10-29-2021, 07:44 PM
Obligatory link to https://passwordvillage.org/hardware.html#rig_setup
TLDR for my part:
- Reasonable builds with Consumer Hardware top out at 4 GPUs per system
- With Server Hardware AND Blower style GPUs you can do up to 10, depending on your barebone (e.g. Tyan Thunder HX FA77-B7119)
If you want more GPUs with consumer hardware, you will need to use risers and that is a really ugly topic. For me, ribbon risers (like these https://www.thermaltake.com/gaming-pci-e...cable.html) worked fine on a 4 GPU system with a single 1700W PSU.
Unfortunately, you are bound to use a single PSU with these (With 2 PSUs and ribbon risers, you would mix the circuits of both PSUs as GPUs draw up 75W from the PCIe Slot on your Mainboard and the rest from their 12/8/6 Pin connectors). Mining risers solve the power problem, as they are usually seperately powered through a Molex or similar. But there are several reasons to avoid these:
1. Molex is not rated for 75W and therefore is a literal fire hazard, if used that way.
2. Most risers are PCIe x1, which will impact your performance massively for certain attacks, like dictionary attacks with fast hash modes. The x1 bandwidth is simply to small, x4 is the minimum to avoid this.
Apart from that, there is pretty much no consumer chassis that can house more than 4 GPUs (except open frames).
Also, I don't recommend consumer platforms like AM4 / LGA 1200 for more than 2 GPUs. They have something around 24 PCIe Lanes, where some are already fixed for Chipset, M.2, etc. If you want 4 GPUs on consumer hardware, go with HEDT platforms like TR4 / LGA 2066. They have plenty of lanes, but be sure to also check the lanes of the specific chip you want to use.
TLDR for my part:
- Reasonable builds with Consumer Hardware top out at 4 GPUs per system
- With Server Hardware AND Blower style GPUs you can do up to 10, depending on your barebone (e.g. Tyan Thunder HX FA77-B7119)
If you want more GPUs with consumer hardware, you will need to use risers and that is a really ugly topic. For me, ribbon risers (like these https://www.thermaltake.com/gaming-pci-e...cable.html) worked fine on a 4 GPU system with a single 1700W PSU.
Unfortunately, you are bound to use a single PSU with these (With 2 PSUs and ribbon risers, you would mix the circuits of both PSUs as GPUs draw up 75W from the PCIe Slot on your Mainboard and the rest from their 12/8/6 Pin connectors). Mining risers solve the power problem, as they are usually seperately powered through a Molex or similar. But there are several reasons to avoid these:
1. Molex is not rated for 75W and therefore is a literal fire hazard, if used that way.
2. Most risers are PCIe x1, which will impact your performance massively for certain attacks, like dictionary attacks with fast hash modes. The x1 bandwidth is simply to small, x4 is the minimum to avoid this.
Apart from that, there is pretty much no consumer chassis that can house more than 4 GPUs (except open frames).
Also, I don't recommend consumer platforms like AM4 / LGA 1200 for more than 2 GPUs. They have something around 24 PCIe Lanes, where some are already fixed for Chipset, M.2, etc. If you want 4 GPUs on consumer hardware, go with HEDT platforms like TR4 / LGA 2066. They have plenty of lanes, but be sure to also check the lanes of the specific chip you want to use.