Motherboard designed for mining, and better riser cables in this thread.

[ssateneth]

Just thought I'd throw this out there. Probably already reposted, but meh.

Here's a motherboard that's designed from from the get-go to be mined on. No more need for powered risers.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H61%20Pro%20BTC/ Asrock H61 board for sandy/ivy bridge. Comes with 2 molex on the motherboard for power. No more melted ATX cable, no more powered risers.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81%20Pro%20BTC/ Asrock H61 board for haswell. Same deal.
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/231958/MOTHERBOARD_SOCKET_LGA1150/Asrock/H81-PRO-BTC.asp H81 can be bought here.


If you don't want to use this board, here's some newer risers that will be less prone to failure from physical stress (IDE-like ribbon-style risers fail all the time because of poor soldering)

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/PCI-E-PCI-E-Express-1x-to-1X-4x-8x-16x-Riser-Extender-Card-with-10/959600473.html Powered riser with that special detachable thin ribbon cable you often see folded inside laptops. Won't break or tear solder joints, and dedicated solder joint for molex power


http://www.aliexpress.com/item/PCI-E-PCI-E-Express-1x-to-1X-4x-8x-16x-Riser-Extender-Adapter-Card-with/944387438.html Another powered riser, but utilizes a USB 3.0 cable instead to transmit the non-power related PCI-E signals (has nothing to do with USB 3.0 data/power signals), and a separate plugin that uses a SATA connector for power. USB cable and SATA power cable included. Also, these allegedly have PCI-E presence shorting integrated right on the riser PCB, so it is guaranteed to worth with every motherboard slot right out of the box/bag, unless the motherboard itself turns off an entire slot due to lane allocation.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321272676674 Same thing as above.


http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=100-MB-PB01-BR An option if you want to use the less expensive non-powered risers but still want to have extra power to prevent melted/burned ATX cable. If you have room on your board for 1x more PCI-E connection, use the EVGA Power Boost. It's a $10 device that plugs directly into a PCI-E slot and feeds molex power into it. If you're worried about "electricity flowing the wrong way", that's not how electricity works and you need to go back to school.


I do not recommend using molex or SATA to PCI-E power adapters. You would be carrying an immense amount of current on the single 12v wire, causing excessive heat which could lead to melting or fire. Use PCI-E power plug splitters instead. They can be had for as little as $3 each.
http://www.outletpc.com/c8182.html $3
http://www.eio.com/p-24549-athena-power-cable-ypcie628-6-pcie-6-pin-y-split-to-two-pcie-20-862-pin-cable.aspx?gclid=CO3hivORqrsCFQISMwodUFEATQ $4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812198016 $4.50
http://www.ebay.com/itm/290778077889 $4.50


Also, theres a number of motherboards that have supplementary power for the PCI-E slots, which negates the need for powered risers altogether. The MSI 990FXA-GD65V2 has a PCI-E power receptacle on the motherboard to supply extra power to the PCI-E slots and only costs $130 in the USA. Some Gigabyte motherboards, such as the GA-Z77X-UD3H and GA-990FXA-UD7, also have a SATA power connector to supply extra power, negating the need for powered risers. Also, ASRock Z77 Extreme6 has a molex on board for extra power for the same purpose, but this board only has 4 PCI-E slots.

[pontiacg5]

I can comment on the USB 3.0 riser cables. They are much better than the old ribbon cables, plus allow you so much more creativity with mounting cards.









It even looks like they have pci-e presence shorts built onto the boards, though I haven't had to mess with them or pci-e presence pins on msi z77-gd65 and z77-gd45 mobo builds.  

Thanks for the thread on the latter mobo, btw 

[LostDutchman]

Just thought I'd throw this out there. Probably already reposted, but meh.

Here's a motherboard that's designed from from the get-go to be mined on. No more need for powered risers.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H61%20Pro%20BTC/ Asrock H61 board for sandy/ivy bridge. Comes with 2 molex on the motherboard for power. No more melted ATX cable, no more powered risers.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81%20Pro%20BTC/ Asrock H61 board for haswell. Same deal.

If you don't want to use this board, here's some newer risers that will be less prone to failure from physical stress (IDE-like ribbon-style risers fail all the time because of poor soldering)

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/PCI-E-PCI-E-Express-1x-to-1X-4x-8x-16x-Riser-Extender-Card-with-10/959600473.html Powered riser with that special detachable thin ribbon cable you often see folded inside laptops. Won't break or tear solder joints, and dedicated solder joint for molex power
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/PCI-E-PCI-E-Express-1x-to-1X-4x-8x-16x-Riser-Extender-Adapter-Card-with/944387438.html Another powered riser, but utilizes a USB 3.0 cable instead to transmit the non-power related PCI-E signals (has nothing to do with USB 3.0 data/power signals), and a separate plugin that uses a SATA connector for power. USB cable and SATA power cable included
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-to-1X-16x-Riser-Extender-Card-with-extra-power-1M-USB-3-0-Cable-/321138325762?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ac555f902 Same thing as above.

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=100-MB-PB01-BR An option if you want to use the less expensive non-powered risers but still want to have extra power to prevent melted/burned ATX cable. If you have room on your board for 1x more PCI-E connection, use the EVGA Power Boost. It's a $10 device that plugs directly into a PCI-E slot and feeds molex power into it. If you're worried about "electricity flowing the wrong way", that's not how electricity works and you need to go back to school.

Well, I guess my search functions are functionated because I can't find a price on this mobo mofo!

Call me "Goofy" but help me out here if you would!

Price and availability!

Thanks in advance!

My $.02.

[bitminer9000]

thanks, those 3.0 cables are actually going to solve a few issues of mine

[chadwickx16]

Has anyone been able to find those ASRock's for sale??

