I've seen one of my 5970s exhibit this bug without any flashing or mis-flashing actually.  It was sent back for RMA / repair. 

  Generally once the drivers are installed, you should see four GPUs (for your two cards) show up in monitoring software. 

  It could be a bad flash as you said but just saying I've seen it happen by default.  Whether this is actually due to a bad BIOS or a hardware issue though is something I am waiting to find out.

More articles on OCN today are showing the specs to be pretty locked down to what the OP wrote.  Base clock of 1,000 MHz and boostable from there.  

http://www.overclock.net/t/1228536/tpu-geforce-gtx-680-specifications-sheet-leaked

Article also said though that it might cost ~$550.  I suppose that'd put it in something like 7970 territory but suppose we'd have to see if it'd mine as well with an architecture reconfiguration.

Granted we all know how power can spike with an OC but a TDP of 200w is nice!

Thanks Death,

Yeah I just took some time to go through the selection I even noted in the OP.

Granted some of the boards aren't below $200 but I was looking at capability first and cost second.  It's still overall, a pretty rare configuration.

Lots of boards seem like they can do 3 cards with space between them but the third one, whether overhanging the bottom or not, are often blocking the board headers. 

Cool, thanks.

My main rig is EVGA so I've liked their parts and warranties.  Just figured it'd be slightly cheaper to go the AMD route hence all of my actual miners have been AMD-based.

  So it sounds like they're going the many stream processors route too huh? 

  Again AFAIK this is supposed to be the mid-range card, right?

  One of my cards is seeming to have a dead core quite often but IDK if it's due to EM or simply a dud card.  Diamond's looking into it though so we'll see.  I wonder if EM is the issue of the second card in that system though as it randomly sees and doesn't see the cores.  Either way, sending both back. 

  Can't vouch for standard clock instability really so far.  I'll get back to you in a year

  Sorry to bump this but found this today in Newegg's deals on the Intel side of things:

  EVGA X58 FTW3
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188065

  Looks like 3 cards could work in here too without hitting the headers.

  The MSI G70 board is sold out for the moment though.

I'll echo some of the other positions in the thread as well.  While I've honestly yet to try Linux (and heard it's great), I'm simply comfortable using Windows and haven't had any OS problems on any of my rigs at all.  Firewall, antivirus, configured updates and that's it.  Remote w/Logmein and watching a pool and it's so far served as a great check to see things if they're working fine or not.

It might be much faster to set up a system with Linux though, but again, uptime is everything.

Very nice job, Death!  While I don't have a giant rack for my rigs, it's cool to see that those can be used.  I've not done water cooling before though so yeah while it is tempting for even lower temps, that's a lot of extra parts for even a handful of 5970s. 

  For my remote systems, it's always nice to go issue a remote physical power-on and off reboot should something crash.  I was really thinking of how to do this aside from setting up and testing WOL.

  If a simple box / interface that is hooked up to the machine(s) could cycle them off and on remotely if necessary that'd be great. 

  I'm interested to see how this works out.  For $100 that's not bad at all to invest in.

Wow that's one heck of an attack.  Terribly sorry to hear about the loss but hopefully you can recouperate in some way with the company or community.  

Is Linode like a version of Linux or server software, or just a hosting company such as 1&1, Dreamhost, GoDaddy etc.?  I suppose whether it is Windows, Linux, or Mac, if someone knows what they are doing it doesn't matter what software runs the wallet.  A user could get to the right files if they know.  

That's one heck of a unit.

Yes I did for some.  RMA can happen with any manufacturer though so I understand.  Yeah people do post horrible reviews for the stupidest reasons, haha.  I always read the reviews before purchase; it is just nice as well to receive feedback from people on the forum here who've owned the linked products as well, that's all. 

Basically it sounds like, if you're competent, you're fine.  No I won't be RAIDing

Thanks Death.  Is the MSI really that good then?  Almost 20% 1 egg doesn't really inspire my confidence.  Nearly every other board has ~80+% on the 5 and 4 eggs. 

No I gotcha..not sure what to call those either other than graphic card slots, tabs, or expansion slots.  What makes the MSI so appealing if I may ask please?

I thought a 5970 would require too much power over what extender could provide? 

Yes, I would like the systems in cases.  Just a personal choice, I know.

Even if I did use PCIe Extenders, I wouldn't have a place to put the cards unless rigged around the case or on the table.  Wait.. I might have to build a custom enclosure then?!  MADNESS!  Kidding aside, no sorry.  Just not really looking at that route.

For an ATX board, I thought I ruled that one out because the bottom slot would have a 5970 block all the headers?  Doesn't look like it'd fit.  The price is pretty good though

  Hey everyone,

  I thought I'd post this as both a question for others but also to ease anyone looking at the hardware side.  I was contemplating to consolidate any further endeavors into mining and noticed that I only really picked up boards enabling 2 cards each (as was the plan originally).  Now that I've seen people run 3 dual-slot cards successfully, I wanted to rummage through boards to find out which one wouldn't have the pesky header problem of slot #7 or below.  

  Surprisingly there are only a few boards.

  ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AM3
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131644

  MSI 890FXA-GD70 (not the 80)
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130274

  Gigabyte GA-990FXA UD5
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128509

  EVGA P67 FTW E679-KR
  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188082

  Now since I've tried out some UD3s and a UD7, I'd probably go with the UD5 personally but I see nothing with with EVGA on the Intel side.  I know that Ogrr post with a guy selling 25 systems seemed to have MSI boards but the ratings are a bit too low for me personally to trust it (haven't used MSI before).  

  Does anyone else own any of these boards or can recommend a particular one?

  Trying to basically put a 5970 in slots #1-2, leave #3 empty, a card in #4-5, leave #6 empty, and a card in slots #7 (or #7-8).  I have no problem cooling 2-card systems with a few front and side case fans but as always, cards near each other tend to be starved for air.  

  On the ASUS board, slots #1, #3, and #5 would be populated.
  On the MSI board, slots #1, #4, and #7 would be populated (or I suppose, #1, #3, and #5).
  On the Gigabyte board, slots #1, #3, and #5 would be populated.
  On the EVGA board, slots #1, #3, and #6 would be populated (or I suppose #1, #4, and #6).

  Still looking at Cooler Master 1200 Silent Pro Golds for power.  Figure that they'd cut it for a 3-card system with a little headroom, unless I jumped up to a 1,500 unit? Hmm.

  Thanks.

Hmm sure.

$5.6520

Sorry Giga, I think I was focusing on price moreso than efficiency.  Obviously your #s are right and no a 5970 wouldn't be anywhere near close. 

I was wondering to myself though if FPGAs can still be used for anything else except mining.  I know the market will continue but if it were to crash, I'd believe GPUs to have some resale value vs FPGAs which I don't know what else you could do with. 

FPGAs are good for people who have high power costs, not great areas to mine with cooling, and perhaps a lack of space though.  4 of them would edge out the price of one (full w/case) rig + 3 5970s pretty well (let's estimate 3,200 MH VS 2,200 MH) by quite a good margin, though 3 FPGAs and you're kind of close there.  I would again just wonder what else they could be used for before turning my entire operation into FPGA blocks.

Wow those look really tempting now.  Pretty close to a 5970 / 6990 but without the power, heat, or noise.  But as was said, they're only *just* slightly more efficient for MH/$.