- May 16, 2008
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This is my third (different) Z87 board that I've been playing with this year, granted the 2nd was DOA or similar.
First impressions: I'm very impressed with the G45. It's fairly solid, looks nice, and most importantly, has a ton of expansion slots.
The first thing I've done is just fired it up on an open air bench. It worked without switching the drivers, EXCEPT for the network adapter. The network connection was a no-go until the drivers were installed from the CD! I think this is the first board (in a long time) that I've had to install the network drivers for without it automatically connecting to the internet.
This was mentioned elsewhere that Linux drivers are non-existent. (I just realized my VM's better work!)
Multi-GPU & Troubleshooting & Getting started:
I am using 2 Corsair PSU's, 650/850w units with 3 Now 4 GPUs.
Two cards and everything else are plugged into the 850w. They work fine.
Troubleshooting (irrelevant now that it works)
A quick search led me to jump the PSU wires. I connected the GREEN wire with a black wire that was next to it. That makes the PSU be always on. There are other techniques but this is good enough for me since I can hit the power switch if I want it off. I zip tied it so the jumper wire shouldn't fall out so easily.
I'm currently using the 2 end 16x slots, a middle one with a 1x -> 16x riser.
I'm using 4 slots so far, and debating 5-6 after a while.
--
Let me know if you have any questions. I had a lot of questions and hardly anyone had any insight when I was trying to figure this out.
What I love about this board is that I can finally put a nice gap between my toasty 290x's. I can put them on the 2nd slot and the 7th slot! (they are not on risers)
My takeaway: It's an excellent multi PCI-Express board! I am very satisfied with it, and risers work nicely in it (2 so far).
First impressions: I'm very impressed with the G45. It's fairly solid, looks nice, and most importantly, has a ton of expansion slots.
The first thing I've done is just fired it up on an open air bench. It worked without switching the drivers, EXCEPT for the network adapter. The network connection was a no-go until the drivers were installed from the CD! I think this is the first board (in a long time) that I've had to install the network drivers for without it automatically connecting to the internet.
This was mentioned elsewhere that Linux drivers are non-existent. (I just realized my VM's better work!)
Multi-GPU & Troubleshooting & Getting started:
I am using 2 Corsair PSU's, 650/850w units with 3 Now 4 GPUs.
Two cards and everything else are plugged into the 850w. They work fine.
Troubleshooting (irrelevant now that it works)
I tried adding the 3rd card via a 1x to 16x powered riser *The riser molex is connected to the primary PSU*, and nothing happened and it wasn't discoverable in Windows. The fan would spin up so I thought it was fine. I tried a few slots and it just wasn't seen in Windows. I even tried "jumping" the PCI-E 1x slot.
Then I realized the PSU might not be working. I threw my watt-meter on it and sure enough it wasn't turning on. (There were no fans but I believe this model was supposed to be passive until you used a certain amount of power. Also the GPU fans were spinning up, probably due to the powered 1x to 16x riser)
Then I realized the PSU might not be working. I threw my watt-meter on it and sure enough it wasn't turning on. (There were no fans but I believe this model was supposed to be passive until you used a certain amount of power. Also the GPU fans were spinning up, probably due to the powered 1x to 16x riser)
A quick search led me to jump the PSU wires. I connected the GREEN wire with a black wire that was next to it. That makes the PSU be always on. There are other techniques but this is good enough for me since I can hit the power switch if I want it off. I zip tied it so the jumper wire shouldn't fall out so easily.
I'm currently using the 2 end 16x slots, a middle one with a 1x -> 16x riser.
I'm using 4 slots so far, and debating 5-6 after a while.
--
Let me know if you have any questions. I had a lot of questions and hardly anyone had any insight when I was trying to figure this out.
What I love about this board is that I can finally put a nice gap between my toasty 290x's. I can put them on the 2nd slot and the 7th slot! (they are not on risers)
My takeaway: It's an excellent multi PCI-Express board! I am very satisfied with it, and risers work nicely in it (2 so far).
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