Biostar Adds Another AM4 Crypto Mining Motherboard (Update: Price)

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Update, 8/1/17, 7:58am PT: Biostar confirmed that the TA320-BTC motherboard will cost $75.

Original article, 7/10/17, 8:30am PT:

Biostar has doubled down on its cryptocurrency mining offerings. Just days after announcing its mining-focused Radeon RX 470D graphics card, the company has followed up the TB350-BTC with the TA320-BTC AM4 motherboard.

Although this board is designed for cryptocurrency mining, it comes with all the features you’ve come to expect on mainstream AM4 motherboards. It supports the latest AMD Ryzen 3, 5, 7, Bristol Ridge, and 7th Generation A-series processors; DDR4 support up to 2,667MHz; a single PCI-E x16 3.0 slot; USB 3.1; and 7.1 channel HD audio. The TA320-BTC also includes a moisture proof PCB and  low resistance mosfets as well as electrostatic discharge (ESD) and overvoltage protection.

Biostar is billing the TA320-BTC as a dual-purpose motherboard but, with its ability to run up to six graphics cards and its two strategically placed 12V 4-pin auxiliary power connectors, there’s no doubt that this board was designed specifically for the cryptocurrency mining community.

So, why exactly are companies suddenly feeling the need to cater to miners? You can thank Ethereum, a cryptocurrency that has quickly risen in value over the last few months. That rise has inspired many people to start mining the cryptocurrency, which has led to graphics card shortages and inspired companies like Biostar to design products specifically for miners.

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ProductBiostar TA320-BTC
SocketAM4
ChipsetB320
Form FactorATX
Memory Support2 x DDR4 2,667 / 2,400 / 2,133 / 1,866MHz
Onboard GraphicsBy CPU Model1 x DVI-D Connector, resolution up to 1920 x 1200 @60Hz
AudioRealtek ALC887 8-Channel HD Audio
LANRealtek RTL8111H - 10/100/1000 ControllerSupport Super LAN Surge Protection
Expansion Slots1 x PCI-E x16 3.0 Slot 2 x PCI-E x1 3.0 Slot3 x PCI-E x1 2.0 Slot
Storage4 x SATA3 Connector Support SATA RAID: 0,1,10
USB4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Port1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Header2 x USB 2.0 Port2 x USB 2.0 Port (only 5V power, up to 1.5A)2 x USB 2.0 Header
Steven Lynch
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ammaross
    Why do they even bother sticking not one, but TWO MOLEX connectors on the motherboard? PCIe risers (which are required to get 6x card density) nearly unilaterally include a power connector on a separate circuit board rather than pulling power from the motherboard slot. Maybe it's for the handful of miners that use the old ribbon risers?
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    I can imagine Ryzen 3 is going to be a really good CPU for mining.
    Reply
  • theyeti87
    Am I missing something here? These miners are using GPUs to mine, but this motherboard has only 1 x16 slot and the rest are x1? Not going to get a great hashrate from 1 GPU.
    Reply
  • Max_x2
    Pretty much every rigs are using risers. Said risers can plug in the smaller pcie slots (as well as full size)
    Reply
  • theyeti87
    19922193 said:
    Pretty much every rigs are using risers. Said risers can plug in the smaller pcie slots (as well as full size)

    That indeed what was missing from my understanding :)

    That makes sense, thank you.
    Reply
  • derekullo
    Mining doesn't need an x16 pci-e port to be productive.

    The only thing that matters is that the entire DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) fits into gpu memory as it currently does or else the device would have to store the remainder of the DAG in ram making the speed of the port relevant and most likely slowing the hashrate.

    Edit: Of course risers are being used. I thought that was self-evident lol.
    Reply
  • skyviper80
    19922006 said:
    Am I missing something here? These miners are using GPUs to mine, but this motherboard has only 1 x16 slot and the rest are x1? Not going to get a great hashrate from 1 GPU.

    You only need an x1 PCIe connection for mining. Hashrate isn't determined by the number of PCI lanes going to the card like with gaming performance. I have a 6 GPU Ethereum rig using x1 PCIe to USB adapters to x16 riser boards on all 6 slots, including the x16 slot on the mobo and they all hash at the same speed. The hardest part is getting the system to recognize all 6 cards. I had to disable all other onboard features except the PCIe and LAN connection. The USB does not work, no audio, serial and all SATA but the HDD slot are disabled as well.
    Reply
  • BulkZerker
    "So, why exactly are companies suddenly feeling the need to cater to miners? "

    Cause they stopped making the AM3 based solution the same time those $20 semptron processors stopped getting released?
    Reply
  • Nintendork
    AMD really needs to release the Excavator based Athlon 950 and the APU's for the AM4. As for now there's no way you can get an AM4 platform for cheap (<$100 cpu's) and upgrade later to Ryzen.
    Reply
  • msroadkill612
    nintendork

    e.g.

    e.g.

    https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-AB350-Gaming-3-rev-10#sp


    CPU AM4 Socket:
    AMD Ryzen™ processor
    AMD 7th Generation A-series/ Athlon™ processor
    (Please refer "CPU Support List" for more information.)
    Reply