[SUCCESS] 7 GPU Mining with Asrock H81 Pro BTC + PCIe Switch/Hub

[sidehack]

Regarding cables:

Yes, I've always made cables. Been selling PSU breakout boards for a little over three years and they've always shipped with in-house-manufactured cables.

The cables I made for this build are 24" from EVGA 8-pin PCIe (and CPU) split to two PCIe 6+2. 18AWG wiring is necessary for doubling up in a pin (double 16AWG is too much wire for a solid reliable crimp) but that's still good for about 150W per end, meeting PCIe 8-pin spec.

Not sure if they're in use in this build but I also supplied some 6-pin to 4-Molex for riser power, plugging into the EVGA's SATA/RERP ports.

[pikachuy]

Regarding cables:

Yes, I've always made cables. Been selling PSU breakout boards for a little over three years and they've always shipped with in-house-manufactured cables.

The cables I made for this build are 24" from EVGA 8-pin PCIe (and CPU) split to two PCIe 6+2. 18AWG wiring is necessary for doubling up in a pin (double 16AWG is too much wire for a solid reliable crimp) but that's still good for about 150W per end, meeting PCIe 8-pin spec.

Not sure if they're in use in this build but I also supplied some 6-pin to 4-Molex for riser power, plugging into the EVGA's SATA/RERP ports.

Yup, thanks for them. And yes, your cables are being used. Each riser and each GPU is independently powered from their own ports on the EVGA power supply, except for one port is powering 2 risers because of my 7 GPU set up (My powered risers are the 4 pin molex, I don't feel comfortable using those sata to molex adapters so I had sidehack make some molex ends for my PSU).

Here is a diagram of my setup in-case anyone else is interested:
(Note: Riser 5 is on a molex split because I needed a power source for my SSD.)

[sidehack]

Cool. It's good to see everything working, took some figuring out to get the cable needs nailed down but it looks great.

[reelen]

Regarding cables:

Yes, I've always made cables. Been selling PSU breakout boards for a little over three years and they've always shipped with in-house-manufactured cables.

The cables I made for this build are 24" from EVGA 8-pin PCIe (and CPU) split to two PCIe 6+2. 18AWG wiring is necessary for doubling up in a pin (double 16AWG is too much wire for a solid reliable crimp) but that's still good for about 150W per end, meeting PCIe 8-pin spec.

Not sure if they're in use in this build but I also supplied some 6-pin to 4-Molex for riser power, plugging into the EVGA's SATA/RERP ports.

Yup, thanks for them. And yes, your cables are being used. Each riser and each GPU is independently powered from their own ports on the EVGA power supply, except for one port is powering 2 risers because of my 7 GPU set up (My powered risers are the 4 pin molex, I don't feel comfortable using those sata to molex adapters so I had sidehack make some molex ends for my PSU).

Here is a diagram of my setup in-case anyone else is interested:
(Note: Riser 5 is on a molex split because I needed a power source for my SSD.)

To save yourself some cabling in the future, you can split one power cable to two of your 480s easily.  I use a 6pin to dual 6+2 pin adapter and the builds are much cleaner.  Very nice job though.

[pikachuy]

To save yourself some cabling in the future, you can split one power cable to two of your 480s easily.  I use a 6pin to dual 6+2 pin adapter and the builds are much cleaner.  Very nice job though.

Yea, I thought about that too, but then I wanted to future proof my rig, in case future cards require (2) 6pins or (2) 8pins each, then I am ready for them, just need to swap out the cards and good to go with no modification needed. Since right now, each GPU has a spare 6+2 PCIe as can been in the photos of the rear. I would hate having to redo my cables in the future if the newer cards requires more PCIe ends, which is the reason why i took this step.

[TunerDude007]

Wow this really awesome dude... I just finished a six card setup with same motherboard... Thx for sharing, Hey do you think putting an eighth card in that extra pcie slot you have there would work? Wattya think?

