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

[1632008]

Apparently the PCI-e bus is rated for up to 75W on the x16 bus, but the 1x link is rated for 25W.

I'm afraid that this point is unreliable.
I know this is documented in the pcie standard, but some gpu cards seemed to not obey the standard at all and would like to pull much more than 25W from pcie slots even if they are connected through 1x extenders.

[pontiacg5]

Apparently the PCI-e bus is rated for up to 75W on the x16 bus, but the 1x link is rated for 25W.

I'm afraid that this point is unreliable.
I know this is documented in the pcie standard, but some gpu cards seemed to not obey the standard at all and would like to pull much more than 25W from pcie slots even if they are connected through 1x extenders.

Well obviously! Being a full sized graphics card is it allowed a full 75W of draw from the PCI-e bus. I would rather pull a full 75W of 12V through a 1x powered riser cable than my 1x pcie motherboard slots though, any day of the week. I can replace those if they burn out, and the mobo would be fine.

Regardless, I don't see how what you said makes any of what I said less valid. Using the EVGA thing to run more than 25W through PCIe x1 is over pcie spec. Will it burn up? Maybe, maybe not.

[ssateneth]

Spec this, spec that. Did you know that there are -exactly- the same amount of 12v pins in a 1x and a 16x slot? They can both handle the same amount of power. There is no limit that the motherboard can enforce anyways as far as power consumption goes form the PCI-E slot. The graphics card will pull whatever it wants from the PCI-E slot, regardless of 16x or 1x.

[takagari]

I really want those usb risers. I hope they get cheaper.

I plan to build three rigs with 6 pcie and only use four cards each. Expand quickly once I know I'm stable.

[pontiacg5]

Spec this, spec that. Did you know that there are -exactly- the same amount of 12v pins in a 1x and a 16x slot? They can both handle the same amount of power. There is no limit that the motherboard can enforce anyways as far as power consumption goes form the PCI-E slot. The graphics card will pull whatever it wants from the PCI-E slot, regardless of 16x or 1x.

Yes, that is true but there sure are a lot more grounds on a x16 link than a x1. Sorta the same as a 6 pin and 8 pin pci-e plug. They both have the same strand count on 12V lines, yet one is rated higher due to extra grounding alone.

And the motherboard not being able to regulate itself is what we are fighting against, according to PCI-e spec the cards are supposed to play nice and to spec. If the mobo was smart, it would sense an over current condition on the pci-e bus and shut off when overload it instead of just burning out the 24pin header. Mining is not a typical usage scenario though, not by a long shot, so there's no real reason for there to be costly protection when it's so easy to limit the add-on cards.

Would it work, you bet! I really wouldn't want to do it that ways though, not with my hardware.

USB risers will get cheaper again, either if you are buying them from me or I force the chinese guy into stopping the ridiculous price gouging. If that doesn't work, wait till litecoin/scrypt settles down   

[AndrewWilliams]

ssateneth, +1 for your very informative thread. You saved me a few days of headaches (esp. since so many places are out of risers!).

I am going for the "Athena Power YPCIE628 6" 6-pin PCI-E "Y" to Two PCI-E (6+2) Cable" for my MSI Z87-G45 Gaming and Intel G3220 CPU and the two R9 270x GPUs I have, and the R9 280x's I will have in hand shortly.

[micax1]

Hey! awesome design! where to find this frame ?

[outsider]

Sintech has a newer pcie riser on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-16x-Riser-Extender-Card-molex-power-50CMS-USB-3-0-Cable-/221337922681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388c4ac79
The molex connector is on the board now and it seems to have a few more components on it.
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/PCI-e-express-1X-to-16x-Riser-Extender-Card-with-molex-power-50CMS-USB-3-0-Cable-/00/s/NDUwWDYwMA==/z/pPcAAOxyNo9SrrmX/$_3.JPG

They also have another intersting product. A PCIe port multiplier
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-4port-1X-16X-multiplier-riser-card-cable-4-diy-bitcoin-miner-/221339052444?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388d5e99c
Why could they not have placed those PCIe connectors a little farther apart!
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/PCI-e-express-1X-to-4port-1X-16X-multiplier-riser-card-cable-4-diy-bitcoin-miner-/00/s/NDUwWDYwMA==/z/8y8AAMXQUmFSgf8B/$_3.JPG

[takagari]

Ugh would a port multiplier even work? I wouldn't think so?

However these would be nice for running a data server for storage

[sadycz]

is this even worth it anylonger?

[takagari]

is this even worth it anylonger?

Because we dipped back to double what it was worth last month? lol. Unsure why anyone though coins would stay at $1400..

It will climb back up fyi..

[JLM]

Sintech has a newer pcie riser on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-16x-Riser-Extender-Card-molex-power-50CMS-USB-3-0-Cable-/221337922681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388c4ac79
The molex connector is on the board now and it seems to have a few more components on it.


They also have another intersting product. A PCIe port multiplier
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-4port-1X-16X-multiplier-riser-card-cable-4-diy-bitcoin-miner-/221339052444?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388d5e99c
Why could they not have placed those PCIe connectors a little farther apart!

