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Title: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: kibblesnbits on March 15, 2012, 04:49:47 PM Apologies if it's been posted before. I tried looking on the forum and didn't see it..
http://plxtech.com/files/products/usbcontrollers/pcie_to_usb3.html Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: DeathAndTaxes on March 15, 2012, 05:01:55 PM Probably but AMD drivers have a limit of 8 GPUs. The cost per slot isn't very high for most boards.
$60 board w/ 4 slots = $15 per slot. $100 board w/ 5 slots = $20 per slot. $140 board w/ 6 slots = $23 per slot. If AMD had no GPU limit it might be more interesting. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: tritium on March 15, 2012, 05:06:25 PM also it depends how much power can be supplied through the USB3, can it do 75w like the PCIe or would it be limited to low power/low end graphics cards
Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: DeathAndTaxes on March 15, 2012, 05:07:18 PM also it depends how much power can be supplied through the USB3, can it do 75w like the PCIe or would it be limited to low power/low end graphics cards You could rig up an short extender to supply power via Molex connector. I would imagine it has an external PSU though as all cards use the bus for some power. Low end cards don't really pull any less than high end ones (~20W to 40W).Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: Jaryu on March 15, 2012, 09:31:10 PM Probably but AMD drivers have a limit of 8 GPUs. The cost per slot isn't very high for most boards. $60 board w/ 4 slots = $15 per slot. $100 board w/ 5 slots = $20 per slot. $140 board w/ 6 slots = $23 per slot. If AMD had no GPU limit it might be more interesting. isn't the problem in part due to the bios, since this would only boot the card "after" post and inside windows/linux all they would need is to do is release the driver lock on card number and enjoy a 256 card in a single rig :p BTW are those for sale somewhere? I couldn't find any info on company site and Google didn't turn up anything either. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: kibblesnbits on March 15, 2012, 10:48:53 PM That's what I was thinking, it would be a limitation of USB, not PCIe.
The links to merchants are on their website, however some are dead. (not a good sign) Video looked pretty straight forward, though. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: Jaryu on March 16, 2012, 12:45:07 AM can't find a single product that uses that chip and any attempt to search using the obvious "usb to pci express" or variations with the 3382 chip returns every ad for a pci express usb host controller.... urg...
Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: N.Olmos on March 16, 2012, 02:22:29 AM I think this is the part.
PLX Technology USB3382-AA50NI G TWO X1-PORT PCI EXPRESS GEN 2.0 TO USB 3.0 SUPERSPEED PERIPH One Source http://avnetexpress.avnet.com/store/em/EMController?action=products&catalogId=500201&storeId=500201&N=0&langId=-1&slnk=e&term=USB3382-AA50NI%22G&mfr=PLZ&hrf=http%3A%2F%2Foctopart.com%2Fusb3382-aa50ni%252Bg-plx-19995644&CMP=KNC-Octopart_VSE Parts List http://www.plxtech.com/products/usbcontrollers/partlisting Download Product Brief http://www.plxtech.com/products/usbcontrollers/usb3382 Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: PulsedMedia on March 16, 2012, 07:38:44 AM So USB3.0 device to connect 2x PCI-E devices?
On another thread there was just talk about this, i thought i had seen something like this but thinking it had to be a joke or something ... Anyone know who has these actually on sale and at a price? Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: DeathAndTaxes on March 16, 2012, 01:15:03 PM That's what I was thinking, it would be a limitation of USB, not PCIe. The links to merchants are on their website, however some are dead. (not a good sign) Video looked pretty straight forward, though. There are three limits. 1) AMD drivers have a hardcoded limit of 8 devices. AMD has indicated no intentions of increasing this. 2) Unlike NVidia, AMD drivers are hard linked to xorg (or Aero in windows). They ARE Graphics cards which we happen to mine. Not general purpose compute modules which CAN be used as graphics cards. Neither xorg nor windows support more than 8 graphics cards. 3) There is a BIOS limit as each PCIe device needs to be allocated memory. Foolishly most bioses are working with very small memory range. Using USB 3.0 doesn't magic away the problem. This is simply a USB 3.0 to PCIe bridge. It will be seen by the BIOS as additional PCIe slots which have devices that need to be initialized. Issue #3 has been solved by custom BIOS. Issue #2 has been solved by custom version of xorg which ignores the GPUs (doesn't see them as GPUs). However these have only been solved on NVidia based systems. AMD hardcoded device limit combined with hard linking to graphical subsystem of the OS is a project killer. Without AMD joining the 21st century and treating GPUs as independent computing engines (like NVidia does) you won't have more than 8 GPU per rig. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: PulsedMedia on March 16, 2012, 04:23:21 PM Yes, but you could using these have more than 5x7970 on single rig ;D
