Asrock 13 GPU mining MB

[itsallgoode9]

this is a bit risky & slow for OctaneRender.

been to friend a couple of days ago - in few months 24/7 he burned quite a bit of risers/PSU wires, so putting everything together properly is needed, otherwise You might end up having not only melted wire & connectors, but also some issues with burned cards even system.

there are a lot of guys who run setups so they do work, just wanted to mention if You are planing long term investment.

24/7 - Wow!.....I forgot, there are some of us who are rendering almost non-stop.
Those 1x PCI inputs can be inserted incorrectly easily, an d if so possibly bye-bye GPU

it's not about inserting risers, but also about power draw through powered risers.. - I did see wires with melted molexes, sata even 6pins..- personaly I would avoid such route, unless all You care is how to things as cheap as possible.

Are you saying it's an issue on a board specifically like this or just with using risers in general? I was looking at doing a 6 or7 gpu build using a more standard mobo, which is why i'm asking some clarity.

[glimpse]

there are problems with multiple things, & just to show I'm not trying to mess here is photo:

20170816_085621.jpg

explanation: You push so much through those wires & if in any place the contact is far from perfect, resistance starts creating excessive amounts of heat melting not only wires but even connectors.

there are different revisions of those riser boards - take the last one that has 6pin. do not use molex or sata conectors (since molex is too loose, while sata is too miniature). if You have any knowledge about electricity, resistance is inversely proportional to contact area (so with bad contacts, it's more resistance that creates more heat, melting Your wires/conectors).

Honestly, the best thing You can do is build a piece on proper motherboard (that has 4x slots (do not have to be expensive one) & proper PSU, proper wiring (no, risers or such). You can find good motherboards that have quad GPU capabilities for less than 300$. & sure, You can build with risers cheaper, just keep in mind that You probably end up havign some downtime, so plan extra time for that - & we all know when those problems hit, least favorable time..

[smicha]

Tom,

Thanks for sharing this - a great lesson for us all.

[glimpse]

Tom,

Thanks for sharing this - a great lesson for us all.

I do not have all wires by my hand, since I took one from my friend to measure with tester & see if layout (connector to PSU) is in right order with spare one I have..but at his place I've seen like at least few molex & sata wires with melted ends. My friend has his build only for last few months..while if You do things properly, I don't know, maybe You are going to burn a wire in a lifetime of PSU (if You plug & unplug too many times)..

There was a guy on forum, that burned down his system with multiple GPUs, just because of some shortage..-it's not fun to see few grands going to smoke & You can prevent those things.

[Rik]

How about 8 cards, double width slots all at 16?

And all on 1 motherboard, no risers...

God only knows what case you'd put it in though

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/59124/co ... index.html

[smicha]

How about 8 cards, double width slots all at 16?

And all on 1 motherboard, no risers...

God only knows what case you'd put it in though

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/59124/co ... index.html

If this is true we'd need 4 Xeons to make all 8 running at x16, or use special very pricey chips.

[Lewis]

Naaaahh that Colorful motherboard is all wired/welded at 1x speed for each PCI-E slot, so it's just a bit better (since it's integrate din MB) than those USB PCIE 16x to 1x riser cards.

[smicha]

I see

[Tutor]

For those (1) whose needs rely on Octane and the like and (2) who prefer to go completely riser-less (and splitter-less) and (3) who need to have many more than four GPUs in one system and (4) who want the closest thing to plug and play, and (5) who don't mind paying between $3,500 - ~ $4,800 (USD)*/ for the enclosure, here's a custom fit option from Supermicro - https://www.supermicro.com/products/sys ... R-TRT2.cfm . It'll hold ten double-width GPUs, such as GTX 1180 TIs (and if you stagger the middle GPU cards just right you'll have room for a single slot width SSD card in that 7th slot from the right hand side of the pic). I can hope, can't I?

*/ http://www.bsicomputer.com/products/402 ... RUQAvD_BwE

BTW - I agree that x1 PCI-e slots (and Amfeltec GPU Oriented Splitters) really suck stale air when running Octane 3 with Pascals.

P.S. See other SM options here: https://www.supermicro.com/products/nfo/gpu.cfm .

[Notiusweb]

I have found that a Pascal Titan X V1 (not the XP) on a 1x riser is = to reg 'old school' Titan X on Mobo x16 as far as render speed.
For me, I run 6 on risers at 1x, and just use a Titan X as the mobo visual card, but know if I had all panted on the mobo theoretically, I would get mega high temps.
If I had that board I guess I would just air expose it and then fan the heck out of it, probably wouldn't water cool it, that's just my imaginings though.

I also have been running applications using 1 GPU with PBR materials, and it's crazy sometimes to see that that 1 card can carry a load on its own in this situation.
Althouigh, I'm not going to say that PBR is a match for true path tracing. But, it sure can emulate it!

Here is a test scene I did in iClone 7 with PBR, and then I ran it through Octane using Alembic exporter. I tried to make the iClone's lighting look like the Octane one....
-The iClone one rendered internally PBR off 1 Titan X @1 frame/sec, for 900 seconds = 15 minutes (3840x2160)
-The Octane Render rendered using 5x Pascal Titan X V1 & 1 Old School Titan X, all at 1x riser, in 4.5 hrs (1920x1080)

iClone7
https://vimeo.com/240257069

Octane Render
https://vimeo.com/240257228