Motherboards Selection - Please Guide

[aviz123]

Hello Friends,

I am looking for some solid guidance.

I have short listed some motherboards, please suggest what is the best pick to be used. If building 100 RIGs. It could be 6 or 7 or 8 or more GPU per rig.

Have heard from some big rig farm guys that is much better to set 6 or 7 or max 8 GPU Cards per RIG. Please advise. Why?

Some short listed and with my comments beside them

AsRock H81 Pro BTC R2  -  Have been using them, but the only issue i faced its a bit OLD model.. and just supports 6 GPU (i am fine with 6 too). But is being OLD model motherboard a problem for Long run?
AsRock H110 Pro BTC  - Looks good... but many have faced issues due to very close risers.. Also you can just run 8 NVIDIA or 8 AMD and rest other Chipset.. if running on Windows.. is it ?
BioStar TB250-BTC+ 6.x   - Mixed views, please share your views..
BioStar TB250-BTC PRO 6.x  - Mixed views, please share your views..
Asus Z270P   - is BIOS work , time consuming - if i am building 100 Rigs ?
Asus Z270A   - is BIOS work, time consuming - if i am building 100 Rigs


I would appreciate your kind suggestion, in consideration, if building 100 RIGS..

Why should i go with Asus or Biostar or AsRock ?

Hope to see some quick replies....

[Undefined31415]

It's usually good to limit the number of GPUs you put on each motherboard in order to avoid having too many eggs in one basket.

If the OS/driver throws an error, or the motherboard/CPU/etc. were to fail, then all the GPUs connected to that rig would be down until you fixed the issue. Additionally, stopping at 8 tends to cause fewer setup headaches, at least with current Windows 10 drivers. (Without delving into more modifications, you're stuck with up to 8 from AMD and/or 8 from Nvidia.) YMMV with certain Linux distros.

Those are some of the main reasons why you should stop around 8 GPUs per rig.



I personally use the Asrock H81 Pro (2013 model), and it has worked fine for me. I can't speak for any of the other boards, though.

[sevenmiles]

MSI Enthuastic Gaming Intel Z170A LGA 1151 DDR4 USB 3.1 ATX Motherboard (Z170A Gaming M5)
for 7 GPUs, very easy setup, and always available

ASUS PRIME Z270-A LGA1151 DDR4 DP HDMI DVI M.2 USB 3.1 Z270 ATX Motherboard
for 7 GPUs, very easy setup, and always available and relatively cheap

[aviz123]

It's usually good to limit the number of GPUs you put on each motherboard in order to avoid having too many eggs in one basket.

If the OS/driver throws an error, or the motherboard/CPU/etc. were to fail, then all the GPUs connected to that rig would be down until you fixed the issue. Additionally, stopping at 8 tends to cause fewer setup headaches, at least with current Windows 10 drivers. (Without delving into more modifications, you're stuck with up to 8 from AMD and/or 8 from Nvidia.) YMMV with certain Linux distros.

Those are some of the main reasons why you should stop around 8 GPUs per rig.



I personally use the Asrock H81 Pro (2013 model), and it has worked fine for me. I can't speak for any of the other boards, though.

Thanks for your solid advise...
Yeh i am probably thinking to go with H81PRO BTC R2... low price as well.. 

[raindeer777]

buy msi motherboard  it supports 6 gpu at a time and is best for mining ......

[QuintLeo]

AsRock H81 Pro BTC R2  -  Have been using them, but the only issue i faced its a bit OLD model.. and just supports 6 GPU (i am fine with 6 too). But is being OLD model motherboard a problem for Long run?
AsRock H110 Pro BTC  - Looks good... but many have faced issues due to very close risers.. Also you can just run 8 NVIDIA or 8 AMD and rest other Chipset.. if running on Windows.. is it ?

 The spacing on these boards should be IDENTICAL.

 Slot spacing is part of the ATX specification.


