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Topic: PCIE Expansion boards for GPU Mining! UPDATED W/ PRICES (Read 6574 times)

member
Activity: 197
Merit: 11
any update on this?

so the conclusion is better to stick using standard pcie riser??
sr. member
Activity: 286
Merit: 250
I think these expansion boards are too expensive. It is better to just use 6 or 7 PCIE slot monthboards.

The cheapest 7 slot motherboards I used was the MSI Z77A  GD-55. The price was about $160 then. So not too cheap.

This motherboards kept its value. I bought one for $160, and used it for two years and sold it for the same price.
newbie
Activity: 65
Merit: 0
I think these expansion boards are too expensive. It is better to just use 6 or 7 PCIE slot monthboards.

The cheapest 7 slot motherboards I used was the MSI Z77A  GD-55. The price was about $160 then. So not too cheap.
sr. member
Activity: 286
Merit: 250
I think these expansion boards are too expensive. It is better to just use 6 or 7 PCIE slot monthboards.
legendary
Activity: 1007
Merit: 1000
not a problem, he runs strictly AMD 270x's (his preference not mine) so in theory there should be no issue once they finally come in.
legendary
Activity: 1108
Merit: 1005
not yet, but i have a buddy who recently purchased something very similar (i think possibly with ribbon cable though).. just waiting on it to come in and then will be trying it out. Since I build all his rigs anyways, I will update with photos when it comes in. His find of that type of expansion board is what prodded me to find the ones in the OP

It would be nice if you, post your experience then.

Now I found this in description:
NOTICE: Please don't use it for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti because it can't support.

So now I'm to sure if it's useless only for 750Ti, or for all new Nvidia cards.
legendary
Activity: 1007
Merit: 1000
not yet, but i have a buddy who recently purchased something very similar (i think possibly with ribbon cable though).. just waiting on it to come in and then will be trying it out. Since I build all his rigs anyways, I will update with photos when it comes in. His find of that type of expansion board is what prodded me to find the ones in the OP
legendary
Activity: 1007
Merit: 1000
As far as I know you can use 7 GPUs to any rig, since Bios supports only 7 GPUs?How did you overcome this issue?

For the AMD graphics cards drivers, you can use up to 8 GPU in a motherboard, for example 4X7990+4X390.
I agree except for the models youve used in your examples.... isnt a 7990 a dual-gpu, therefor 4x7990 = 8gpu max?
hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 502
I don't see the interest of this, since you can get a whole computer for less than 350$, including the big 1000W PSU.
hero member
Activity: 687
Merit: 511

SKU-076-01    PCI Express Expansion backplane                           1        $ 498.56 USD

                             [x1 PCIe Host board, 5ft cable]

 

SKU-076-02    PCI Express Expansion backplane                           1        $ 512.08 USD

                             [x1 PCIe Host board, 10ft cable]


SKU-078-11     GPU-oriented PCIe Cluster (5ft cable)                    1        $ 453.73 USD

                         [1 Clusters (up to 4 GPU) + 1 channel Host board]

                       Stock.

Yup, this is pretty much always been the case - it's cheaper to just buy another machine, than it is to buy just one of their backplanes.  The problem is the demand just isn't there with these types of setups to move enough units to get any kind of volume discount - plus China pumps out these 16x riser boards for next to nothing, so it's really hard to compete with that.
newbie
Activity: 65
Merit: 0
As far as I know you can use 7 GPUs to any rig, since Bios supports only 7 GPUs?How did you overcome this issue?

For the AMD graphics cards drivers, you can use up to 8 GPU in a motherboard, for example 4X7990+4X390.
legendary
Activity: 3206
Merit: 1069
These things work but are usually overpriced and its cheaper just buying another motherboard+cpu.

yes in fact it's possible to buy mb+cpu+ram+ssd for less than $100 if they are used, new they are around $160 and since you can not avoid buying other psu anyway, it's pointless

also there are some bad story about power risers and two psu with he asrock if you use two molex(one from each psu), you would fry your motherboard
Interesting, I havent run into this issue yet, Ive been using asrock PRO BTC h81 boards for awhile now, and generally set it so which ever psu powers a specific GPU, also powers the molex, eg: 2 gpu's and 2 molex for one 650 watt, and 3-4 plus their molex's on a 850 watt. What exactly is the issue with this setup that causes the board to fry?

