Folding Forum

I'm considering something like this, for GPU Folding with the P106-90 I got but can't use in the old PC it was meant for.

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/J3355B-ITX/index.asp

But first I ordered a PCI riser to see if I can put the P106-90 to use in my main PC, using its cramped second PCIe 16x slot (thus the riser, the P106-90 is way too big to fit in there.

It would look like this :



with PCI riser coming from the left and power supply 6pins coming from the right, tight but the case can close (had to remove the metal piece to make the video card fit and lock in PCI slots though)


So either PCI riser if it works, or cheap upgrade kit (once I made sure it's compatible with the P106-90) or why not even both if I'm crazy enough.

If the cooling is sufficient in your case, I see no reason why you couldn't install 3 of those zotac GPUs right next to one another, right in between the fan and motherboard.(provided the motherboard recognizes them); and stack them vertically instead of horizontally (you can use zip ties and/or hex rods to keep em in place).

MeeLee wrote:For pcie 2.0 motherboards, you're well past 6 years ago, in the technology world.
It would be wise if someone could tell you the oldest Nvidia GPU supported by fah, not sure if that's the GT 600 series, or 500 series, or...?
Then look up the release date of such GPU, and the release date of your motherboard.
If the GPU is more than 2 years younger, just give up on GPU folding on your motherboard.

I don't get this attitude? If I buy a nice shiny X570 and 3600, I shouldn't use a GTX970 for folding? The 3600 will get 100K ppd but the GTX970 will do 400K.

Older motherboards can happily run fast modern gpus, and 9xx era and even a 780ti will still produce good points.

Modern cards are indeed backwards compatible with PCI-E 2.0 but it actually depends on the specific PCI-E controller in the motherboard chipset or more recently on the processor die itself as to whether or not the card is compatible or not. You can certainly use an older card in a newer PCI-E 4.0 ready system too without any problems.

MeeLee wrote:If the cooling is sufficient in your case, I see no reason why you couldn't install 3 of those zotac GPUs right next to one another, right in between the fan and motherboard.(provided the motherboard recognizes them); and stack them vertically instead of horizontally (you can use zip ties and/or hex rods to keep em in place).

If I want more of them my issues will be the amount of PCIe slots and the fact it's hard to find PCI riser for a decent price who are more than 18cm long. And 18cm should be just enough to put the Video Card like shown on the picture (I wanted to put it vertically, but I would need a much longer riser)

Gaming PCI risers can reach lengths like 50cm, but these ones worth like twice the price of the Video card I want to use


But why not, if it's enough, use my pcie 1x slot for a 3rd card.

But yes. I must make sure it's compatible first. I wait for my 4x pcie riser. Then I'll see.
If it works I could try with the 1x too.

EDIT : After checking, the 1x slot is blocked by the GTX 1660 so I can't use it
And I don't really want to try a PCIe splitter on the available second PCIe 16x, enough fails already

So I guess my main PC can host only 2 cards, the GTX 1660 and one P106-90+riser.

HaloJones wrote:

MeeLee wrote:For pcie 2.0 motherboards, you're well past 6 years ago, in the technology world.
It would be wise if someone could tell you the oldest Nvidia GPU supported by fah, not sure if that's the GT 600 series, or 500 series, or...?
Then look up the release date of such GPU, and the release date of your motherboard.
If the GPU is more than 2 years younger, just give up on GPU folding on your motherboard.

I don't get this attitude? If I buy a nice shiny X570 and 3600, I shouldn't use a GTX970 for folding? The 3600 will get 100K ppd but the GTX970 will do 400K.

Older motherboards can happily run fast modern gpus, and 9xx era and even a 780ti will still produce good points.

Maybe all manufacturers or models don't act the same. So maybe some brands/models of old MotherBoards can use modern Video Cards ... but not the two ASUS I tried
One beeps (1 long and 3 shorts) and doesn't boot, the other boots but completely ignore the P106-90.
(Both from P5K family, with updated BIOS).

Since backward compatibility is more likely, I'm not too worried about my main PC Motherboard (Gigabyte B450M DS3H) being able to detect and use the P106-90.
But I'm still disappointed by my old PCs, they are back gathering dust now.

