Topic: Mining rig issues - 3 different mobo, USB Risers and PCIe GEN1/GEN2/GEN3. HELP!! (Read 8700 times)
March 11, 2017, 10:55:05 AM
Has anybody found a bios for the msi z97 gaming 5 to force the 1x pcie slots to gen1 / 2.5gt, default value is gen3 / 5.0gt. GPU clock on the x1 pcie slots are throttling.
January 03, 2017, 01:31:08 PM
Ones I highly recommend...
I just do 2 cards per power cable
I just do 2 cards per power cable
I bought version 6 risers off ebay from a guy in the US, and new cables from Amazon, problems are all gone. I think it was the cables more than anything because I tested them first with existing risers (which said v6 but had tiny capacitors and were from Amazon in a 6-pack).
I'm doing 2 per molex on some, 1 per molex on others.
Thanks guys! This thread helped!
Actually this is the truely v6 , it has more components and add 5V for more stable .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281383006276?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649
$12 each per version 6 PCIe USB riser is highway robbery.
November 26, 2016, 10:58:27 PM
Ones I highly recommend...
I just do 2 cards per power cable
I just do 2 cards per power cable
I bought version 6 risers off ebay from a guy in the US, and new cables from Amazon, problems are all gone. I think it was the cables more than anything because I tested them first with existing risers (which said v6 but had tiny capacitors and were from Amazon in a 6-pack).
I'm doing 2 per molex on some, 1 per molex on others.
Thanks guys! This thread helped!
Actually this is the truely v6 , it has more components and add 5V for more stable .
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281383006276?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649
November 21, 2016, 12:54:24 PM
Ones I highly recommend...
I just do 2 cards per power cable
I just do 2 cards per power cable
I bought version 6 risers off ebay from a guy in the US, and new cables from Amazon, problems are all gone. I think it was the cables more than anything because I tested them first with existing risers (which said v6 but had tiny capacitors and were from Amazon in a 6-pack).
I'm doing 2 per molex on some, 1 per molex on others.
Thanks guys! This thread helped!
November 15, 2016, 10:00:51 PM
Woohoo.... Problem solved. It was the USB cables all along. Ordered some "higher quality" ones yesterday and now it all works. got 5 boards running on the MSI board with Windows.
Only problem is now that I've found one of the 16x riser boards is faulty and therefore I'm 3 risers short in order to fully populate this MSI board and the ASRock board.
Time to order new risers, but not the ones I've been buying so far.
Only problem is now that I've found one of the 16x riser boards is faulty and therefore I'm 3 risers short in order to fully populate this MSI board and the ASRock board.
Time to order new risers, but not the ones I've been buying so far.
Was about to say raiser cables at fault any problems with card detection normally results in faulty or bad raiser cables. What ones where you using if you using them flappy ribbon ones they are cheap and not effective. When I first started out I used them and within 15 min burnt though 2 cables sent back where I got and got refund though eBay.
Ones I highly recommend http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5X-USB3-0-PCI-E-Express-1x-To-16x-Extender-Riser-Card-Adapter-60CM-Power-Cable-/122124224111 All working flawless from this guy.
Might pay a little more for them but their well worth the extra money spent and some places it works out cheaper for the usb 3 version ones compared to ribbon.
Where did you get your cables. I have 20+ cards just sitting but 8 dollars for each usb cable is crazy high. Thats about the cheapest i can find. Where are you buying?
Edit: Do they have to be 3.0?
Edit 2: Found on amazon for 8.99 for two 3.0 3 foot. Guess thats as cheap as they come without getting china brand. Ordering 6 packs now.
Edit: Do they have to be 3.0?
Edit 2: Found on amazon for 8.99 for two 3.0 3 foot. Guess thats as cheap as they come without getting china brand. Ordering 6 packs now.
These are the exact ones I use:
http://amzn.to/2dZRw8V
Like you said, it's for 2x, so it's not as bad as $8 each, but it's not cheap either. I just got tired of it almost always being the USB that caused issue and switched everything to these - haven't had a single cable-related issue.
They do have to be 3.0 cables, they utilize the different between v2 and v3 cables, so they won't work and could potentially damage things if you tried v2.
