Motherboard Reviews

Mr P Hucker
Mr P Hucker
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Ian&Steve C. wrote:don't

Ian&Steve C. wrote:
don't limit yourself to eBay, keep an eye out for deals from Amazon and/or Newegg also.

There is absolutely no point in looking at Amazon.  It's just Ebay plus 30% cost.  Same stuff, more cost, less options.  Pile of crap.  Try selling on Amazon, their fees are astronomical.

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mikey
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Peter Hucker

Peter Hucker wrote:

Ian&Steve C. wrote:
don't limit yourself to eBay, keep an eye out for deals from Amazon and/or Newegg also.
There is absolutely no point in looking at Amazon.  It's just Ebay plus 30% cost.  Same stuff, more cost, less options.  Pile of crap.  Try selling on Amazon, their fees are astronomical.

Have you tried https://www.aliexpress.com/ yet? It's mostly from non US suppliers and you can find things that can't be gotten from companies that sell stuff in the US even Amazon. When you choose an item you can choose where it ships from and that determines your final price. I've ordered a few things but it took nearly 30 days to get them in my hands despite them saying 'about a week', which was okay with me.

Ian&Steve C.
Ian&Steve C.
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Peter Hucker

Peter Hucker wrote:

Ian&Steve C. wrote:
don't limit yourself to eBay, keep an eye out for deals from Amazon and/or Newegg also.

There is absolutely no point in looking at Amazon.  It's just Ebay plus 30% cost.  Same stuff, more cost, less options.  Pile of crap.  Try selling on Amazon, their fees are astronomical.

that may be your experience in the UK. But here in the US Amazon is very competitive and in many times faster and more convenient, depending on your proximity to their warehouse. 
 

keep in mind we’re talking first hand purchases of brand new and name brand hardware. Not knock off things from China of questionable quality. A brand new board from Amazon is no different than a brand new board from eBay or Newegg or anywhere else. And they are going to be priced similar from sellers that are a business. The ONLY time the price would be significantly cheaper would be a second hand purchase from eBay from a private seller (many eBay sellers are dedicated companies). Even if it’s new and unopened, it’s still second hand and you’ll find the rare deal where someone just wants to get rid of something and/or not know its worth. But a business selling on eBay is gonna be selling at a similar price as a business selling on Amazon, and if it’s offered by Amazon directly it’s usually going to be the cheapest option. The 3rd party sellers are there holding their product at higher prices for when Amazon runs out of stock and you have no where else to buy. 
 

 

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Mr P Hucker
Mr P Hucker
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Ian&Steve C. wrote:keep in

Ian&Steve C. wrote:
keep in mind we’re talking first hand purchases of brand new and name brand hardware. Not knock off things from China of questionable quality. A brand new board from Amazon is no different than a brand new board from eBay or Newegg or anywhere else. And they are going to be priced similar from sellers that are a business. The ONLY time the price would be significantly cheaper would be a second hand purchase from eBay from a private seller (many eBay sellers are dedicated companies). Even if it’s new and unopened, it’s still second hand and you’ll find the rare deal where someone just wants to get rid of something and/or not know its worth. But a business selling on eBay is gonna be selling at a similar price as a business selling on Amazon, and if it’s offered by Amazon directly it’s usually going to be the cheapest option. The 3rd party sellers are there holding their product at higher prices for when Amazon runs out of stock and you have no where else to buy. 

When I've bought brand new stuff, Amazon always costs a bit more from the same seller, this is because their selling fees are higher.  I used to build high spec games machines, and Amazon would have taken twice the cut ebay did, so I never used them.

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Tom M
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Peter Hucker wrote: Tom M

Peter Hucker wrote:

Tom M wrote:
Sooner or later I am going to get the "itch" to try to get a 4 GPU rig running at "full speed" which implies I am going to need 4 16x ribbon cables to the MB.

I've got four GPUs connected to one board (only one of its PCI-E sockets) with a 4 way mining multiplexer on USB cables.  Works just fine.  All GPUs powered off a 1kW LED lighting power 12V supply from China Ebay.

I have not had good luck with new riser kits. I have 1 to 4 and 1 to 8 expansion boards but no reliable luck. The ribbon cables have been more reliable.

Tom M

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).  Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)  I want some more patience. RIGHT NOW!

