2 x RTX 3060

salaso · April 4, 2021, 12:14am

I have 2 RTX 3060 and a Asus Prime z590-p on Windows/HiveOn pool.
Dev Driver already installed.

As per the specs the MB it can run pcie x16 or x8/x8:
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/All-series/PRIME-Z590-P/

I actually configured it in the BIOS to run x8/x8 but I can’t get it to work properly.
First GPU: 49mh/s
Second GPU: 25mh/s

The first GPU that is running at 49mh/s is connected to a dummy HDMI and it drops to 25mh/s if I remove the dummy as expected.
The weird thing is that I have connected the monitor to the second GPU and I’m still getting 25mh/s.

What I’m I doing wrong???

Fuzz · April 4, 2021, 10:41am

I just checked the specs on your mobo. Try running x8/x4 if that’s an option. Looks like 2nd 3.0 slot is ran from the z590 chipset. I’m not 100% sure, but I would try this.

Intel® 11th & 10th Gen Processors*
1 x PCIe 4.0/3.0 x16 slot

Intel® 11th Gen processors support PCIe 4.0 x16 or x8/x8 or x8/x4/x4 modes

Intel® 10th Gen processors support PCIe 3.0 x16 or x8/x8 or x8/x4/x4 modes
> Intel® Z590 Chipset
> 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (supports x4 mode)
2 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots

Raz · April 8, 2021, 1:43pm

Nvidia has a hashrate limiter on RTX 3060, not sure if your cards are one of those limited version.
From what i have read over the past month the workaround is a dev version of driver which only works on the first card which is plugged into the PCIe 4.0 x16 card with monitor plugged in, it does not work with a gpu riser or the second card and will still not be able to reach full hashrate.

Hope it helps!

PetrP · April 8, 2021, 7:13pm

I read different info but not tested. I have one 3060 card only. To unlock full mining potential 3060 we need:

Windows with 470.15 dev driver
atleast 3.0 x8 PCIe slot
HDMI or DP connected

@salaso : Are you sure that your 2nd 3060 PCIe slot have 8x ? Could you checkit with GPU-Z please?

Specifications on board page are weird.

Intel® 11th & 10th Gen Processors*
1 x PCIe 4.0/3.0 x16 slot

Intel® 11th Gen processors support PCIe 4.0 x16 or x8/x8 or x8/x4/x4 modes
Intel® 10th Gen processors support PCIe 3.0 x16 or x8/x8 or x8/x4/x4 modes

Procesors supports it but support it MB tp PCIe slots? For example “x8/x4/x4” definitely not. On MB is not x4 slot.
Probably x4 lines are connected to M2 slots.

Intel® Z590 Chipset
1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (supports x4 mode) – support x4… No word about x8.
2 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots

Supports PCIe bandwidth bifurcation for RAID on CPU function.

salaso · April 8, 2021, 8:11pm

Yes it is confusing Im using a 10th gen processor so I should be able to use x8/x8 but checking with GPU-Z the second slot is at x4 not sure why, I have disabled USB 3.0 and a lot of things in the bios with no luck.
I read in google something about x8/x8 bifurcation, Im starting thinking that the x8/x8 mode is only on the same first PCIE slot, it’s wierd.

PetrP · April 8, 2021, 8:33pm

I am afraid that 2nd x16 slot is x4 only, with wires for x4 only physicaly- economical reason. If it was posibility of x8 on 2nd slot, marketing people didnt forget to tell 11th gen processor will not help. 11th gen procesor rises PCIe version from ver 3.0 to 4.0. Numbers of lines are the same for both gens. See PRIME Z590-P SPEC TABLE page 1,2. Your MB is too economical. I had similar problem to get 2x x16 PCIe - It is not possible on any common MB. Only MBs for Workstations and servers can handle it (Threadrippers TR4 for AMD and X99 for Intel for example)

Raz · April 9, 2021, 3:12pm

Here is all the info you need to know, about 3060 hashrate.

It clearly mentions you need an X16 pcie with the monitor plugged in or atleast an HDMI dummy adaptor.

PetrP · April 9, 2021, 3:56pm

The article is old and not updated with new informations.

I have 3060 on PCIe x8 3.0 and working at full speed 45-48MHs.