You can still populate the x1 slot with one of these low profile USB risers
They fit under a GPU that hovers over a PCIE x1 slot:
https://www.amazon.com/GLOTRENDS-Extens ... 07N38Y799/

HaloJones wrote: I don't get this attitude? If I buy a nice shiny X570 and 3600, I shouldn't use a GTX970 for folding? The 3600 will get 100K ppd but the GTX970 will do 400K.

Older motherboards can happily run fast modern gpus, and 9xx era and even a 780ti will still produce good points.

The situation here is reverse.
Bioses that aren't updated with information on newer GPUs, won't allow the PC to boot at all. You won't even be able to get into the BIOS if the newer GPU is still connected.

And a 9xx GPU is an old GPU in my books. It's at least 3 generations old.
A modern GPU nowadays is a GTX16xx series or RTX GPU.

MeeLee wrote:You can still populate the x1 slot with one of these low profile USB risers
They fit under a GPU that hovers over a PCIE x1 slot:
https://www.amazon.com/GLOTRENDS-Extens ... on-UEX101/

Thank you, for the link.
I'll see if I can find one who would suit a video card (providing power through pcie slot, not sure the one you linked does, I don't feel fine with the idea of 75W going through usb cable).
And of course I must check first if a pcie 1x would be fast enough. I don't think so but I'll check with my 4x riser, if it works XD


If PCIe 1x have enough bandwidth, maybe I'll buy one like this to do a dedicated folding rig (instead of stacking video cards in my main daily-life PC who probably don't have a powerful enough PSU for 3 cards anyway)

https://asrock.com/mb/Intel/J3355M/

With one card in 16x slot and a riser for the second one.


EDIT : After googling a lot about this card and its family, it seem they are really bad motherboards, lot of compatibility and freeze issues ...

So I guess, If I can't fit the card(s) in my main PC, either I give them to more lucky than me, either I'll have to buy a "proper" upgrade kit, but it'll be more expensive and probably less energy efficient ...

It's also would be a huge change of direction in my project, from "reviving an old PC" to "buying a folding rig, reusing some parts I already have to keep it cheap"

The low profile PCIE x1 USB riser doesn't sap any power from your motherboard at all.
You need only the USB part (inserting link again, as the above link has vanished) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N38Y799, and use it incombination with a powered riser, like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079SL7YDW/

You can discard the x1 slot on the GPU side, and just use the low-profile plug, a USB cable, and the PCIE x16 slot that is powered from the standard USB riser.

MeeLee wrote:The low profile PCIE x1 USB riser doesn't sap any power from your motherboard at all.
You need only the USB part (inserting link again, as the above link has vanished) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N38Y799, and use it incombination with a powered riser, like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079SL7YDW/

You can discard the x1 slot on the GPU side, and just use the low-profile plug, a USB cable, and the PCIE x16 slot that is powered from the standard USB riser.

Yes, that's what I saw, I must buy a "mining" PCI riser and combine the two.

Basically use a mining riser, but replacing the standard male PCIe 1x connector by the low profile one.


I like the idea, but I'm very unsure about the transfer speed being enough for folding with this kind of video card

And my modest PSU will never be up to the tast of fueling 3 GPUs
But I guess replacing it would still be cheaper than buying a MB+CPU+RAM kit.


i'll start with the 4x riser and see how much bandwidth it uses.

Some more DIY in perspective, since i'll have to open the end of the female part of the riser to be able to plug the P106-90.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZed5r9tXHQ

Buying good strong PSU is an investment anyway as they move with you through upgrades to other parts of your PC.

HaloJones wrote:Buying good strong PSU is an investment anyway as they move with you through upgrades to other parts of your PC.

Yes, but I'm usually (until now, at least) not a fond of upgrades, I tend to buy a good PC, keep it unchanged for around 5 years, than buy a new one and give the old one to friend or family member, or keep it as backup.

But I did consider buying a better and more modern Ryzen (like a 3700X, or one of the incomming 4000 serie), to upgrade my CPU while keeping the same MB, and use my current Ryzen (2600) to build a folding rig around it.