Somebody used that device with an Raspberry Pi and some GPU´s?

[takagari]

It's not a usb device....

[boxofspuds]

I wonder if we can attach riser cables to the port multiplier ...

wonder what the upper limit on ports would be.

if this works then we'd be able to expand out by adding cards and psus as opposed to 2nd and 3rd rigs

[outsider]

I wonder if we can attach riser cables to the port multiplier ...

wonder what the upper limit on ports would be.

if this works then we'd be able to expand out by adding cards and psus as opposed to 2nd and 3rd rigs

I believe 8 GPUs is the limit as the BIOS can't support anymore. Though I doubt most miners max out their rigs to 8 GPUs.

[alsey7]

gotta ask anyone running 6 cards of amd290 or Nv 780ti how many fps you getting in Bf4

[ssateneth]

Sintech has a newer pcie riser on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-16x-Riser-Extender-Card-molex-power-50CMS-USB-3-0-Cable-/221337922681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388c4ac79
The molex connector is on the board now and it seems to have a few more components on it.

They also have another intersting product. A PCIe port multiplier
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-4port-1X-16X-multiplier-riser-card-cable-4-diy-bitcoin-miner-/221339052444?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388d5e99c
Why could they not have placed those PCIe connectors a little farther apart!

Somebody used that device with an Raspberry Pi and some GPU´s?

It's not a USB device. It simply uses a USB 3.0 cable to carry and transmit the PCI-E signals.

[JLM]

Sintech has a newer pcie riser on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-16x-Riser-Extender-Card-molex-power-50CMS-USB-3-0-Cable-/221337922681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388c4ac79
The molex connector is on the board now and it seems to have a few more components on it.

They also have another intersting product. A PCIe port multiplier
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-4port-1X-16X-multiplier-riser-card-cable-4-diy-bitcoin-miner-/221339052444?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388d5e99c
Why could they not have placed those PCIe connectors a little farther apart!

Somebody used that device with an Raspberry Pi and some GPU´s?

It's not a USB device. It simply uses a USB 3.0 cable to carry and transmit the PCI-E signals.

Ok. Too bad.
It carrys signals, AS a USB or as Pci-e?

[pontiacg5]

Sintech has a newer pcie riser on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-16x-Riser-Extender-Card-molex-power-50CMS-USB-3-0-Cable-/221337922681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388c4ac79
The molex connector is on the board now and it seems to have a few more components on it.

They also have another intersting product. A PCIe port multiplier
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-4port-1X-16X-multiplier-riser-card-cable-4-diy-bitcoin-miner-/221339052444?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388d5e99c
Why could they not have placed those PCIe connectors a little farther apart!

Somebody used that device with an Raspberry Pi and some GPU´s?

It's not a USB device. It simply uses a USB 3.0 cable to carry and transmit the PCI-E signals.

Ok. Too bad.
It carrys signals, AS a USB or as Pci-e?

It has the PCI-e differential pairs, clock reference signal, as well as a ground and two more sense pins. None of it has anything at all to do with USB3.0, but USB3.0 just happens to have three individually shielded twisted pairs which are ever so perfect for the differential TX/RX and clock signals.

USB3.0 and PCI-e 1x have about the same bandwidth capacity as well ~480mb/s, so the cables are designed to move data reliably at those speeds. flat ribbon cables, like the old pata hard drives, aren't meant for anywhere near that speed (maybe 80mb/s at most?,) or length (less than 2ft?.) Not to mention ribbons are meant for parallel connections, and pci-e is serial...

[JLM]

Sintech has a newer pcie riser on ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-16x-Riser-Extender-Card-molex-power-50CMS-USB-3-0-Cable-/221337922681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388c4ac79
The molex connector is on the board now and it seems to have a few more components on it.

They also have another intersting product. A PCIe port multiplier
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCI-e-express-1X-4port-1X-16X-multiplier-riser-card-cable-4-diy-bitcoin-miner-/221339052444?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3388d5e99c
Why could they not have placed those PCIe connectors a little farther apart!

Somebody used that device with an Raspberry Pi and some GPU´s?

It's not a USB device. It simply uses a USB 3.0 cable to carry and transmit the PCI-E signals.

Ok. Too bad.
It carrys signals, AS a USB or as Pci-e?

It has the PCI-e differential pairs, clock reference signal, as well as a ground and two more sense pins. None of it has anything at all to do with USB3.0, but USB3.0 just happens to have three individually shielded twisted pairs which are ever so perfect for the differential TX/RX and clock signals.

USB3.0 and PCI-e 1x have about the same bandwidth capacity as well ~480mb/s, so the cables are designed to move data reliably at those speeds. flat ribbon cables, like the old pata hard drives, aren't meant for anywhere near that speed (maybe 80mb/s at most?,) or length (less than 2ft?.) Not to mention ribbons are meant for parallel connections, and pci-e is serial...

Great Data.
Thanks!!!