure this little experiment actually makes money after all. I see boards like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128654
Great price, but the wrong port configuration.
Or take this board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157249
It has two full length slots, but they don't line up. And not only do they not line up, but one of the slots is #1. So you can't even use a double wide CPU that slot, as it won't fit in any case. Who designs these things?
So all my bitching and I did manage to find this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157301
That looks like it will work. Built in vga for the actual display, and two long pcie slots for the GPUs. Its under $100.
I assume PCIe3.0 and 2.0 are backwards compatible?
So I'm a Mac guy and don't generally "build" computers. How do people normally deal with this issue? That is, finding logic boards whose slots line up with the slot holes on your case, in the way you want. This seems like a huge hassle with no easy solution?
So I have this old Dell tower. It was in my junk pile to head to the recycler. But it's fully functional, it's just a deal. It's a pentium 4 with only PCI slots. So pulled the logic board out and tossed it. Now I have a case with a power supply (low wattage), heatsink and plenty of fans. This seems like a good starting point.
The case has for card slots in the back. Since all the high end GPUs are double wide, that means I can run two GPUs in this thing - 1 to start, and a second after replacing the power supply. I've got plenty of old RAM lying around, and drives. So all I really need is a logic board, the cheapest CPU I can find for that board, and the GPUs.
With all that great reasoning, I'm still having trouble finding one thing: the logic board!
If I'm going to put two high end GPUs in a 4-slot case, that means I need a logic board that has two full length PCIe slots, and they have to be slots #2 and #4, counting from the bottom, up. Otherwise the cards won't line up with the holes in the case. I've looked all over newegg etc, and all the logic boards seem to have a big jumble of 1x, 16x, and old school PCI slots, and none have what I need, which is 16x PCIe in #2 & #4.
I also, of course, want the most affordable board I can find. I want to make sure this little experiment actually makes money after all. I see boards like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128654
Great price, but the wrong port configuration.
Or take this board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157249
It has two full length slots, but they don't line up. And not only do they not line up, but one of the slots is #1. So you can't even use a double wide CPU that slot, as it won't fit in any case. Who designs these things?
So all my bitching and I did manage to find this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157301
That looks like it will work. Built in vga for the actual display, and two long pcie slots for the GPUs. Its under $100.
I assume PCIe3.0 and 2.0 are backwards compatible?
So I'm a Mac guy and don't generally "build" computers. How do people normally deal with this issue? That is, finding logic boards whose slots line up with the slot holes on your case, in the way you want. This seems like a huge hassle with no easy solution?
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