PCIe GPU bandwidth

[tanoury]

Oh Great Ones, I humbly bow before your wisdom and knowledge.

I'm looking for an X99 motherload, I mean motherboard, that will support three GPUs (RX 480s) without risers. If I understand correctly, each GPU will need a working (non-shared) PCIe x16 slot of its own. Two running at x16 and the third one running at x16 or x8. With proper spacing, ventilation and PSU. I will have a 40 lane CPU. So if this info is correct any of these these MOBOs should fit the bill: ?

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

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132516

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130948

Please add anything that will be helpful. Thanks in advance!

[adaseb]

Oh Great Ones, I humbly bow before your wisdom and knowledge.

I'm looking for an X99 motherload, I mean motherboard, that will support three GPUs (RX 480s) without risers. If I understand correctly, each GPU will need a working (non-shared) PCIe x16 slot of its own. Two running at x16 and the third one running at x16 or x8. With proper spacing, ventilation and PSU. I will have a 40 lane CPU. So if this info is correct any of these these MOBOs should fit the bill: ?

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

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132516

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130948

Please add anything that will be helpful. Thanks in advance!

No you just need x1 slots for mining.

[meeow]

Oh Great Ones, I humbly bow before your wisdom and knowledge.

I'm looking for an X99 motherload, I mean motherboard, that will support three GPUs (RX 480s) without risers. If I understand correctly, each GPU will need a working (non-shared) PCIe x16 slot of its own. Two running at x16 and the third one running at x16 or x8. With proper spacing, ventilation and PSU. I will have a 40 lane CPU. So if this info is correct any of these these MOBOs should fit the bill: ?

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

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132516

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130948

Please add anything that will be helpful. Thanks in advance!

If you are just mining,  it's generally more economical to use risers and 5-7 cards per board. Also, X99 is pointless, it costs a ton more than AM3 or 115X platforms and also uses more power. If you don't want the hassle of obtaining or building a custom enclosure, then a 4 physical x16 board like biostar racing is a better bet than using 3 cards. If you get cards with good coolers, like MSI twin frozr then you dont necessarily need a slot gap between each card (I wouldn't recommend pre Ellesmere AMD cards next to each other though).

[tanoury]

Thanks a million guys!

I've been mining for about four years now, just using three old family computers that were laying around here. Although I am profit conscious, the fun factor is also very attractive to me. If I do build a new rig, it will also double as a family computer.

So if I have this straight, PCI bandwidth isn't much of a factor for GPU mining. Without risers, any x16 PCIe slot running at x16, x8, x4 or even x1 will work.

Thanks for the Biostar suggestion . . .

[meeow]

Thanks a million guys!

I've been mining for about four years now, just using three old family computers that were laying around here. Although I am profit conscious, the fun factor is also very attractive to me. If I do build a new rig, it will also double as a family computer.

So if I have this straight, PCI bandwidth isn't much of a factor for GPU mining. Without risers, any x16 PCIe slot running at x16, x8, x4 or even x1 will work.

Thanks for the Biostar suggestion . . .

Yes, all you need is x1. If you google an image of dedicated mining boards like AsRock h81 pro btc you can see they have many x1 slots intended for use with risers.

Make sure you use powered risers if you use cards that draw power from the pci-e slot (such as reference rx480).

[Ambros]

Thanks a million guys!

I've been mining for about four years now, just using three old family computers that were laying around here. Although I am profit conscious, the fun factor is also very attractive to me. If I do build a new rig, it will also double as a family computer.

So if I have this straight, PCI bandwidth isn't much of a factor for GPU mining. Without risers, any x16 PCIe slot running at x16, x8, x4 or even x1 will work.

Thanks for the Biostar suggestion . . .

Yes, all you need is x1. If you google an image of dedicated mining boards like AsRock h81 pro btc you can see they have many x1 slots intended for use with risers.

Make sure you use powered risers if you use cards that draw power from the pci-e slot (such as reference rx480).

Yeah, the huge bandwidth offered by pcie 3.0 16x is completely useless when you mine.
Even a pcie 1.0 would do the job

[Abdussamad]

does cpu power matter or do you just get the cheapest cpu the mobo will support?

[meeow]

does cpu power matter or do you just get the cheapest cpu the mobo will support?

Generally no, there are a couple of edge cases like early versions of claymore zec miner which used CPU significantly.

[LoneRangir]

I wrote up a short how-to at the suggestion of Phil over here on his thread about a 4-card/Biostar build.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1584973.msg17188356#msg17188356