MSI Z77A-G45: 7 PCI-E slots for only $115. Question is, will they all work?

[Goatboy]

   Aaaand another month-old thread bump.

     Sorry, it's the electrician in me:

     If your rig blows your 15A breaker, DO NOT just  replace it with a 20A breaker.

15 amp household circuits usually use 14ga wire.  These circuits are not expected to pump 12A+  continuously without occasionally popping a breaker. 

You should:

1) Consider running a new 20A or 30A circuit using 12ga or 10ga wire, respectively, and an appropriate breaker and rated outlets.

2) If you have more than one rig, balance load by using multiple circuits.

3) Kitchen, bathroom,laundry, and garage circuits are typically 20A GFCI circuits, and could be subverted for mining use if the bathroom outlets are not used for drying hair/ etc.  In newer homes, yellow-sheathed romex wire is 12ga , rated for 20A. In older homes, it can be white as well.

4) Don't daisy chain a bunch of power strips or extension cords.  The added resistance of these components due to smaller gauge wires or excessive length cause voltage at the unit to fall, requiring a larger current draw by the rig's voltage regulators.  This means slightly more heat and slightly less power efficiency, and an increase in component failure (fire, failure, electronics damage, etc.)

[GnomeX]

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9768004/z77ag45.jpg

Windows 8 64 / catalyst 12.6 with 6 7950 even with powered or unpowered risers the two last (blue) pcie 16x don't detects cards only if plugged without risers. Atm only 5 cards running on all 1x filled and the first 16x (two others don't work with risers (1x > 16x)

I'm on z77a GD65 supposed to work WITHOUT shortened pins so idk what i can do now...

is there something to activate on bios ?

thanks in advance

I have a similar problem on z77a GD65 if anyone has some insight.

I am using Windows 8-64bit / catalyst 13.1 with 6 x 7950.  All risers are powered and match the size of the slots (i.e. 16x for 16x).  I have two identical rigs.

Based on the image above (but with a GD65), right to left, I am plugged into 1,2,3,5,6,7.

On both my rigs the 7950 in slot 6 is not recognized.

Thoughts?

[Gwindor]

Hello. sorry for update. in my country i cant find g45 anywhere but i found a MSI Z77A-G43 SC-1155,Z77 140$

but i am worried about if it is working with 6gpu? and if works is it smooth?

it is little bit different from g45

http://tr.msi.com/pic/product/five_pictures2_2540_20120312162135.jpg

please help me. i am buying 2x5970 and 4x7950 for for this motherboard?

if u say it will support 6gpu i will buy it. Please help me 

[ssateneth]

those are pci slots, not pci-e

[Gwindor]

those are pci slots, not pci-e

sorry im a newbie.

2x5970 and 4x7950

to work that cards together what motherboard should i buy?

[Gwindor]

oh i found and bought a MSI Z77A-G45. i think i can make work 6gpu with that motherboard! thanks.

[1632008]

I would recommend for asrock h61 pro btc, which is claimed to be specifically designed for multi-gpu applications.

sorry im a newbie.

2x5970 and 4x7950

to work that cards together what motherboard should i buy?

[Gwindor]

I would recommend for asrock h61 pro btc, which is claimed to be specifically designed for multi-gpu applications.

sorry im a newbie.

2x5970 and 4x7950

to work that cards together what motherboard should i buy?

i couldnt find where they sell this product?

[1632008]

See here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=365181.msg3915165#msg3915165

i couldnt find where they sell this product?

[pontiacg5]

Windows 8 64 / catalyst 12.6 with 6 7950 even with powered or unpowered risers the two last (blue) pcie 16x don't detects cards only if plugged without risers. Atm only 5 cards running on all 1x filled and the first 16x (two others don't work with risers (1x > 16x)

I'm on z77a GD65 supposed to work WITHOUT shortened pins so idk what i can do now...

is there something to activate on bios ?

thanks in advance

I have a similar problem on z77a GD65 if anyone has some insight.

I am using Windows 8-64bit / catalyst 13.1 with 6 x 7950.  All risers are powered and match the size of the slots (i.e. 16x for 16x).  I have two identical rigs.

Based on the image above (but with a GD65), right to left, I am plugged into 1,2,3,5,6,7.

On both my rigs the 7950 in slot 6 is not recognized.

Thoughts?

Strange, there's a picture of a 6 gpu rig of mine with a GD65 in the thread 1632008 posted. I couldn't get all 6 working in windows with 13.11 drivers, they were detected but code 43'd.

I ended up using linux.

[danji31]

So has anyone figured this out? I have this mobo and cannot for the life of me get any of the 1x slots to work. I can use all three 16x slots, but windows doesnt detect anything when i use the 1x slots...

[1632008]

Shorting pins A1 and B17 might help you:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=36061.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=369043.0

So has anyone figured this out? I have this mobo and cannot for the life of me get any of the 1x slots to work. I can use all three 16x slots, but windows doesnt detect anything when i use the 1x slots...

[RickJamesBTC]

These boards are totally hit or miss. I'm glad I only have a few of them, but I can't get more than three slots to work no matter what I try. Running linux with the latest drivers, drivers which work perfectly supporting 5 cards on all my other systems. Using my risers, which have the presence pin connected. I hate wasting rack space with computers that can't run at least 5 cards!

Does anyone have any ideas how to make them work or want to buy some of them?  

[Gazza1]

It's hilarious nobody bothers to read the thread.

This board will do 5 slots out of the box.  1,2,3,6,7

You have to short slot number 5 to get it to work, so you can have a total of 6 slots.

Slot number 4 is not going to work when the other slots are filled.

6 slots max on that board.

