My second ZEC + XMR+ ETH thread builds info links thoughts and photos.

[citronick]

gabryrox -

I have many H81 BTC mobo with 6xGPU and 7xGPU configs with no problems.

In my case, I got my multi GPU tutorial from BBT - Bits Be Trippin.

You need to ensure that this particular mobo (v1 and V2) has the molex powered directly from PSU.

In addition, all GPUs need to have powered risers.

The errors you are getting, IMHO are power related issues... there just not enough power for 6 GPUs.

Also your PSU need to be large enough to cater for all 6 x GPUs plus you mobo, etc. with 20% to spare (good rule of thumb to ensure safe zone and also longevity of your PSU).

I had a few suppliers from China via AliExpress on the powered risers - ensure your get the version 3 with USB3 type - I have very little issues with those. Avoid the ribbon type risers because the solder works on those are back-alley quality and are a fire-hazard.

Best build for multi GPU is Windows 7 in my opinion, you may need to use the 6xGPU registry mod hack utility to get rid of the Error Code 43, but no rocket science, it's quite straightforward. If you want lazy shortcut and want Windows then just go for Win10 to get all 6xGPUs visible in Device Manager.

For mining (not gaming), 16x PCI is irrelevant, the USB risers are 1x (...4x ??) and enough to carry DATA between OS and the GPU. Unlike high end games, it will utilize the PCI bandwidth on all cylinders to use all the cool features of the GPU. In mining, a big chunk of the GPU's greatness is likely not used because mining need at best the core GPU cycles and the high speed memory. Thats why miners are modding the ROM and taking out the unnecessary stuff -- this ritual is popular in hard core mining.

Afternote:
While I have the multi-GPU config still in my mini-farm, all my new builds are riser-less on based on Biostar Z170 4xPCI slotters. Keeping it simple as possible.

Thanks Citronik for the thoughtful and helpful information... i really appreciate it! I will respond to all your points as some i have done and some yet to do:

1- I do have the additional molex plug powering the mobo. I knew I would need to do this going in so after getting that message I think after installing GPU #2, I plugged that additional molex into the mobo.

2- I am using all powered USB risers at this point, in x1 slots 1, 2, 3 & 5. I got most of them from the same Amazon seller and didn't have any problems with 3 of them on rig #1 and the first 4 on this rig.  However, I do have 1-2 extra ones lying around, along with 3-4 additional USB-3 cables, so I imagine it's a good idea to try all of those before proceeding with further trouble-shooting.

3- My PSU is a Rosewill 1200W Quark Series Platinum.  With 4 GPUs running on Claymore ZEC miner V8, I am hitting total system wattage peaks in the 600-610W range. This includes the CPU/Fans/etc, which use about 60-70 watts, so even adding 2 more 470's would put me at just under 900W max... so, less than 75% of its total capacity.  Based on this, I don't believe it is a total power issue causing my problems (unless I am really missing something).

4- I'm already on W7 and would prefer to avoid W10 if possible, so I am considering that registry hack you mentioned.  I actually read about it over on the ZEC mining forum... at least I assume it is the one you are talking about.  Would you mind checking to see if this is the same one?

https://lbr.id.lv/6xgpu_mod/

Since this involved messing with the registry I don't want to take any chances, but if this is the same version you are talking about and you say it's relatively straight forward to implement, I will give it a shot.

Hoping/assuming this mod will solve the error 43 issue in slot #6, I still have that pesky issue with the lone x16 slot on this board.  Have you ever experienced anything like that?  (not being able to get past post with anything plugged into it via USB riser, including setting PCIe to Gen1 (from auto) in the BIOS).  Note that I tried to use this slot several times before getting my rig up to 4 GPUs, so I don't believe it's the number of GPU limit issue causing this problem.

I also read that some people have had success by turning off the on-board video in the BIOS. Not sure that was meant to fix this exact issue, but maybe it's worth a try?  Not sure exactly how to do that... will probably take me at least an hour to find as does most anything I try to find in the BIOS lol.

Thanks again for the tips... hoping to get this rig up to 5 GPUs soon, ideally in the x16 slot, so I feel comfortable enough that it will take 6 GPUs to buy the 6th.

