what (not who) makes a stable/good motherboard?

[tangonaboat]

Hi everyone, I’ve been dipping my toes in mining since mid October of this year to learn some of the problems and nuances that come with it. I’ve had a room built for (20) 6-GPU rigs and I’ve compiled a list of all hardware needed EXCEPT for the motherboards!!! From reading and experimenting I know what makes a GPU, CPU, PSU, etc. a good piece of equipment but the motherboards got me stuck.

So I ask you, my fellow miners, what makes a good and stable motherboard? What do I need to look for in a motherboard?


Here is a summary of motherboards I’ve tested and/or using-

First motherboards I’ve bought were MSI Z270a pro, I greatly regret I only bought 2 when they were available for $86. Only thing I did was update bios and enabled 4G decoding. Installed (6) MSI 1070 Armor one one and (5) Zotac 1070 Extreme on the other with no issues and have been digging away for the last 8 weeks with no issues. Definitely thought it was gonna be a cake walk when the first ever I built were so easy.

Second motherboards I’ve bought were Biostar TB250-BTC, first motherboard out of the box must’ve been defective because the second one I tried worked. Same thing I did for the MSI motherboard, updated bios and enable 4g decoding, wasn’t as easy to get the motherboard to register the GPUs as the z270a pro but still good. It’s been digging away for the past 6 weeks with (6) EVGA 1070ti SC. ONLY reason why I didn’t buy more was because 1 out of 2 of the motherboards was defective so I didn’t want to risk it but I’m regretting that decision now.

Third motherboards, which at this point I'm thinking, "hey I've built 3 rigs with 2 different motherboards I can make any motherboard work!". NOPE, I bought (6) Asus Z270P Prime, installing drivers for GPUs were a pain and when I did finally manage to install all (6) ASUS 1070ti Turbo GPUs it only managed 460sol/s. The rig ran for about a week but would sporadically restart and after restarting one day Device Manager decides it doesn't want to recognize the GPU that is plugged into PCIe x16 - 2  , so I opened up another motherboard, swapped everything over and still the same problem!! After 2 weeks I've decided to return the motherboards and found (4) MSI Z370a Pro, I hope it's gonna be as easy as the Z270a Pro's.

[0xcosmos]

well in all of my rigs
i use asus z270p prime and i never had any kind of issues with mob
asus z270p is my go to for mining purpose mob
there has to be something else wrong with the config

[tangonaboat]

well in all of my rigs
i use asus z270p prime and i never had any kind of issues with mob
asus z270p is my go to for mining purpose mob
there has to be something else wrong with the config

Thanks for the input, my config are as follows

Virtual memory - 20gb
Pcie speed - auto, tried gen1-gen4 with no help
4g decoding enabled

But that’s water under the bridge, all I want to know is what specs I should look for in a motherboard that indicate it would be a stable  motherboard

[nerdralph]

Make sure you use powered risers.  The Asus mobos don't have a molex power connector like the Asrock boards do.  Even on my Asrock boards I power at least a couple of my risers since the molex power + the ATX power connector is not enough for 5-6 cards.

p.s. my post on powering mining rigs may be of interest.
http://nerdralph.blogspot.ca/2017/12/powering-gpu-mining-rigs.html

[gotminer]

well in all of my rigs
i use asus z270p prime and i never had any kind of issues with mob
asus z270p is my go to for mining purpose mob
there has to be something else wrong with the config

Same here.  I have three rigs running with Asus Z270p's.  In the process of building a 4th.  Haven't had any trouble with them.

[Yaboy]

Hey, this is as good a place to ask this as any:

ASUS B250 Mining Expert

Do they work well?

Reason I'm asking is that a wholesaler is offering these in a different thread. I'm curious to see if any of you guys have had experience with these? The whole "19-GPU" thing is exciting to me because then you're spreading out your redundant costs amongst many GPUs.

Obviously, that's what we're all searching for. But I don't want to see $ signs to the point that I get blindsided by cheap/low-quality hardware.

[philipma1957]

1070tis are weird if you do five and one 1070. They whale.  If you do six it drops.

Driver issues for sure.

[tangonaboat]

well in all of my rigs
i use asus z270p prime and i never had any kind of issues with mob
asus z270p is my go to for mining purpose mob
there has to be something else wrong with the config

well in all of my rigs
i use asus z270p prime and i never had any kind of issues with mob
asus z270p is my go to for mining purpose mob
there has to be something else wrong with the config

Same here.  I have three rigs running with Asus Z270p's.  In the process of building a 4th.  Haven't had any trouble with them.

Would you guys mind giving me your settings in bios?

1070tis are weird if you do five and one 1070. They whale.  If you do six it drops.

Driver issues for sure.

Even with all 1070tis the z270p still only recognize 5 cards =(