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

[philipma1957]

I wanted to chime in again and firstly thank everyone who contributed feedback to my first mining rig build. So, I finally got my heatsink, installed it today along with the CPU, RAM and the 1st MSI 470!  I have yet to do anything with the power supply/cables since I wanted to get the layout built and tested before that final step, but everything including the test bench assembly and mounting/hooking up the SSD & Optical Drive went well.

So... once I realized how absolutely HUGE these GPUs are compared to the MoBo, I now totally get when Phil and others stick to a 4-GPU build lol    I was able to plug in the first 470 into PCIe3 x16 slot #1 no problem at all (no blockage issues, etc).  However, after plugging in GPU #2 into PCIe3 x16 slot #3 (slot 2 is PCIe2 x4 slot, so i skipped that for now as I understand that will need a riser cable), I realized that it actually blocks PCIe slot #4, which is the short PCIe2 x1 slot. From Phil's previous advise on risers for this board, I purchased this PCI-E 1x to 16x riser adapter cable:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CU1U2XG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The first problem is that the short PCIe 1x slot is blocked. Only an extremely low profile plug/adapter could possibly fit in there underneath the GPU.

The 2nd problem is that I can't even figure out HOW this adapter is supposed to work because even if there were space above this slot on the MoBo, there is nothing in the product above that could fit in this slot. Aside from the converter board itself there is only a 4-pin molex to wide sata power cable (i don't even have any of the wide sata slots on this Mobo, only 10 regular sata) and also a 2-ended USB cable.  Am I crazy or is this adapter even meant to plug into that 1x slot at all? Either way, i cant figure it out so would appreciated some advice.

GPU #3 inserted fine into PCIe slot #5 (the 3rd and final PCIe3 x16 slot). Unfortunately, the GPU blocks a bunch of headers/jumpers, but it seems like possibly none of these will be required for this build (BIOS/CMOS stuff, COM & TPM headers, front panel audio, & USB headers).

GPU #4, which arrives tomorrow would therefore have to go into either slot #2 or slot #4 (already described the issues with slot #4 above, so not even sure that is usable at this point).  Slot #2 is PCIe2 x4, so I got this adapter/riser cable:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H8VVD00/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

But, although the short end of this cable fits within slot #2, there's a lot of empty space since the adapter pin section is shorter than the overall slot length.

Bottom line is that I've never used this kind of risers/adapters before so I figure either there is something I am missing, or, i simply bought the wrong adapters.

As always, any feedback is appreciated!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157543

those risers you got  suck  (my opinion and many times my opinion sucks )

I use this type of riser

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EUW4F4K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?

I screwed them down to a piece of plywood

Look at this set of  photos

one of three risers uses white nylon spacer to not touch wood



there is room for a fourth riser

[BTCBusinessConsult]

Whats your wait time for a block? Seems to me if you have less than 500 MHs its not worth it to mine on the ethpool all-or-nothing payout system.

  I could write something nasty  but the    the truth is it is not all or nothing.  It simply adds your hash marks up and when you did enough points that you should hit a block it gives you the next block. Frankly if you are getting a block every 40 to 50 hours time after time and once in a while you get a bonus uncle it pays better then any other pool.
  If you have 200 mh it takes about 5 or 6 days

Not sure why you would write something nasty when I just asking why you preferred that pool over a "little bit everyday" as opposed to a "nothing for days then a big chunk". Of course your answers explains it well enough.

I was mining on that pool with my small rig, but waiting 20 days for a payout was just not doable  

[GabryRox]

Thanks Vapour & Phil, your comments were very helpful! So, I actually found the x1 to USB adapter piece buried in the bag in came it, so am actually good with that one now (except for the fact it wont fit with a GPU plugged into PCIe slot #3 lol.

As for the ribbon riser... firstly, I just think i got the wrong one because if I was going that route, it seems this would be the one (x16 to x16):

https://www.amazon.com/PCIE-Micro-Express-Flexible-Extension/dp/B00D79EV0G/ref=pd_sbs_147_2?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00D79EV0G&pd_rd_r=5T5M5AQX9J6XBWWVWFS1&pd_rd_w=9IOqu&pd_rd_wg=wFz0a&psc=1&refRID=5T5M5AQX9J6XBWWVWFS1

... not the x8 to x16 that I got.  But, aside from the fact that you (and others i have seen in this forum) have had less than stellar results with the ribbon risers, I also don't like the fact that they really do limit you to rising the cards directly above your rig, which my open-air rig will not be able to support unless I make some unwanted major additions to it.  I would highly prefer to go the route Phil has and use only USB extenders so I can mount them to the side of my rig, which is much easier than building something to suspend them above it.

