Best MOBO, yet again

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Roland140
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:32 pm

Best MOBO, yet again

Post by Roland140 »

I know this has been asked, and answered, several times previously but I haven't been able to find anything definitive for my particular set of circumstances. I have a GTX1060, GTX970 and a GTX560-TI that I can dedicate to folding. II have a K6700/LGA1151 CPU to go with that. After reading a bit here, and frankly a lot of it is beyond my scope of knowledge, it appears that pcie bandwidth gets to be a problem with multiple, higher output, cards. Then add in just getting them, physically, onto the same motherboard and it starts getting messy. I have a full tower case and an 850 watt power supply, so those aren't really factors.

So what is the best motherboard, that accommodates an LGA1152 CPU, and will give the best pcie bandwidth/performance. My pockets aren't bottomless, but I don't mind a reasonable expense.

Suggestions from the gurus and wizards would be greatly appreciated.

Incidentally, that 560-TI produces 260K to 300K per day, not too shabby for an older card.
bruce
Posts: 20910
Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:13 pm
Location: So. Cal.

Re: Best MOBO, yet again

Post by bruce »

Not to disparage an old GPU, but I run a couple of 750-Ti's which get about the same PPD with significantly less power. If anybody plans on buying older GPUs, do a more accurate comparison.

There are significant advantages to using whatever card you already have, but the costs of long-term power consumption do add up, too.
Roland140
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:32 pm

Re: Best MOBO, yet again

Post by Roland140 »

I realize the power requirements have dropped, significantly, but in the mean time I am using that card. I bought it when it was still "state of the art" to put things in perspective. Over time I want to add one or two more 1060/1070/1080 as finance allow. The goal being a motherboard with three folding cards in it and capable of supporting that kind of bandwidth.
QuintLeo
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2017 5:43 am

Re: Best MOBO, yet again

Post by QuintLeo »

IMO probably your best option for a MB that will support 3 GPUs on the LGA1151 platform is the Gigabyte GA-Z270XP-SLI, in a fairly low-cost price range.

To get better than 2 slots at PCI-E 3.0 8x lanes you're looking at MBs that are in more like the $250 and UP range.

I'm not sure what you mean by a "K6700" CPU though, perhaps that was meant to say "I7-6700k" out of the Skylake series?
Roland140
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:32 pm

Re: Best MOBO, yet again

Post by Roland140 »

Thanks, QuintLeo.

Yes, I meant to say I7-6700K, blame it on being tired, old and a blonde moment. At least I do that consistently.

I don't consider the MB, or even the processor, to be particularly expensive in terms of folding. If the board is used for a few years, the cost per day is very minimal. Two slots at PCI-E3.0 8x would probably keep me happy. There are a number of variants of that board so yet another decision to make.
rwh202
Posts: 425
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 8:51 pm
Hardware configuration: 8x GTX 1080
3x GTX 1080 Ti
3x GTX 1060
Various other bits and pieces
Location: South Coast, UK

Re: Best MOBO, yet again

Post by rwh202 »

Roland140 wrote:Incidentally, that 560-TI produces 260K to 300K per day, not too shabby for an older card.
I find that really hard to believe - maybe 40K PPD
You might need to check which card is actually running - the client normally misreports in multi-GPU systems. I think you'll find that the older cards are not worth the power and it will keep it simpler to just focus on the more modern ones.
I'm up to 20 GPU, but all in dual GPU systems - the added costs and complexity of going for 3 or more just wasn't worth it for me. If you're set for 3 GPUs, then the main consideration is spacing of the 16x slots - a lot of z170/z270 boards have the 3rd 16x in the bottom slot, which means a case needs 8 slots to hold a double width card there.
Roland140
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:32 pm

Re: Best MOBO, yet again

Post by Roland140 »

You made me look. GPU-Z and the EVGA utility both show the cards with the 970 first while the fah client shows the opposite. Physically, the 970 is in the "top" slot, closest to the CPU which would make me believe it should be the first one identified. I have seen comments that the fah client, sometimes, switches card identities. I'll be looking into that, further. I did see something about fixing that problem in another thread, here. Now the trick will be to find that.
rwh202
Posts: 425
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 8:51 pm
Hardware configuration: 8x GTX 1080
3x GTX 1080 Ti
3x GTX 1060
Various other bits and pieces
Location: South Coast, UK

Re: Best MOBO, yet again

Post by rwh202 »

A quick google returned:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1490720/guid ... ional-gpus
No guarantee, but might give some pointers. Also, I remember reports that a reboot can still randomly reorder the GPUs again, although this is one area that is improved in the latest beta client.
Roland140
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:32 pm

Re: Best MOBO, yet again

Post by Roland140 »

That's the same method I saw in a thread over here, but thanks for the link, rwh202. Now I don't have to sift through the threads I think I was reading. I'll be installing the 1060 tomorrow and will pull the 560 when I do. I'll see how the client identifies the slots then. I'll probably do a full uninstall/reinstall of the client at the same time, just to be "safe". The case only has six slots so getting that third card in will take a riser or extension cable.

I also want to say thanks for having this board available and it is helping me better understand what needs to be done to get things working better.
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