Affordable motherboard for GPU mining?

[Abiky]

I'm looking for an affordable motherboard for GPU mining that would have at least the requirements to be compatible with the latest GPUs. I think it is based on the PCI-E 2 or PCI-E  connections, am I right? Sorry, but not sure how to set up the GPUs on the motherboard.
I have been looking into ASRock motherboards (since they are cheaper) but I'm not sure if they are recommended for this tasks. I would like to know your thoughts about this matter. Thanks. 

[bathrobehero]

You want to look at two motherboards and probably those two only:
ASRock H61 Pro BTC and ASRock H81 Pro BTC.
The main difference between them is the CPU socket.

These motherboards can easily handle 6 cards but you'll need PCI-E risers. I'd highly recommend only using powered USB risers and avoiding ribbon risers at all costs.

If you want a motherboard in which you can put cards without risers you're going to have to reach deep into your pocket and even then you'll probably run into thermal throttling with some beefier cards if they are that close together.

Feel free to ask anything about mining here on in pm.

[Abiky]

You want to look at two motherboards and probably those two only:
ASRock H61 Pro BTC and ASRock H81 Pro BTC.
The main difference between them is the CPU socket.

These motherboards can easily handle 6 cards but you'll need PCI-E risers. I'd highly recommend only using powered USB risers and avoiding ribbon risers at all costs.

If you want a motherboard in which you can put cards without risers you're going to have to reach deep into your pocket and even then you'll probably run into thermal throttling with some beefier cards if they are that close together.

Feel free to ask anything about mining here on in pm.

Thank you mate! You helped me choose a decent motherboard to use for GPU mining. There is a little concern that I have and that is once everything is set up, how do I configure the mining process. In this case, how could I configure CGminer to use all 6 GPUs for example? 

[bathrobehero]

You want to look at two motherboards and probably those two only:
ASRock H61 Pro BTC and ASRock H81 Pro BTC.
The main difference between them is the CPU socket.

These motherboards can easily handle 6 cards but you'll need PCI-E risers. I'd highly recommend only using powered USB risers and avoiding ribbon risers at all costs.

If you want a motherboard in which you can put cards without risers you're going to have to reach deep into your pocket and even then you'll probably run into thermal throttling with some beefier cards if they are that close together.

Feel free to ask anything about mining here on in pm.

Thank you mate! You helped me choose a decent motherboard to use for GPU mining. There is a little concern that I have and that is once everything is set up, how do I configure the mining process. In this case, how could I configure CGminer to use all 6 GPUs for example? 

Both windows and linux should recognize the cards without any issues. Though I'm not familiar with cg/sgminer it's probably just a command line argument. But you may want to look into the documentation of the miner because there will be tons of settings you'll have to get familiar with.

[Abiky]

You want to look at two motherboards and probably those two only:
ASRock H61 Pro BTC and ASRock H81 Pro BTC.
The main difference between them is the CPU socket.

These motherboards can easily handle 6 cards but you'll need PCI-E risers. I'd highly recommend only using powered USB risers and avoiding ribbon risers at all costs.

If you want a motherboard in which you can put cards without risers you're going to have to reach deep into your pocket and even then you'll probably run into thermal throttling with some beefier cards if they are that close together.

Feel free to ask anything about mining here on in pm.

Thank you mate! You helped me choose a decent motherboard to use for GPU mining. There is a little concern that I have and that is once everything is set up, how do I configure the mining process. In this case, how could I configure CGminer to use all 6 GPUs for example? 

Both windows and linux should recognize the cards without any issues. Though I'm not familiar with cg/sgminer it's probably just a command line argument. But you may want to look into the documentation of the miner because there will be tons of settings you'll have to get familiar with.

Thanks for your reply. I will just take a look at the available commands to get started in this business. It is a very exciting world out there for a miner (at least I think) 

[bathrobehero]

You want to look at two motherboards and probably those two only:
ASRock H61 Pro BTC and ASRock H81 Pro BTC.
The main difference between them is the CPU socket.

These motherboards can easily handle 6 cards but you'll need PCI-E risers. I'd highly recommend only using powered USB risers and avoiding ribbon risers at all costs.

If you want a motherboard in which you can put cards without risers you're going to have to reach deep into your pocket and even then you'll probably run into thermal throttling with some beefier cards if they are that close together.

Feel free to ask anything about mining here on in pm.

Thank you mate! You helped me choose a decent motherboard to use for GPU mining. There is a little concern that I have and that is once everything is set up, how do I configure the mining process. In this case, how could I configure CGminer to use all 6 GPUs for example? 

Both windows and linux should recognize the cards without any issues. Though I'm not familiar with cg/sgminer it's probably just a command line argument. But you may want to look into the documentation of the miner because there will be tons of settings you'll have to get familiar with.