The problem is, I cannot seem to find and USB powered risers that plug into a full length x16 slot.  In Phil's 2nd photo above, he has 2 plugged into the Mobo but they are both going into 1x slots, not x16.  Do they even make such a thing?  I searched ebay, amazon & newegg and didn't find any but maybe I am using the wrong search terms.

Unfortunately, I have now come to the realization that the only way I will be able to get more than 2 GPU's running off this board is if I use 4 riser/adapters, so am really hoping I can get a hold of three x16 USB adapters that are similar to the 1x adapter I have, so I can move them off-board to the side and mount on plywood a la Phil's rig in the pics.

So, can anyone recommend a good x16 to x16 USB powered adapter/riser?

[vapourminer]

So, can anyone recommend a good x16 to x16 USB powered adapter/riser?

for mining you dont need a x16 to x16, you can plug a x1 to a x16 with no performance loss. mining takes very little bandwidth and one pcie lane is all you need.

[GabryRox]

ahhhh! light bulb moment lol!  So, i can just use 3 more of the x1 to x16 USB-powered I currently have plugged into my one 1x slot for my additional 3 x16 slots?  I guess if this is the case, that x8 to 16x ribbon i got could technically work at least... but i still have the problem of it being too short to reach the side of my rig, so I will just order 3 more of those x1 to x16 USB.  Thanks again for the help!

[vapourminer]

yup, use more x1 to x16 adapters in your x16 slots. a x8 in a x16 will work also.

[philipma1957]

Whats your wait time for a block? Seems to me if you have less than 500 MHs its not worth it to mine on the ethpool all-or-nothing payout system.

  I could write something nasty  but the    the truth is it is not all or nothing.  It simply adds your hash marks up and when you did enough points that you should hit a block it gives you the next block. Frankly if you are getting a block every 40 to 50 hours time after time and once in a while you get a bonus uncle it pays better then any other pool.
  If you have 200 mh it takes about 5 or 6 days

Not sure why you would write something nasty when I just asking why you preferred that pool over a "little bit everyday" as opposed to a "nothing for days then a big chunk". Of course your answers explains it well enough.

I was mining on that pool with my small rig, but waiting 20 days for a payout was just not doable  

That is why I was not nasty I thought you may have a small rig as
 under 60 mh does take close to 20 days for payment.  Which is close to the all or nothing you mentioned.

If the wait is over a week I would use ethminer over ethpool.


But I do like to watch the miner march up to the top.  Always with the chance of an uncle.
I now sold off nine gpus and went from 630mh to 420mh so I will need a little more time then two days to get to the top.

[LoneRangir]

Divesting already?! Weren't you just building last week? Consolidating rigs?

[GabryRox]

thanks again Vapour. I just ordered 3 more of those so should be able to get my rig going with 2 GPU's this weekend and add 2 more after Monday.

I did want to clarify something you mentioned before about the 4-pin molex/2-per string comment. I just inventoried the cables that were included with my PSU and I have 2 with molex connectors... 1 has 3 and the 2nd has 2.  So, what you were saying is to ONLY use a max of 2 per string, correct?  This should work fine since I will at max have 4 off-board cards, so I will just leave the 3rd molex empty on the cable that has 3.

The other thing that I was wondering about was the 8 pin (6+2) power cables that plug into the top of the GPU's. For instance, I know that I certainly need to connect this 8-pin to my on-board GPU in slot #1. But, will the other 3-4 GPU's connected via the USB x1 to x16 adapters also need this 8-pin power connected?  If both these and the molex are required for each of the off-board GPU's, will this increase to total power draw per card by a considerable amount?

