Topic: Is it recommended to use M.2 expansion slots to connect an extra GPU? (Read 228 times)

Success!

I succeeded to plug a 7th GPU on my motherboard with the "NGFF M.2 To USB 3.0 Transfer PCI-E Riser Card Adapter".

Thank you guys for answering my question and giving your personal experience. So in return here's how I did.

First I contacted the manufacturer of the motherboard to ask if it's possible to use the M.2 Key slot to connect a GPU. It's not possible with all the motherboard apparently. Here's my motherboard:

PRIME Z390-A ASUSTeK

Then I bought this M.2 Card Adapter to connect into the M.2 socket of the motherboard:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/122990821026

So as usual, you plug the GPU on a riser and the USB cable you remove the PCIE X1 and instead plug it on the M.2 Card Adapter". See photo:



It's important to power properly the GPU so like always, I use the VGA cable of my of PSU to plug into the GPU and the riser with this 8 Pin PCI-E to 2 PCI-E 8 Pin (6 Pin + 2 Pin) Power Cable. I always buy that cable from that seller on Amazon and never had issues:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08KP9R92V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Then in the BIOS of my motherboard, in order to configure M.2 slot in PCIe mode, I go to BIOS > Advanced > Onboard Devices Configuration > M.2 PCIe mode and changed the dropdown to ‘Enabled’.

Et voilà !

I noticed I could add another M.2 Card Adapter on my motherboard (same process) to have 8 GPUs but for now I will monitor closely how it goes with my 7th GPU. Plus, not all my mining rig frames are made for 8 GPUs which is now an issue.

Hope it can help other miners.

There are huge difference between a FARM and a hobbyist/home miner.
The adapters work fine and are not a problem long term. 

When planning more than a few rigs it is good advice to reduce the number of adapters etc...but once up and working ive seen no problems with them.  But if i had 100's of rigs i probably would avoid.  Ive got almost 40 rigs and the few that have these have never given me a single pit of trouble.  YMMV.

It is better to purchase a motherboard with 6-8 PCI-E connectors or more for building mining farms.
A large number of adapters lead to additional failures. Most miners who cost a mining farm for several years try to avoid additional adapters,
but some miners use them.

i confirm this works with gigabyte h110-d3a other mobo i did not test. i just bought and plugged there while ago

I've been running 3 rigs x 8 cards for the last 4 years using 7 pcie slots + 1 M2 slot, using a NGFF M.2 to PCI-E Slot USB port.  Not sure if that's what you talking about but yeah it works fine.

The 4-way splitter is connected to the risers through the USB cable which is for the data connection. Only a small 3V current is sent through the USB cable. You still need to power the risers. These splitter won't work in all motherboards. On some you can only get an extra card per slot. It all depends on how the lanes on the PCI-E slots of the motherboard are configured. You probably want to set he speed of the slots to GEN 2 or GEN 1 in the BIOS.

Same goes with the m.2 adapters, though typically the splitters are more compatible than the m.2 adapters which requires you to configure the slot in PCI-E mode instead of SATA mode in the BIOS.

I don't expect this to work in all motherboards because it will be drawing the whole power for the GPUs through a single PCIe slot, there is something similar to this on amazon too that has power cable on it, that should work instead of this, remember, the reason why riser works better is because you have to power it using molex or other

It cost $60.00.  Try it out and if it doesn't work return it.  Amazon has a pretty liberal return policy.  Looking at the m.2 to pci adapter its not rated much better.  But you have options, so I will leave it at that.

In the Amazon product reviews, few people wrote that it doesn't work.

Why not just get a 4 to 1 PCI-E x1 riser card and add more that way?

https://www.amazon.com/Mailiya-Latest-PCIe-Adapter-Extender/dp/B0796R9VWT

I would like to know if there’s miners who have used a PCI Express 4X Female to NGFF M.2 M Key Male Adapter converter card to connect an extra GPU through M.2 expansion slot?

My understanding is that a normal USB3 PCIE riser card is then installed on the expansion card… so a motherboard with 6 available PCIE slots can connect one or two more GPUs.

If yes, is there specific features for compatibility I have to look on the motherboard or CPU?

Thank you