Motherboards / Processors / RAM

The motherboard is the heart and soul of your build. It truly is the most important part, because without it, nothing would function as it should. You need to find a board that has enough PCI-e slots for the amount of cards that you plan on running, as well as one that has enough PCI-e lanes available in the chipset architecture so that you can actually run the amount of cards you put on the board. Failure to thoroughly research this step will result in a failed build.

If you plan on running more than four cards, the motherboard must support 64-bit PCI-e decoding, this is typically enabled in the BIOS via an option labeled “above 4G decoding“. Most ASRock H-series and below do not support this, so be sure to reach out to the manufacturer (or Google) to ensure this option is available. When I spoke with their support over the phone, they refused to certify that any of their boards supported more than three cards (though we know some do).

Combos

Because this is an option, I will list it GPUShack as an method to purchase motherboard and CPU combos at a premium, however after there were several threads complaining about their reliability I cannot recommend them in good faith. Please exercise caution if ordering from GPUShack.

This vendor does make it easy by including combos of motherboards, processors, and RAM compatible with <x> amount of cards. You pay a premium for their service so you don’t have to research the part compatibility.

Suggested Motherboards:

I will be updating this list as I find time, but here are some frequently recommended motherboards:

Most (if not all) of the boards will be sold out for the majority of summer 2017. Continually check Amazon, eBay, and Newegg for reasonable priced compatible boards.

Processor/CPU

Your processor doesn’t have to be fast. In fact, go with the cheapest processor you can find for your board. An 1150 Celeron (or 1151 Celeron for newer boards) is no better than the i3 which costs more than twice as much for what we are doing. Here are a handful of options

RAM

You’ll want at least 4GB of memory if you plan on using ethos or command-line-driven Linux. If you plan on using a GUI (Windows or Ubuntu with Unity/KDE/Gnome/etc…), consider 8GB. Find a compatible module for your motherboard (e.g.: Don’t buy DDR4 for a DDR3 motherboard).

• 4GB DDR3
• 8GB DDR3
• 4GB DDR4
• 8GB DDR4

Cases

You have several options for cases, however most new miners choose to DIY a case because of the price of a 6x GPU open-air solution can run upwards of $300.

• Parallel Miner – $260
• Rackmount cases
  • GrayMatter
  • Chenbro 4x GPU case.
• DIY solution examples
  • Option 1
  • Option 2
  • Option 3