newbie needs some help with motherboard selection :-)

[SanchoBunce]

Hy,

Didn’t had too much luck on the Dutch speaking boards 

So I’ll have a shot here.
I am a newbie and want to build a mining rig (off course why else would I be here).
I have spent LOTS of time reading and pricing parts and still have quite some questions!

What I already decided.
Saphire 7950 Gpu’s
AMD Sempron 145

Big psu’s are almost impossible to source in Belgium.
So my plan is to start with a 1000W psu (corsair RM1000) and 3 GPU’s.

I want to expand afterwards with 3 more (and probably an additional 850W psu).

What I am undecided at is the motherboard, there are so much choices!
And I actually don’t understand much of it 
So what is the best 6rig motherboard? Offcourse the cheaper the better but It has to be reliable!

And what is it with all those types of PCI ports?
Hell, even this cheap board looks like it has 7 connectors.
http://www.ldlc.be/fiche/PB00135922.html
http://media.ldlc.com/ld/products/00/01/14/20/LD0001142063_2.jpg
3 big greys on the left 3 little greys and in between the big blue one.
From what I have read the blue is a good one for the gpu, the little onces can bu used aswell.
But are those grey onces usable?
There are all those types, and I already know that I will need to use risers 
But if you have the big 16x PCI port, can you use a 1 to 16 riser? Or does it needs to be a 16 to 16?

I will have to use the powered risers, can someone paste a picture here?
Is it the type that has a Molex integrated (so you can connect the psu directly to the Molex (and directly to the GPU using the PCI connector?)?
If I understand correctly the molex make sure that all power is coming directly from the psu and isn’t drawn through the motherboard?

So if anyone can suggest on a motherboard…

thanks for reading
Tanguy

[1715114843]

1715114843

[1715114843]

1715114843

[1715114843]

1715114843

[1715114843]

1715114843

[Damnsammit]

That one has 4 PCIe slots.  The three on the left are PCI slots, not PCI-express.

You will need risers... I do sell them but as I am in the USA, you might want to find a local supplier since the shipping would likely be ridiculous.

x1 to x16 risers can be used in all PCIe slots, and are preferable to x16 to x16 risers as they promote air flow.

The only two risers that are ever necessary on any motherboard are x1 to x1 unpowered and x1 to x16 molex powered.

Hope tha thelps a little bit

[SanchoBunce]

That one has 4 PCIe slots.  The three on the left are PCI slots, not PCI-express.

You will need risers... I do sell them but as I am in the USA, you might want to find a local supplier since the shipping would likely be ridiculous.

x1 to x16 risers can be used in all PCIe slots, and are preferable to x16 to x16 risers as they promote air flow.

The only two risers that are ever necessary on any motherboard are x1 to x1 unpowered and x1 to x16 molex powered.

Hope tha thelps a little bit

it certainly makes the PCI things clearer!

[Damnsammit]

That one has 4 PCIe slots.  The three on the left are PCI slots, not PCI-express.

You will need risers... I do sell them but as I am in the USA, you might want to find a local supplier since the shipping would likely be ridiculous.

x1 to x16 risers can be used in all PCIe slots, and are preferable to x16 to x16 risers as they promote air flow.

The only two risers that are ever necessary on any motherboard are x1 to x1 unpowered and x1 to x16 molex powered.

Hope tha thelps a little bit

it certainly makes the PCI things clearer!

If you truly want a n00b friendly mobo, I would suggest Asrock BTC H81.  It defeats the need for powered risers as it has two power connections directly on the motherboard.  It also has 6 PCIe slots.

They are steep in price though and all of my calculations that I have done show that there is no reason to ever use a 6xGPU build, as the fixed costs are much higher making 2 6xGPU builds more costly than 3 4xGPU builds. 

So do some calculations of your own and figure out what is best for you, but pretty much all new Asrock boards will be pretty good for mining

[SanchoBunce]

that board isn't available here :-)

and 1000W is the only available psu that is not overly priced.
So running MB processor and 3 cards will work with the 1000W
But 4 cards probably would be over its limits.

so a rig with 6 GPU's and 2 psu (80 gold plus) would be build for 2kH/€

4gpu's and the massivly expensive 1200W psu would be build for 1,8 kH/€

also considering that the less GPU's you put on the MB the less powerefficient the rig becomes.

[SanchoBunce]

Can you explain why a 1x to 1x is really necessary ?

[Damnsammit]

Can you explain why a 1x to 1x is really necessary ?

It's good for daisy chaining if the x1 to x16 is not long enough.  It's also good for rising cards if you don't need to have them powered as they are cheaper than x1 to x16