I cant say that ASUS has ultimate reliability, nor do GIGABYTE or MSI
what is more reliable - is board that costs more than a average, you can get top line previous gen mobo that will be more reliable, comparing to mid grade latest series.
Don't get me wrong in regards brands, many brands have reliable boards same as many brands have ship(t)boards.
What you want i sturdy design with solid metal caps and coils and adequate heat dissipation.
Being said all this i can say you will find a good board for under 150$ almost new, power supply is another unit, that got to be reliable, otherwise you mega cool mobo won't be lasting long. Pay attention to slots - some manufacturers say they have 3+ 16x slots while that do look like 16x, but they are not, look at the traces and contacts.
good luck.
added: you might want to get pcie 3.0 board, especially if you are getting newer ati cards that don't have CF connector and use DMA instead.
Topic: Highend MOBO for 3 GPU's? (Read 2117 times)
I'd recommend ASUS for ultimate reliability. Gigabyte would be a close second followed by MSI. You could probably find some decent motherboards to use for 3x GPU without even using riser cables. This ASUS Crosshair V motherboard mines for me without having to use riser cables. Very nice.
I finally just got the computer by parts, and got the regular Z77A-G45 MB , celeron processor, milkcrate "case" and blablabla. So indeed @hyphenated; it was getting too complicated as in many cases they don't indicate the motherboard that's in the PC when buying them from ebay.
Are you saying PCIe risers screw up the PCIe from the motherboards?
That mobo is really cheap, I'm doing the same thing, connecting two 850W PSU's (probably overkill as I'm not overclocking the cards) at the same time
Are you saying PCIe risers screw up the PCIe from the motherboards?
That mobo is really cheap, I'm doing the same thing, connecting two 850W PSU's (probably overkill as I'm not overclocking the cards) at the same time
Thanks for your answer 
" $100 for a decent MB"
Can you tell me which MB will support 4 or more GPU's (7950 or equivalent) for $100?
Which exact model of 750W PSU did you buy?
" $100 for a decent MB"
Can you tell me which MB will support 4 or more GPU's (7950 or equivalent) for $100?Which exact model of 750W PSU did you buy?
I have 5 GPUs working on this MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128627
I'm using 2 of these per rig: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182264
Just to repeat what others have already said (with a few twiddles):
1. Open frame makes sense for cooling, unless you pick a system that already has that covered (and probably howls like a banshee).
2. You don't have much that you need in that Dell - mobo, CPU, RAM, part PSU, Operating System. Do the math as to whether it is better to scrap a games machine. Auction office machines might cut it, but get towers not SFFs.
3. Parallel power does work, but beware doing it with cheap PSUs - you might get ripple or destructive current flows.
4. Two 7950s on a mobo is probably OK - more you need risers or separated board feeds. Risers have a limit before they screw up PCIe; however, you can get USB3 extenders which will take the heat out of the box to perhaps 1.5m. They cost.
1. Open frame makes sense for cooling, unless you pick a system that already has that covered (and probably howls like a banshee).
2. You don't have much that you need in that Dell - mobo, CPU, RAM, part PSU, Operating System. Do the math as to whether it is better to scrap a games machine. Auction office machines might cut it, but get towers not SFFs.
3. Parallel power does work, but beware doing it with cheap PSUs - you might get ripple or destructive current flows.
4. Two 7950s on a mobo is probably OK - more you need risers or separated board feeds. Risers have a limit before they screw up PCIe; however, you can get USB3 extenders which will take the heat out of the box to perhaps 1.5m. They cost.
the gigabyte series seems pretty good and sturdy
Buying off eBay is fine. The issue is can you run 3 cards next to each other. If you live in a hot area you will either need a lot of airflow or have AC running. If you're in a cold area then you just need to make sure you have a good power supply feeding the card. Don't try to save $40 because any downtime and troubleshooting trying to figure out bad power will cost you $40 in the end anyways.
I didn't know that about the slots.
That z77a-gd45 I can only find them for $100 on ebay and used, but its the one that I was going to get...
That z77a-gd45 I can only find them for $100 on ebay and used, but its the one that I was going to get...
Not all boards with 6 slots can run 6 cards. Some will disable slots when others are populated. Ivy bridge is reccommended, though I don't think it's always necessary. A g1610 is all you need.
The MSI z77a-gd45 (something like that?) has 7 pci-e slots but you can only use 6. It looks to be discontinued, but you can still find them for $100. They were on sale for $75 bucks a while back though, smokin' deal!
The MSI z77a-gd45 (something like that?) has 7 pci-e slots but you can only use 6. It looks to be discontinued, but you can still find them for $100. They were on sale for $75 bucks a while back though, smokin' deal!
Thanks for your answer
" $100 for a decent MB" Can you tell me which MB will support 4 or more GPU's (7950 or equivalent) for $100?
Which exact model of 750W PSU did you buy?
BTW: I'm I right with what I stated/asked in 1.?
" $100 for a decent MB"
Can you tell me which MB will support 4 or more GPU's (7950 or equivalent) for $100?Which exact model of 750W PSU did you buy?
