Mining, and various other all on GPU workloads like password cracking need very little bandwidth to the host CPU. A single PCIe lane is plenty fast enough for those uses.
If they really want to use those currencies, let them have it. But they should really stop creating one "currency" after the other, just so it can be "mined" on inefficient hardware (i.e. no ASICs). That's such a humongous waste of ressources for nothing they could not have done with BTC.
BTC doesn't allow all things ETH does, to be honest there is room for both... but the point of most of these coins is to make money, it's a pure speculation market, funny cause it's one the things these coins were supposed to address. I'm investing on them clearly for that at worst I lost the electricity I use and money of 1 single GPU purchase (that actually I play games with) and at best I'll make some profit. Essentially it's a very small investment for maybe a big payout.
People claiming these coins kind of free us from the reigns of the banks and central banks are just fooling themselves... we just replace one system by another just as bad if not worst.
For the moment the state has not that much control over these currency mechanisms, but you can be damn sure they're trying to work out a way to do it. Being able devalue a currency by printing money (and other actions) is a very important aspect of state power (look to Cyprus and Greece for other examples of what a convention currency allows a govt. to do); not being able to do this sort of thing with crypto currencies is a key reason why govts. hate them (has nothing to do with their use in any criminal activities).
Alas, they're not stable, and the math concepts behind them end up distorting how they function over time, eg. the rise of ASIC solutions for Bitcoin. One could argue their original appeal was transaction security, but the potential for profit making has become the core attraction now. Either way, govts are working hard to shut them down, somehow, of this one can be certain.
I, for one, will be glad when governments figure out how to regulate this. It's distorting the markets and completely speculative with little or no benefit to society at large. Moreover, Greece handed their power to control their currency to the Eurozone, so I have no idea what you're talking about there. If they were allowed to devalue their currency somewhat, it would alleviate problems for both the debtors (easier to pay off debt) and creditors (recoup something, at least initially, instead of being forced to lend more). And as for "transaction security," that makes no sense either because there's already other mechanisms for that, so it's just redundant. When governments lose control of currency, everyone in that country suffers, Greece is a prime example actually. It doesn't matter what democratically elected government mandates are, it will be no concern to financial speculators who have an undue influence upon the entire system.
Doesn't bother me. Right now it's spiking demand and raising prices, but when the Ethereum fad fades, the market will flood with cheap, used GPUs and the same people moaning now will be happy at bagging a low cost card.
It would be very interesting if this motherboard could be reviewed for mining performance with all slots populated with appropriate GPUs to emphasize how the OS can handle so many GPUs (in terms of OS stability, configuration issue, GPU driver compatibility etc.)
Nah you'll want to use them for something else once the novelty has worn off after 3 months. Either that or China will just blast the whole thing with warehouses full of them and make your efforts null & void.
1. Have they even tried running a system with the claimed supported config?
2. Does more than 8 GPUs (of any config of AMD + NVidia) work on Windows 10? Reports suggest Windows 7/10 can only support 8 GPUs max, whatever the composition of the GPUs may be.
EDIT: Am unable to find a way to edit my comment hence adding it here: The Amazon link I linked above has a Q&A that says you can either have 8 NVidia + 4 AMD or 4 Nvidia+ 8 AMD, for a total of 12 GPUs either way.
Here's what doesn't make sense to me - Has *anyone* verified that this is true?! wtf? Unable to find an actual review of a 12 GPU system online.
Is it possible to mine XMR from sites like CoinImp with hardware like this? Considering it's going under CPU resources and I don't want my desktop to explode so far..
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ads295 - Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - link
Unless I'm missing something here, what sort of GPU horsepower can you push through PCIe x1? Never mind that one has 12 of them...DanNeely - Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - link
Mining, and various other all on GPU workloads like password cracking need very little bandwidth to the host CPU. A single PCIe lane is plenty fast enough for those uses.HomeworldFound - Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - link
I guess the NSA needed something for the office.ads295 - Thursday, July 6, 2017 - link
Right, but wouldn't that necessitate really powerful GPUs with PCIe x1 pins/connectors? Even the BTC mining card shown here is x16...Slash3 - Friday, July 7, 2017 - link
These systems use PCI-E ribbon adapters to connect a 16x card to the 1x slot, it's not mounted directly to the motherboard like a traditional system.MrSpadge - Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - link
GP-GPU requirements vary wildy from app to app. Some need next to no communication, others load a 16x PCIe 3.0 bus to 50%.bill.rookard - Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - link
What's the point in this board if you can't even get a GPU at a reasonable price to put in it? Let along 12 of them.... :(surt - Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - link
The net price for this is negative after bitcoins farmed.plewis00 - Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - link
The irony in calling it 'BTC Pro' is that no-one actually mines bitcoins on GPUs any more. It'll be some altcoin.jabber - Wednesday, July 5, 2017 - link
So much effort and hardware for so few. Please let this whole crypto currency thing vanish.MrSpadge - Thursday, July 6, 2017 - link
If they really want to use those currencies, let them have it. But they should really stop creating one "currency" after the other, just so it can be "mined" on inefficient hardware (i.e. no ASICs). That's such a humongous waste of ressources for nothing they could not have done with BTC.Strunf - Thursday, July 6, 2017 - link
BTC doesn't allow all things ETH does, to be honest there is room for both... but the point of most of these coins is to make money, it's a pure speculation market, funny cause it's one the things these coins were supposed to address. I'm investing on them clearly for that at worst I lost the electricity I use and money of 1 single GPU purchase (that actually I play games with) and at best I'll make some profit. Essentially it's a very small investment for maybe a big payout.People claiming these coins kind of free us from the reigns of the banks and central banks are just fooling themselves... we just replace one system by another just as bad if not worst.
