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Other => CPU/GPU Bitcoin mining hardware => Topic started by: worldinacoin on September 27, 2011, 03:35:33 PM



Title: Cheap and Easy to Get Motherboard for 2 GPU
Post by: worldinacoin on September 27, 2011, 03:35:33 PM
I am trying to get some cheap and easy to find MB for 2 GPUs, wonder if there is any recommendations?


Title: Re: Cheap and Easy to Get Motherboard for 2 GPU
Post by: Dargo on September 28, 2011, 06:00:49 AM
Any board with two pcie slots for the GPUs will do. Try to find one where the slots are spaced apart pretty well to give your cards room to breath. You probably want a board that is compatible with cheap AMD CPUs (i.e Sempron or Athlon). And think about future expansion. Some boards have an additional two pcie x1 slots, so you can get 4 GPUs working on one board with risers. Personally I like the Biostar A870U3 (around $65 USD). The only "con" with this board is that if you don't use risers, the two GPUs are quite close together. But my guess is that most cheap boards will be this way.


Title: Re: Cheap and Easy to Get Motherboard for 2 GPU
Post by: NeonFlash on September 29, 2011, 09:26:29 AM
If you are not planning to invest in 2 GPUs right away then I would advise you to go for a motherboard with only 1 PCIe 16x slot. Since, I know in certain local stores the price difference between a motherboard that has support for 1 slot as opposed to a M/B with support for 2 slots is way too much.

Instead you can save on that much money and invest it in a more powerful PSU which you can use later even with 2 GPUs.

The price difference between an ASUS M/B with 2 PCIe 16x slots and the one with only 1 PCIe 16x slot is 2 times. It just depends on where you are located and what boards are available.


Title: Re: Cheap and Easy to Get Motherboard for 2 GPU
Post by: worldinacoin on September 29, 2011, 01:46:00 PM
Not actually, I am thinking of using the 1 PCIe 16x slot and another GPU connected to the 1 PCIe1x slot which should be more easily available.  That's why I am looking for such motherboards.  Does it make sense or am I missing anything?

If you are not planning to invest in 2 GPUs right away then I would advise you to go for a motherboard with only 1 PCIe 16x slot. Since, I know in certain local stores the price difference between a motherboard that has support for 1 slot as opposed to a M/B with support for 2 slots is way too much.

Instead you can save on that much money and invest it in a more powerful PSU which you can use later even with 2 GPUs.

The price difference between an ASUS M/B with 2 PCIe 16x slots and the one with only 1 PCIe 16x slot is 2 times. It just depends on where you are located and what boards are available.


Title: Re: Cheap and Easy to Get Motherboard for 2 GPU
Post by: Dargo on September 29, 2011, 03:38:20 PM
Sure, this makes sense. The only thing to be aware of is that some motherboards are more finicky than others about running GPUs in the x1 slots. Some boards require that you short pins in order for this to work. The two threads below might be helpful for getting a sense for which brands will be easier to work with.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=37880.0

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=36061.0


Title: Re: Cheap and Easy to Get Motherboard for 2 GPU
Post by: coinflips on October 03, 2011, 09:21:52 PM
If you only want 2 GPUs, you could use the Asus E35M1-M Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131697

Nice and small board, low power consumption. You will need at least one PCI-e riser.


Title: Re: Cheap and Easy to Get Motherboard for 2 GPU
Post by: SuperTramp on October 03, 2011, 10:39:43 PM
I have a brand new AMD AM3+ ASUS mobo I could sell you : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131728


Expansion Slots

PCI Express 2.0 x16
    1

PCI Express x1
    2

PCI Slots
    1



-ST


Title: Re: Cheap and Easy to Get Motherboard for 2 GPU
Post by: BkkCoins on October 04, 2011, 06:03:43 AM
You shouldn't have much problem finding a board in the $50-60 range for 2 slots. Even some 4 slot boards can be had that low. I've got a $99 Gigabyte GA970A-D3 which has 2 x16 and 3 x1 slots. You shouldn't need to spend that much for only 2 slots.

If I were still looking I think I'd use NewEgg to narrow down suitable boards according to features/price and then plunk the model # into the forum search and see if you get any users reporting results/problems with the board.


Title: Re: Cheap and Easy to Get Motherboard for 2 GPU
Post by: abracadabra on October 20, 2011, 01:37:44 AM
Biostar A870U3, they were $45.99 shipped at newegg a while back.