Thanks again for enduring these noob questions :-)

[philipma1957]

Divesting already?! Weren't you just building last week? Consolidating rigs?

yeah I can not run 28 cards just too hot.

i now have  four 4 card rigs = 16 cards + one   3 card rigs  = 19 cards doing about 425mh vs 28 cards and 622mh

[Cryptozillah]

Custom roms should give you a nice boost to around 480Mhs, thats alot of pretty much free hashrate.
My 16 cards are doing 465Mhs @ ~2900w

[philipma1957]

Custom roms should give you a nice boost to around 480Mhs, thats alot of pretty much free hashrate.
My 16 cards are doing 465Mhs @ ~2900w

I don't like to push my cards that hard.

I think stock settings are safer.  But I guess overclock could be okay since the cards have warranty.

[Cryptozillah]

Custom roms should give you a nice boost to around 480Mhs, thats alot of pretty much free hashrate.
My 16 cards are doing 465Mhs @ ~2900w

I don't like to push my cards that hard.

I think stock settings are safer.  But I guess overclock could be okay since the cards have warranty.

The thing is that i dont think the cards are pushed that much harder.
My 470s have fans set at 55% holding around 70 degrees celcius @ 27.5Mhs (Mem oc to around 1950Mhz)
Warranty is no problem, i have got several gpus replaced after sending them in with custom bios onboard trough the years.
My rig is rock solid and have been going for over a month now with custom roms. More 470s on the way, will stop at 20 cards in total/580Mhs

[AriesIV10]

Custom roms should give you a nice boost to around 480Mhs, thats alot of pretty much free hashrate.
My 16 cards are doing 465Mhs @ ~2900w

I don't like to push my cards that hard.

I think stock settings are safer.  But I guess overclock could be okay since the cards have warranty.

The thing is that i dont think the cards are pushed that much harder.
My 470s have fans set at 55% holding around 70 degrees celcius @ 27.5Mhs (Mem oc to around 1950Mhz)
Warranty is no problem, i have got several gpus replaced after sending them in with custom bios onboard trough the years.
My rig is rock solid and have been going for over a month now with custom roms. More 470s on the way, will stop at 20 cards in total/580Mhs

What is the brand of 470s do you have?  How did you OC them?  I am getting 20Mhs with my MSI RX 470s.

[vapourminer]

I did want to clarify something you mentioned before about the 4-pin molex/2-per string comment. I just inventoried the cables that were included with my PSU and I have 2 with molex connectors... 1 has 3 and the 2nd has 2.  So, what you were saying is to ONLY use a max of 2 per string, correct?  This should work fine since I will at max have 4 off-board cards, so I will just leave the 3rd molex empty on the cable that has 3.

the cards may draw up to 75 watts per molex, so two would be 150 watts per string. this is generally what is considered the max for a string. so 4 cards, two per string with the molex connectors. for more cards you can use a sata to molex adapter but again only two per sata string.

The other thing that I was wondering about was the 8 pin (6+2) power cables that plug into the top of the GPU's. For instance, I know that I certainly need to connect this 8-pin to my on-board GPU in slot #1. But, will the other 3-4 GPU's connected via the USB x1 to x16 adapters also need this 8-pin power connected?  If both these and the molex are required for each of the off-board GPU's, will this increase to total power draw per card by a considerable amount?

each card needs the molex and all 6+2 sockets filled.

some motherboards also have a molex socket on the motherboard, probably near the slots (gives more power for the slots) but i dont think your motherboard has one.

[Cryptozillah]

Custom roms should give you a nice boost to around 480Mhs, thats alot of pretty much free hashrate.
My 16 cards are doing 465Mhs @ ~2900w

I don't like to push my cards that hard.

I think stock settings are safer.  But I guess overclock could be okay since the cards have warranty.

The thing is that i dont think the cards are pushed that much harder.
My 470s have fans set at 55% holding around 70 degrees celcius @ 27.5Mhs (Mem oc to around 1950Mhz)
Warranty is no problem, i have got several gpus replaced after sending them in with custom bios onboard trough the years.
My rig is rock solid and have been going for over a month now with custom roms. More 470s on the way, will stop at 20 cards in total/580Mhs

What is the brand of 470s do you have?  How did you OC them?  I am getting 20Mhs with my MSI RX 470s.

I run Sapphire RX 470 4GB Reference with backplate, the cheapest one. (custom rom with 1500 strap timings)
Using wattman to oc mem, all the rest default.

