Whether your cryptocurrency forecast has you planning on building one GPU mining rig or one hundred, you’ll need to settle on the base of your rigs: the motherboard. Below we’ve provided the best motherboard options for mining in 2018. We’ve broken it down by the GPU capacity you’re targeting for each rig.
Best Mining Motherboard: 1 to 6 GPUs
Gigabyte’s GA-H110-D3A is a great board that is relatively inexpensive in comparison with most of the latest-and-greatest motherboards out there. Home and hobbyist cryptocurrency miners love it not only for that reason, but because it will run up to 6 GPUs without issue.
We’ve never pushed it, but it should be possible to actually run up-to 7 GPUs with this motherboard with an M.2 to PCI-e adapter. The GA-H110-D3A was hard to come by in 2017 as miner’s cleared the shelves. In 2018 you readily find them once again.
Best Mining Motherboard: 6 to 9 GPUs
The Z170-A was great. So was the Z270-A. It’s probably no surprise that the Z370-A is our pick for the best GPU mining motherboard for systems with 6 to 9 GPUs.
The Z370-A has 7 PCI-e slots, so getting to 8 or 9 GPU systems requires the use of one or two M.2 to PCI-e adapters respectively. If you’ve never used an M.2 adapter before rest assured using one is not a big deal.
Although the 370-A still leverages an Intel 1151 socket, it’s pickier about what CPU it wants you to put there. The newer, 300-series chipset requires an 8th generation Intel processor or better. It’s not an issue as their readily available, just something to be aware of.
Best Mining Motherboard: 10 to 13 GPUs
The ASRock H110 Pro BTC+ motherboard picks up where the 9 GPU Z370-A drops off. ASRocks favored mining motherboard supports 10 to 13 GPUs.
When this motherboard first arrived on the scene we have to admit we struggled to get all 13 slots to post. After some builder issues early on BIOS updates have made the H100 Pro BTC+ a more stable and predictable build platform.
Mining Motherboard Specifications
Gigabyte’s GA-H110-D3A
| Manufacturer | Gigabyte |
|---|---|
| Model | GA-H110-D3A |
| Price | $64.88 Availability |
| Chipset | Intel® H110 Express Chipset |
| CPU Socket | Intel® 1151 |
| PCI-e Slots | 6 |
| M.2 Connector | 1 |
| GPU Capacity w/out M.2 | 6 |
| Form Factor | ATX |
ASUS Prime Z370-A
| Manufacturer | ASUS |
|---|---|
| Model | Z370-A |
| Price | from $71.33 Availability |
| Chipset | Intel® Z370 Chipset |
| CPU Socket | Intel® 1151 |
| PCI-e Slots | 7 |
| M.2 Connector | 2 |
| GPU Capacity w/out M.2 | 7 |
| Form Factor | ATX |
ASRock H110 Pro BTC+
| Manufacturer | ASRock |
|---|---|
| Model | H110 Pro BTC+ |
| Price | $54.00 Availability |
| Chipset | Intel® H110 Express Chipset |
| CPU Socket | Intel® 1151 |
| PCI-e Slots | 13 |
| M.2 Connector | 1 |
| GPU Capacity w/out M.2 | 13 |
| Form Factor | ATX |
Overall Best Motherboard for Mining
If we were only able to pick one motherboard, for us it would have to be the ASUS Prime Z370-A. Our preference is largely based on the GPU count on the mining rigs we most often build: 6 to 8 GPUs. Earlier builds were with the Z270-A which is still a great motherboard if you can find one and the price is cheaper than the Z370-A.
If you are looking for other motherboard options give our list of motherboards that have an 8 (and 9) GPU capacity a look.
