"The board is able to support so many USB interfaces as crunching crypto blocks does not require a lot of interface bandwidth. Each card will use a PCIe x1 link which is routed over USB 3.0 wiring (USB 3.0, like PCIe, being a differential signaling bus)."
Before anyone gets any ideas about exiting things you can do with 20 USB ports (or wonders where Asus fit all the host adapters): these are not in any wy USB ports other than appearance. These are purely PCIe 1x slots that just happen to coincidentally look USB shaped. All resemblance to USB ends there.
I was pretty sure that was what was happening here, but I was going to look it up and see if something had changed.
I still want a USB to PCIe adapter, legit adapter, just to test parts with. It doesn't have to be full performance, I just need it for work.
I'm sure I'd find some other use for it as well, but the ability to plug a USB video card to my workstation to diagnose the customer's card without pulling down my machine would be nice.
Thanks you so much, their wording is very confusing. Asus says "20 x Vertical USB ports over PCIe" which is also confusing. If I understand it correctly their wording is backwards and it should read "20 x Vertical PCIe ports over USB".
It is more clear what is going on if you look at their old B250 board with 19x actual PCIe slots:
Correct. The single PCIe lane is transported over the two high-speed copper pairs present in USB3 cabling, one used for Tx and one Rx. If you ever open up an USB3 cable, they're the twisted pairs that are individually foil shielded within the cable. USB3 connectors and cables are just a cost effective physical media for extending PCIe signalling to the GPU riser board. There is no USB controller or signalling involved.
Did not expect innovation in mobos for mining. This is miles ahead the of Asrock and Gigabyte mining boards. I saw in one article that ASUS moved 6 digits of their previous mobo.
Mining is not dead. It's just not worth it right now.
I guess it was the drivers. It was just a few months ago, Windows removed the 8 GPU limit, AMD released the Adrenalin drivers for more than 8 AMD cards, and recently fixing the 12 or more AMD GPU random instability.
I hope ASUS finally removes this restriction as ASUS/Nvidia branded parts are pricey.
This would be great if you live in the artic where's it's cold and windy all the time so you can stay warm and generate your own power. Plus, I rather have it do F@H, WCG, and Rosetta@home.
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Lolimaster - Friday, June 1, 2018 - link
Except gpu mining is basically dead now.UnNameless - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
Not at all. I'm doing just fine.edzieba - Friday, June 1, 2018 - link
"The board is able to support so many USB interfaces as crunching crypto blocks does not require a lot of interface bandwidth. Each card will use a PCIe x1 link which is routed over USB 3.0 wiring (USB 3.0, like PCIe, being a differential signaling bus)."Before anyone gets any ideas about exiting things you can do with 20 USB ports (or wonders where Asus fit all the host adapters): these are not in any wy USB ports other than appearance. These are purely PCIe 1x slots that just happen to coincidentally look USB shaped. All resemblance to USB ends there.
0ldman79 - Friday, June 1, 2018 - link
Thanks for that.I was pretty sure that was what was happening here, but I was going to look it up and see if something had changed.
I still want a USB to PCIe adapter, legit adapter, just to test parts with. It doesn't have to be full performance, I just need it for work.
I'm sure I'd find some other use for it as well, but the ability to plug a USB video card to my workstation to diagnose the customer's card without pulling down my machine would be nice.
lakedude - Friday, June 1, 2018 - link
Thanks you so much, their wording is very confusing. Asus says "20 x Vertical USB ports over PCIe" which is also confusing. If I understand it correctly their wording is backwards and it should read "20 x Vertical PCIe ports over USB".It is more clear what is going on if you look at their old B250 board with 19x actual PCIe slots:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/asus-b250-mining...
voicequal - Sunday, June 3, 2018 - link
Correct. The single PCIe lane is transported over the two high-speed copper pairs present in USB3 cabling, one used for Tx and one Rx. If you ever open up an USB3 cable, they're the twisted pairs that are individually foil shielded within the cable. USB3 connectors and cables are just a cost effective physical media for extending PCIe signalling to the GPU riser board. There is no USB controller or signalling involved.MrSpadge - Friday, June 1, 2018 - link
I like GP-GPU for BOINC or Folding@Home. Too bad most "useful" projects require significantly more than a PCIe 1x link.quorm - Friday, June 1, 2018 - link
I think you said it best in the last paragraph of the article. "Minging" scene for sure.zodiacfml - Friday, June 1, 2018 - link
Did not expect innovation in mobos for mining. This is miles ahead the of Asrock and Gigabyte mining boards. I saw in one article that ASUS moved 6 digits of their previous mobo.Mining is not dead. It's just not worth it right now.
oRAirwolf - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
This board would be more attractive if it had an aspeed video chipset and an html5 virtual console.UnNameless - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
What I really don't get, is why Asus forces to use a set number of AMD cards and Nvidia cards as in the case of the B250 mining expert!zodiacfml - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
I guess it was the drivers. It was just a few months ago, Windows removed the 8 GPU limit, AMD released the Adrenalin drivers for more than 8 AMD cards, and recently fixing the 12 or more AMD GPU random instability.I hope ASUS finally removes this restriction as ASUS/Nvidia branded parts are pricey.
[email protected] - Saturday, July 27, 2019 - link
This would be great if you live in the artic where's it's cold and windy all the time so you can stay warm and generate your own power. Plus, I rather have it do F@H, WCG, and Rosetta@home.