https://forum.asrock.com/ Copyright (c) 2006-2013 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Fri, 01 May 2026 20:22:08 +0000 Fri, 24 May 2019 14:58:38 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.04 360 https://forum.asrock.com/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=11532 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_images/web_wiz_forums_black.png https://forum.asrock.com/ https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=11532&PID=63226&title=new-product-request-motherboard-for-folding#63226 Author: ProDigit
Subject: 11532
Posted: 24 May 2019 at 2:58pm

Folding at home, donations made by people all over the world.
It's currently done with hardware that's less than optimized.

For a rack server/desktop system with Intel 4 core, low power, 3Ghz or more CPU, there are plenty of motherboards offering decent solutions.
What we need (a little better than decent) is 4x PCIE 3.0 slots.
Not so uncommon; however we need it in following configuration:
A 8x/4x, 4x, and 4x slot, and an additional 1x slot.
Most motherboards offer an 8x, 4x, and 3x 1x speed slots.
We need to have 3 slots of 4x speed minimum, with 1 port acting as 8x speed if less than 16 lanes are used, and an additional 1x port.

For AMD motherboards, a 6 core low power +3Ghz CPU with 4x PCIE 3.0 4x speed slots, utilizing the full 24 PCIE lanes.

All PCIE slots with 2,5 to 3 slot space in between the cards, for modern graphics cards!

The boards must support CPUs with 1 full CPU core per PCIE slot, and 1 additional core for the system.

Most ATX motherboards come very close in performance.

What we're missing is a portable alternative to this;

For a portable system, I'm dying to find an Intel quad core nuc sized board (5x5") with 3 PCIE 1x slots on the back,
Or an AMD quad/six core NUC (4x4" or 5x5") with 4 PCIE 1x slots; all PCIE 3.0 or 4.0

There are plenty of NUCs with a single mPCIE 4x slot, but not a single which has the option of connecting more than 2x dedicated graphics cards to them!


Aside from PCIE ports, and a quad/6 core CPU, it needs 1x port for SSD/emmc, or nvme drive; LAN port, 2x USB 3.0 AND 2x USB 2.0
, cheapest display out port (VGA, DVI, Display port or HDMI; I don't care as the primary graphics card inserted in the primary PCIE 1x slot will deliver the display imagery).

Wifi and bt optional, but I don't need it, as 1x PCIE 3.0 port should power a wifi antenna. Audio optional, but not necessary.

Basically pretty much your average NUC with the option to connect 3 to 4 dedicated graphics cards on them.

I wished some company could help us build this, as a donation for Folding at home (doesn't mean free, but at least affordable).
[URL=http://foldingathome.org]Folding at Home[/URL]]]> Fri, 24 May 2019 14:58:38 +0000 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=11532&PID=63226&title=new-product-request-motherboard-for-folding#63226