Motherboard of choice for 6 or more GPU's

[Eastwind]

I have personally verified that you can not install more than 6 GPUs with windows 7.

The only thing you've personally verified is the fact that you were unable to install more than 6 GPUs with windows 7.

Windows XP 32 bit + 8 GPUs - http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=7902&start=270#p115136
Yeah.. that's two core nvidia cards, but they do count as GPUs, right ; )

I think that there is no hard coded limit or any limitation of GPUs in both Linux and Windows.
However when installing 8+ GPUs there are certain issues with BIOS unable to map all the GPUs.
Can't remember the project name right now, but guys made 10(not sure about the number but above 8 ) nvidia GPU rig, they had to use custom BIOS and custom linux kernel pathes to make it work.

Plus there is known issue with Windows ATI driver, which prevents you from n+ GPUs drivers being properly installed.
Some people claim n=4, some n=5.
For my setup(GA-990FXA-UD3 + 2x6950 + 2x7950) n=5. And in order to use 6GPUs in Windows I needed either to use 12.6 driver downloaded from AMD or 13.1 driver downloaded from techpowerup.

Also that 13.1 from techpowerup driver is different from 13.1 from AMD driver only in registry, so I assume that with some mod it is possible to use any driver version for 6GPU rigs.

So unless s1 explains why it is not possible technically to use 6+ AMD GPUs in Windows I consider it is doable.
"Windows sux"/"I was not able to use more than n GPUs in Windows"/"AMD drivers are crap" are not technical explanations.

So it sounds like you are saying windows XP can do 8 GPUs.
Had I known that I would have tried XP and skipped windows 7.  But XP wanted dummy plugs on the DVI ports of unused cards.
That was why I went with windows 7.
Also finding PSUs to support 7 GPUs rather than 6 ended up needing 3 PSUs rather than 2 (When you go the economy path)

I am impressed someone else got 8 to work.  Linux?

I read that windows 7 (not XP) is limited to 6 because they never imagined anyone would want more then 6 GPUs.

I have 8 GPUs working on several rigs on Windows 8.

3X7990 + 2X7970 = 8 GPUs, mother board, ASUS Rampage4 extreme, This MB has 6 PCIE slots. Catalyst 13.4.
4X7990 = 8 GPUs. MB: Gigabyte XKT-1155 Z68AP-D3. This MB has 5 PCIE slots. Catalyst: 13.6 or 13.9.

I wonder if anybody can make 5X7990 work on W8.

[1632008]

Thank you for confirming that running 8x HD79XX gpus under windows is possible.
As far as I see, most people are limited by 6 or 7 gpus. Is there any tricks to do that?

[Eastwind]

Thank you for confirming that running 8x HD79XX gpus under windows is possible.
As far as I see, most people are limited by 6 or 7 gpus. Is there any tricks to do that?

There is no trick I think. Or W8 did the trick. I have not tried 4X7990 on W7, so I cannot say W7 does not support 8 GPUs.

I have 5 different types of MB, all can run 4X7990. One of them is Asus P55 chipset, no problem running 4X7990.

If you cannot see all 8 GPUs, just reinstall Catalyst. In my PCs, catalyst earlier than 13.4 does recognise 7990.

[gabrielknight]

Does anyone know if MSI 990fxa-GD65 will works with 6 gpu without shorting the pcie?
very hard to find z77a gd65 these days.

Thanks.

[miner_x]

I've got the Gigabyte Z87X-OC mobo (it rocks.) with ASUS R9 280X cards (4 of them) I'll share my experience -

Currently I'm having issues connecting the 3rd GPU. When running with 2, everything is fine and stable. when connecting a 3rd one, system becomes unstable.
I'm on Xubuntu, and I think it is related to two things: 1 - the PCI slots that i'm using and 2 - the drivers.

When I used the first 3 PCI slots (PCI 16x, PCI 8x and PCI1_4x) the bios kept rebooting the system. Then I changed the slots to PCI 16x, PCI 8x and PCI2_4x and the system booted correctly.
Then I tried AMD Catalyst drivers 13.11beta (which worked fine for 2 cards) but when the 3rd card was connected, the system became unstable. (GUI freezes, cgminer doesn't start, some more weird issues that sometimes solved after reboot and sometimes not).

So I tried using Xubuntu repository fglrx drivers, and it recognized my cards as Radeon HD 7900. With this I could run cgminer for few minutes before one of the cards just stop mining, but the system is very unstable. for example, if i'm closing cgminer, I would need to reboot the machine before being able to re-run it again.
I tried uninstalling these drivers and wanted to give a shot to AMD Catalyst 13.12 (not beta!) but my OS crashed after I reinstalled the fglrx drivers.

I'm using Xubuntu 13.10 btw.

Any recommendations on which PCI slots to use for it to work properly? Does anyone else had these issues? Any advice is welcome, as I'm out of ideas.
Also, is there someone here that run 3+ R9 280X cards successfuly on Linux? Which gpu drivers are you using?

Once I figure it out, i'll post my solution. thanks to whoever gives a hand to the subject 

[BogdanT]

4x R9 280x here. Using SMOS v1 out-of-the box with the provided drivers.

