6 GPU folding computer/need help with dedicated folding machine

[Silent_Avenger]

So I was browsing the NCIX website and came across this mobo.

Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7 AMD990FX ATX AM3+ DDR3 6PCI-E16 1PCI CrossFireX SLI SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard - Gigabyte - GA-990FXA-UD7

Is it possible to get 6 fermi based cards(550 Ti?) running on this board with water cooling? Probably a special block is needed with the ports out the top of the card rather than the side towards the next card. If it is possible to get 6 cards to fit on this mobo will there be any driver issues with having 6 cards on a single mobo? My plan is to run 2 PSUs and split the power as evenly as possible if I can get 6 cards going. Naturally phenom2 x6 would probably be needed or at least an x4 minimum. Just want to know if it's possible before I even get into it. Of course this will be done over a fairly long period of time(unless I win the lottery ) because I do have a limited budget. Thoughts and comments on a 6gpu folding set up is much appreciated. BTW I'm wanting to do a multi GPU setup because requirements for SMP w/bigadv sys requirements seem to change more often than GPU requirements would imo but I'm open to suggestions.

Edit: I just remembered that win 7/vista aren't as friendly as win xp is setting up multiple GPUs since as far as I can tell xp isn't sold anymore is linux a better option than win 7?


P.S. I do realize that 2 slots run in x8 and another 2 in x4 but from what I have read F@H isn't all that bandwidth intensive and I shouldn't see a huge hit in ppd in x4

P.P.S I can only imagine what kind of performance there would be in a system running 6x GTX 590 full throttle but that's only $4500 in hardware and probably will never be possible on a single board anyways.

[3.0charlie]

I've folded in the past using 4x 9800GX2s on a MSI board. No issues at all, just make sure you have the proper PSU for this task.

[boggtrotter59]

I've also run 5 videocards on the same motherboard (MSI 890FXA-GD70) without any issues whatsoever... A single 850 watt Corsair was enough to power all 5 cards ( 2 GTX 260's a 9800GTX+ and 2 9800GT's) with a stock Phenom II 555 dual core.

[jibz]

if you ahve the power delivery and enough PCIE lanes available it should work. probably x4 lanes wouldn't bottle neck a folding 550 ti.

Also PCIE risers and a custom mounting contraption might be necessary and a mega ton cheeper than 5 water blocks.

[Silent_Avenger]

Originally Posted by jibz

if you ahve the power delivery and enough PCIE lanes available it should work. probably x4 lanes wouldn't bottle neck a folding 550 ti.

Also PCIE risers and a custom mounting contraption might be necessary and a mega ton cheeper than 5 water blocks.

Now that I didn't even think of I was planing on mounting everything on stackable shelving so it wouldn't be very hard to raise up some of the cards. Well now that that saves up some $$$ from not water cooling would 560 Ti's get bottle necked by x4 possibly? or should I just get 4 560 Ti's and 2 550 Ti's for the x4 lanes?

Also I was just kidding about the 6x GTX 590s although 150,000 PPD would be nice

[jibz]

Originally Posted by Silent_Avenger

Now that I didn't even think of I was planing on mounting everything on stackable shelving so it wouldn't be very hard to raise up some of the cards. Well now that that saves up some $$$ from not water cooling would 560 Ti's get bottle necked by x4 possibly? or should I just get 4 560 Ti's and 2 550 Ti's for the x4 lanes?

Also I was just kidding about the 6x GTX 590s although 150,000 PPD would be nice

I think worst case scenario 550ti with 4 lanes bandwidth could take a ~5% performance hit but I doubt it.

With flexible risers you could make a little wood bracket to hold and support the cards with space between for air cooling.

Heres a pic of the solution I've seen before for bit coin mining

[Silent_Avenger]

Any reason they're using 6970's as far as I know nvidia is still the top dog of folding(for now). That's a really clean set up and I'm hopefully going to pick up one of the mobos before dec 31 because of the rebate and slowly build up my system. BTW do you have any links to where I can buy those cable PCIE risers? NCIX and newegg don't seem to have any and tigerdirect only seem to have multiple slot adapter/risers.

[jibz]

Thats for bit coin mining not folding. radeons are preferred for that.

as for the PCIE risers, I haven't looked into them myself. I checked out ebay and they seems to be $1 + $4 shipping from hong kong

[Silent_Avenger]

Ah ok I missed that it was for bit coin mining(up late waiting for xmas :P). Guess I'll have to spend some time searching on ebay and $1 and $4 for shipping is a great deal vs $100 min for a water block.

[MARSTG]

Originally Posted by Silent_Avenger

Also I was just kidding about the 6x GTX 590s although 150,000 PPD would be nice

6xGTX 590 translates roughly on 4500$. if you can afford to splurge that for folding I think there are better options, like for example dual/quad socket G43 platforms that would net more than that and save some $ on the hydro bill also.