Mr P Hucker
Mr P Hucker
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Tom M wrote:I have not had

Tom M wrote:
I have not had good luck with new riser kits. I have 1 to 4 and 1 to 8 expansion boards but no reliable luck. The ribbon cables have been more reliable.

That's odd, the only problems I've had is with tarnished GPU power connectors, which is nothing to do with if they're on risers or not.

It would be interesting to know what risers you're using, mine have worked flawlessly as long as the computer is fairly new.  Anything of DDR4 spec is happy.  Some older machines (DDR2 or 3) get a little upset.

I use these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165404364445

With these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255472669971

Connected with these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303114307420

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Ian&Steve C.
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Peter Hucker wrote: Tom M

Peter Hucker wrote:

Tom M wrote:
I have not had good luck with new riser kits. I have 1 to 4 and 1 to 8 expansion boards but no reliable luck. The ribbon cables have been more reliable.

That's odd, the only problems I've had is with tarnished GPU power connectors, which is nothing to do with if they're on risers or not.

It would be interesting to know what risers you're using, mine have worked flawlessly as long as the computer is fairly new.  Anything of DDR4 spec is happy.  Some older machines (DDR2 or 3) get a little upset.

I use these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165404364445

With these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255472669971

Connected with these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/303114307420

what PCIe link speed (gen) are you running on the USB risers? this is another variable that can't be ignored. PCIe 1.0 and even 2.0, mostly no problem on even low quality risers. PCIe gen 3.0 is hit or miss unless you re-invest in better cables. if you're running PCIe gen 2 or lower on them, then it's no surprise you haven't had issues, and if Tom is trying to run them Gen 3.0 also no surprise that his experience has been hit or miss.

the shielded ribbon cables (the black, thicker, more expensive ones. not the flimsy grey ones circa 1990s/2000s) are much more stable for PCIe gen 3.0 and of course provide fatter link widths, whereas USB risers only carry a x1 PCIe lane with no option for more (not enough conductors in a USB 3.0 9-pin cable)

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Mr P Hucker
Mr P Hucker
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Ian&Steve C. wrote:what PCIe

Ian&Steve C. wrote:

what PCIe link speed (gen) are you running on the USB risers? this is another variable that can't be ignored. PCIe 1.0 and even 2.0, mostly no problem on even low quality risers. PCIe gen 3.0 is hit or miss unless you re-invest in better cables. if you're running PCIe gen 2 or lower on them, then it's no surprise you haven't had issues, and if Tom is trying to run them Gen 3.0 also no surprise that his experience has been hit or miss.

the shielded ribbon cables (the black, thicker, more expensive ones. not the flimsy grey ones circa 1990s/2000s) are much more stable for PCIe gen 3.0 and of course provide fatter link widths, whereas USB risers only carry a x1 PCIe lane with no option for more (not enough conductors in a USB 3.0 9-pin cable)

Mostly Gen 3.  Not a problem with decent risers.  I didn't look for decent ones, I've just never found a bad one, although I have seen some of the GPU end circuit boards available on Ebay with a lot less components (voltage regulation?) on them.  I don't have those.

For power, I have a 1kW LED lighting supply, with tweakable voltage, connected to 4 GPUs using 32A of mains cable per card.  The voltage at the GPU when it's running flat out is 12.3V.  It's very important you get a good voltage to the GPU, and the power connectors aren't tarnished, as that drops volts and it crashes.

Here are closeups of my adapters and cables, so you can tell the quality: 

https://imgur.com/a/va5SPO8

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Ian&Steve C.
Ian&Steve C.
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does GPUz or the nvidia

does GPUz or the nvidia control panel report gen 3? or are you assuming based on the motherboard specs? it's been my experience that the 4-in-1 splitter board you linked are only PCIe gen 2 capable. i had several of them, and the pcie always reported gen 2 when connected with those.

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Mr P Hucker
Mr P Hucker
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Ah, you are quite correct. 

Ah, you are quite correct.  They're getting 1 lane of V2.

So are the risers with problems attempting to send V3 over the USB cable?

Note, the V2 I'm seeing is from cards sharing the 4-way splitter.  I don't currently have a single one connected, apart from a machine which is only V2 capable anyway.  So I don't know if the single ones limit it to V2.

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