But mostly they are just curiosities :) Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: Jaryu on March 16, 2012, 04:38:23 PM Yes, but you could using these have more than 5x7970 on single rig ;D But mostly they are just curiosities :) I've seen mother boards with 8 PCIe slots, they just cost too much. And for 8 x 7970s you could get 6 of the 7990s when they come out. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: PulsedMedia on March 16, 2012, 04:46:52 PM Yes, but you could using these have more than 5x7970 on single rig ;D But mostly they are just curiosities :) I've seen mother boards with 8 PCIe slots, they just cost too much. And for 8 x 7970s you could get 6 of the 7990s when they come out. I seriously doubt 7990 is only 33% more expensive per card. Try more like 80%. 7970s are damn cheap right now, well for me atleast ... Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: Jaryu on March 16, 2012, 04:53:39 PM Yes, but you could using these have more than 5x7970 on single rig ;D But mostly they are just curiosities :) I've seen mother boards with 8 PCIe slots, they just cost too much. And for 8 x 7970s you could get 6 of the 7990s when they come out. I seriously doubt 7990 is only 33% more expensive per card. Try more like 80%. 7970s are damn cheap right now, well for me atleast ... The 7990s have had their price out for more than 4 months. You can just search for it, in 100% of places that talk about it's always the same $ 850 for the basic reference design. If retailers are going to pad the price some then I don't know. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: PulsedMedia on March 16, 2012, 04:58:25 PM Yes, but you could using these have more than 5x7970 on single rig ;D But mostly they are just curiosities :) I've seen mother boards with 8 PCIe slots, they just cost too much. And for 8 x 7970s you could get 6 of the 7990s when they come out. I seriously doubt 7990 is only 33% more expensive per card. Try more like 80%. 7970s are damn cheap right now, well for me atleast ... The 7990s have had their price out for more than 4 months. You can just search for it, in 100% of places that talk about it's always the same $ 850 for the basic reference design. If retailers are going to pad the price some then I don't know. Exactly like i assumed, that is pretty much double price. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: P_Shep on March 16, 2012, 05:16:39 PM Buuuuuuut...
*Could* it be used to add PCIe devices to, say, a Rasberry Pi? Maybe... maybe... Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: P_Shep on March 16, 2012, 05:17:21 PM Wait, that would require USB 3.0 on a Raspberry Pi.
Nevermind! Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: PulsedMedia on March 16, 2012, 06:03:43 PM Wait, that would require USB 3.0 on a Raspberry Pi. Nevermind! Doesn't Raspberry Pi have some USB interface? USB is backwards compatible on that direction too, i think. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: P_Shep on March 16, 2012, 06:30:01 PM Wait, that would require USB 3.0 on a Raspberry Pi. Nevermind! Doesn't Raspberry Pi have some USB interface? USB is backwards compatible on that direction too, i think. Yeah, USB 2.0. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: mc_lovin on March 16, 2012, 06:35:52 PM Yes, but you could using these have more than 5x7970 on single rig ;D But mostly they are just curiosities :) I've seen mother boards with 8 PCIe slots, they just cost too much. And for 8 x 7970s you could get 6 of the 7990s when they come out. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: Jaryu on March 16, 2012, 06:57:00 PM Yes, but you could using these have more than 5x7970 on single rig ;D But mostly they are just curiosities :) I've seen mother boards with 8 PCIe slots, they just cost too much. And for 8 x 7970s you could get 6 of the 7990s when they come out. Yea I know, I just said that for the money you better off getting the 6 x 7990's vs the 8 x 7970's Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: Jaryu on March 16, 2012, 07:06:46 PM Yes, but you could using these have more than 5x7970 on single rig ;D But mostly they are just curiosities :) I've seen mother boards with 8 PCIe slots, they just cost too much. And for 8 x 7970s you could get 6 of the 7990s when they come out. I seriously doubt 7990 is only 33% more expensive per card. Try more like 80%. 7970s are damn cheap right now, well for me atleast ... The 7990s have had their price out for more than 4 months. You can just search for it, in 100% of places that talk about it's always the same $ 850 for the basic reference design. If retailers are going to pad the price some then I don't know. Exactly like i assumed, that is pretty much double price. ?... 850(7990) / 535(7970 on newegg multiple card price) = 1.589 so the 7990 is 59% more expensive than the cheapest 7970, there are lots of them going for $600+, I would venture to say that is quite far from being almost double the price. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: PulsedMedia on March 16, 2012, 08:14:32 PM ?... 850(7990) / 535(7970 on newegg multiple card price) = 1.589 so the 7990 is 59% more expensive than the cheapest 7970, there are lots of them going for $600+, I would venture to say that is quite far from being almost double the price. Unless you happen to be paying far less per 7970 than newegg pricing :) I get new ones for about 445$ incl. shipping, with interest free credit when purchasing them ... Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: Jaryu on March 16, 2012, 08:35:58 PM ?... 850(7990) / 535(7970 on newegg multiple card price) = 1.589 so the 7990 is 59% more expensive than the cheapest 7970, there are lots of them going for $600+, I would venture to say that is quite far from being almost double the price. Unless you happen to be paying far less per 7970 than newegg pricing :) I get new ones for about 445$ incl. shipping, with interest free credit when purchasing them ... that is very nice indeed, any chance of letting us know where you getting them from for such great price? Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: PulsedMedia on March 16, 2012, 08:51:05 PM ?... 850(7990) / 535(7970 on newegg multiple card price) = 1.589 so the 7990 is 59% more expensive than the cheapest 7970, there are lots of them going for $600+, I would venture to say that is quite far from being almost double the price. Unless you happen to be paying far less per 7970 than newegg pricing :) I get new ones for about 445$ incl. shipping, with interest free credit when purchasing them ... that is very nice indeed, any chance of letting us know where you getting them from for such great price? It's a finnish store. Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: Jaryu on March 16, 2012, 11:05:39 PM ?... 850(7990) / 535(7970 on newegg multiple card price) = 1.589 so the 7990 is 59% more expensive than the cheapest 7970, there are lots of them going for $600+, I would venture to say that is quite far from being almost double the price. Unless you happen to be paying far less per 7970 than newegg pricing :) I get new ones for about 445$ incl. shipping, with interest free credit when purchasing them ... that is very nice indeed, any chance of letting us know where you getting them from for such great price? It's a finnish store. sorry can't find any finnish store that has a 7970 for that $445 price in Dollars I find plenty selling them for £445, in dollars $445 seems to be bellow the company FOB price of ~$475 Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: PulsedMedia on March 17, 2012, 02:42:38 AM sorry can't find any finnish store that has a 7970 for that $445 price in Dollars I find plenty selling them for £445, in dollars $445 seems to be bellow the company FOB price of ~$475 No finnish store sells in either currency ... Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: Jaryu on March 17, 2012, 05:08:05 AM sorry can't find any finnish store that has a 7970 for that $445 price in Dollars I find plenty selling them for £445, in dollars $445 seems to be bellow the company FOB price of ~$475 No finnish store sells in either currency ... I am sorry but if we are talking about the same thing then you will need to post a link of the place you are buying those under cost cards. When you buy in a different currency they take the numbers of your credit card and Visa, MC, Amex or Disc deal with the currency exchange... but still there isn't a place in the internet that mentions anything about a $445 bucks 7970 they mention a $25 price cut from the base $550 price which retailers don't have to pass on(which newegg gives some when you buy 2+)... but just maybe you are confused about currency we are talking about, the £445 = $704.48 (today's price) not really apples to apples and the 7990 will cost in $ here in america not in £ and $704.48 is 83% of the cost of a single 7990 for half the hashing power. Just saying :p Title: Re: Soooo, would this work for mining? PCIe to USB 3.0 controller Post by: PulsedMedia on March 17, 2012, 05:25:39 AM sorry can't find any finnish store that has a 7970 for that $445 price in Dollars I find plenty selling them for £445, in dollars $445 seems to be bellow the company FOB price of ~$475 No finnish store sells in either currency ... I am sorry but if we are talking about the same thing then you will need to post a link of the place you are buying those under cost cards. When you buy in a different currency they take the numbers of your credit card and Visa, MC, Amex or Disc deal with the currency exchange... but still there isn't a place in the internet that mentions anything about a $445 bucks 7970 they mention a $25 price cut from the base $550 price which retailers don't have to pass on(which newegg gives some when you buy 2+)... but just maybe you are confused about currency we are talking about, the £445 = $704.48 (today's price) not really apples to apples and the 7990 will cost in $ here in america not in £ and $704.48 is 83% of the cost of a single 7990 for half the hashing power. Just saying :p I'm Finnish, like i told you already, we use Euro, not Pound Sterling. No, i'm not confusing. They do not accept CCs, only finnish banks etc. Even if you are Finn you can't get that price unless you are a company. Because Finland has so insanely high taxes we get sometimes subsidized by multinational corporations. For example, many Germans come here to buy their BMW ... I can sell you some cards for, say 500$ + shipping, i ought to have 2 to sell next week unless mobo, psu etc. for new rig arrives. |