Very nice design, well built and looks to be very good at cooling. If your using windows I wouldn't recommend a fifth graphics card because they have problems after four but other than that, good job and best of luck!
Thanks! I also got the fifth card running now. Didn't work with 13.1 drivers (code 43 for one card), but with 12.6 all working. Seems like the older drivers are more likely to be ok with more than four cards.
I think I'm going to post some images in the 'Show us your rig'-Thread now
Sophokles,
Excellent Setup, neat and tidy very well designed. Did you try the 13.5 Beta drivers, they are very stable for me even better than 13.4
Back to the issue of the PCI-e riser cables, as i can understand you are currently using 1x risers (non powered) for all five GPUs, it that correct?
i have been reading tons about the subject and there is lots of conflicting views out there, so i would prefer the experience of a working setup.
What PSU you are using that provides 10 x 8 PCIe power connectors?
I have 4 non-powered risers. And one powered for the fifth. Working fine until now, even with litecoins, which brings extra load on the hardware. (Was too chicken to add a fifth without powered riser. Just read massnerder's thread before about his rig catching fire).
The PSU is an Enermax Platimaxx 1500. Real beauty. Comes with even 6x double 8 PCIe connectors. And a lot more stuff. Even certified to run 24/7 at 100% load, at 40 °C ambient temperature. Plus 93% efficiency. Comes at a price, but definitely worth it!
I am still not buying the need for powered riser with the 7970s, moderately OCed at stock voltage (1.17x v) each card burns approx 270W-280W (at wall socket measurement), since each card is feed with dual 8-pin PCIe power, that's 300W total which makes power draw from the mobo a minimal amount unless the card by design prefers to draw from the mobo than the PCIe power input.
Yes, exactly. Unless someone takes the time to measure it, we will not know how much power the 7970 draw from the PCIe slot. And so we cannot say if the mobo can safely provide 5 times that. I inquired with the mobo manufacturer, and they advised against running more than 3 high-end cards on that one.
So, try it if you feel lucky
. But the risk is burning up your board, or even setting your place on fire when it happens in your absence. I'd rather not risk it...check this post, have some figures on the PCIe slot current but for bitcoin mining
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.2082941
So, finally someone took the trouble of making and publishing measurements! If the 7970 actually only draws 0.9 A, then 5 of them would be no problem in terms if PCIe power draw. Or even several more.
just kidding.The only troubling part is about the card's memory drawing its power from the PCIe solt, that what makes all the difference between the Bitcoin and Litecoin mining. So i guess it will come down to your Thread Concurrency setting, too high TC will result in more memory used hence more power draw.
You can always check the mobo and power connectors to see if it is running hot as they described, not sure how we can do that effectivly with all the head blowing from the cards