[pontiacg5]

Has anyone been able to find those ASRock's for sale??

It was just "released" like the 15th of last month, maybe it hasn't worked it's way through the supply chains yet. Or maybe it was killed off already, seeing how it was like a year late  
My google-fu came up empty too...

Kinda a goofy idea though, and it really doesn't solve any problem as you still need risers. Probably more expensive up front, plus a lot less resale value down the line. There are plenty of options for 6 gpu boards now, for under $100 even.

[LostDutchman]

Has anyone been able to find those ASRock's for sale??

It was just "released" like the 15th of last month, maybe it hasn't worked it's way through the supply chains yet. Or maybe it was killed off already, seeing how it was like a year late  
My google-fu came up empty too...

Kinda a goofy idea though, and it really doesn't solve any problem as you still need risers. Probably more expensive up front, plus a lot less resale value down the line. There are plenty of options for 6 gpu boards now, for under $100 even.

Yeppers!

More vaporware designed to separate us from our funds.

My $.02.

[ssateneth]

Has anyone been able to find those ASRock's for sale??

It was just "released" like the 15th of last month, maybe it hasn't worked it's way through the supply chains yet. Or maybe it was killed off already, seeing how it was like a year late  
My google-fu came up empty too...

Kinda a goofy idea though, and it really doesn't solve any problem as you still need risers. Probably more expensive up front, plus a lot less resale value down the line. There are plenty of options for 6 gpu boards now, for under $100 even.

It solves the problem of paying out the ass for -powered- risers. You can get regular ones for about 3 bucks each, but as soon as you want it powered, it's immediately 20 bucks each.

[pontiacg5]

Has anyone been able to find those ASRock's for sale??

It was just "released" like the 15th of last month, maybe it hasn't worked it's way through the supply chains yet. Or maybe it was killed off already, seeing how it was like a year late  
My google-fu came up empty too...

Kinda a goofy idea though, and it really doesn't solve any problem as you still need risers. Probably more expensive up front, plus a lot less resale value down the line. There are plenty of options for 6 gpu boards now, for under $100 even.

It solves the problem of paying out the ass for -powered- risers. You can get regular ones for about 3 bucks each, but as soon as you want it powered, it's immediately 20 bucks each.

I remember they used to be expensive, or DIY only even, but anymore they are the same price it seems. I bought a bunch of the USB riser cables for less than $10, and they were $14.99 on ebay at the time. The cheap ribbon cable powered ones are still ~$6 or so.

[1632008]

The product is already on the market, but looks like currently sold in several online stores in China only.
See:
http://item.jd.com/1004165.html
http://s.taobao.com/search?q=h61+btc&commend=all&ssid=s5-e&search_type=item&sourceId=tb.index&spm=1.6659421.754896237.1&initiative_id=tbindexz_20131211

Has anyone been able to find those ASRock's for sale??

[repairguy]

I remember they used to be expensive, or DIY only even, but anymore they are the same price it seems. I bought a bunch of the USB riser cables for less than $10, and they were $14.99 on ebay at the time. The cheap ribbon cable powered ones are still ~$6 or so.

Where did you find those cables for less than 10 bucks?

[Ferr]

2 pontiacg5 where I could buy this cables?

[ssateneth]

Little bump to keep it in view.

[superduh]

the asrock motherboards will be available in US on newegg in about a week

[pontiacg5]

Regular ribbon riser cables? All over ebay, alibaba, tradekey, and even amazon w/prime available for some of em. The get cheaper the closer to china they come from.

The USB 3.0 riser cables are $30.00 now, and I'm sure the seller is just going to keep jacking the price up. Those can't be had for less now, in fact they can't even be had because I'm all but certain the sintech.com (only guy who makes usb 3.0 riser cables) isn't shipping out older cheaper orders, but claiming they are sold out so he can then sell the inventory he currently has for more.

[pontiacg5]

I'd also like to add, I'm trying to copy these usb 3.0 cables because I think it would be cheaper to make them here at this point. It's a really simple board, and I've already priced most of the components. I need help with the board design though, I can't use eagle, pad2pad, whatever else. Have the capital to order enough pieces to make it cost effective...

So, if you are looking to make .5 BTC and think you could copy a basic riser cable routed through a USB 3.0 plug instead of ribbons, and think you could do so off of high res DSLR pics PM me!

[nvandertill]

I've also just ordered a board that supplies supplemental power to the PCI-E lanes using a SATA port on the side of it. Since I am maxing it out with 6 GPUs (R9 290s), I am still going to use powered risers on at least 5, if not all, of the cards rather than risk damage. Not sure how well it will work for mining, but I got high hopes!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128617

Thats a nice setup you got above there! Those USB adapters are pricey though.

[note235]

I can comment on the USB 3.0 riser cables. They are much better than the old ribbon cables, plus allow you so much more creativity with mounting cards.









It even looks like they have pci-e presence shorts built onto the boards, though I haven't had to mess with them or pci-e presence pins on msi z77-gd65 and z77-gd45 mobo builds.  

Thanks for the thread on the latter mobo, btw 

damn is a nice rig
whered you get the frames?

[kknd]

I can use the 6 x R9 280X without power in riser cables but 1 EVGA power bost in the MB


tks : )

[pontiacg5]

Ohh, I don't know. I'm not sure they would have designed it with that in mind. Apparently the PCI-e bus is rated for up to 75W on the x16 bus, but the 1x link is rated for 25W.

Since it's only one plug, it should only in theory be able to supply another 25W. Certainly not enough for 6 non powered risers. Maybe it could provide a full 75W, or three risers worth, but it is missing 15 lanes of grounds.

I wouldn't advise it, not for 6. Maybe two or three at the most.