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 2021. We’ve broken it down by the GPU capacity you’re targeting for each rig. If when selecting a motherboard you aren’t sure about a CPU for it, visit the manufacturer’s website. They always have specifications on CPU compatibility.
Best Mining Motherboard: 1 to 6 GPUs
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 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+ GPUs
With reliable GPU mining motherboards becoming harder and harder to come by, Biostar started manufacturing the TB360-BTC PRO. What’s great about this Biostar model is that they’re on version 6 of this motherboard and it is specifically made to support multiple GPUs.
It is compatible with a wide range of Intel 1151 socket CPUs. Any Intel 1151 Processor that is 8th or 9th Generation (i3, i5 or i9) will do with one caveat: Make sure you don’t get a power-hungry one. Biostar says the highest TDP is 95 watts (you can see the TDP of any processor by Googling it). The best part? The motherboard comes with 12 PCI-e slots meaning it has support for 12 GPUs out of the box. We haven’t tried to stick another one on the M.2. If you do, let us know if it works!
and, there’s one more… a 13 GPU motherboard if you can find it…
If you can find one of these, you’ll be pretty excited. ASRock has made the H110 Pro BTC+ for years. Nowadays you may get lucky enough to stumble upon one on Amazon. But, they go quick. If you see one, get it fast.
One thing you really need to be aware of when using this motherboard is that it only claims support for Intel 6th and 7th Generation Processors. So, just be sure you get a CPU that is compatible. And, again, since we’re dealing with some older hardware, if you’re going to run GPUs from the RTX variety, we’d check with ASRock to make sure the H110 Pro BTC+ can handle 13 RTX cards. We have heard of it running 13 1660s, but have never seen a 13 RTX GPU build on one of these.
Mining Motherboard Specifications
Gigabyte’s GA-H110-D3A
| Manufacturer | Gigabyte |
|---|---|
| Model | GA-H110-D3A |
| Price | $328.86 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 | $348.98 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 |
Biostar’s TB360-BTC Pro
| Manufacturer | Biostar |
|---|---|
| Model | TB360-BTC Pro |
| Price | Price not available Availability |
| Chipset | Intel® B360 Chipset |
| CPU Socket | Intel® 1151 |
| PCI-e Slots | 12 |
| M.2 Connector | 1 |
| GPU Capacity w/out M.2 | 12 |
| Form Factor | ATX |
ASRock’s H110 Pro BTC+
| Manufacturer | ASRock |
|---|---|
| Model | H110 Pro BTC+ |
| Price | Price not available Availability |
| Chipset | Intel® 300 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.
