Are 6 PCIe slot boards worth the mark up?

[bugzy3188]

Hey all,

New guy here, just going over the data that is available and trying to see if building a mining rig is viable, ultimately I would like this to be something lucrative, but for now I am just looking to get my feet wet and not end up in the red while I get the hang of all of this. Going over some of the recommended specs for motherboards, I see that H81 seems to be a preferred chipset and having 6x PCIe support is key in order to get 6 cards up and running. As I am sure many of you are aware, these boards are marked up to a much higher secondary value given the supply and demand. I see that one can still get 5x PCIe boards for about a hundred bucks and am wondering if this is a better option.

As I mentioned before, this is something that I would like to possibly turn in to a more profitable project for myself so scalability is something that I have in mind. I don't mind paying the $400+ for a 6 PCIe motherboard for my first rig, but this doesnt seem like something that is sustainable over time as one expands.

What do you other custom rig users use to keep costs minimal while maximizing your hashrates and scalability?

PS - Go easy on me, I am still very much in the learning phase here

[gwestcot]

Nope I would opt for getting the 6 slot boards because of their ease of use and especially if you plan to mine with multiple rigs. If you are just throwing together a small farm then 5 or less is ok. My preferred board is the TB250 which is of course marked up on the secondary market but it doesn't take very long to ROI with just a 50 dollar difference...

[JaredKaragen]

Consider the cost of PCIE splitters when paying for a board.

That right there will make the board cost not an issue if it's not a gouge of $200+

[botarnold]

You can check out my other post.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1916919.0
My goal is to deliver boards for miners for the best value avoiding ridiclous markups. I have a few H81 boards right now.