Anyone using Biostar A870 motherboard?

[amazingrando]

I am planning to build a few Linux-based rigs with four GPUs per system (using extenders).  Before I buy, just wondering:
1) is it stable?
2) can you use extenders without shorting pins to make it work?

Thanks  

[goxed]

Using this mobo. I have daisy chained MOBO -> PCI 1X-1X -> PCI 1X-16X -> VGA, for two cards (5830, 6950). Works good.

[amazingrando]

Thanks!

I'm planning to go PCIe x1 to x1, which requires trimming off the back of the connector to fit on the x16 GPU connector.

Question is whether you need to short any pins for the x1 approach to work with this board?  On some other boards, such as the MSI 890FXA-GD70, it seems you have to.

[goxed]

Question is whether you need to short any pins for the x1 approach to work with this board?  On some other boards, such as the MSI 890FXA-GD70, it seems you have to.

No shorting / presence detect mod was necessary in my case for HIS 5830 and Sapphire 6950.

[amazingrando]

Awesome.  Just what I needed to know.

Thank you! 

[Dargo]

I am about to do the same, and have heard from another member also that the x1 risers work fine for this mobo even in the x16 slots. I've had zero issues with this board - a very solid and cost effective choice for a mining rig. Not so good, though, if you aren't planning on using risers, since the two x16 slots are pretty close together. If you plan on going headless, don't forget to enable headless boot in BIOS.

[amazingrando]

I was planning to try a two via risers and two in the slots configuration and see what the temps are like.  If it's too high, I'll go all with risers.

Thanks for the tip on headless.  Yes, these will be headless linux rigs

Cheers

[Dargo]

I was planning to try a two via risers and two in the slots configuration and see what the temps are like.  If it's too high, I'll go all with risers.

Thanks for the tip on headless.  Yes, these will be headless linux rigs

Cheers

As long as you have good air flow, you should be OK. I'm actually running two 5850s in the x16 slots and in a case right now. Cards are pretty cool, but I have a lot of fans in the case, including a 230mm side fan blowing right on the cards.

[amazingrando]

I'll give it a try tonight when I get one set up.  What I've seen is that if my GPUs have two slots of space between them then the temps are nice and low - 60C - even when overclocked.  This board has one x1 slot between the two x16 slots.  Hopefully that will be enough.  If not, I'll just get more risers.

[amazingrando]

I just picked up a few A870's.  It does look a bit different from the picture.  In the picture it seemed like the two x16 slots were fairly far apart.  But since my GPUs (6950's) are double slot, they would actually be right next to each other.  So I'll have to get risers for the x16 slots too.