 If I had to build a riser rig, I'd probably go for the H110 as ASRock has given me generally good results out of their motherboards and it supports my preference for using PS/2 ports for keyboards and mice.

 I'd actually prefer to go AM4, but I've yet to find an AM4 solution that I thought was a GOOD one for a mining motherboard.

[tomlev5]

I have Asrock H110 Pro and the neighbour risers are touching among themselves. I am not sure if this is a problem? The board is working without restart for a couple of days, but not allways.

[usuksobad]

My top pick - Asus Z270P
Most time saving motherboard.

[aviz123]

My top pick - Asus Z270P
Most time saving motherboard.

Why is that?
I heard have to do BIOS, which eats most of the time, if you are building 100-200 RIGS.
Not a plug and play like ASROCK H81 PRO BTC R2.

[jimmykl]

AsRock H81 Pro BTC R2  -  Have been using them, but the only issue i faced its a bit OLD model.. and just supports 6 GPU (i am fine with 6 too). But is being OLD model motherboard a problem for Long run?
AsRock H110 Pro BTC  - Looks good... but many have faced issues due to very close risers.. Also you can just run 8 NVIDIA or 8 AMD and rest other Chipset.. if running on Windows.. is it ?

 The spacing on these boards should be IDENTICAL.

 Slot spacing is part of the ATX specification.

Hmmm… I think this is the ASRock blueprint for the H110 mobo

https://imgur.com/a/1TCwe

[car1999]

just a small tip, DO NOT use the buggy m.2 to pcie adapter.

[JuanHungLo]

It's usually good to limit the number of GPUs you put on each motherboard in order to avoid having too many eggs in one basket.

If the OS/driver throws an error, or the motherboard/CPU/etc. were to fail, then all the GPUs connected to that rig would be down until you fixed the issue. Additionally, stopping at 8 tends to cause fewer setup headaches, at least with current Windows 10 drivers. (Without delving into more modifications, you're stuck with up to 8 from AMD and/or 8 from Nvidia.) YMMV with certain Linux distros.

Those are some of the main reasons why you should stop around 8 GPUs per rig.



I personally use the Asrock H81 Pro (2013 model), and it has worked fine for me. I can't speak for any of the other boards, though.

Thanks for your solid advise...
Yeh i am probably thinking to go with H81PRO BTC R2... low price as well.. 

Good thread, OP.  I am doing the same as you now.  The next logical question would be what power supply are you going to choose for that MB and which GPUs?

[cjclm7]

just a small tip, DO NOT use the buggy m.2 to pcie adapter.

  oooppsss... just bought one M.2 to PCI Adaptor (arriving by Mail next week). What exactly is the issue?

I am using Asus Prime Z270A. No issues so far.

[aviz123]

It's usually good to limit the number of GPUs you put on each motherboard in order to avoid having too many eggs in one basket.

If the OS/driver throws an error, or the motherboard/CPU/etc. were to fail, then all the GPUs connected to that rig would be down until you fixed the issue. Additionally, stopping at 8 tends to cause fewer setup headaches, at least with current Windows 10 drivers. (Without delving into more modifications, you're stuck with up to 8 from AMD and/or 8 from Nvidia.) YMMV with certain Linux distros.

Those are some of the main reasons why you should stop around 8 GPUs per rig.



I personally use the Asrock H81 Pro (2013 model), and it has worked fine for me. I can't speak for any of the other boards, though.

Thanks for your solid advise...
Yeh i am probably thinking to go with H81PRO BTC R2... low price as well.. 

Good thread, OP.  I am doing the same as you now.  The next logical question would be what power supply are you going to choose for that MB and which GPUs?

GPUs you can chose.. I am running 1080TI also.. 1070 Mini.. 1070 Extreme..

After MOBO Selection.. go to which cards you want to run.. than select PSU.

Some guys are also using Server PSU - HP ones.. i have to see how to connect GPU in to those..