Bitcoin Forum

Hello Bitcointalk members!
I came across something I found rather neat today in my random google searching lol. I was wondering if anyone here has seen/used one of these pcie expansion boards, if they work well, and what the limit may be for one Mboard. I realize that each one would need its own PSU, but thats really not a problem as I have already daisy-chained 2 and 3 in rigs, and assume more would simply work the same way.

http://amfeltec.com/products/pcie-expansion-backplane/ (http://amfeltec.com/products/pcie-expansion-backplane/)

http://amfeltec.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/PCIe_chassis_3U_l.jpg  <--- expansion backplate



Or... even crazier, they claim using 4 of these (link provided below) you can have 16 GPU's running from ONE PCIE SLOT!!!! imagine on a h81 PRO BTC!

http://amfeltec.com/products/gpu-oriented-cluster/ (http://amfeltec.com/products/gpu-oriented-cluster/)


UPDATE
Ok, so I contacted the company for some details, and was suuuper sad with the reply. AMPH was the closest with predictions as to what it could ACTUALLY handle.

heres some snippets of the email:

.......
Thank you for your interest in our products.
Please note the general purpose motherboard will not support more than 6-8 GPUs. This is the motherboard/BIOS limitation.
You can use the server type dual CPU motherboard like SuperMicro X9DRX+-F for supporting up to 12 GPUs.
......

<sup>Quotation (Prices in USD)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SKU                                  Item                                                   Qty           Unit Price        

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

 

For 10ft cable for SKU-078-xx please add $12.75 USD per Cluster.</sup>

Not sure if I can buy such in my country though but that should be quite neat than having multiple PCs but would it still be effective or same result to mine like ETH?
Was also planing to try Mining ETH lately as i just discover my electricity bill is lesser than the regular consumer.

I guess adding PSU for each will still increase electricity consumption. :)

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

This version is particularly interesting, as you see they actually space the cards out for GPU, with two on the top and two mounted to the bottom.  Pretty cool, I'd actually considered something similar... 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.

The fact you need to get a quote makes me think that the price is not going to be that affordable for mining...  If you get some pricing, post it up on here.

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

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?

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.

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...

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?

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

For the AMD graphics cards drivers, you can use up to 8 GPU in a motherboard, for example 4X7990+4X390.

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.

I don't see the interest of this, since you can get a whole computer for less than 350$, including the big 1000W PSU.

I agree except for the models youve used in your examples.... isnt a 7990 a dual-gpu, therefor 4x7990 = 8gpu max?

Found this inanother thread
http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-shipping-1-to-4-PCI-express-1X-slots-Riser-Card-Expansion-adapter-PCI-e-Port/710969_32251891381.html

I'm curious if someone already tested it.

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.

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.

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.

any update on this?

so the conclusion is better to stick using standard pcie riser??