GPU mining with a RPi

[Valnurat]

Hi.

Can you GPU mining with RPi?
I know it doesn't have a GPU, but can you convert USB to PCIe or something
And is there any software for RPi to handle this?

Br
Valnuat

[Gambit_fr]

I guess it is highly improbable, how would you power a PCIe card with only an USB?

[Valnurat]

Ofcourse use a PSU and then use something like this:



And then skip the small part that should be used in a motherboard. I guess that is only for communication.

[NameTaken]

Ofcourse use a PSU and then use something like this:



And then skip the small part that should be used in a motherboard. I guess that is only for communication.

This still needs to go over the PCI bus for the device to be recognized so plugging it into the back of a motherboard or Pi will do nothing (or else why would there be 10+ PCIe slot mining boards if you can just use a USB hub?). Assuming that is not the case, good luck installing AMD or Nvidia drivers on a Pi.

[Gambit_fr]

Ofcourse use a PSU and then use something like this:



And then skip the small part that should be used in a motherboard. I guess that is only for communication.

This still needs to go over the PCI bus for the device to be recognized so plugging it into the back of a motherboard or Pi will do nothing (or else why would there be 10+ PCIe slot mining boards if you can just use a USB hub?). Assuming that is not the case, good luck installing AMD or Nvidia drivers on a Pi.

+1
It's not for communication it's for routing PCIe 1x signals. It's a PCIe 1x to 16x converter, not a USB to PCIe 16x converter! 
USB and PCIe doesn't have the same communication protocols and utility; otherwise they would stop putting PCIe slots on motherboards.

[Valnurat]

I see your point, but is that not just a question of making that tool (software) that can combine USB and PCIe to talk?

I was just thinking if you have windows 10 on a motherboard where you have cuda running, why should it not be possible to run Windows 10 iot on a Pi and then have the same setup.

Then it should just be matter of how to get it to communicate.

Maybe I'm way off here.

Just a thought.

[NameTaken]

I see your point, but is that not just a question of making that tool (software) that can combine USB and PCIe to talk?

I was just thinking if you have windows 10 on a motherboard where you have cuda running, why should it not be possible to run Windows 10 iot on a Pi and then have the same setup.

Then it should just be matter of how to get it to communicate.

Maybe I'm way off here.

Just a thought.

There are numerous reasons but if it were possible, don't you think everyone here would be using Pis by now?

[ShowMeCoins]

Maybe not a Pi, but a HummingBoard...

The "Hummingboard Edge" has a M.2 connector, which can be converted to a PCI x1.

Question is ..... is it gonna work

[goo38]

The graphics cards have to interface through PCIE. The Pi simply doesn't support that interface.

Something like a LeMaker HiKey 960 has PCIE gen 2 support and an m.2 interface... so maybe with an m.2 to PCIE slot converter and the software to make it communicate with OS you could run graphics cards. It costs $250 for this device though, so not really saving money compared to the typical x86 motherboard and cpu combos we buy today.

[Valnurat]

I see your point, but is that not just a question of making that tool (software) that can combine USB and PCIe to talk?

I was just thinking if you have windows 10 on a motherboard where you have cuda running, why should it not be possible to run Windows 10 iot on a Pi and then have the same setup.

Then it should just be matter of how to get it to communicate.

Maybe I'm way off here.

Just a thought.

There are numerous reasons but if it were possible, don't you think everyone here would be using Pis by now?

Wow.

[droghtak]

I see your point, but is that not just a question of making that tool (software) that can combine USB and PCIe to talk?

I was just thinking if you have windows 10 on a motherboard where you have cuda running, why should it not be possible to run Windows 10 iot on a Pi and then have the same setup.

Then it should just be matter of how to get it to communicate.

Maybe I'm way off here.

Just a thought.

yeah, you are way off

you dont need a shitty windows to run cuda on ARM. You can use linux. I dont think nvidia has released any driver for windows iot ... lol thats really off hehe

The RPI does not have PCIe lanes so no, it cant work.

There are other dev boards where you could mine with discrete gpus, like the TX1 (it has a pcie port and msta port). There you can even use the onboard gpu (256 maxwell cores) to mine...

[leowonderful]

It's all up to whether or not the board can support a PCI or M.2 PCI Interface and whether or not you are willing to program the board to actually run with the GPU as it will most likely not work out of the box. Most devices like this could save energy if they work, but they are also very expensive as most of these boards are development boards- best to just buy a normal motherboard and CPU.

[NiHaoMike]

Pogoplug Pro has a mini PCIe slot and costs about $10 each, but I have no idea if it would have enough specs for hosting a GPU. It would have to be an AMD GPU since Nvidia doesn't support any GPU on ARM except their own SoCs.

[Valnurat]

It's all up to whether or not the board can support a PCI or M.2 PCI Interface and whether or not you are willing to program the board to actually run with the GPU as it will most likely not work out of the box. Most devices like this could save energy if they work, but they are also very expensive as most of these boards are development boards- best to just buy a normal motherboard and CPU.

Yes, if a devicedriver can be made to communicate with videocards through USB then it should be possible, right?