Upgrading is fine, but I'm afraid to run into some compatibility issues + it's harder for me to find a new home to a lonely CPU or PSU than to a complete PC. When I replace my PC I can easily give the old one. If I replace just few parts, there is fair chance these parts will stay (until I have enough to assemble a complete PC I guess, lol)


I agree, a better PSU wouldn't be a waste, especially if it allow me to use both P106-90 cards I bought (only one received yet, but if not lost I should receive a second one) in my main PC, without needing to build a dedicated pc.

Still worried about the PCIe 1x bandwidth though, if I'm not mistaken, P106-90 uses PCIe 1.1 4x connector, so if I use it on a PCIe 3.0 1x connector (with riser) it should get only a 1.1 1x speed
(Since I strongly doubt the risers spread the 1x speed over all lanes, I strongly suspect it's just hard wired to the 1st lane of the riser female slot and other lanes are not used/not wired)
But if it's PCIe 3.0 on both sides, should be ok.

EDIT (again) : Seem the Zotac P106-90 is un PCIe 3.0.
So both the video card and the motherboard are PCIe 3.0 it's a good start. But the seller of the low profile PCIe riser says it's PCIe 2.0 compliant.

PCIE 3.0 x1 is good enough for GTX 1060 or below.
PCIE 2.0 x1 is probably enough for a gtx 1050 or below (perhaps a 1030 max).
not sure if AMD offers better products that are also compatible with your motherboard, as the latest gen AMDs are about as efficient as the Nvidia Pascal range of GPUs; but more modern.
They are faster and also use more power overall, but PPD/W they're just 1 gen behind Nvidia.

MeeLee wrote:PCIE 3.0 x1 is good enough for GTX 1060 or below.
PCIE 2.0 x1 is probably enough for a gtx 1050 or below (perhaps a 1030 max).
not sure if AMD offers better products that are also compatible with your motherboard, as the latest gen AMDs are about as efficient as the Nvidia Pascal range of GPUs; but more modern.
They are faster and also use more power overall, but PPD/W they're just 1 gen behind Nvidia.

I strongly doubt PCIe 2.0 1x will be enough for the P106-90 who is GTX 1050 Ti-like, but if results with 4x riser are encouraging it worth a try with a 1x.

Worst case, if 1x is not enough for max potential but it's still okay(ish), I can keep it this way (for example if the Video card on 1x slot do 90k PPD while the 4x do 115k, I'm fine with it, I can sacrifice some PPD in exchange for not needing to assemble a second PC).

I didn't look on AMD side for video card since these nvidia P106-90 are the ones I found for dirt cheap, not the AMD ones
(Got two for the price of a brand new crappy GT 1030)

a 1050Ti is faster than a 1050.
A 1050 is potentially PCIE constrained on an x1 slot. A 1050Ti will definitely.
It'll still perform better on than a 1030,
But if your GPU performs worse on Core 22, than it does on Core 21, it means your GPU is held back by the PCIE slot speed.

MeeLee wrote:a 1050Ti is faster than a 1050.
A 1050 is potentially PCIE constrained on an x1 slot. A 1050Ti will definitely.
It'll still perform better on than a 1030,
But if your GPU performs worse on Core 22, than it does on Core 21, it means your GPU is held back by the PCIE slot speed.

I'll check it. I ordered a 1x usb mining pci riser to check this out.

If light bottleneck, ok for me, if bottleneck too hard, I'll try to find a plan C.

But yes, even bottlenecked, it'll be faster than a GT 1030, who was my initial choice, and cost around the same price than the two P106-90 I finally got
Even if in the end the bottlenecked P106-90 performs the same than a GT 1030 PPD-wise, still a good deal since the P106-90 was half the price of a GT 1030.


If both risers work well, I should have 4x in PCIe 2.0 (2.0 GB/s) and 1x in 2.0 (0.5 GB/s)


I have a silly question, if someone here knows the answer.

On a 100W Video card, getting electricity from both the PCIe Motherboard slot (up to 75W) and through the additional 6 pins PSU cable (up to 75W).

My question is : If the card is at maximum load and actually uses the 100W, how is the charge balanced?
Will it take 50W through MB and 50W through PSU 6 pins cable?
Or the full 75W from MB, and only the remaining 25W by the PSU cable?

Wondering this because I'm kinda worried about the capacity of the 4x PCI riser to carry 75W
(Yes, I love to make up reasons to worry ...)

Ordered this one in 4x to 4x : https://www.ebay.com/itm/182650655153