[pontiacg5]

It's hilarious nobody bothers to read the thread.

This board will do 5 slots out of the box.  1,2,3,6,7

You have to short slot number 5 to get it to work, so you can have a total of 6 slots.

Slot number 4 is not going to work when the other slots are filled.

6 slots max on that board.

It sure is hilarious 

He is using risers with inbuilt jumpers. He can't get more than three.

I have no idea why, as I've over 11 of them and I've never once had a problem 

[RickJamesBTC]

It's hilarious nobody bothers to read the thread.

This board will do 5 slots out of the box.  1,2,3,6,7

You have to short slot number 5 to get it to work, so you can have a total of 6 slots.

Slot number 4 is not going to work when the other slots are filled.

6 slots max on that board.

So you totally missed that I covered all of that in my post? Hilarious!

I'm only trying to use 5. Do you understand what has to be shorted? It's the presence pin. Connects presence 1 in the front of the card to the presence pin that dictates what size card is installed. My risers have that provision.

I've tried every combination of slots, cards etc. I'm using the latest amd drivers for linux, 13.12
Those drivers work fine on every other rig I have, except the three of these boards.  R9-280x or 270x cards. None of them work in combinations other than slot from cpu side  2, 5, 6. I could get them to boot with cards in 1, 2.  or  2, 5  but only two cards. Plug another card into any slot, and it won't boot.

Pontiac, what drivers are you using?

[pontiacg5]

Silly little noob, you really shouldn't be calling people out when you've no idea what you are talking about


Rick,

I've used many different drivers, I've got 2 6x 280x rigs, 1 6x7950 rig, and now 4 6x 290 rigs actually working. For the 290's I used the 13.11 beta drivers that were just released on January 8th, the 280x uses an earlier 13.11 beta but I'm not sure exactly. It may have even been the r9 launch beta driver, because that was back in November...

So long as you are aware one of the 1x slots will disable it doesn't really matter what you use. You just can't use three and four at the same time. If you are using USB risers your setup is identical to mine, no external jumpers at all...

Which version of linux? I use saucy salamander for the 290's, but the 280x's and 7950's are still on raring since it seems to work. Raring will blackscreen after installing the latest beta driver with 290's, the install log mentions something about a kernel failure. Saucy does not have the same problem apparently. I never could get 13.12 to work at all, not with raring or saucy, though I just tried with 290's. They would all detect just fine, but only one would mine at a time, kinda like they were needing dummy plugs. I don't use any at all with 13.11...

[RickJamesBTC]

Silly little noob, you really shouldn't be calling people out when you've no idea what you are talking about


Rick,

I've used many different drivers, I've got 2 6x 280x rigs, 1 6x7950 rig, and now 4 6x 290 rigs actually working. For the 290's I used the 13.11 beta drivers that were just released on January 8th, the 280x uses an earlier 13.11 beta but I'm not sure exactly. It may have even been the r9 launch beta driver, because that was back in November...

So long as you are aware one of the 1x slots will disable it doesn't really matter what you use. You just can't use three and four at the same time. If you are using USB risers your setup is identical to mine, no external jumpers at all...

Which version of linux? I use saucy salamander for the 290's, but the 280x's and 7950's are still on raring since it seems to work. Raring will blackscreen after installing the latest beta driver with 290's, the install log mentions something about a kernel failure. Saucy does not have the same problem apparently. I never could get 13.12 to work at all, not with raring or saucy, though I just tried with 290's. They would all detect just fine, but only one would mine at a time, kinda like they were needing dummy plugs. I don't use any at all with 13.11...

I'm using 12.10 still, haven't bothered to change because it has been so stable on so many of my other rigs. The 13.12 drivers work on all of them as well.
I've got a system for doing installs, doesn't take me any time and it works 100%. I'd hate to start upgrading software that otherwise works, looking for new bugs to stop my mining!

[pontiacg5]

Silly little noob, you really shouldn't be calling people out when you've no idea what you are talking about


Rick,

I've used many different drivers, I've got 2 6x 280x rigs, 1 6x7950 rig, and now 4 6x 290 rigs actually working. For the 290's I used the 13.11 beta drivers that were just released on January 8th, the 280x uses an earlier 13.11 beta but I'm not sure exactly. It may have even been the r9 launch beta driver, because that was back in November...

So long as you are aware one of the 1x slots will disable it doesn't really matter what you use. You just can't use three and four at the same time. If you are using USB risers your setup is identical to mine, no external jumpers at all...

Which version of linux? I use saucy salamander for the 290's, but the 280x's and 7950's are still on raring since it seems to work. Raring will blackscreen after installing the latest beta driver with 290's, the install log mentions something about a kernel failure. Saucy does not have the same problem apparently. I never could get 13.12 to work at all, not with raring or saucy, though I just tried with 290's. They would all detect just fine, but only one would mine at a time, kinda like they were needing dummy plugs. I don't use any at all with 13.11...

I'm using 12.10 still, haven't bothered to change because it has been so stable on so many of my other rigs. The 13.12 drivers work on all of them as well.
I've got a system for doing installs, doesn't take me any time and it works 100%. I'd hate to start upgrading software that otherwise works, looking for new bugs to stop my mining!

Strange, I never tried anything older than raring. I'm kind of bummed I'll have to update my process a bit, but I'd bet it would work for older stuff as well still. Seems stable to me, the 290's have been at ~880kh/s for a few days now. 

Are you using an ivy bridge CPU?

[RickJamesBTC]

Yep, celeron g1610.

I guess I can try a raring install with old drivers on one of them, see how it works. I've got an open box, moved all the cards to a setup that always works with 5.