Raz · April 9, 2021, 4:16pm

OK i might be wrong but does this mean that the card is plugged into the X8 slot or its plugged into the X16 slot and the bios is set to 3.0 which make it an x8?

wmoreiradev · April 9, 2021, 5:15pm

is it possible to use the developer driver to unlock the 3060 in hiveOS? mine is doing only 25MH/s

PetrP · April 9, 2021, 6:27pm

In my case x16 3.0 slot reduced to x8 because of 2nd card in 2nd x16 3.0. As I wrote before, there is no common mb with 2x x16 3.0 (or 3x x8 3.0 - let me know if I am wrong please).

x8 3.0 is essencial but I am not sure if x16 slot is essencial too. In other way I didnt see mb with x8 PCIe slot.

salaso · April 9, 2021, 7:20pm

The developer driver is a windows file, there is no developer driver for linux.

Raz · April 10, 2021, 11:41am

Yes it is possible to get Motherboards with multiple x16 slots have a look at this one https://rog.asus.com/au/motherboards/rog-crosshair/rog-crosshair-viii-dark-hero-model/spec
its expensive though!

I don’t have an RTX 3060 but you can watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9yu0MhzhKU
skip to about 2 min where he talks about this issue with the second card in the system, but he is testing on a windows PC so i am not sure if the same applies to the Linux OS.
I would have loved to help if i had 3060 cards but that as far as i can go.

Hope it helps

PetrP · April 10, 2021, 2:44pm

ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero have 3x 16xPCIe x8 only. ASUS X99-E-10G WS for 599$ with seven x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8 is much better choice.

Raz · April 11, 2021, 11:27am

I though we were only trying to establish if there were MB with multiple x16 slots and that why i share the above, i am sure there are many more options some better then others.

Not here to start a new debate just trying to help fellow miners here!

PetrP · April 11, 2021, 8:46pm

Yes I agree. But both mentioned MBs are not common. Both are so expensive to solve our problem.

Raz · April 11, 2021, 11:36pm

Yes they are expensive, you might want to hunt around for some old server MB that is more likely to be cheaper.

Mischievous · May 19, 2021, 3:03pm

Wow i have exact same problem i have purchased z590m plus motherboard and g6400 10th gen processor.

It should work at x8/x8 pcie 3.0 , but its working only at pcie 3.0 x8/x4 i have tried everything still no luck

So the my second 3060 card drops to 26 mhs

Did you find any solution for this or its the problem with this specific motherboard?

PetrP · May 19, 2021, 7:05pm

Are you sure that your MB support 3.0 x8/x8? I checked 3 z59m MBs but no one support x8/x8 but x4 in second x16 slot only.

Gigabyte z590m

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
(The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 4.0 standard.)(Note)
3. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
1 x PCI Express x1 slot
(The PCIEX4 and PCIEX1 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)

Asus PRIME Z590M-PLUS

Intel® 11th & 10th Gen Processors*
1 x PCIe 4.0/3.0 x16 slot

Intel® 11th Gen processors support PCIe 4.0 x16 or x8/x8 or x8/x4/x4 mode
Intel®10th Gen processors support PCIe 3.0 x16 or x8/x8 or x8/x4/x4 mode
Intel® Z590 Chipset
1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (supports x4 mode)
2 x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots

Supports PCIe bandwidth bifurcation for RAID on CPU function.

Asrock Z590M Pro4
11th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors

2 x PCI Express x16 Slots (PCIE1/PCIE4: single at Gen4x16 (PCIE1); dual at Gen4x16 (PCIE1) / Gen3x4 (PCIE4))*
10th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors
2 x PCI Express x16 Slots (PCIE1/PCIE4: single at Gen3x16 (PCIE1); dual at Gen3x16 (PCIE1) / Gen3x4 (PCIE4))*
2 x PCI Express 3.0 x1 Slots
Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™
1 x M.2 Socket (Key E), supports type 2230 WiFi/BT PCIe WiFi module and Intel® CNVi (Integrated WiFi/BT)

*Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks

Mischievous · May 19, 2021, 7:41pm

Maybe i have misunderstood this part , i thought it might work as x8/x8 as with 10th gen processor as its written

Also it shows the same in MB bios