[pikachuy]

Wow this really awesome dude... I just finished a six card setup with same motherboard... Thx for sharing, Hey do you think putting an eighth card in that extra pcie slot you have there would work? Wattya think?

I wanted each port on my EVGA PSU to power each GPU individually, so it maxed out at 7 (No more ports available). Also, I am on a 20 amp breaker at 120v, so that is a max of 2400 watts. Two 7 gpu rigs combine is about 2000 watts already. That is about 83% load. If I try to add any more GPU, then it might be near the max of my 20 amp breaker and also wanted to give it some cushion too in case of spikes.

But if you really wanted me to give it a try, I can add a 8th card just for the heck of testing. But will need to find some time.

[reelen]

Regarding cables:

Yes, I've always made cables. Been selling PSU breakout boards for a little over three years and they've always shipped with in-house-manufactured cables.

The cables I made for this build are 24" from EVGA 8-pin PCIe (and CPU) split to two PCIe 6+2. 18AWG wiring is necessary for doubling up in a pin (double 16AWG is too much wire for a solid reliable crimp) but that's still good for about 150W per end, meeting PCIe 8-pin spec.

Not sure if they're in use in this build but I also supplied some 6-pin to 4-Molex for riser power, plugging into the EVGA's SATA/RERP ports.

Yup, thanks for them. And yes, your cables are being used. Each riser and each GPU is independently powered from their own ports on the EVGA power supply, except for one port is powering 2 risers because of my 7 GPU set up (My powered risers are the 4 pin molex, I don't feel comfortable using those sata to molex adapters so I had sidehack make some molex ends for my PSU).

Here is a diagram of my setup in-case anyone else is interested:
(Note: Riser 5 is on a molex split because I needed a power source for my SSD.)

To save yourself some cabling in the future, you can split one power cable to two of your 480s easily.  I use a 6pin to dual 6+2 pin adapter and the builds are much cleaner.  Very nice job though.

So you've got 2 cards powered on a single pcie power line?

Yeah.  470/480s can do that pretty easily.  You just don't want to go above 300w total on a single pcie line.

[ice098]

Hmm interested.

I will test.

What is this watttool tool?

It serves to modify the bios or is it a soft like msi after burner?

Watttool is kind of similar like MSI afterburner, but to me, I like WattTool better because I can change all the settings in a simple text .ini file and have it load at startup easily. I'm not much of a graphical interface kind of person when it comes to underclocking/overclocking. All the settings I need (voltage offset, GPU control, memory control, fan control, and etc) all in a plain text file easily for me to modify.

Hi Pikachuy. Are you using dummy plug? Any magic settings in BIOS? Thanks.

Yes, I am using a dummy plug as you can see from the pictures, only setting I changed was set PCIe to gen1, and disable onboard GPU.

Hello,

it's makerbeam or openbeam?

it work well your pci express 1 to 3

This is the case I got, http://spotswoodcomputercases.com/wp/?page_id=8791

wow very wonderful rig, hopefully someday im gonna build a rig like that. But it is too expensive, your videocards here in our country is very expensive like our electricity bill here is expensive too. But someday I wish I could have that too.

[TunerDude007]

Wow this really awesome dude... I just finished a six card setup with same motherboard... Thx for sharing, Hey do you think putting an eighth card in that extra pcie slot you have there would work? Wattya think?

I wanted each port on my EVGA PSU to power each GPU individually, so it maxed out at 7 (No more ports available). Also, I am on a 20 amp breaker at 120v, so that is a max of 2400 watts. Two 7 gpu rigs combine is about 2000 watts already. That is about 83% load. If I try to add any more GPU, then it might be near the max of my 20 amp breaker and also wanted to give it some cushion too in case of spikes.

But if you really wanted me to give it a try, I can add a 8th card just for the heck of testing. But will need to find some time.

I understand your concerns, nevertheless it is still really impressive. Again thx for sharing!

[matmator]

I do not understand, it does not work with me,

How did you do to install the 7gpu?

You install the 7 gpu and install driver after?

Or did you install driver with 1 gpu and then boot with the 7?