Your PSU is ok. It's how the power is distributed to all the GPUs as their power draw likely the issue. My understanding is that the powered risers will draw extra juice avoiding too much power flowing through the risers. That is why, there are many cases of burnt ribbon cables (non-powered). Also these ribbons cables are circa "Litecoin era 2014" - most are custom soldered and finished off with blue duct tape. Higher quality USB3 risers are much better but I had it with risers.

I think  once the 16x slot is used, mobo automatically uses that as main display. I didnt have to manually set this at BIOS menu. 6x GPU is not a problem. Infact, the same H81 BTC board with a PCI 3to1 adapter, I have 1 rig with 7xGPU, Win 8.1.

Run the 6xGPU mod as Administrator AFTER you have installed all the Crimson drivers etc.

Anyways, if all fails.... change the risers.

I had my fair share of hours fiddling with risers -- I now use only Z170 mobos 4x16xPCI slotters and limit the GPU to 4 per mobo. This results having a decent inexpensive PSU, reasonable temps, compact miner, no risers!

Btw, ZEC mining with this many GPUs and 1200watts PSU is OK. But.... it will not be OK if you mine ETH with Claymore 7.4 - mining ETH draws the most juice and high temps. Be forewarned. Most ETH miners started to do GPU ROM Mods to reduce power.... but thats another story all together.

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[GabryRox]

Yeah, most of what I have read concurs that the best method is to use powered USB risers along with the extra molex power to the Mobo in order to distribute the power draw of the GPUs more evenly. My understanding is that using molex to the Mobo without the powered risers has indeed fried a few mobos as apparently it can result in way too much power being drawn directly through the Mobo. I am sure some have made it work with ribbon risers but I will stick solely with powered USB as that's how my first rig is built and it's been running well for 3+ months with no hint of a power distribution issue.

Point of clarification on running the 6xGPU mod... should i go ahead and run it on my rig now... with only the 4 working GPUs hooked up and then try to install the 5th GPU?  Or, should i attempt another install of the 5th GPU FIRST and THEN run the mod?

I admit there is an appeal to go super compact and riser-less.  Depending on how things go with this rig, I may consider something like that if and when I build a 3rd rig.  But, I am not jumping into that unless I start to see some market confidence and price rises in ZEC, ETH and/or XMR.  I just have a hard time getting past the fixed base cost of each new rig... meaning for instance that two 6-GPU rigs would be much cheaper than building three 4-cards rigs. But, at a certain point, if the 6-card rigs encounter too many problems and down-time, that advantage shrinks.

Finally, thanks for the tip on ETH.  I actually had my first rig mining ETH for a couple of months until ZEC came out and i pointed it to that.  I have all 4 of the GPU's on that system modded BIOS using the 1500-strapped method so actually, running that rig on ETH only pulls moderately more power than running ZEC.  Granted, that's only a 4-card rig with only 1000W PSU, but even running full bore ETH i was around 650W so plenty of headroom.  I am highly considering pointing that rig back to ETH shortly.  As for the 2nd rig, I suspect it could easily 5 GPUs on ETH and most likely 6... ASSUMING i can get the GPU strap-modded the same way.  I already tried it on my first GPU and for some reason it didn't work so I had to flash it back to the factory specs.  But, since it seems that that strap-mod benefits ETH mining a lot more than ZEC mining, I haven't prioritized getting back to that yet, at least until I can get my 5th/6th card issue fixed.

Thanks again for the help and please let me know what you recommend on running that 6xGPU mod before or after I try to install the 5th GPU again.

[vg54dett]

gabryrox -



I had a few suppliers from China via AliExpress on the powered risers - ensure your get the version 3 with USB3 type - I have very little issues with those. Avoid the ribbon type risers because the solder works on those are back-alley quality and are a fire-hazard.



Afternote:
While I have the multi-GPU config still in my mini-farm, all my new builds are riser-less on based on Biostar Z170 4xPCI slotters. Keeping it simple as possible.

Citronick, could you provide a link to a good Chinese supplier for the USB3 PCI risers ? dealing with the seller "approved by Citronick" will save time to many of us .

Another point I find difficult to understand : how can a 4GPU mining RIG be profitable ?! it's already very hard to ROI a 6GPU H81 rig !
Only 4 GPUs on a more expensive MB like the Biostar should be almost impossible to ROI, no ?

