The Hydra is dead! Repeat: The Hydra is DEAD!

j

Ok, about 2 weeks ago, the ASUS 280X has both fans die. Weird mounting on them 4 holes at 29mm rather than 3 at 40mm. I can find replacements in Asia, but it is about $60 shipped. So, I ghetto the replacements and zip tie 2 x 120mm fans. That lasts for a week, and then it starts shutting off about once a day. One of the Sapphire cards has a dead fan, and since I bought extras of the standard sizes, I can replace that. Doesn't help, the computer dies after a shorter and shorter intervals.

Finally today, I figure out that partly it is the RAM. Replaced it and it will now boot again, but running FAH causes it do lock up and crash. I figure the CPU, or possibly another motherboard component is going bad.

So, I need a cheap 6 PCI-E slot motherboard.

Looking at something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157563

I'll need to get a CPU to go with it, but I've got RAM, and everything else I need.

Is there a better choice? I can spring for about $100-$150 today for MB/CPU and hopefully get it back up by Friday night.

1X PCI-E slots are fine. I've got all the cards on 1X to 16X risers.

This one is pretty good and cheap
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...57528&cm_re=asrock_z97-_-13-157-528-_-Product

ASUS ROG said:

This one is pretty good and cheap
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...57528&cm_re=asrock_z97-_-13-157-528-_-Product

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, there are only 4 PCI-E slots on that board. The other two slots are plain PCI.

I think I'm going to go with this one instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157564

6 PCI-E slots (5 @ 1x and 1 @ 16x). Also it is H97 instead of B85. Also only about $12 more. I'm getting the cheapest CPU for it for the moment, and upgrade later when the budget isn't quite so tight.

Unless anybody knows why this won't work, I'll pull the trigger in about an hour.

I told you that's not a real Hydra, you can't let it get wet, water and computers don't mix

WhitehawkEQ said:

I told you that's not a real Hydra, you can't let it get wet, water and computers don't mix

Click to expand...

No water involved. Just heat, power, and age.

Board arrives today, but the CPU won't be here until Monday.

You know, Newegg tells you when you are ordering if something isn't in stock, but it won't tell you which warehouse. If I had known, I'd have ordered the CPU separately and paid for 1 day shipping.

I bought three used GPUs with dead fans. I bought these units from Newegg to replace them.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119167

Well it turns out the drivers are too different to just swap out the motherboard. Got to reinstall the OS first.

Up and running. It is only seeing 5 of the 6 cards though. I'll work on that tonight while running the updates.

The WUs should start showing up soon.

Now seeing all 6 cards and folding.

Weirdness is it keeps saying it needs SP1, but the windows update log shows it was installed. I'm going to try the offline installer.

Also the cards are touchy. If I adjust anything but the fan speeds, it crashes when F@H start applying a load.

And every other reboot it doesn't come up all the way. But when it does, there doesn't appear to be any problems.

When I was running two HD-7870 cards on my Asus Commando, it would crash the top card any time I browsed too vigorously lol. It also BSoD almost daily. Since I've taken those cards out. No BSoDs or graphics driver crashes (nVidia) 9800+GTX lol. Hopefully they will fold better in the SuperMicro system I'm building.