[miner_x]

4x R9 280x here. Using SMOS v1 out-of-the box with the provided drivers.

Can you please tell me which mobo do you have? And how your cards are connected (how many with risers?) to which pci-e slots?

thanks

[zedicus]

I have an msi z77a gd80.. i thought it was supposed to be like the gd65 except with thunderbolt.

I currently cant get it to see more than two cards :/

Im at a loss.. I got powered 1x to 16x risers. 2x 1000w EVGA G series power supplies. Latest driver.. Ivy bridge Celeron.

I shoulda grabbed a gigabyte

[CaptainBeck]

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/motherboard/msi-z87-g45-gaming-socket-1150-chipset-z87-atx/21432621-a.html

msi-z87-g45

Anyone used this board before???

It has 7 PCIe slots, 3 x16 and 3x1.

Its fairly cheap here in the UK for a 7 slot board at around £110.

Think its worth a punt??

[CheekyChappy]

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/motherboard/msi-z87-g45-gaming-socket-1150-chipset-z87-atx/21432621-a.html

msi-z87-g45

Anyone used this board before???

It has 7 PCIe slots, 3 x16 and 3x1.

Its fairly cheap here in the UK for a 7 slot board at around £110.

Think its worth a punt??

I am trying to build a rig using this link: http://www.cryptobadger.com/2013/04/build-a-litecoin-mining-rig-hardware/

It was kindly provided by a user here on my request thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=397114.0

Could you possibly read the thread and give me some tips I would appreciate it. I am also from the UK and found everything on Amazon but the stated graphics cards were expensive and rare.

Thanks

[Unacceptable]

Is there any way of working without the dummy plug

I got a 7970 & 5870 laying around,bought a 850 watt PSU last night,got win7 installed & CGminer installed & my rig is mining 

But I can't speed up the fan on my 2nd card    It shows in CGminer that its mining,but shows idle in AFB & CCC.

I can hit radio shack tomorrow,but would like to do something tonite 

Thanks!!

BTW,CGminer is running with a bat file,I'm not any good at compiling & config files    Never got CGminer to work any other way...............

[zedicus]

^^ from my understanding the newer drivers require no dummy cards. You on techpowerups 13.12 ?

 

[Unacceptable]

^^ from my understanding the newer drivers require no dummy cards. You on techpowerups 13.12 ?

 

13.11 beta.

[zedicus]

^^ Yeah you shouldnt need dummy plugs!

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/motherboard/msi-z87-g45-gaming-socket-1150-chipset-z87-atx/21432621-a.html

msi-z87-g45

Anyone used this board before???

It has 7 PCIe slots, 3 x16 and 3x1.

Its fairly cheap here in the UK for a 7 slot board at around £110.

Think its worth a punt??

Im still driver dancing and OS hopping but if i give up on the gd80 i might just use that as an extra pc and give the board you linked to a shot? Let me know if you get it rocking! I was looking to do 5-6 per board. (280x's)

[Unacceptable]

Damnit!!

I made a dummy plug,now CCC shows a monitor,but still no way to control the fan speed on my second card................

AFB is the same...WTF  

They both mine,I can see the hashrate on GUIminer Alpha & at coinotron,very weird !!!

Nevermind...................  

I had to install the vid driver a second time to "activate" the second card    

So I'm assuming you need to install the vid driver as many times as you have cards........... weird  

[zedicus]

Whoa! Didnt expect you ta say that! lol

Ive just been naturally removing/disconnecting the cards, all but one ....

and then nuke the drivers and reinstall new drivers and each card one reboot at a time.

What a royal pain in the arse! Maybe someone else can chime in here..


Whats the correct way to driver dance anyone?


Remove cards? or just yank drivers and reinstall the new driver ?

[Unacceptable]

Whoa! Didnt expect you ta say that! lol

Ive just been naturally removing/disconnecting the cards, all but one ....

and then nuke the drivers and reinstall new drivers and each card one reboot at a time.

What a royal pain in the arse! Maybe someone else can chime in here..


Whats the correct way to driver dance anyone?


Remove cards? or just yank drivers and reinstall the new driver ?

Usually with Xfire setup,just go to add & remove programs,uninstall ATI suite,use driver sweeper(be careful,ATI drivers are also for chipsets.You remove them,your doing a reinstall of Windows) in safe mode,reboot,reinstall drivers.

It was a fluke that I thought about as I was posting that last post 

[Basil]

Gigabyte UD-7

Hi!

Did you know, how setup 6 GPU (Radeon R9 290) on Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7 ?  It is a week-night experiments, but for more than 4 cards can not run. Tried and Win 7-64  and Win 8.1 - 64   nothing happens

[iqacid]

Hey there

i just bought  msi 990fxa-gd65  and 5x 7950 asus so i wonder to ask does msi 990fxa-gd65  will support 5x 7950?

btw ill run em on 1600psu so its enough for 5x gpu?


thanks

[ti3go]

Hey there

i just bought  msi 990fxa-gd65  and 5x 7950 asus so i wonder to ask does msi 990fxa-gd65  will support 5x 7950?

btw ill run em on 1600psu so its enough for 5x gpu?


thanks

3x7950 running smoothly on 850w PSU here. 1600w should be ok for 5