New Biostar tb250-btc d+ Mining motherboard (8 PCI-E x16 slots)

[gameboy366]

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=902

[Lunga Chung]

This looks interesting, not that i don't trust in octominer but BIOSTAR has a rep. and lots of distributors

[pushion]

Yeah, saw this earlier, looks interesting. What is the price?

[androstan1234]

What's the advantage to miners of having x16 vs x1?  Why not get regular tb250+ or pro?

[Vann]

These x16 slot extended boards are mainly good for server racks. The spacing is too close to get efficient cooling compared to open air rigs on risers.

[cloudhax]

interesting.  I really like my octominer rigs but the option to drop in a more powerful cpu might be useful, and competition is always good.   Would be interested in a 4U case that has room for 2 PSUs and support for this board.  one thing I noticed is this has a lot more 6pin power inputs on the board compared to octominer's.  Not sure if this board requires all those to be filled?

[dagarair]

What's the advantage to miners of having x16 vs x1?  Why not get regular tb250+ or pro?

no need for risers eliminates many of your issues

[NiklasFalk]

Having good experience with a QM5000 board with embedded 15w APU, it would be nice with a barebone solution with maximum width for the GPUs, and very basic extras 8e.g. embedded CPU, DDR3 SODimm etc).

Placing Server PSU(s) on top of the CPU in this case would make it a compact design, but why are the 6-pin connectors sticking out at the bottom of the picture? I would think that would be a case wall in most designs? 19"= 48.26cm MB 48.5cm long ... I.e. it will not fit 19" cases/rigs, so the 6pins at the edge will be sticking out anyway.

Is the heat in these compact designs really a problem? How many "efficient" cards are running higher than 150W nowadays (about 1200W of heat to remove)?
I realize that it would be nice is the failure of one fan does not overheat the whole thing, meaning that a margin (10C?) to terminal failure is needed.
But my knowledge of cramped farms i null. 9x80W in a roomy wooden rig makes the cards run at well below 60C (ok, 19C ambient...).

[cloudhax]

Is the heat in these compact designs really a problem?

its only a problem if you try running it open-air.  they are designed to be encased in a chassis with high-powered fans for intake and exhaust (see octominer case with 7 delta fans).   In this configuration I have 8 cards crammed together and the rigs are in a hot garage in Texas and the gpus are plenty cool due to the massive airflow

[posterhebat]

They make motherboard for compact mining rig, no need to use any more cases!

[NiklasFalk]

Is the heat in these compact designs really a problem?

its only a problem if you try running it open-air.  they are designed to be encased in a chassis with high-powered fans for intake and exhaust (see octominer case with 7 delta fans).   In this configuration I have 8 cards crammed together and the rigs are in a hot garage in Texas and the gpus are plenty cool due to the massive airflow

Yea, as with the server PSUs, compact designs depending on fans going ooooiiiiiiii...

So MoBo designed for for airflow sensitive GPU packing, but with a size that does not fit inside 19" cases...

[badfad]

Now imagine putting Zotac AMP! triple slot cooler cards in there.  

Is the heat in these compact designs really a problem? How many "efficient" cards are running higher than 150W nowadays (about 1200W of heat to remove)?
I realize that it would be nice is the failure of one fan does not overheat the whole thing, meaning that a margin (10C?) to terminal failure is needed.
But my knowledge of cramped farms i null. 9x80W in a roomy wooden rig makes the cards run at well below 60C (ok, 19C ambient...).

180W 1080, 240W+ 1080ti, 140W 1070ti...

Stack 8 1080s in there and you get a very good room heater also, not kidding.

[Elder III]

Hmm, if this really takes 16 PCIE connectors just for the motheboard that's a big negative when compared to the Octominer. I wonder if cryptomined is going to be reviewing one of these soon?

[androstan1234]

What's the advantage to miners of having x16 vs x1?  Why not get regular tb250+ or pro?

no need for risers eliminates many of your issues

Thanks for the response.

Interesting.  Only had 1 riser issue in 10 months, but I get the point.

Don't all those high powered fans take extra power as compared to open air?

[JaredKaragen]

risers work; but are definitely a hassle with wires and reliability.

this board looks promising because its from a reputable manufacturer;  but;  

1)   no mSATA or m.2 slot
2)   regular 2-slot spacing.  No bueno.  Needs to be 2.5 minimum when cramming more than 3-4 cards together.  the center gpu's will feel the pain.
3)   Need for 12V power to CPU port;  via a jumper wire from side connectors.  Just route the damned thing on the board.  Theres no extra features;  you have real-estate to work with; and layers.   USE THEM.
4)   6 pin PCIE;  8 pin is way better.  Plus many GPU use 8 pin.


Onda got it better for sure IMHO.   I wonder how thick the board is... how thick the main power traces are (the Onda boards are beefy power traces and thick boards;  seriously beefy).

[kemo6600]

risers work; but are definitely a hassle with wires and reliability.

this board looks promising because its from a reputable manufacturer;  but;  

1)   no mSATA or m.2 slot
2)   regular 2-slot spacing.  No bueno.  Needs to be 2.5 minimum when cramming more than 3-4 cards together.  the center gpu's will feel the pain.
3)   Need for 12V power to CPU port;  via a jumper wire from side connectors.  Just route the damned thing on the board.  Theres no extra features;  you have real-estate to work with; and layers.   USE THEM.
4)   6 pin PCIE;  8 pin is way better.  Plus many GPU use 8 pin.


Onda got it better for sure IMHO.   I wonder how thick the board is... how thick the main power traces are (the Onda boards are beefy power traces and thick boards;  seriously beefy).

Actually it has M.2 , Slot spacing is little bigger than 2-slot but yet smaller than Onda , CPU cable is supplied with the board  unlike Colorful which i had to request cable from the seller . Quality is similar to Onda , yet the heaviest load i had on any of them was 800W mining XMR with 8x Under volted RX570 . most board/ASIC if not all use 6 pin including Onda , the only care about the 3 12V yellow wires

[JaredKaragen]

ahh, i didnt see the m.2 slot.

This config is just mainly targeted towards AMD and mid to low watt setups.  Id expect something with room for 8 GPU to have more capability of supporting enough devices.

The 6 pin I was referring to was the pass-through ports to the GPU....  they really should have gone with a standard 8-pin PCIE style cable port and beef up the lines between the ports, as well as 8 pin for the power feed from the PSU.  The sense pin does serve a purpose and simply grounding both pins is not ideal.

[beskid]

I do not think that this motherboard will be good for mining on video cards.  Using it is not possible to achieve an effective cooling system.  Or you have to use an oil bath.