External graphics card mining

[curiousone]

Hello, has anyone had any experience mining with external graphics cards?  Obviously most budget motherboards only have one slot for a powerful graphics card so I wondered if you could still get good MH/s with external plugged in via USB?

Thanks

[Graet]

oh usb i thought you meant like
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express
mining doesnt require great bandwidth so it is possible to do this with risers, some are powered to reducle load on the motherboard 24pin scoket.
in this picture x1 risers have  been modified and used in x16 slots

if your motherboard has x1 x4 x8 or x16 slots it can generally suppport a card per pcie slot. power consumption becomes and issue though. Also propably a better option than usb

[curiousone]

lol bloody hell nice rig!  I'm confused, so if I bought another graphics card which was PCI Express, it would not only plug in via PCI but it would also get the same MH/s?

Thanks

[Graet]

um no, the wiki link is to PCI-E have a look, even shows the differnce between PCI and PCI_E slots.
you can use PCI_E risers in PCI_E slots that allow cards to be spaced for cooling etc. That mother board has  5 x PCI_E x16 slot and one PCI_E x1 slot there is no performance difference soon the 6th card will be added .
hope this is a help

shows a modified 1x PCI_E riser running a gigabyte 6950. and yes it only needs that small contact to power and transfer data - we are mining not gaming, the gpu does almost all the work, bandwith isnt a concern and a most pepole down clock thier ram to reduce heat.

Hope thats a help

[indio007]

You should have made the clothesline longer so  you can dry your clothing at the same time.

[bcpokey]

You should have made the clothesline longer so  you can dry your clothing at the same time.

Good call, I've already done this, not with a clotheline, but I spilled a buncha water right next to my mining rig  , quickly soaked it up with a towel then dried the towel with the mining rig 

Are there USB video cards? I've never heard of such a thing.

[shotgun]

what the hell kind of rig is that supposed to be?! it screams fire hazard and ridiculousness.

This is safer, follow my example.

[stick_theman]

what the hell kind of rig is that supposed to be?! it screams fire hazard and ridiculousness.

This is safer, follow my example.

This thing is a beauty.  I'm jealous.