This thread rules. I had my gaming 5 mining on six cards for a day but gentle cable adjustments sent it into a multi day disaster. I could get windows to see them but it always failed on one card while mining. No matter what I tried the problem seemed to migrate or get worse. Just ordered a bunch of cables. Praying it solves it.
Are either of you using an evga 1300w? I have to use some sata to molex for power but I've been told it's risky because sata connectors max at 4.5 amps, but some 470/480s pull up to 5amps from them. I saw a video of a guy building a seven card rig like I'm doing and he mentioned sapphire 470's don't do this, but I can't confirm. I have one sata cable per card for four, and two on molex lines (one per) but this power concern has me worried I may need to buy a bunch of molex adapters and other cables to get off sata connectors entirely.
With your raiser cables and power sata never have more than 3 cards per molex line as safe guard I just do 2 cards per power cable so I know it has juice for it and not going to over power. 3 is fine anymore on 1 cable is going to cause problems. Or if you want to be extra safe use 1 per cable if you have the room on psu to add in cables.
November 15, 2016, 09:26:21 PM
Where did you get your cables. I have 20+ cards just sitting but 8 dollars for each usb cable is crazy high. Thats about the cheapest i can find. Where are you buying?
Edit: Do they have to be 3.0?
Edit 2: Found on amazon for 8.99 for two 3.0 3 foot. Guess thats as cheap as they come without getting china brand. Ordering 6 packs now.
Edit: Do they have to be 3.0?
Edit 2: Found on amazon for 8.99 for two 3.0 3 foot. Guess thats as cheap as they come without getting china brand. Ordering 6 packs now.
These are the exact ones I use:
http://amzn.to/2dZRw8V
Like you said, it's for 2x, so it's not as bad as $8 each, but it's not cheap either. I just got tired of it almost always being the USB that caused issue and switched everything to these - haven't had a single cable-related issue.
They do have to be 3.0 cables, they utilize the different between v2 and v3 cables, so they won't work and could potentially damage things if you tried v2.
This thread rules. I had my gaming 5 mining on six cards for a day but gentle cable adjustments sent it into a multi day disaster. I could get windows to see them but it always failed on one card while mining. No matter what I tried the problem seemed to migrate or get worse. Just ordered a bunch of cables. Praying it solves it.
Are either of you using an evga 1300w? I have to use some sata to molex for power but I've been told it's risky because sata connectors max at 4.5 amps, but some 470/480s pull up to 5amps from them. I saw a video of a guy building a seven card rig like I'm doing and he mentioned sapphire 470's don't do this, but I can't confirm. I have one sata cable per card for four, and two on molex lines (one per) but this power concern has me worried I may need to buy a bunch of molex adapters and other cables to get off sata connectors entirely.
October 18, 2016, 01:22:46 PM
Where did you get your cables. I have 20+ cards just sitting but 8 dollars for each usb cable is crazy high. Thats about the cheapest i can find. Where are you buying?
Edit: Do they have to be 3.0?
Edit 2: Found on amazon for 8.99 for two 3.0 3 foot. Guess thats as cheap as they come without getting china brand. Ordering 6 packs now.
Edit: Do they have to be 3.0?
Edit 2: Found on amazon for 8.99 for two 3.0 3 foot. Guess thats as cheap as they come without getting china brand. Ordering 6 packs now.
I bought AWinner cables off Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/AWINNER%C2%AE-Cable-Free-Lifetime-Replacement-Warranty/dp/B01JOH7K48/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1476814940&sr=1-3&keywords=awinner+usb+cable
October 18, 2016, 09:20:57 AM
Where did you get your cables. I have 20+ cards just sitting but 8 dollars for each usb cable is crazy high. Thats about the cheapest i can find. Where are you buying?
Edit: Do they have to be 3.0?
Edit 2: Found on amazon for 8.99 for two 3.0 3 foot. Guess thats as cheap as they come without getting china brand. Ordering 6 packs now.
Edit: Do they have to be 3.0?
Edit 2: Found on amazon for 8.99 for two 3.0 3 foot. Guess thats as cheap as they come without getting china brand. Ordering 6 packs now.
These are the exact ones I use:
http://amzn.to/2dZRw8V
Like you said, it's for 2x, so it's not as bad as $8 each, but it's not cheap either. I just got tired of it almost always being the USB that caused issue and switched everything to these - haven't had a single cable-related issue.
