Author: whiplashtony
Subject: Z170 OC Forumla 6 GPU detection on Windows 10
Posted: 17 Sep 2016 at 2:20am
Thanks again for the response. I haven't built a PC in over 10 years. These issues are frustrating, and it helps to have a discussion - to potentially resolve it, or for my sanity.
Subject: Z170 OC Forumla 6 GPU detection on Windows 10
Posted: 17 Sep 2016 at 2:20am
Thanks again for the response. I haven't built a PC in over 10 years. These issues are frustrating, and it helps to have a discussion - to potentially resolve it, or for my sanity.
That was a typo, yes MAX VLOUD is set to 3.5. The only settings available are "dynamic, 3.5, and 2.5". When dynamic is set - I can only get 3 cards to be usable in system devices, with the other 3 giving the Windows error message "can't free enough resources". With the setting at 3.5, or 2.5 I can get 5 cards fully recognized and mining.
Here is a screenshot of memory usage - https://www.dropbox.com/s/vxu6ql45c2zwu5f/Screenshot%202016-09-16%2012.29.57.png?dl=0
Obviously the issue has something to do with the MAX VLOUD setting. All of the cards are using 1x to 16x powered usb risers.
Everything "should" be using 1x, and I specifically set the available PCIE setting for the lanes the bios give me control over (1,4,6) to 1st gen pcie. As for 2, 3, and 5 - I can't confirm exactly but if you search the configuration file I posted previously on drop box ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/qjfvjztjgp1jqtq/6gpuasrockconfig.txt?dl=0 ) and do a search for "link width" - I pretty sure of the "presence detect = yes" entries it indicates they are set to 1x. The physical riser connections are 1x but I'm unsure if the issue was due to what's actually being reserved for lanes. Or even if turning off HD audio, 3rd party usb, the wifi pcie slot etc actually frees up lanes.
I do understand it's a tall order. A server mother board isn't a solution for this application - they are usually much more in price and defeat the purpose of mining vs cost. I was hoping this board would be a good balance with resale, or if I want to use it for a PC down the line. It's future proof for a lot of consumer needs.
I'll keep whacking at it. It's just a hobby of mine. From what I can gather, it's clear the VLOUD setting has limited the actual use of memory in the cards to 4 (3.5 I'm assuming), instead of 8. It clearly has an effect on whether it boots or not. Regardless of the setting (MAX VLOUD 2.5 or 3.5) as soon at the 6th card is connected the board immediately goes to error 55 - It will not even let me get into the bios. The only way to get it back up is a CMOS reset, and deal with the settings all over again.
Perhaps it's related to 8 cards with 8 gigs of RAM. When dynamic is set, that's why it will boot to windows but give the "no free resources errors for the other cards). 3 x 8 = 24 G - but I only have 16 G of RAM installed for the board.
I tried contacting support via their forumla drive application - no response via email, 3 days ago, and the support tab is completely missing now from their drive app - https://www.dropbox.com/s/jcwr5oy76hq7bl3/Screenshot%202016-09-16%2012.52.08.png?dl=0.
My next available trouble shooting steps.
* Upgrade the BIOS from stock. I tried to flash it from the latest I downloaded - the board locks up the screen after it detects it from the USB. I can't even select it to run. Basically it detects it, give menu option to install it - but I can't do anything, completely freezes - lose mouse and keyboard functionality.
* I will try 64 G of system memory. I have some in another PC I can try.
* I can try another operating system. I might try a linux flavor for mining.
* Get a different board confirmed to work with 6 cards (should have done this first).
Cheers!