Motherboard for 4 ATI HD 7970

[lemixtape]

Hey guys!

I want to build a fast hashkilling machine and I am looking to build a rig with 4 ATI HD 7970. Does anyone know of a motherboard that could hold 4 of these? Any chance that they work with Intel chips?

Thanks for your help and I promise to post some pictures of the rig

 

[nwo]

Here are some Intel boards on newegg with 4 PCI-e slots:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...CE&PageSize=20

Here are boards with 5, just in case you want to have a spare
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...949&IsNodeId=1&name=5&Order=PRICE&Pagesize=20

Nice variety to choose from, you have z77 (Sandy and Ivy bridge), z87 (Haswell), and LGA 2011

Have you already purchased your CPU?

 

[zir_blazer]

Technically, you don't need 4 PCIe 16x slots, as you can use PCI or PCIe 1x risers, but then, you will need to be a bit creative with the case. Also, a riser has the benefit that you can mod the riser to get the 12V power cables to be supplied directly from the Power Supply instead of the Motherboard, so you don't overload the Motherboard 24 Pin ATX connector (3 Video Cards put it at the limit).
Exception would be if the Motherboard has an auxiliary power connector for the PCIe Slots. Saw a few with auxiliary PCIe 6 Pins connectors near the PCIe 16x slots that serves for that purpose, however, a PCIe 16x slot must be prepared for 75W power consumption, which is the same that a 6 Pins PCIe connector provides. A 8 Pin PCIe connector provides twice, 150W.

A proper, high end, 7 PCIe 16x slots arrangement without using risers (Which would be impossible cause high end Video Cards are Dual Slotted anyways) should be 3 slots from the 24 Pin ATX, then two 8 Pin PCIe connectors for two slots each.

 

[lemixtape]

I don't have the processor yet. I was waiting to see which motherboard I would get first. After doing some research, I was thinking of going with a Gigabyte-GA-Z77X-UP7. Any thoughts on that? Will I have issues with power? I was thinking of going with an Enermax Platimax 150W, hoping to have enough cables to plug all of these!

 

[zir_blazer]

I don't see an auxiliary power connector on the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7. The idea of the auxiliary power connectors is that it directly delivery 12V from the Power Supply to some slot without going through the 24 Pin ATX connector. Some Motherboards have a Molex or 6-Pin PCIe power connector near the PCIe slots, those work that way.

The problem is simple: Each PCIe 16x slot must be able to supply 75W. You want to use four cards, so is 300W. The 24 Pin ATX power connector that goes to the Motherboard brings two 12V cables, which are where these 75W for the PCIe 16x slots comes from. At least by standard specifications, the highest you can pull out of the ATX 24-Pin power connector 12V wiring is 264W, so you are overloading it. Failure to prepare properly for those high loads will result in melting the 12V terminals of the ATX power connector, like this or this.

Basically, the ATX standard needs a new revision to contemplate these use cases. Currently, it is totally underpowered. For now, consider either this workaround or be very picky with the Motherboard.

 

[lemixtape]

Would this be a better choice then?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131998

 

[ali1988]

Yes, and not just for the requisite 6 pin pci-e power socket but also the fact Asus's WS range are solid as a rock from personal experience.

 

[alawadhi3000]

Its for gaming or mining?

 

[Venomous]

Its for gaming or mining?

Looks to be mining since he stated a hashing rig.

 

[broken_pixel]

Gigabyte UD5 will support 5 GPUs, is a solid board if you can find one.

 

[wowsza]

i have a few ga-990fxa-ud3's and they all work great, and i would buy more if i was looking to build more mining rigs.

i'd also consider the asrock z77 extreme series boards, and i've been looking at asus p8z68-v pro boards on ebay. they are $69.99 shipped and will work great, but you will need at least one powered pci-e 1x riser to run four cards