Mining Questions

[theGECK]

Posting this for the_joey_o, who has lost his ability to post, and has already contacted DiabloD3 about it, but still wants to ask.

First: I've heard that with Windows 7, you have to have a separate monitor for every GPU. Is this correct? Is there any way around this (besides going to Linux)?

Second: I've built and repaired computers before, but I've never worked with slot extenders/adapters or any specialized cooling systems. I've got two PCI-E X16, two PCI and two PCI X1 slots on my mobo. If I wanted 4 or more 5770s to mine bitcoins, what sort of adapter is best for this?  Edit: I mentioned to the_joey_o that there was some work on here before of people using PCIE x1 slots to connect a GPU to it. Is that something that is actually viable?

Third, I understand I'm going to be doing a fair amount of jerry-rigging here, so what cooling systems should I be looking at?

[1714780170]

1714780170

[1714780170]

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[FreeJAC]

First: Google dummy plugs. If there is no monitor detected the miner can't use the GPU. You CAN connect a monitor temporarily, fire things up and then take it off etc. It becomes a PITA factor really fast and makes things difficult if you want to run things headless. Dummy plug is the answer basically gives the GPU a monitor load, fools it into detecting the monitor. 

[the_joey_o]

First: Google dummy plugs. If there is no monitor detected the miner can't use the GPU. You CAN connect a monitor temporarily, fire things up and then take it off etc. It becomes a PITA factor really fast and makes things difficult if you want to run things headless. Dummy plug is the answer basically gives the GPU a monitor load, fools it into detecting the monitor. 

Thanks Geck & FreeJAC! Any help on the other two questions will be greatly appreciated!

[FreeJAC]

Second: You can get the connectors here https://cablesaurus.com/ and you are going to need a massive power supply. I have not used them personally but many others here have. I can't really speak to the cooling other than using something like GPU-Z to keep an eye on the temps. With a 4 card miner I would probably not use a case and just put everything together on the bench with some fans. Have a look at the youtube videos for some ideas.

[the_joey_o]

Second: You can get the connectors here https://cablesaurus.com/ and you are going to need a massive power supply. I have not used them personally but many others here have. I can't really speak to the cooling other than using something like GPU-Z to keep an eye on the temps. With a 4 card miner I would probably not use a case and just put everything together on the bench with some fans. Have a look at the youtube videos for some ideas.

Thanks again FreeJAC! I'm going to gamble on the ability to cool these cards. I think, if the two that will fit in the case get too hot to be in the case, I'll just get a cable extender and pull them out of the case. Hopefully that'll do the trick. I'll just have to keep up on my dusting. :/