ASRock unveils a pair of motherboards designed specifically for Bitcoin mining

[Shawn Knight]

Those looking to generate some extra cash by mining for Bitcoin now have a couple of new hardware options courtesy of ASRock. The motherboard maker has released two new motherboards designed specifically for mining the digital crypto-currency that’s topped tech headlines this year.

Both the H61 Pro BTC and the H81 Pro BTC come with a 100 percent all solid capacitor design. Additionally, the pair support dual channel DDR3 1600 memory, dual VGA output options of D-Sub and HDMI, Realtek Gigabit LAN and 5.1 channel HD audio.

The cheaper H61 Pro BTC only supports second and third generation Intel Core series processors while the more expensive H81 works exclusively with fourth generation Haswell chips from Intel. Both boards have six PCIe slots for up to six video cards although the less expensive model is limited to one PCIe 3.0 x16 port and five PCIe 2.0 x1 ports while the H81 features one PCIe 2.0 x16 and five PCIe 2.0 x1 (go figure).

The H81 also has better connectivity options with two SATA 3, two SATA 2, two USB 3.0 and six USB 2.0 ports. Conversely, the H61 only has four SATA 2 and 10 USB 2.0 ports although it does have some other interesting features like a built-in dehumidifier designed to keep your PC free of moisture at all times.

Unfortunately since these boards were just announced today, I was unable to find them for sale just yet nor do I have any idea how much they will retail for.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/54710-asrock-unveils-a-pair-of-motherboards-designed-specifically-for-bitcoin-mining.html

 

[insect]

Given that over half of all possible-to-mine bitcoins have been mined, the ROI on this will be negative...

 

[Guest]

PCI 1X graphic cards? for mining? which one can you use???

I know that you could saw off part of the conector on a 16x card but wouldnt that reduce mining performance?

 

[roxxas2]

Wow! This would have been great A FREAKING YEAR AGO.

 

[Guest]

Way too late, FPGA and ASIC mining destroy the video card mining already.

 

[Guest]

"PCI 1X graphic cards? for mining? which one can you use???
I know that you could saw off part of the conector on a 16x card but wouldnt that reduce mining performance?"

No that is for data transfer, for mining you need GPU power not bandwidth like in games.

 

[oldikes]

Im confused, x1 ports? im clearly missing something.
Wont that performance hit the crap out of the cards?

 

[wastedkill]

PCI 1X graphic cards? for mining? which one can you use???

I know that you could saw off part of the conector on a 16x card but wouldnt that reduce mining performance?

Not sure if trolling or clueless about PCI 16x to 1x connectors...

 

[cliffordcooley]

Not sure if trolling or clueless about PCI 16x to 1x connectors...

The fact they posted what they did suggest they are not clueless about the connectors. Unless you are referring to PCIe 16x to 1x adapters, which would raise the cards height.

I once witnessed photos of someone cutting a 16x card connector down to a 1x connector because a 1x connector was all they had available on the motherboard. The card was an older card, so they didn't really care about keeping the 16x connector intact. It was a choice between cutting the card down or cutting the end of the PCIe x1 connector on the motherboard to allow a longer card. I'm not sure if those adapters were available at this time, or they may have chosen to use them instead.

I can't really tell by the photos of these two boards but it looks as if the connectors are open and will allow for longer card connectors. Although the chipset heatsink would get in the way of 16x cards. But then the idea looks to be designed for PCIe extension cables, which leave me wondering what case is housing the cards.

 

[Guest]

You all seem to be clueless about mining, so I'll clear up a few things:

Yes, mining BTC with GPUs is dead and buried. What is not dead is mining alt coins like LTC with GPUs. Scrypt is a lot harder to make an ASIC for, or execute on an FPGA, so currently, mining coins based on scrypt is still profitable.

You usually use 16x->16x PCI-E extenders, or 1x->16x PCI-E extenders with mining rigs. Most cases, if any are used at all, are milk crates or custom cases that are built for mining rigs.

 

[ddelamare]

Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES even attempt to use GPU's for mining.

They should have just made a self-powered, network attached USB 'HUB' supporting up to 20 devices.

Guess no one was doing their homework when they sat down with the design team.