mapesdhs - Monday, July 10, 2017 - link
For the moment the state has not that much control over these currency mechanisms, but you can be damn sure they're trying to work out a way to do it. Being able devalue a currency by printing money (and other actions) is a very important aspect of state power (look to Cyprus and Greece for other examples of what a convention currency allows a govt. to do); not being able to do this sort of thing with crypto currencies is a key reason why govts. hate them (has nothing to do with their use in any criminal activities).Alas, they're not stable, and the math concepts behind them end up distorting how they function over time, eg. the rise of ASIC solutions for Bitcoin. One could argue their original appeal was transaction security, but the potential for profit making has become the core attraction now. Either way, govts are working hard to shut them down, somehow, of this one can be certain.
dookie411 - Tuesday, July 11, 2017 - link
I, for one, will be glad when governments figure out how to regulate this. It's distorting the markets and completely speculative with little or no benefit to society at large.Moreover, Greece handed their power to control their currency to the Eurozone, so I have no idea what you're talking about there. If they were allowed to devalue their currency somewhat, it would alleviate problems for both the debtors (easier to pay off debt) and creditors (recoup something, at least initially, instead of being forced to lend more). And as for "transaction security," that makes no sense either because there's already other mechanisms for that, so it's just redundant.
When governments lose control of currency, everyone in that country suffers, Greece is a prime example actually. It doesn't matter what democratically elected government mandates are, it will be no concern to financial speculators who have an undue influence upon the entire system.
mapesdhs - Monday, July 10, 2017 - link
Doesn't bother me. Right now it's spiking demand and raising prices, but when the Ethereum fad fades, the market will flood with cheap, used GPUs and the same people moaning now will be happy at bagging a low cost card.scmorange16 - Thursday, July 6, 2017 - link
It would be very interesting if this motherboard could be reviewed for mining performance with all slots populated with appropriate GPUs to emphasize how the OS can handle so many GPUs (in terms of OS stability, configuration issue, GPU driver compatibility etc.)Notmyusualid - Thursday, July 6, 2017 - link
Drop all those ports, save for 2x USB, the LAN, add an additional LAN, 2x SATA will do. Don't need the audio either.Sell for $99, and I'll take a half dozen.
jabber - Friday, July 7, 2017 - link
Nah you'll want to use them for something else once the novelty has worn off after 3 months. Either that or China will just blast the whole thing with warehouses full of them and make your efforts null & void.jabberwalkie - Tuesday, July 18, 2017 - link
1. Have they even tried running a system with the claimed supported config?2. Does more than 8 GPUs (of any config of AMD + NVidia) work on Windows 10? Reports suggest Windows 7/10 can only support 8 GPUs max, whatever the composition of the GPUs may be.
3. What this so-called "review" doesn't mention is that this motherboard supports 12 GPUS in a combo of 8 NVidia + 4 AMD OR vice versa. (source: https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/asin/B0736PV1... )
It's disappointing that Anandtech hasn't researched enough to make us readers aware about either of/both the above... :-(
jabberwalkie - Tuesday, July 18, 2017 - link
EDIT: Am unable to find a way to edit my comment hence adding it here: The Amazon link I linked above has a Q&A that says you can either have 8 NVidia + 4 AMD or 4 Nvidia+ 8 AMD, for a total of 12 GPUs either way.Here's what doesn't make sense to me - Has *anyone* verified that this is true?! wtf? Unable to find an actual review of a 12 GPU system online.
kensa - Friday, December 29, 2017 - link
Is it possible to mine XMR from sites like CoinImp with hardware like this? Considering it's going under CPU resources and I don't want my desktop to explode so far..Charlesjem - Tuesday, March 3, 2020 - link
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