Thanks for your reply. I will just take a look at the available commands to get started in this business. It is a very exciting world out there for a miner (at least I think) 

It is exciting and a great hobby but it's not very profitable anymore. ROI is well over a year for most miners with average electricity costs.

[Flodemaga]

Asrock H61 and H81 motherboards are the cheapest 6 PCIE boards for mining. The board has 2 extra molex connectors. So you can use non powered risers. I would suggest using 2 powered, 4 unpowered.

[atp1916]

Always go all powered. 

Yes, you say - all powered risers is overkill and technically not necessary - but the cost diff. between a powered vs. non-powered riser is minimal, so why take the chance with non-powered risers?

[bathrobehero]

Always go all powered. 

Yes, you say - all powered risers is overkill and technically not necessary - but the cost diff. between a powered vs. non-powered riser is minimal, so why take the chance with non-powered risers?

This!

[Abiky]

You want to look at two motherboards and probably those two only:
ASRock H61 Pro BTC and ASRock H81 Pro BTC.
The main difference between them is the CPU socket.

These motherboards can easily handle 6 cards but you'll need PCI-E risers. I'd highly recommend only using powered USB risers and avoiding ribbon risers at all costs.

If you want a motherboard in which you can put cards without risers you're going to have to reach deep into your pocket and even then you'll probably run into thermal throttling with some beefier cards if they are that close together.

Feel free to ask anything about mining here on in pm.

Thank you mate! You helped me choose a decent motherboard to use for GPU mining. There is a little concern that I have and that is once everything is set up, how do I configure the mining process. In this case, how could I configure CGminer to use all 6 GPUs for example? 

Both windows and linux should recognize the cards without any issues. Though I'm not familiar with cg/sgminer it's probably just a command line argument. But you may want to look into the documentation of the miner because there will be tons of settings you'll have to get familiar with.

Thanks for your reply. I will just take a look at the available commands to get started in this business. It is a very exciting world out there for a miner (at least I think) 

It is exciting and a great hobby but it's not very profitable anymore. ROI is well over a year for most miners with average electricity costs.

Could it be profitable if I don't need to pay for electricity costs? Let's say I use solar and wind power for all my miners...will it still be profitable? Anyways, I  don't mind since I will only do it for fun. 

[bathrobehero]

You want to look at two motherboards and probably those two only:
ASRock H61 Pro BTC and ASRock H81 Pro BTC.
The main difference between them is the CPU socket.

These motherboards can easily handle 6 cards but you'll need PCI-E risers. I'd highly recommend only using powered USB risers and avoiding ribbon risers at all costs.

If you want a motherboard in which you can put cards without risers you're going to have to reach deep into your pocket and even then you'll probably run into thermal throttling with some beefier cards if they are that close together.

Feel free to ask anything about mining here on in pm.

Thank you mate! You helped me choose a decent motherboard to use for GPU mining. There is a little concern that I have and that is once everything is set up, how do I configure the mining process. In this case, how could I configure CGminer to use all 6 GPUs for example? 

Both windows and linux should recognize the cards without any issues. Though I'm not familiar with cg/sgminer it's probably just a command line argument. But you may want to look into the documentation of the miner because there will be tons of settings you'll have to get familiar with.

Thanks for your reply. I will just take a look at the available commands to get started in this business. It is a very exciting world out there for a miner (at least I think) 

It is exciting and a great hobby but it's not very profitable anymore. ROI is well over a year for most miners with average electricity costs.

Could it be profitable if I don't need to pay for electricity costs? Let's say I use solar and wind power for all my miners...will it still be profitable? Anyways, I  don't mind since I will only do it for fun. 

It can be profitable with average electricity but with free electricity it's much more profitable. Let's say a 6 card rig with modern GPUs use 1000W. With $0.13 kWh you're going to pay $3.12 a day or $93.6 a month. The cards together would make very roughly about $5-8 a day before electricity. So yeah, electricity matters a lot. These are just wide estimations, maybe someone with AMD cards could chip in.

[Pamadar]

Always go all powered. 

Yes, you say - all powered risers is overkill and technically not necessary - but the cost diff. between a powered vs. non-powered riser is minimal, so why take the chance with non-powered risers?

It depends on how many spare molex connectors you have from your power supply. If you have enough molex, then use powered risers.

[Hexception]

I always used a ASROCK extreme 3 990fx. Never had any problems.
4 x GPU using a riser cable and frame

Always go all powered.  

Yes, you say - all powered risers is overkill and technically not necessary - but the cost diff. between a powered vs. non-powered riser is minimal, so why take the chance with non-powered risers?

