Why does everyone use AMD when using 2+ cards?

[kripz]

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Not bashing AMD. Purely discussing cost effective parts. CPU (Intel G620) is the same price as a cheap AMD (X2 260). Mobo can fit 4 cards for 2-3x less than a high end AMD board.
Everything else is the same (DDR3, Sata HDD or USB Flash etc).

1x slot has no effect on the cards performance.

[mrb]

The question of AMD or Intel platforms basically doesn't matter. But AMD almost always comes out a few bucks cheaper, and Bitcoin miners are tightwads, so that's one reason they favor it :-)

Also, the cheapest AMD processors ($38 Sempron 140, or half the price of your Intel G620) can be used in both entry-level motherboards with x1 slots (for someone who wants to connect his GPUs with PCIe extenders) as well as high-end motherboards with 4 or more x16 slots (for someone who doesn't want to mess with extenders). On the other hand, Intel artificially segment the market: the cheap motherboards typically take LGA775 processors, whereas high-end ones require more expensive processors. AMD's more flexible upgrade path is definitely one more aspect favored by miners who frequently rebuild/upgrade their GPU farms, as they can re-use the same processors and RAM.

[dinzy]

Intel treats it's process engineers like shit.  Don't buy from them if you can avoid it.

[CyberPhunk]

Maybe because for the price of just the processor/MB you posted I can get an AMD sempron, a full size ATX MB, 2GB ram AND a PSU?

[Jack of Diamonds]

That board can only house one GPU.

If you want to use more you will have to spend on 3 riser cables and a chassis that can lift-mount the GPU's because they wont be able to function next to each other. There isn't even a guarantee the mobo can supply power to 4 GPU's, it's only specified for one.

X1 lanes on cheap boards are primarily for sound cards, ethernet cards etc. that take next to no wattage at all. Drawing 225W 24/7 will probably kill them.

[kripz]

That CPU is 1155. More upgradeable than AMD unless you get an AM3+ motherboard (which at low end, i dont think they are).

Most dedicated rigs dont even use a case or will use a custom made one.

Board works fine, if you really are worried about power get a riser cable and mod it (I didnt mod my 4 and it works fine). Not that 16x gives out any more power than 1x: http://pinouts.ru/Slots/pci_express_pinout.shtml, extra power is drawn from the 6 and 8 pin connectors. These slots are PCI-E compliant.

I dont think any motherboard can space the cards properly with 4 cards.

Maybe because for the price of just the processor/MB you posted I can get an AMD sempron, a full size ATX MB, 2GB ram AND a PSU?

Which one? I couldnt find one readily available and that could fit 4 cards, riser or not.

[airdata]

It's a cost thing unless you go with a used 775 set up.