[citronick]

gabryrox -



I had a few suppliers from China via AliExpress on the powered risers - ensure your get the version 3 with USB3 type - I have very little issues with those. Avoid the ribbon type risers because the solder works on those are back-alley quality and are a fire-hazard.



Afternote:
While I have the multi-GPU config still in my mini-farm, all my new builds are riser-less on based on Biostar Z170 4xPCI slotters. Keeping it simple as possible.

Citronick, could you provide a link to a good Chinese supplier for the USB3 PCI risers ? dealing with the seller "approved by Citronick" will save time to many of us .

Another point I find difficult to understand : how can a 4GPU mining RIG be profitable ?! it's already very hard to ROI a 6GPU H81 rig !
Only 4 GPUs on a more expensive MB like the Biostar should be almost impossible to ROI, no ?

See this link. Pack of 10. Ensure to confirm USB cable length.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-lot-PCI-E-PCI-E-Express-1X-to-16X-Riser-Card-USB-3-0-Extender/1679698470.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.Rhx98E

Why build rigs small?

Big PSUs are expensive. More GPUs more power, more heat, more power trips, more unknowns. Risers are finicky too. You need more cooling solutions - buy more fans. So any bigger you need more space.... so rent? lease? Cabling works? So you see monster rigs need alot more additional resources to keep it alive.

Although I still keep my 6 and 7 riggers, its just because I already invested in 1600w EVGA PSUs. Never again - its too expensive and harder to ROI, unless you have ASICs....

Now all my newer PSUs are max 1000w, cheaper 750-850w are ideal for 4xGPUs. Compact Z170 simplifies deployment. BIOSTAR Racing is a cheap and good mobo IMHO. Thanks to Philip who introduced this gem of board. Similar Z170 from ASrock and Asus are also good boards.

You need to save time.... to figure out and getting that one or two 6 x GPU rigs to work will take some much time, frustration and troubleshooting you lose mining time accumulating coins, cashing in if you can get good profit OR keep and wait, to trade & sell high in Poloniex for example.

I guess everyone will go through a unique mining experience, to be profitable spend little time troubleshooting and get mining to work fast. With this 4 slotters and killer miner app like Claymore's ZCASH, XMR and ETH miners... you already have speed. To be ahead of the game, you need accumulate and reach ROI as fast as possible.... any coin after that will be revenue less expenses = pure profit. Mining at any later stage under increased difficulty will get you less profit, longer ROI or even no ROI. So Timing is Everything.

I rather have 10 small rigs that I know will work and stable, VS. 5 x monster rigs that loses a card every now and then because of high power draw, overheated GPUs or intensity too high in Claymore's miners. No problems pushing Claymore to max settings on a 4xGPU rig.

The next step in the horizon is would they be a generic GPU "chip or ASICS" like BTC's A7 or S9, X11 or Scrypt miners. Personally, I dont think it will happen for ASIC-like generic GPUs, unless AMD puts RX480 chips x 100 on a special extension board.It will be good to have 1 big-ass miner that.... something like Panda Miner is trying to do. Then all you need is a couple of these and you are set.... until then I will be happy 4-slot rigs.

These are just my own humble opinions - I am sure many of you out there may have other approaches on how to be profitable in mining. Otherwise, forget mining and go straight to trading in Poloniex - you can also make good money this way without buying a single GPU.

Sorry for long post.

[vapourminer]

I agree. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). takes very little down time due to a crashed rig/card to negate any savings from an overly complicated rig or crazy card settings like extreme BIOS flashes etc.

i know many people super tune cards or rigs for a specific algorithm but i prefer a rig that can switch with a simple .bat file and not worry about psu overload or cards dropping out because they are too wound too tight for just one coin.

keep it consecutive, keep it running 24/7

[ps_jb]

citronick,

I've tried to have a look on Z170 MBs on Amazon - I could not find any with 4 full size PCI slots

Could you please point one?

[citronick]

citronick,

I've tried to have a look on Z170 MBs on Amazon - I could not find any with 4 full size PCI slots

Could you please point one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138421

Note: even the on/off, reset button is touch sensor on the mobo. So no additional cost for on/off switch. Supports M2 storage so even less cables for SSD. Tested with Simpleminer and ethOS booting off USB3 thumbdrives.