They do have to be 3.0 cables, they utilize the different between v2 and v3 cables, so they won't work and could potentially damage things if you tried v2.
October 18, 2016, 08:28:49 AM
Where did you get your cables. I have 20+ cards just sitting but 8 dollars for each usb cable is crazy high. Thats about the cheapest i can find. Where are you buying?
Edit: Do they have to be 3.0?
Edit 2: Found on amazon for 8.99 for two 3.0 3 foot. Guess thats as cheap as they come without getting china brand. Ordering 6 packs now.
Edit: Do they have to be 3.0?
Edit 2: Found on amazon for 8.99 for two 3.0 3 foot. Guess thats as cheap as they come without getting china brand. Ordering 6 packs now.
October 18, 2016, 02:17:44 AM
My my new batch of risers and cables came. Cables are way too short. But it's not stopped me putting together seven 290x into a rig with the MSI board. Getting 197mh/s for 1470w from the wall.
Next job is to complete the 6 card rig. I had hoped to put two 290x and four RX480 in it, but for some odd reason, as soon as I plug in a second RX480 one of the 290x is no longer detected by the PC. It doesn't even display in Windows device manager as a device with no driver installed, it just isn't there. As soon as I unplug all but RX480 it reappears and works as expected.
So might have my hand forced and put six RX480 together in the same rig which means moving two 290x to my main PC. Not a terrible compromise.
So for anyone else struggling to setup multiple cards on some motherboards, check the USB cables used with the risers, chances are they're rubbish and you need higher quality ones.
Next job is to complete the 6 card rig. I had hoped to put two 290x and four RX480 in it, but for some odd reason, as soon as I plug in a second RX480 one of the 290x is no longer detected by the PC. It doesn't even display in Windows device manager as a device with no driver installed, it just isn't there. As soon as I unplug all but RX480 it reappears and works as expected.
So might have my hand forced and put six RX480 together in the same rig which means moving two 290x to my main PC. Not a terrible compromise.
So for anyone else struggling to setup multiple cards on some motherboards, check the USB cables used with the risers, chances are they're rubbish and you need higher quality ones.
October 10, 2016, 10:46:32 PM
I'll order a different batch of boards on the off chance the cables work.
I've bought 4 different types of breakouts, and while the boards have all looked different the quality of the cables has been the same - crap. Personally I wouldn't do it as if they make some crap cable where they connect two pins together by mistake or something else low quality cables are apt to do, you're going to be learning a very costly lesson... You kind of got off lucky this time in that it just didn't work (most common failure), and not that it cooked the board/motherboard or both.
October 10, 2016, 03:36:25 PM
I'll order a different batch of boards on the off chance the cables work.
October 10, 2016, 03:18:28 PM
Woohoo.... Problem solved. It was the USB cables all along. Ordered some "higher quality" ones yesterday and now it all works. got 5 boards running on the MSI board with Windows.
Only problem is now that I've found one of the 16x riser boards is faulty and therefore I'm 3 risers short in order to fully populate this MSI board and the ASRock board.
Time to order new risers, but not the ones I've been buying so far.
Only problem is now that I've found one of the 16x riser boards is faulty and therefore I'm 3 risers short in order to fully populate this MSI board and the ASRock board.
Time to order new risers, but not the ones I've been buying so far.
Glad to hear it - I don't even bother with the USB cables they provide, just chuck them in the trash. But on the riser side of things, I've found the quality of them all to be about the same, so your current provider is probably fine, just don't trust any of the Chinese USB cables.
October 10, 2016, 02:17:00 PM
Woohoo.... Problem solved. It was the USB cables all along. Ordered some "higher quality" ones yesterday and now it all works. got 5 boards running on the MSI board with Windows.
Only problem is now that I've found one of the 16x riser boards is faulty and therefore I'm 3 risers short in order to fully populate this MSI board and the ASRock board.
Time to order new risers, but not the ones I've been buying so far.
Only problem is now that I've found one of the 16x riser boards is faulty and therefore I'm 3 risers short in order to fully populate this MSI board and the ASRock board.
Time to order new risers, but not the ones I've been buying so far.