I did want to clarify something you mentioned before about the 4-pin molex/2-per string comment. I just inventoried the cables that were included with my PSU and I have 2 with molex connectors... 1 has 3 and the 2nd has 2.  So, what you were saying is to ONLY use a max of 2 per string, correct?  This should work fine since I will at max have 4 off-board cards, so I will just leave the 3rd molex empty on the cable that has 3.

the cards may draw up to 75 watts per molex, so two would be 150 watts per string. this is generally what is considered the max for a string. so 4 cards, two per string with the molex connectors. for more cards you can use a sata to molex adapter but again only two per sata string.

The other thing that I was wondering about was the 8 pin (6+2) power cables that plug into the top of the GPU's. For instance, I know that I certainly need to connect this 8-pin to my on-board GPU in slot #1. But, will the other 3-4 GPU's connected via the USB x1 to x16 adapters also need this 8-pin power connected?  If both these and the molex are required for each of the off-board GPU's, will this increase to total power draw per card by a considerable amount?

each card needs the molex and all 6+2 sockets filled.

some motherboards also have a molex socket on the motherboard, probably near the slots (gives more power for the slots) but i dont think your motherboard has one.

I run one card per string using molex directly connected to the riser, no sata connector between because they tend to get hot and melt. My cables dont even get hot this way.
I do this on my 470s + 480s rigs.

Powerdraw from the wall with custom bios:

470 4GB ref @ 27.5Mhs 145w
480 8GB ref @ 30.5Mhs 170w

[vapourminer]

the cards may draw up to 75 watts per molex, so two would be 150 watts per string. this is generally what is considered the max for a string. so 4 cards, two per string with the molex connectors. for more cards you can use a sata to molex adapter but again only two per sata string.

The other thing that I was wondering about was the 8 pin (6+2) power cables that plug into the top of the GPU's. For instance, I know that I certainly need to connect this 8-pin to my on-board GPU in slot #1. But, will the other 3-4 GPU's connected via the USB x1 to x16 adapters also need this 8-pin power connected?  If both these and the molex are required for each of the off-board GPU's, will this increase to total power draw per card by a considerable amount?

I run one card per string using molex directly connected to the riser, no sata connector between because they tend to get hot and melt. My cables dont even get hot this way.
I do this on my 470s + 480s rigs.

one per string and direct molex to adapter is certainly the best option but its hard to find psus with 4 or more strings of molex, or else im not looking hard enough. biggest i have is a evga gs 850. maybe 1000 watt or above psus?

or maybe 2 - 3 cards direct to mobo and 2 or more via adapters to x1 slots.

[philipma1957]

Whats your wait time for a block? Seems to me if you have less than 500 MHs its not worth it to mine on the ethpool all-or-nothing payout system.

  I could write something nasty  but the    the truth is it is not all or nothing.  It simply adds your hash marks up and when you did enough points that you should hit a block it gives you the next block. Frankly if you are getting a block every 40 to 50 hours time after time and once in a while you get a bonus uncle it pays better then any other pool.
  If you have 200 mh it takes about 5 or 6 days

Not sure why you would write something nasty when I just asking why you preferred that pool over a "little bit everyday" as opposed to a "nothing for days then a big chunk". Of course your answers explains it well enough.

I was mining on that pool with my small rig, but waiting 20 days for a payout was just not doable  

That is why I was not nasty I thought you may have a small rig as
 under 60 mh does take close to 20 days for payment.  Which is close to the all or nothing you mentioned.

If the wait is over a week I would use ethminer over ethpool.


But I do like to watch the miner march up to the top.  Always with the chance of an uncle.
I now sold off nine gpus and went from 630mh to 420mh so I will need a little more time then two days to get to the top.

and right on que  I get a bonus block this is why I like ethpool.org  getting these every once in a while are nice.

[LoneRangir]

So when is Ethereum going Proof of Stake (PoS)?  Is there a timeline?  Is there a countdown clock, similar to the halving clocks for BTC?  

[xleejohnx]

So when is Ethereum going Proof of Stake (PoS)?  Is there a timeline?  Is there a countdown clock, similar to the halving clocks for BTC?  

i read on the main website it said 2017 but that was months ago