What mobo for 2x(or 3x) HD6950?

[spule]

Hey everybody,

This is my first post so don't go too hard on me I am thinking of starting a mining rig. I've got a i5-2400 already, so i need a motherboard for it. Which one can support 2 or even 3 HD6850s?

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[wyze]

For 1155 Socket: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188082
For 1156 Socket: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131648

It looks like both board should be able to accommodate 3 6850's. I don't know how good the boards are, I just went on Newegg and looked up Intel boards which would work for you. I do know a lot of people recommend the GD70, but that is an AMD board.

I hope this helps you out some.

[zerokwel]

I perfer AMD myself as well..

But for intel any board that takes 2 pcie 16 cards and has atlest 1 pcie 1 slot as you can by a converter.

If its just for mining I would keep things as cheap as you can.

[wyze]

I perfer AMD myself as well..

But for intel any board that takes 2 pcie 16 cards and has atlest 1 pcie 1 slot as you can by a converter.

If its just for mining I would keep things as cheap as you can.

If building a rig from scratch, AMD is the way to go, but he said he already has an i5. I believe it draws less power which in turns runs cooler. AMD is also cheaper than Intel as well. I think I priced out a starter rig with 1x 5830 in it for $312.93 which was with an AMD Sempron.

[spule]

Thanks wyze for you reply. 250$ is a lot. I thought i could get a decent motherboard for like a 100$.

Edit: Is there a real difference between a MB with pci-e 1.0 and pci-e 2.0? Will the performance differ greatly when using 2.0 card like 6950 on an old board with pci-e 1.0?

[mjoz]

Hey everybody,

This is my first post so don't go too hard on me I am thinking of starting a mining rig. I've got a i5-2400 already, so i need a motherboard for it. Which one can support 2 or even 3 HD6850s?

If you had an AMD chip or bought one for $22 bucks.

This is the best mining board I have found so far for AM3:
MSI 890FXA-GD70 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130274

A total of 5 PCI-Express slots.  4 of the are double spaced so you can get 4 double wide cards in there without pci extenders.  You can also run 3 cards with additional space between each so they all run cool.  There is a power switch on the motherboard if you decide to go caseless.

[Arius]

You gotta go down on the cost of a MOBO.  I'm unwilling to pay more than $120 for a MOBO.  If you're serious about mining then you need to cost a whole system against its expected return.  As an example, I have a standard configuration for a single computer that costs $960 (power supply, ram, CPU, MOBO, HD, and Video Cards) and produces 700 MH/s.  By assembling these things en-mass, I'm able to build a super computer (in my living room) that kicks out MH/s at a rate of (.7MH/s)/$.  That's the cheapest build I could make (that would still function).  Buying a $300 MOBO is crazy.  There are better options.  Check this out: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157207 ,@ $126 you can add three cards and, with risers, you can support six.  This is everything you'd need for a bare-bones rig.

[tallen]

Don't splurge on an expensive motherboard. That's one component where you're definitely trying to cut corners. You can use PCIe extender cables if there's not enough space on the board for your third GPU.

For intel and 3xPCIe x16, a safe bet is the Asrock P67 Extreme4. Very popular.

[spule]

Asrock P67 PRO3 SE (since i got a processor with 1155) seems nice for its value. PCI EXPRESS 16X: 2. Total 4 GPUs.

+ bump: Can a 400w psu hold a 6950 flashed to 6970?

[bigcoiner]

any suggestions on good pcie extender cables?

You can use PCIe extender cables if there's not enough space on the board for your third GPU.

[acesun]

I always check the reviews at Newegg when I buy new hardware, I think you can trust those guys.