Possibly Quite a Newb Question - Connecting 5870 to PCIe x1

[AndyRossy]

Hi There

I've never had more than 1 graphics card in a PC that's not had 2 x PCIe x16.

Im looking at setting up a mining rig of some sort, and I have a motherboard here which seems near perfect, with an old Core2Duo, some cheap ram, and 1 x PCIe x16 + 2 x PCIe x1.

How do I go around connecting a graphics card to PCIe x1? Will it just fit with a lot of the board unplugged/work (if that makes sense?), or do I need an adaptor or sorts?

Could someone point me towards some info or a tutorial, I dont want to order 2 cards, then realize I need to order more to get the 2nd one working

Andy

[sirky]

You will need one of something like this... or to file out the end of your PCI x1 slot.

https://cablesaurus.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=10&zenid=497bbbd9546fb627b85abdb739230d5d

[AndyRossy]

Great! then it'll just work even though the rest of the pins on the card are not connected to anything? I can happily mod the motherboard

[sirky]

Yup. The only thing is you might need something to support your card. Don't know if it will stand up on it's own in a PCIe x1 slot.

[LegitBit]

Here is a cheaper cable : http://www.camera2000.com/en/pci-e-1x-riser-pci-express-card-extender-cable-adapter.html

[wangboy]

Wow, this is all new to me,

I was sure I needed to find a motherboard with 4 pci-e x16 slots to run 4 cards.
So here's a question.

I see most people who are buying new equipment go for motherboards with 4 x16 slots which are usually more expensive.
Am I at a higher risk of burning out the mo-bo if I use the x 8 and x 1 slots in this way as if so a better option for me would be to buy a good second hand motherboard cpu combination like the OP has and modify it to take more cards.

[LegitBit]

Unlikely you will "burn out" any modern motherboard.

Using the lower speed slots won't hurt mining, only gaming, even then only barely for 8x... under that you can expect some FPS hits in high resolution gaming.

[AndyRossy]

great thanks! anyone know of any UK retailers of these risers?

[beast]

Did any one try the camera2000 one? looks great and cheaper price,I am considering buying one.

[bcpokey]

Did any one try the camera2000 one? looks great and cheaper price,I am considering buying one.

Just a note if you are using an x16 graphics card with that extender, you will have to physically saw off the end of the adapter to fit the card in to it.

[AndyRossy]

I assume you mean saw off the end of the adaptor right? not the graphics card?

[Snowblind]

I tried purchasing one of these, filing down the edge, and couldn't get system to recognize the card I had connected to it.

According to this:  http://blog.zorinaq.com/?e=42

it appears that the pins on the motherboard (for some at least, apparently including mine) must be shorted as described and pictured slightly down the page, and I'm not prepared to do this to my motherboard.