Thanks for the replies guys.
Expansion Slots 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16
2 x PCIe 2.0 x1
those risers would be fine they are x1 ->x16, I have used x1 -> x1 and x16 -> x16
providing plenty of power to your gfx cards is essential though, make sure your psu will cope
I know of ppl that use cgminer to game and mine on the same card, play with the Intensity setting or you can disable the 6950 in cgminer on the fly for gaming leaving the other cards mining and fire it up again when you finish
gamer generally means windows, I wrote a guide to cgminer on win7 using a .bat file at
https://ozcoin.net/content/win7-cgminer-setup-guide(guide works for other pools - just put appropriate info in)
hope thats a help
EDIT: Note if your 6950 covers the 1st x1 slot you will need to put it on a riser to access the 1st slot, bit hard to tell the spacing from the pic
I have an OCZ Stealth Xstream II 700W PSU, using the
calculator found here and factoring the additional 5850s, it seems to think I'll be using around 619 watts. Obviously I'll take that with a massive pinch of salt but it's a nice guideline, might invest in a power meter I think.
Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to put my 6950 on a riser unless I want to run my setup out of a cardboard box, which I wouldn't mind but it's also my main computer and gaming rig. I was hoping the x1 to x16 cable would fold under but it looks like the fit is too tight. Looks like I'll have to buy a
PCI to PCIe card and just use a x16 extension, would the bandwidth be sufficient from a standard PCI slot?
Just to clarify, I could leave cgminer on with the two 5850s and game with the 6950? That's what I was hoping, good news if true
Thanks for the guide also, will have a read through and play now.