[philipma1957]

citronick,

I've tried to have a look on Z170 MBs on Amazon - I could not find any with 4 full size PCI slots

Could you please point one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138421

Note: even the on/off, reset button is touch sensor on the mobo. So no additional cost for on/off switch. Supports M2 storage so even less cables for SSD. Tested with Simpleminer and ethOS booting off USB3 thumbdrives.

to followup  this board goes on sale often  119 or 129 is common.

here is a great samsung m2  40 dollars

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Samsung-128GB-CM871-SSD-M-2-2280-NGFF-MZ-NLF1280-80mm-SATA3-Solid-Sate-Drive-/272432411238?

dead solid psu right here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182353

so 119 when mobo is on sale

and  40 for ssd

and 110 psu

a stick of ram  23

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148856


no risers.  much smaller psu.

and four  rx 470 gpus   can be had at 720


small build  really compact.

the key is to wait for the mobo to be on sale.

as for your cpu  I buy from this guy

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i5-6400T-Quad-Core-2-20GHz-Skylake-CPU-8-00-GT-s-6MB-SR2L1-/322355695503?

and a few others  but this one will do

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Pentium-G4400T-2-90GHz-512-3MB-Socket-LGA1151-Skylake-S-CPU-SR2HQ-/152337185390?

note the t option  it saves watts 


 

[ps_jb]

Thank you citronick and Phil!

[Xiadas]

gabryrox -



I had a few suppliers from China via AliExpress on the powered risers - ensure your get the version 3 with USB3 type - I have very little issues with those. Avoid the ribbon type risers because the solder works on those are back-alley quality and are a fire-hazard.



Afternote:
While I have the multi-GPU config still in my mini-farm, all my new builds are riser-less on based on Biostar Z170 4xPCI slotters. Keeping it simple as possible.

Citronick, could you provide a link to a good Chinese supplier for the USB3 PCI risers ? dealing with the seller "approved by Citronick" will save time to many of us .

Another point I find difficult to understand : how can a 4GPU mining RIG be profitable ?! it's already very hard to ROI a 6GPU H81 rig !
Only 4 GPUs on a more expensive MB like the Biostar should be almost impossible to ROI, no ?

See this link. Pack of 10. Ensure to confirm USB cable length.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-lot-PCI-E-PCI-E-Express-1X-to-16X-Riser-Card-USB-3-0-Extender/1679698470.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.Rhx98E

Why build rigs small?

Big PSUs are expensive. More GPUs more power, more heat, more power trips, more unknowns. Risers are finicky too. You need more cooling solutions - buy more fans. So any bigger you need more space.... so rent? lease? Cabling works? So you see monster rigs need alot more additional resources to keep it alive.

Although I still keep my 6 and 7 riggers, its just because I already invested in 1600w EVGA PSUs. Never again - its too expensive and harder to ROI, unless you have ASICs....

Now all my newer PSUs are max 1000w, cheaper 750-850w are ideal for 4xGPUs. Compact Z170 simplifies deployment. BIOSTAR Racing is a cheap and good mobo IMHO. Thanks to Philip who introduced this gem of board. Similar Z170 from ASrock and Asus are also good boards.

You need to save time.... to figure out and getting that one or two 6 x GPU rigs to work will take some much time, frustration and troubleshooting you lose mining time accumulating coins, cashing in if you can get good profit OR keep and wait, to trade & sell high in Poloniex for example.

I guess everyone will go through a unique mining experience, to be profitable spend little time troubleshooting and get mining to work fast. With this 4 slotters and killer miner app like Claymore's ZCASH, XMR and ETH miners... you already have speed. To be ahead of the game, you need accumulate and reach ROI as fast as possible.... any coin after that will be revenue less expenses = pure profit. Mining at any later stage under increased difficulty will get you less profit, longer ROI or even no ROI. So Timing is Everything.

I rather have 10 small rigs that I know will work and stable, VS. 5 x monster rigs that loses a card every now and then because of high power draw, overheated GPUs or intensity too high in Claymore's miners. No problems pushing Claymore to max settings on a 4xGPU rig.

