How many GPUs does the Maximus VIII Hero support?

[Deleted member 2000973]

Hi, I see my motherboard has a total of 6 PCIe slots. From the product page:

"Supports NVIDIA® Quad-GPU SLI™ Technology
Supports AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™ Technology

Expansion Slots
2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8, +gray)
1 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x4 mode, +black)
3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x1"

However, after some searching it seems to me that it depends on PCIe lanes. I'm not very knowledgeable on this.

So, what would be my max number for working GPUs? it says it supports Quad-SLI, so does that mean my max is 4?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Robert Cook]

Okay, so you have three 16X sized slots (the last one runs at 4X though), ideally you could run a three way crossfire setup as crossfire runs down to 4X connections, but I would really not. Nvidia GPUs you can get 2 way SLI at best.

Are you trying to mine with this board? because if so then I think you can actually put a GPU into every slot due to PCIE X1 to 16X risers, but you might not have enough CPU PCIE lanes. you would really want a cpu with more PCIE lanes.

 

[Deleted member 2000973]

Okay, so you have three 16X sized slots (the last one runs at 4X though), ideally you could run a three way crossfire setup as crossfire runs down to 4X connections, but I would really not. Nvidia GPUs you can get 2 way SLI at best.

Are you trying to mine with this board? because if so then I think you can actually put a GPU into every slot due to PCIE X1 to 16X risers, but you might not have enough CPU PCIE lanes. you would really want a cpu with more PCIE lanes.

I’m considering the possibility of repurposing it for mining. Would I be able to change CPU and keep the motherboard, or would it be best to get a new motherboard + CPU altogether?
Thanks

 

[Robert Cook]

if you want more PCIE lanes, you would be looking at X299 or X99, or X399 for whenever AMD releases it.
there is no way to get more PCIE lanes on Z270.

There are some boards designed for mining. but I would stick with this board as it is a great board, and with current GPU pries good luck ever getting more than three RX480s anyway.

 

[k1114]

With splitters and adapters, you can get 27 gpus, each x1, if I'm not missing anything.

 

[Robert Cook]

With splitters and adapters, you can get 27 gpus, each x1, if I'm not missing anything.

With all this mining craze it would seriously not totally surprise me if that is possible, but I sort of do doubt that is possible. I feel you cannot just split a single PCIE slot and put two cards in it, as they would end up sharing pins or something.

 

[k1114]

During the first wave of bitcoin popularity people started doing it. It is possible. Pcie pins duplicate for more lanes. Pcie switches and expansions have been around for a long time for super computers and other gpu accelerated work before cryptocurrency was even around. Recently I've been seeing multipliers but I don't think those will work for mining.

 

[Robert Cook]

During the first wave of bitcoin popularity people started doing it. It is possible. Pcie pins duplicate for more lanes. Pcie switches and expansions have been around for a long time for super computers and other gpu accelerated work before cryptocurrency was even around. Recently I've been seeing multipliers but I don't think those will work for mining.

I feel like that would be sort of fun to do with a bunch of garbage old cards.