it's because one of the psu short with the other, that's why you need to connect both molex from the same psu

to be honest i'm not so sure what's the deal with two psu, it's an useless setup that only lead to waste of space, today gpu consume very little wattege, dual psu is a thing of the past since last generation

a 1500w can handle easily 6x 1070 or 6 x 480 and 490 when they will come out
sr. member
Activity: 331
Merit: 250
As far as I know you can use 7 GPUs to any rig, since Bios supports only 7 GPUs?How did you overcome this issue?
newbie
Activity: 30
Merit: 0
...The only thing that's lame is the ATX power supply - if you're scaling to something like this, you'll probably be using server PSU as their quality is much higher and cost is much lower.  All of my 6x card systems use server PSU - so apart from that, I think it's a cool idea...
I've not heard of anyone mining with server hardware - most people I've read prefer consumer hardware for the low entry cost.  Are you only using server power supplies, or are you using server motherboards?  Actually, would you mind posting the hardware configs for one of your 6x miner setups?  I'm always interested in alternative setups...
legendary
Activity: 1007
Merit: 1000
well, by my calculations (which could always be waaaay off lol):
16 cards * 6 slots = 96 cards  (on a PRO BTC)
96 cards * 170 watts/card = 16,320 watts  (assuming gigabyte 270x windforce, my kill-o-watt reads 150-170)
So, minimum you would need 16 * 1100 watt PSU's plus a small 250-300 watt PSU to run the PRO-BTC board.

Lmao I wonder if the windows AMD driver modder program can handle 96 cards LMFAO

no way it can not even handle 8 properly, let alone 96, not to mention you are still forced to buy psu anyway which is the most expensive out of all the components that do not mine

better to stick with the standard six gpu rig
This was also my thought, as Ive had to use modded drivers just to get 5-6 running in windows (switching back to linux). But their site claims 16 GPUs for one slot, so I assume they can AT LEAST handle that many. Now the 96 cards is obviously theoretical, but I was just extending the math to its furthest possibilities given 6 pcie slots.
legendary
Activity: 1007
Merit: 1000
These things work but are usually overpriced and its cheaper just buying another motherboard+cpu.

yes in fact it's possible to buy mb+cpu+ram+ssd for less than $100 if they are used, new they are around $160 and since you can not avoid buying other psu anyway, it's pointless

also there are some bad story about power risers and two psu with he asrock if you use two molex(one from each psu), you would fry your motherboard
Interesting, I havent run into this issue yet, Ive been using asrock PRO BTC h81 boards for awhile now, and generally set it so which ever psu powers a specific GPU, also powers the molex, eg: 2 gpu's and 2 molex for one 650 watt, and 3-4 plus their molex's on a 850 watt. What exactly is the issue with this setup that causes the board to fry?
legendary
Activity: 3206
Merit: 1069
These things work but are usually overpriced and its cheaper just buying another motherboard+cpu.

yes in fact it's possible to buy mb+cpu+ram+ssd for less than $100 if they are used, new they are around $160 and since you can not avoid buying other psu anyway, it's pointless

also there are some bad story about power risers and two psu with he asrock if you use two molex(one from each psu), you would fry your motherboard
legendary
Activity: 3738
Merit: 1708
These things work but are usually overpriced and its cheaper just buying another motherboard+cpu.
legendary
Activity: 3206
Merit: 1069
well, by my calculations (which could always be waaaay off lol):
16 cards * 6 slots = 96 cards  (on a PRO BTC)
96 cards * 170 watts/card = 16,320 watts  (assuming gigabyte 270x windforce, my kill-o-watt reads 150-170)
So, minimum you would need 16 * 1100 watt PSU's plus a small 250-300 watt PSU to run the PRO-BTC board.

Lmao I wonder if the windows AMD driver modder program can handle 96 cards LMFAO

no way it can not even handle 8 properly, let alone 96, not to mention you are still forced to buy psu anyway which is the most expensive out of all the components that do not mine

better to stick with the standard six gpu rig
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