October 09, 2016, 07:12:05 PM
Thanks again. Good info to have, based on your numbering, slots 3,4 and 6 are a no go for me. I've now moved out two more 290x from one mining rig and put in place two RX480. So all the 1x slots were taken by RX480s. I changed the mode to GEN2 and it did boot to Windows, but it was really flaky, wouldn't mine on one of the cards and eventually crashed with a "thread stuck in device driver" error. So it seems I have slightly more luck with the RX480s than the 290x. But still there really is an issue. Fingers crossed the cables sort it out.
No problem - personally I've found the ATI drivers to be a bit of a nightmare. With this latest build with 4GB RX480's, I had the dreaded 4MH/s issue - which basically went away after uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers a couple times. No real logic to it - I tried moving the boards and other things first, and was just uninstalling and reinstalling as a byproduct of other things I was trying, then they worked. Really drives me crazy - but is also why I always make an image once it works and use it from then on.
October 09, 2016, 04:16:15 PM
Ok, so with it set to autodetect, what do they actually connect as? GEN 1, 2 or 3? GPU-z will tell, you, I'm really curious.
I'm not a fan of the BIOS screen either, totally threw me to start with. Which slots are you using for the first four cards?
I'm not a fan of the BIOS screen either, totally threw me to start with. Which slots are you using for the first four cards?
According to GPU-Z, 1x is running at 1x 3.0, the other 3x are running at 1x 2.0. As far as slots, I number my slots if you're looking at the motherboard from the back, where the connectors are, from left to right, 1 thru 7. So I'm using 1-4 right now, but I did try 1, 3, 5, 7 and it worked the same (just interested in seeing if there was a temp difference in my current design - there wasn't with these cards at least).
Thanks again. Good info to have, based on your numbering, slots 3,4 and 6 are a no go for me. I've now moved out two more 290x from one mining rig and put in place two RX480. So all the 1x slots were taken by RX480s. I changed the mode to GEN2 and it did boot to Windows, but it was really flaky, wouldn't mine on one of the cards and eventually crashed with a "thread stuck in device driver" error. So it seems I have slightly more luck with the RX480s than the 290x. But still there really is an issue. Fingers crossed the cables sort it out.
October 09, 2016, 10:46:32 AM
Ok, so with it set to autodetect, what do they actually connect as? GEN 1, 2 or 3? GPU-z will tell, you, I'm really curious.
I'm not a fan of the BIOS screen either, totally threw me to start with. Which slots are you using for the first four cards?
I'm not a fan of the BIOS screen either, totally threw me to start with. Which slots are you using for the first four cards?
According to GPU-Z, 1x is running at 1x 3.0, the other 3x are running at 1x 2.0. As far as slots, I number my slots if you're looking at the motherboard from the back, where the connectors are, from left to right, 1 thru 7. So I'm using 1-4 right now, but I did try 1, 3, 5, 7 and it worked the same (just interested in seeing if there was a temp difference in my current design - there wasn't with these cards at least).
October 09, 2016, 06:57:41 AM
Ok, so with it set to autodetect, what do they actually connect as? GEN 1, 2 or 3? GPU-z will tell, you, I'm really curious.
I'm not a fan of the BIOS screen either, totally threw me to start with. Which slots are you using for the first four cards?
I'm not a fan of the BIOS screen either, totally threw me to start with. Which slots are you using for the first four cards?
October 09, 2016, 04:08:17 AM
AutoDetect at what? When you start mining, what does GPU-z say? "... @ 1x 1.0" or "... @ 1x 2.0" or something else?
Autodetect of the PCI bus speed - most of the boards I've worked with have Auto, Gen1, Gen2, Gen3. I've seen people post that setting Gen1 sometimes fixes issues for them, but it never has for me and auto always seems to work.
Of course all of the risers have power plugged into the 4 pin molex. 
I had already ordered more USB 3 cables several weeks ago, but I think they got lost in the post
I will be interested to hear how you get on with the 7 slot MSI board.
I had already ordered more USB 3 cables several weeks ago, but I think they got lost in the post
I will be interested to hear how you get on with the 7 slot MSI board.
I did the initial build and I've got 4x RX480's in it right now, and it's working fine - no big surprise, haven't made it to the big 7 yet.
I've ordered 3x RX470's to make up the other 3 slots, so it should be fully rocking by the end of the week. So far my only complaint is they have some BS BIOS graphical display that doesn't work on my small portable monitor - totally stupid. October 09, 2016, 03:58:42 AM
Ordered a load of replacement cables. Fingers crossed that fixes it.
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