x1 to x16 slot converter questions

N

NetTechie

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Messages
251
Someone in the motherboard section of this forum suggested I post here, not sure if it's ok. I'm not mining currency, but I'm looking at using x1 to x16 slot converters to run low profile video cards. The cards I'm looking at running are FirePro Multi-View series, to run monitors. Do you think the motherboard would accept this, given their wattage consumption? I'm worried it might burn out the motherboard, as the converters don't supply any additional power. Or cause lockups maybe. I'm looking at running several of these slot converters on one board.
 
do you mean the riser things? There's USB cable ones and ribbon cable ones mostly.

just running monitors or actually processing? If its just monitors I have some 6 display port cards
 
Get powered risers if you are worried about the board being able to provide enough power. Also 1x does cause a bandwidth limitation, while it should be fine for watching videos or the like, gaming would likely take a hit, If your motherboard has any 4x slots I'd get a 4x riser or if possible, a full 16x riser.
 
NetTechie said:
Someone in the motherboard section of this forum suggested I post here, not sure if it's ok. I'm not mining currency, but I'm looking at using x1 to x16 slot converters to run low profile video cards. The cards I'm looking at running are FirePro Multi-View series, to run monitors. Do you think the motherboard would accept this, given their wattage consumption? I'm worried it might burn out the motherboard, as the converters don't supply any additional power. Or cause lockups maybe. I'm looking at running several of these slot converters on one board.
Click to expand...
There are no power signals beyond x1 so the only practical concern is available
bandwidth...
 
tear said:
There are no power signals beyond x1 so the only practical concern is available
bandwidth...
Click to expand...

when running more than 3 you certainly want powered because some people have burned up their motherboards. The powered risers bypass the motherboard as a power source which stresses it less. I think the OP said something about running a few
 
I can't see how that's possible. Look at the spec, there are no power signals beyond x1.
 
tear said:
I can't see how that's possible. Look at the spec, there are no power signals beyond x1.
Click to expand...

think about this logically.

1)Power passes through the motherboard and into the card
2) 3+ cards can draw a LOT of power from the motherboard
3) Tons of power flowing through the motherboard stresses the board and can reduce its life. For some people it has melted crap.
4) powered risers send the power straight from the PSU to the card and prevents that power from flowing through the mobo.

Which of those points aren't you following? having a bunch of non powered risers can literally cause 300w+ of additional power to flow through a motherboard and they are NOT designed to handle in some cases 500w+ through the mobo itself. While I am talking about extreme cases it is certainly something that happens and you need to be aware of. Like I said its not a worry until more than 3 cards are in use.
 
Show me a picture of a "powered riser" please :)
 
OK, I just want to emphasize that sole use of the riser doesn't magically warrant the need to power it.

That is, if the board can handle X cards without risers, it sure can handle same cards with x16->x1 risers.
No supply power is transmitted over the extra lanes.
 
tear said:
OK, I just want to emphasize that sole use of the riser doesn't magically warrant the need to power it.

That is, if the board can handle X cards without risers, it sure can handle same cards with x16->x1 risers.
No supply power is transmitted over the extra lanes.
Click to expand...

nobody said additional power is provided over the extra lanes. What has been stated is that when you have a bunch of cards in a system using risers you should just go powered because boards are not designed to push the kind of power video cards ask for through that many slots. Sure some of the high end boards can do it just fine but your normal $100 board cannot
 
A mobo that burns up was probably designed to run no more than 2 pcie graphics cards. High end boards with a million x16 slots don't count because they were designed for tri/quad xfire/SLI. If you a handing 6 gpus off a board with only 1 or 2 x16 slots, chances are you'll exceed the ampacity of the traces on the board. Technically the pcie spec says 1x is a max 25w when configured as "high power." On budget boards, I'd be willing to be that the design is much below that.
 
PCIE video cards can pull up to 75w a pcie slot, if you are using 1x slots you will more than likely be exceeding the amount of power draw the motherboard was designed for. Using a powered PCIE riser will solve this issue as instead of pulling the 75w through the motherboard it pulls it through a molex plug.

Powered risers usually use a ribbon cable, but recently they have made usb based ones (PCIE 1x > USB > PCIE 16x). USB based risers can be longer than ribbon types as they provide better shielding, they also supposedly have a higher throughput but I've not seen any tests comparing ribbon/usb risers.

Here is a link to some usb based risers on ebay.
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
How do you configure a 1x slot as "high power"? Is that a bios setting? The cards I'm looking at running are FirePro Multi-View series, which consume around 20w max supposedly. Wonder if that's a bit much if you run several in x1 slots.
 
NetTechie said:
How do you configure a 1x slot as "high power"? Is that a bios setting? The cards I'm looking at running are FirePro Multi-View series, which consume around 20w max supposedly. Wonder if that's a bit much if you run several in x1 slots.
Click to expand...

20w I wouldn't worry about but like its been stated the big cards can pull a full 75w in mining type situations just from the pcie slots alone
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top