It depends on how many spare molex connectors you have from your power supply. If you have enough molex, then use powered risers.

you SHOULD ALWAYS have a good stable power supply when creating a rig. a good stable power supply will always have enough molex.

I agree with the all powered risers.

[Abiky]

You want to look at two motherboards and probably those two only:
ASRock H61 Pro BTC and ASRock H81 Pro BTC.
The main difference between them is the CPU socket.

These motherboards can easily handle 6 cards but you'll need PCI-E risers. I'd highly recommend only using powered USB risers and avoiding ribbon risers at all costs.

If you want a motherboard in which you can put cards without risers you're going to have to reach deep into your pocket and even then you'll probably run into thermal throttling with some beefier cards if they are that close together.

Feel free to ask anything about mining here on in pm.

Thank you mate! You helped me choose a decent motherboard to use for GPU mining. There is a little concern that I have and that is once everything is set up, how do I configure the mining process. In this case, how could I configure CGminer to use all 6 GPUs for example? 

Both windows and linux should recognize the cards without any issues. Though I'm not familiar with cg/sgminer it's probably just a command line argument. But you may want to look into the documentation of the miner because there will be tons of settings you'll have to get familiar with.

Thanks for your reply. I will just take a look at the available commands to get started in this business. It is a very exciting world out there for a miner (at least I think) 

It is exciting and a great hobby but it's not very profitable anymore. ROI is well over a year for most miners with average electricity costs.

Could it be profitable if I don't need to pay for electricity costs? Let's say I use solar and wind power for all my miners...will it still be profitable? Anyways, I  don't mind since I will only do it for fun. 

It can be profitable with average electricity but with free electricity it's much more profitable. Let's say a 6 card rig with modern GPUs use 1000W. With $0.13 kWh you're going to pay $3.12 a day or $93.6 a month. The cards together would make very roughly about $5-8 a day before electricity. So yeah, electricity matters a lot. These are just wide estimations, maybe someone with AMD cards could chip in.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the electricity costs. For now, I don't have to pay for electricity because I am living with my parents. Until then, I will figure out a way to pay for less electricity in the future. 

[bathrobehero]

I agree about having quality power supplies and one important note is to only buy ones with a single 12v rail. Multi rail PSUs very likely won't work.
And of course enough molex and PCI-E 6/8 pins.

[Hexception]

I agree about having quality power supplies and one important note is to only buy ones with a single 12v rail. Multi rail PSUs very likely won't work.
And of course enough molex and PCI-E 6/8 pins.

This is what I used

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=220-P2-1200-X1

I am using the same PSU now in the machine I am posting from over 2 years later, never let me down.

[bathrobehero]

I agree about having quality power supplies and one important note is to only buy ones with a single 12v rail. Multi rail PSUs very likely won't work.
And of course enough molex and PCI-E 6/8 pins.

This is what I used

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=220-P2-1200-X1

I am using the same PSU now in the machine I am posting from over 2 years later, never let me down.

I'm using a couple of the 1300W gold variant (G2) of that PSU in my bigger rigs and love them. Bit pricey but I intend to resell the cards in good condition after it's not profitable to mine with them anymore and the PSUs themselves are pretty good at keeping their resell value and they have a very long warranty.

[Hexception]

I agree about having quality power supplies and one important note is to only buy ones with a single 12v rail. Multi rail PSUs very likely won't work.
And of course enough molex and PCI-E 6/8 pins.

This is what I used

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=220-P2-1200-X1

I am using the same PSU now in the machine I am posting from over 2 years later, never let me down.

I'm using a couple of the 1300W gold variant (G2) of that PSU in my bigger rigs and love them. Bit pricey but I intend to resell the cards in good condition after it's not profitable to mine with them anymore and the PSUs themselves are pretty good at keeping their resell value and they have a very long warranty.

I think it is definitely worth spending out on though. When you have stable power running through you system it makes a huge difference especially with risers. I think motherboard and power is just as important as the GPU specs.

[atp1916]

Good board candidates for 5+ cards are the Asrock H61s/81s (Intel), the MSI Z77A-G45 (Intel), Asrock 970 Extreme4 (AMD), Asus M5A97 (AMD), and Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 (AMD). I used all of these boards in my farm a while back and can do 5+ cards.

  

[Koamder]

Good board candidates for 5+ cards are the Asrock H61s/81s (Intel), the MSI Z77A-G45 (Intel), Asrock 970 Extreme4 (AMD), Asus M5A97 (AMD), and Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 (AMD). I used all of these boards in my farm a while back and can do 5+ cards.

I have the Asrock H61 and MSI Z77A-GD55 in my mining rigs. They are work well. I would recommend them.