Asrock H81 BTC Pro - Powered riser...or 4 pin molex

[kc10boom]

I've read that it is a bad idea to plug in the 4-pin molex connectors on the ASRock BTC mining motherboard AND use powered risers.  The posts I've read talk about putting too much voltage to the risers and frying the riser or worse the GPU.   What purpose does the USB cable serve on the powered riser?  I assume the SATA connection brings power to the riser board but wasn't sure about the USB cable.  I would think a dedicated power rail per riser would be a safer bet than relying on the on-board MB connectors.  The directions ASRock give can be misleading because they only stress plugging in the PCI molex connectors but don't make any referrals to powered risers.

I know this sounds silly, but does anyone have a good link to "non-powered" risers, all the links I find are powered.  Ideal would be a 2 foot 1x to 16x extension ribbon.

[lathrodectus]

Using "non-powered" risers is a bad idea.
I don't know where you read that using 4-pin molex on the mo-bo is gonna "fry" or "overvolt" but that is totally wrong.
That power input helps to keep voltage stable. Won't fry or damage powered risers.
Use powered risers and connect the 4-pin molex on your mainboard.

[kc10boom]

https://forum.z.cash/t/asrock-h81-pro-btc-r2-0-using-molex-power-and-powered-risers/8610/31


It seems much of the issue stemmed from people using multiple PSUs .  The person talked about mixing powered risers with molex halfway down the thread.

[lathrodectus]

Multiple PSUs are not a problem if you connect them with a relay or with a simple multiplier cable.
I think most non-technical people are unable to identify real source of the problems they face.
To my experience, most of the time these problems are caused by a low quality PSU which is a grave mistake.
Faced with power related problems they come to wrong consequence which result in erroneous comments like the one you linked.
So long story short, use powered risers and supply power to 4-pin molex on your board.
I've been using one of that board since 2014 (older version) with no problems.

[kc10boom]

Thanks for the advice .  I have the Thermaltake Toughpower 1250 and running 6x1060 6GB.  I got concerned because two of my cards stopped working but I think the risers went bad although they are only one week old.  I put the cards in my gaming pc and they powered up.

[lathrodectus]

Risers vary in quality and design. Don't get fooled by the "version".
Depending on how many rails your PSU has you should choose different types.
I always go with 6-pin 5557  power connector ones which results in less amps on the PSU wires.

[Vod]

Thanks for the advice .  I have the Thermaltake Toughpower 1250 and running 6x1060 6GB.  I got concerned because two of my cards stopped working but I think the risers went bad although they are only one week old.  I put the cards in my gaming pc and they powered up.

Just FYI - but if you need more help, there are several sections of the forum dedicated to this:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=14.0