BTW: I'm I right with what I stated/asked in 1.?
I would like to build a mining rig with 3xHD7950 or equivalent GPU's with similar hashing power (yes I know its not cost efficient for SHA256, but thats not the problem) .
1. Why does everybody have the an high end ASrock or MSI or GYGAbyte?
Shouldn't every motherboard that has a combination of three: pcie x1 (considering you can buy the x1 to x16 adaptors) and pcie x16 , be good enough? Like for example this one: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8H61MX_R20/#specifications .
Do miners have those Asrock so they can connect up to 6 gpu's?
2. So my little secret is to buy a refurbished Dell precision computer on ebay for moreless $200-300, and make sure it has a motherboard with those 3 pcie that I was talking about in (1.). Then buy a 800W PSU and add it up in parallel with the 400-600W PSU that comes with the original case and connect them both with: " http://www.add2psu.com/ ". Then buy the risers to make sure I can put the cards out of the Case. I also would make sure that the total of 6-pin PCI Express power connectors would be equal to three.
Does that sound like a good idea?
Thanks.
PD: I think that that add2psu is really a great way to avoid to pay 400 dollars for psu, and instead just buying two mid-wattage PSU for a total of around $120
1. Why does everybody have the an high end ASrock or MSI or GYGAbyte?
Shouldn't every motherboard that has a combination of three: pcie x1 (considering you can buy the x1 to x16 adaptors) and pcie x16 , be good enough? Like for example this one: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8H61MX_R20/#specifications .
Do miners have those Asrock so they can connect up to 6 gpu's?
2. So my little secret is to buy a refurbished Dell precision computer on ebay for moreless $200-300, and make sure it has a motherboard with those 3 pcie that I was talking about in (1.). Then buy a 800W PSU and add it up in parallel with the 400-600W PSU that comes with the original case and connect them both with: " http://www.add2psu.com/ ". Then buy the risers to make sure I can put the cards out of the Case. I also would make sure that the total of 6-pin PCI Express power connectors would be equal to three.
Does that sound like a good idea?
Thanks.
PD: I think that that add2psu is really a great way to avoid to pay 400 dollars for psu, and instead just buying two mid-wattage PSU for a total of around $120
Umm you know you can buy a very good Motherboard, something that can run 4-5 GPUs, along with a CPU and RAM, for like $200 brand new? $100 for a decent MB, $40 for the cheapest CPU you can find, and $60 for 8GB RAM. Go ahead and price it out. A $7 milk crate, $10 flash drive, some riser cables, and some zip ties, and you've got a fully functional rig. If you did buy a Dell Precision for $300 and put 3 GPUs in there, you'd prolly have heat/ventilation issues anyways.
And you don't need a add2psu adapter to use multiple PSUs. A simple paper clip and some know-how, and you can run 2 or even 3 GPUs per rig. We just bought a whole ton of 750W PSUs, and plan on using 2 for each of our GPU rigs. Much cheaper than buying a single 1500W PSU, I'll agree with that!
I would like to build a mining rig with 3xHD7950 or equivalent GPU's with similar hashing power (yes I know its not cost efficient for SHA256, but thats not the problem) .
1. Why does everybody have the an high end ASrock or MSI or GYGAbyte?
Shouldn't every motherboard that has a combination of three: pcie x1 (considering you can buy the x1 to x16 adaptors) and pcie x16 , be good enough? Like for example this one: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8H61MX_R20/#specifications .
Do miners have those Asrock so they can connect up to 6 gpu's?
2. So my little secret is to buy a refurbished Dell precision computer on ebay for moreless $200-300, and make sure it has a motherboard with those 3 pcie that I was talking about in (1.). Then buy a 800W PSU and add it up in parallel with the 400-600W PSU that comes with the original case and connect them both with: " http://www.add2psu.com/ ". Then buy the risers to make sure I can put the cards out of the Case. I also would make sure that the total of 6-pin PCI Express power connectors would be equal to three.
Does that sound like a good idea?
Thanks.
PD: I think that that add2psu is really a great way to avoid to pay 400 dollars for psu, and instead just buying two mid-wattage PSU for a total of around $120
1. Why does everybody have the an high end ASrock or MSI or GYGAbyte?
Shouldn't every motherboard that has a combination of three: pcie x1 (considering you can buy the x1 to x16 adaptors) and pcie x16 , be good enough? Like for example this one: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8H61MX_R20/#specifications .
Do miners have those Asrock so they can connect up to 6 gpu's?
2. So my little secret is to buy a refurbished Dell precision computer on ebay for moreless $200-300, and make sure it has a motherboard with those 3 pcie that I was talking about in (1.). Then buy a 800W PSU and add it up in parallel with the 400-600W PSU that comes with the original case and connect them both with: " http://www.add2psu.com/ ". Then buy the risers to make sure I can put the cards out of the Case. I also would make sure that the total of 6-pin PCI Express power connectors would be equal to three.
Does that sound like a good idea?
Thanks.
PD: I think that that add2psu is really a great way to avoid to pay 400 dollars for psu, and instead just buying two mid-wattage PSU for a total of around $120
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