Biostar Reveals The First 8-Slot PCI-e Mining Motherboard (Update: Price)

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Steven Lynch
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Steven Lynch is a contributor for Tom’s Hardware, primarily covering case reviews and news.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Giroro
    What are bitcoin miners going to plug into all those PCI-E x1 slots.
    I thought they were primarily mining with dual-slot PCI-E x16 GPUs.

    heck, 2 of those slots are inline with each other. I have no idea what could possibly fit there.
    Reply
  • Eximo
    For mining you don't need the bandwidth. Each card is typically hooked up using a ribbon cable.
    Reply
  • gstauffer
    I believe most mining rigs (insofar as setups dedicated to mining alone go) actually have the cards suspended over the motherboard in a rack of some type, with the GPUs attached using a PCIe x16 to PCIe x1 ribbon cable.

    As I understand it, it is not a high bandwidth application since while the GPU will be utilized heavily, the actual data throughput is low as the calculations take a significant time as compared to other applications like gaming that require processing a lot of data in real-time in order to render quickly.

    Others welcome to correct me if I'm wrong about any of this.
    Reply
  • skyviper80
    The cards are plugged in with a x1 to x16 riser board using either a ribbon cable (old school) or USB 3.0 cable. I have a couple mining rigs for alt coins. You should not try and mine Bitcoin with a GPU rig unless you want to just throw a couple grand away for fun. GPU mining is for altcoins like Ethereum, Siacoin, Monero, etc.
    Reply
  • lorfa
    19976810 said:
    heck, 2 of those slots are inline with each other. I have no idea what could possibly fit there.

    Just google "ethereum mining rig" to see how they do it. Prepare to be amazed by what you see..
    Reply
  • rsquared
    And board footprints for four more PCIe x1 connectors. Maybe Biostar is planning on a twelve-slot version later?
    Reply
  • rsquared
    Never mind, I just happened across the TB250-BTC PRO. The twelve-slot version already exists.
    Reply
  • COLGeek
    This fad needs to end or vendors need to increase GPU production capacity. The upside will be the glut of used GPUs when miners get tired of losing money on their rigs and devices start turning up for re-sell on the used market.
    Reply
  • menfou
    A lot of 8 pci-e already exist !!!
    MSI Big Bang P67 Marshal
    Reply