At home windows 10 recognizes the 7 gpu well, but when I run claymore I lose the driver. And i have bsod, and when i want to reboot it does not boot.

[pikachuy]

I do not understand, it does not work with me,

How did you do to install the 7gpu?

You install the 7 gpu and install driver after?

Or did you install driver with 1 gpu and then boot with the 7?

At home windows 10 recognizes the 7 gpu well, but when I run claymore I lose the driver. And i have bsod, and when i want to reboot it does not boot.

Here are my steps:
1. Install the hardware of the PCIe splitter (only need power from molex or sata, not both) and GPU's and connect everything.
2. Boot into BIOS and change PCIE link speed to gen1.
3. Boot computer in safe mode.
4. Run DDU to install all old drivers from here http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
5. Reboot computer normally.
6. It should show 7 gpu in device manager, if so, install drivers 16.9.1 (I have tested and it seems the most stable for me) http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous/detail?os=Windows%207%20-%2064&rev=16.9.1
7. Once driver's are installed, do not reboot computer. Download this and run it and modify registry https://lbr.id.lv/6xgpu_mod/
8. Now reboot, and everything should work.

[matmator]

I have no luck it does not work at home,

Claymore starts and recognizes my 7 gpu, but my driver 16.9.1 beug has claymore opencl.



this patch is for w10 ?

[hendsan]

Regarding cables:

Yes, I've always made cables. Been selling PSU breakout boards for a little over three years and they've always shipped with in-house-manufactured cables.

The cables I made for this build are 24" from EVGA 8-pin PCIe (and CPU) split to two PCIe 6+2. 18AWG wiring is necessary for doubling up in a pin (double 16AWG is too much wire for a solid reliable crimp) but that's still good for about 150W per end, meeting PCIe 8-pin spec.

Not sure if they're in use in this build but I also supplied some 6-pin to 4-Molex for riser power, plugging into the EVGA's SATA/RERP ports.

Yup, thanks for them. And yes, your cables are being used. Each riser and each GPU is independently powered from their own ports on the EVGA power supply, except for one port is powering 2 risers because of my 7 GPU set up (My powered risers are the 4 pin molex, I don't feel comfortable using those sata to molex adapters so I had sidehack make some molex ends for my PSU).

Here is a diagram of my setup in-case anyone else is interested:
(Note: Riser 5 is on a molex split because I needed a power source for my SSD.)

it's that use molex riser connector? if i use 6-pin riser connector it's same using this diagram of your setup?


can u give me some pict for your rig from PSU to riser?

[pikachuy]

I have no luck it does not work at home,

Claymore starts and recognizes my 7 gpu, but my driver 16.9.1 beug has claymore opencl.



this patch is for w10 ?

I use windows 7 x64, maybe give that a try.

it's that use molex riser connector? if i use 6-pin riser connector it's same using this diagram of your setup?



can u give me some pict for your rig from PSU to riser?

Here's a diagram if you are use using 6 pin risers, the reason I choose this route is because I want minimum load on each wire to be safe to reduce heat/resistance in-cause of dual mining. Sidehack should be able to make all these cables if needed specifically for EVGA power supplies.

[hendsan]

it's that use molex riser connector? if i use 6-pin riser connector it's same using this diagram of your setup?



can u give me some pict for your rig from PSU to riser?

Here's a diagram if you are use using 6 pin risers, the reason I choose this route is because I want minimum load on each wire to be safe to reduce heat/resistance in-cause of dual mining. Sidehack should be able to make all these cables if needed specifically for EVGA power supplies.

wow nice cabling, btw. have peripheral & SATA to 6-pin cable for riser?

[sidehack]

It can be done.

[phantitox]

does the 8th gpu work?

[eretron]

^^

Just wanted to ask same question...

Good job btw.

[batfasturd]

I am mining eth + decred on my 2gpu unit at the moment and was thinking about investing in more mining hardware, however after reading ETH was going POS soon I am a little nervous to do so. How do you guys feel about this change or will you just switch to a new altcoin?