MB for 4+ 6950's?

[gnar1ta$]

I've had way too much down time trying to get anything more than 3 cards to work on 890FXA-GD70 motherboard, I'm just going to buy a new MB.  Does anyone have a working rig with 4+ 6950's with x16 extenders running linux? If so what motherboard are you using?

[Swishercutter]

I've had way too much down time trying to get anything more than 3 cards to work on 890FXA-GD70 motherboard, I'm just going to buy a new MB.  Does anyone have a working rig with 4+ 6950's with x16 extenders running linux? If so what motherboard are you using?

Really?  I have 3 of those mobo's running 4, 5, and 5 cards with no issues.  Did you install all the MSI drivers?  Every MSI board I have ever owned is very picky about the drivers.  In my 5 gpu rigs I am even running 4x5830's +1 6950 in each.

[haploid23]

what problems are you having getting more than 3 cards to work? i've had 4 cards with extenders, as well as 4 cards plugged directly into the motherboard, and it works fine.

although, there was an issue when i had 4 highly overclocked 5870 plugged straight into the motherboard. i'm guessing the pci-e was pulling too much power through the motherboard, and it would occasionally shut off. after i decreased the overclocks on all of them, the 4 cards + motherboard are running fine right now.

the MSI xpower big bang X58 (intel) board is also running fine with 5 extenders right now

[gnar1ta$]

I think it's the combination of the board, cards, and os.  Anytime I put 4 cards on extenders X runs 100% CPU or the 4th card locks up as soon as I start mining at any clock, or they just are not detected.  I've tried different slots, different brand ribbons, with molex, without, changing pci latency - same results every time.  I have 2 more cards on the way and no more room available.  Are there different drivers for 4 cards vs 3?

[haploid23]

mine works fine for windows, so perhaps you want to temporarily switch to windows to see if you have the same problem?

[gnar1ta$]

mine works fine for windows, so perhaps you want to temporarily switch to windows to see if you have the same problem?

For remote headless rigs I found BAMT to be perfect - other than the current issue.  It would take more time to setup and tweak a new os, not to mention buying and installing a drive.  I would rather just buy a new MB that I know works - this forum is full of problems with extenders and GD70's and Windows always seems to be the solution.

[m0w3r]

I have 2 of those MSI motherboards with a mixture of 3x6970s and 7x5830s between the 2 MBs, so 5 cards on each MB.  Like many, I've had really good luck with linuxcoin/persistence on a USB thumb drive.   

[gnar1ta$]

I have 2 of those MSI motherboards with a mixture of 3x6970s and 7x5830s between the 2 MBs, so 5 cards on each MB.  Like many, I've had really good luck with linuxcoin/persistence on a USB thumb drive.   

Which version? I think I'm running .2b on one with no luck.

[m0w3r]

I'm using the Linuxcoin .2b version.  

Also, I use Antec 1200w PSUs which are fine when they are drawing around 950-1050watts per rig.  
I've had some cutout issues when the PSUs get up to about 1100+ watts for a little while (not sure if it's the motherboard or PSU causing the cutout problem, just that it happens at those higher power levels, seen using kill-a-watt).   So, I won't being going 6 cards per MB which I was thinking about (but haven't bought the cards for that anyway).  I was able to distribute the 6970s so the wattage stayed below my 1100watt level.  Also, I should note that one MB is more sensitive to the higher wattages than the other for some reason.




 

[Dargo]

If you want to try a different mobo, consider the Biostar A870U3 - $65 from Newegg. It has two x16 slots and two x1 slots. You can use x1 pcie risers in the x16 slots with no need for shorting any pins. But as other are saying, I would think that your MSI board would be good for 4 or even 5 cards. I thought that was one of the better boards for a multi-gpu setup (but on the expensive side IMO).