The next step in the horizon is would they be a generic GPU "chip or ASICS" like BTC's A7 or S9, X11 or Scrypt miners. Personally, I dont think it will happen for ASIC-like generic GPUs, unless AMD puts RX480 chips x 100 on a special extension board.It will be good to have 1 big-ass miner that.... something like Panda Miner is trying to do. Then all you need is a couple of these and you are set.... until then I will be happy 4-slot rigs.

These are just my own humble opinions - I am sure many of you out there may have other approaches on how to be profitable in mining. Otherwise, forget mining and go straight to trading in Poloniex - you can also make good money this way without buying a single GPU.

Sorry for long post.

I always use the 6X cards and use the 1250W power supply. But I only run the cards at 1000W to have high efficiency.

[GabryRox]

Citronick... can I ask your recommendation on when to run that 6xGPU mod app?  pre or post attempted install of GPU #5?  Meaning, should I run it now with only the 4 working GPUs plugged into my rig or, attempt to install the 5th again (getting the error 43) and THEN run this mod app?  Thanks 

[citronick]

Citronick... can I ask your recommendation on when to run that 6xGPU mod app?  pre or post attempted install of GPU #5?  Meaning, should I run it now with only the 4 working GPUs plugged into my rig or, attempt to install the 5th again (getting the error 43) and THEN run this mod app?  Thanks  

Put in all 5 OR all 6 GPUs.

Install DDU and perform clean DDU in safe mode (Download latest here http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html)

Install Crimson 16.11.x (avoid the Relive 16.12.x)

Ensure Device Manager sees them all (you may need to seat and reseat the risers etc)

If the last GPU give you "Error 43" - run the 6GPU utility in Admin mode - reboot.

Good luck!

[citronick]

Meanwhile.... I have been waiting for AMD's ZEN CPU.... so it has been launched as "RYZEN" -- anyone has gotten one yet?

[ps_jb]

Meanwhile.... I have been waiting for AMD's ZEN CPU.... so it has been launched as "RYZEN" -- anyone has gotten one yet?

Are you going to mine on it or it is just a powerful CPU?

[xleejohnx]

Meanwhile.... I have been waiting for AMD's ZEN CPU.... so it has been launched as "RYZEN" -- anyone has gotten one yet?

it hasnt been released yet?
thought it was 1Q 2017?

[xleejohnx]

Meanwhile.... I have been waiting for AMD's ZEN CPU.... so it has been launched as "RYZEN" -- anyone has gotten one yet?

Are you going to mine on it or it is just a powerful CPU?

zen is suppose to compete with intel on everything from now on
so its going to be a powerful cpu
 right now the ryzen is a 4-8 core cpu with 8-16 thread starting at 3.4ghz with 20mb L2+L3 cache

[ps_jb]

zen is suppose to compete with intel on everything from now on
so its going to be a powerful cpu
 right now the ryzen is a 4-8 core cpu with 8-16 thread starting at 3.4ghz with 20mb L2+L3 cache

Wow - thank you for info!

[philipma1957]

Meanwhile.... I have been waiting for AMD's ZEN CPU.... so it has been launched as "RYZEN" -- anyone has gotten one yet?

Are you going to mine on it or it is just a powerful CPU?

zen is suppose to compete with intel on everything from now on
so its going to be a powerful cpu
 right now the ryzen is a 4-8 core cpu with 8-16 thread starting at 3.4ghz with 20mb L2+L3 cache

been a long time since I built an amd pc.

but it is still running at pne of my friends places

[GabryRox]

Meanwhile.... I have been waiting for AMD's ZEN CPU.... so it has been launched as "RYZEN" -- anyone has gotten one yet?

Are you going to mine on it or it is just a powerful CPU?

zen is suppose to compete with intel on everything from now on
so its going to be a powerful cpu
 right now the ryzen is a 4-8 core cpu with 8-16 thread starting at 3.4ghz with 20mb L2+L3 cache

so basically, towards the upper end of what Intel has had out in the market for 1-2 years already 

[TheRider]

Phil,

Does the Biostar Z170GT7 (or the Z170 chipset) support up to 4 GPUs or 4 physical graphics cards?
Most reports I read say you can't run 5 cards on this board. I have a 295x2 (dual-GPU) card, so wondering if I can stick 4 cards / 5 GPUs and get it to work on this board.

Appreciate any insight on this.