Motherboard advice

[Manlost111]

While I've already pulled the trigger on my mining rig, I've just been informed that my motherboard (ASRock H110 Pro BTC+) is out of stock with no ETA on new stock. It also seems that getting a hold of other mining-focused boards would be a great challenge at this time. I'm wondering if I can use my old motherboard for the meantime, an old Gigabyte P55-US4L board with 7 slots? I'm not 100% sure how to plug in the risers on the 4x PCI slots... will that even work if it's PCI and not PCI-E?

How difficult is it to run rigs with more than 6 or 7 GPUs? If I wanted to run 12 GPUs, would I be better off with 2 6-GPU rigs rather than 1 12-GPU rig? I'm looking at the ASUS B250 Mining Expert or the Biostar TB250 BTC Pro motherboards as an alternative to my initial ASRock H110 Pro BTC+ choice... I've also seen/read people having issues with the H110's PCI-E slot layout as being too tight if all slots were populated so I'm liking the ASUS/Biostar slot layout better. The ASUS board looks a bit scary as I don't know what the extra power connections (three ATX 12V and three MOLEX) are for? The Biostar board only has one ATX connection and one MOLEX.

Should I consider the ASUS or the Biostar? Both are expected to be available on the first week of January. Or should I abandon all aspirations of working with more than 6 GPUs?

Suggestions and advice greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[zukko]

Personally, for me, I realized that it's better not to connect more than 6 cards, because there are problems with tuning, miners, etc.
6 cards - and everything works without problems.

[puwaha]

You can only use PCIe slots for GPUs.  Your Gigabyte P55-US4L only has 4 PCIe slots, so that's as many GPUs as you can run on it.

6 card rigs are no more or less difficult to run than a 12 card rig.  You may even find smaller rigs easier to setup, as they don't require gigantic or multiple PSUs.  Plus, with a couple of smaller 6 card rigs, if you take one offline for maintenance then you aren't completely down like you would be with a 12 card rig.

[Tristan1337]

Personally i would go for the ASUS B250 Mining Expert. I haven't had any of the issues that people have been talking about.

I think people are just unlucky, or it's just related to user error.

[Bimmber]

You can only use PCIe slots for GPUs.  Your Gigabyte P55-US4L only has 4 PCIe slots, so that's as many GPUs as you can run on it.

Can`t you use extension board?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61BQ2CavstL._SL1001_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81wNai57IhL._SL1500_.jpg

[WensleyZ]

I think it's better not to connect more than 6 cards.

[MonkeyDo]

don't go 2 psu.

[Bimmber]

Personally i would go for the ASUS B250 Mining Expert. I haven't had any of the issues that people have been talking about.

I think people are just unlucky, or it's just related to user error.

How many cards are you running on that board?