<p>The amount of bandwidth used for mining is absolutely trivial, so bandwidth won't hurt you much here. Of course you <em>would</em> have to use something <strong>like</strong> this box because this one doesn't appear to be nearly deep enough for a full-length video card. Using the backplane from this box in a custom enclosure might be worthwhile.</p>

<p>The secondary problem you'll run into is power. This unit appears to have just enough power supply to power the communications between ports. An additional PSU will be needed for the GPUs themselves which, conveniently, typically draw most of their power from four or six pin connectors.</p>

<p>So in short, using this backplane in a separate enclosure with an external power supply (and a lot more airflow) seems pretty viable to me. Of course I haven't personally done this so I make no guarantees, but if someone has actually attempted this I'd love to hear about it.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-03T09:06:37.087Z
I've updated the question to link to a box which includes a psu
barrymac
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-03T16:07:59.747Z
The PSU is still inadequate. Three Radeon 5830s under load, for example, draw over 500 watts combined. The 220W PSU that comes with the new unit is still grossly inadequate for the task.
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-04T10:34:35.833Z
It's insane really how much they draw!
barrymac
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-04T10:44:42.337Z
Unless of course you used FPGA cards instead of graphics cards
barrymac
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-04T14:49:19.870Z
That's... That's brilliant... Where do I sign up???
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-04T16:25:00.350Z
I don't know how hard they are to set up but [these](https://cablesaurus.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=42&zenid=b2fa5ac2a88fe26b18dd6cb1cea91448) seem about as  mature a solution as you could get
barrymac
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-04T17:01:19.537Z
Oh they finally got rid of the obnoxiously bulky and expensive cable requirement? Dual X6500s for $600 isn't bad at all...
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-02T22:39:12.790Z
2011-10-02T22:39:12.790Z
David Perry
<p>Unfortunately, this particular device provides four ordinary PCI slots (not PCI-Express). There is currently no sensible mining hardware that connects to a PCI slot.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-03T09:02:29.557Z
This [NA211A](http://www.netstor.com.tw/_03/03_02.php?OTc=) one is more like it. I'll update the main question
barrymac
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-03T14:27:43.320Z
That one looks like it might actually fit a full-length card too. Still not nearly enough ventilation of course...
David Perry
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-03T14:57:41.453Z
You'd have to get power and cooling right, and you'd have an issue with double-width cards. But it looks possible.
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-04T10:33:09.157Z
I think that one takes a single double slot card, and two other single slots, but not enough power! Top graphics cards these days are crazy
barrymac
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-03T03:30:21.417Z
2011-10-03T03:30:21.417Z
David Schwartz
<p>I'm wondering if plugging cards into something this <a href="http://www.netstor.com.tw/_03/03_02.php?OTc=" rel="nofollow">external pci expansion box</a> would be effective in a mining setup. </p>

<p>I guess it depends on how much bandwidth is used, but I don't know how bandwidth intensive the mining process is. Has anyone here used a setup like this for mining? </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-10-04T10:39:13.860Z
Maybe you could go nuts with several plugged into one motherboard!
barrymac
<mining-hardware>
Can you use an external PCI expansion box for mining?
barrymac
# Can you use an external PCI expansion box for mining?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-10-02)

I'm wondering if plugging cards into something this [external pci expansion box](http://www.netstor.com.tw/_03/03_02.php?OTc=) would be effective in a mining setup.

I guess it depends on how much bandwidth is used, but I don't know how bandwidth intensive the mining process is. Has anyone here used a setup like this for mining?

**Tags:** mining-hardware

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Maybe you could go nuts with several plugged into one motherboard!  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2011-10-02. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

The amount of bandwidth used for mining is absolutely trivial, so bandwidth won't hurt you much here. Of course you *would* have to use something **like** this box because this one doesn't appear to be nearly deep enough for a full-length video card. Using the backplane from this box in a custom enclosure might be worthwhile.

The secondary problem you'll run into is power. This unit appears to have just enough power supply to power the communications between ports. An additional PSU will be needed for the GPUs themselves which, conveniently, typically draw most of their power from four or six pin connectors.

So in short, using this backplane in a separate enclosure with an external power supply (and a lot more airflow) seems pretty viable to me. Of course I haven't personally done this so I make no guarantees, but if someone has actually attempted this I'd love to hear about it.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I've updated the question to link to a box which includes a psu  
> **username_1**: The PSU is still inadequate. Three Radeon 5830s under load, for example, draw over 500 watts combined. The 220W PSU that comes with the new unit is still grossly inadequate for the task.  
> **username_0**: It's insane really how much they draw!  
> **username_0**: Unless of course you used FPGA cards instead of graphics cards  
> **username_1**: That's... That's brilliant... Where do I sign up???  
> **username_0**: I don't know how hard they are to set up but [these](https://cablesaurus.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=42&zenid=b2fa5ac2a88fe26b18dd6cb1cea91448) seem about as  mature a solution as you could get  
> **username_1**: Oh they finally got rid of the obnoxiously bulky and expensive cable requirement? Dual X6500s for $600 isn't bad at all...  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2011-10-03. Score: 3

Unfortunately, this particular device provides four ordinary PCI slots (not PCI-Express). There is currently no sensible mining hardware that connects to a PCI slot.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: This [NA211A](http://www.netstor.com.tw/_03/03_02.php?OTc=) one is more like it. I'll update the main question  
> **username_1**: That one looks like it might actually fit a full-length card too. Still not nearly enough ventilation of course...  
> **username_2**: You'd have to get power and cooling right, and you'd have an issue with double-width cards. But it looks possible.  
> **username_0**: I think that one takes a single double slot card, and two other single slots, but not enough power! Top graphics cards these days are crazy  

---

