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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130645&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL062112&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL062112-_-EMC-062112-Index-_-IntelMotherboards-_-13130645-L0A

on sale.  I wonder if it could run 7x 7970's

if i count right it has 6 pcie and 1 pci

this one was better!

EVGA X58 4-Way Classified 170-BL-E762-RX, 7 pci-e 2.0 x16.0 slots - $140
May 26, 2012, 07:59:02 AM
      #1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188078

after using Ref20

refurbished, but has a 90 day warranty

-----

ed: oh, haha, it's still there.  $127.50 now, though

its 7 pcie. the bottom slot is pci express. it just is different than the others.

I think I'd prefer the LGA1155 to the LGA1366 board, at least for mining. You can pick up a $50 G530 off Newegg instead of having to try and find a cheap used LGA1366 processor, and you could probably even run a display off the IGP and leave all the GPUs dedicated if you really wanted to.

The problem with that board is that it's a socket 1366. Even a used, 3 year old 920 is ~150. The MB in the OP is socket 1155, which is a lot cheaper to shop for. Newegg is selling a socket 1155 Celeron G440 for $41 with free shipping. Much better deal, imo.

you can grab a used Xeon for $50 or so, I'd think

you count wrong.

PCI Express 3.0 x16 - 2
PCI Express 2.0 x16 - 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slot - PCI_E7 supports up to PCIe 2.0 x4 speed
PCI Express x1 - 4

A LGA 1366 Xeon? I highly doubt that.

The only issue with that MSI board is that you're going to need an Ivy Bridge processor in order to utilize the other PCIe x16 slots.  The cheapest are around $200 on Newegg.  Not that great of a deal.  

Has anyone but me have tested the PCIE x1 slots on Panther Point with mining?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88793.msg978428#msg978428

I didnt follow with the new chipset recently. Can you elaborate more on this?

Or you can link me to what you're saying.

Thanks

Not quite $50 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-SLBEZ-Intel-Processor-Xeon-Dual-Core-1-86-GHz-Bus-Speed-4-80-GT-s-LGA1366-/190690731143?pt=CPUs&hash=item2c660da487) but it is a Xeon which means it is much more reliable than el-cheapo Pentium/Celeron.

According to the manual, it like 6 slots, but I could be wrong.

Slots
  2x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots
  1x PCIe 2.0 x16 slot
  - PCI_E7 supports up to PCIe x4 speed
  4x PCIe 2.0 x1 slots
  - When PCI_E4 is installed, PCI_E3 will be no function.

PCI_E1  x1
PCI_E2  3.0x16
PCI_E3/PCI_E4  x1 (shared)
PCI_E5  3.0x16
PCI_E6  x1
PCI_E7  2.0x16

Some Z77 boards use PCIe Gen3 PLX switches meaning that in order to use the other slots you need a CPU that has enough PCIe bandwidth (aka Ivy Bridge).  An example is Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4139#ov).  If you check out the specifications for expansion slots, it lists that the third PCI Express x16 slot operates at 4x electrically and is "available only when an Intel 22nm (Ivy Bridge) CPU is installed" since it shares bandwidth with the other two x16 slots.  In terms of available PCIe bandwidth from the IB CPU, it would go from 16 lanes → 8/8 when the first two are filled → 8/4/4 when all three x16 slots are occupied.  So it should be able to do 3-way SLI if Gigabyte got certification from Nvidia.

Then this isnt an issue with mining then.

I thought the slot is disabled comepletely.

Some do. Take a look at the table 1/3rd of the way down the page on this look at the MSI Z77A-GD80. The MB supports 8/4/4 with IB, but only 8/8 with SB.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5829/a-first-look-at-thunderbolt-on-windows-with-msis-z77agd80

oh, but that's a new (oem it looks like) one..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-EC3539-SLBWJ-quad-core-1366-CPU-Jasper-Forest-Nehalem-uniprocessor-/221044005953?pt=CPUs&hash=item33773fdc41#ht_2049wt_932

there!

used one for $25

(hmm, nm, I read the description, it wouldn't work)

ok, the $85 one was good

Ignore this, as it was the adapter and not the panther point board.

Is G530 the most power efficient CPU?

Actually no. The G530 has a TDP of 65Watts. The G440 (which is also only $41 on Newegg) has a TDP of 35Watts. Now these are power draw at max load, but the point remains.

Also, the G530 is a dual core, while the G440 is a single core. At idle (which is 99% of the time while mining), the difference is going to be something insignificant, however. I'm guessing like going from 10 to 15Watts? (totally uneducated guess)

Hmm, if anyone really knows what the wattage while mining is that'd make my day and not in the clint way

TDP is not the max power draw of the chip, it's a number used to let OEMs build sufficient cooling systems. You can probably find some apples to apples max power draw benchmarks out there, but I would guess that the difference between the two while mining is minimal, a few watts at most.

I realize that that TDP refers not to the max power draw, but to the amount of heat a cooling system can dissipate. However, those numbers are there for a reason. If I single core chip is rated for use with a cooling system that can only handle 35W of heat, and another dual core chip is rated for 65W, you can expect it use about 2x the power at max load. It might not be exactly 2x at idle, but I'm guessing maybe 1.5x?

Maybe something like that.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/celeron-g540-g440_7.html#sect0
18W more at the wall at full load than the G440. Note how the G440 uses more than any of the low power chips at idle since it doesn't support EIST.

Excellent graphs! So the 540 will pull 6W less than the 440 at idle, but 17W more at load. We only really care about idle, so I take it back: the 440 is not the absolute best for mining, assuming you're squeezing every last W out of your system. Still, for $41, it's hard to beat.

So I'd definately get the G530. If I retire it as a miner it would be more useful in other applications having a dual core and higher clock