I didn't have a 7th riser available (getting more tomorrow), so I plugged a 7th card directly into the last PCIe slot and it recognized it, but ran into an issue with X-server. However, I was able to use a tty terminal and that worked fine and miner recognized all 7 cards. Using a riser for the 7th card might fix that issue. If not, I might just need to try plugging monitor into one of the cards. I tried plugging it into the 7th card, but that didn't work.
I have some M.2 to PCIe converters coming this week, so I'll try adding an 8th and 9th card and see if that works. In theory, 9 cards should work in Linux, but I'll find out soon if this motherboard has any problems with that many.
Man, have you tried 9 cards? My test result is that only 1st m2 slot works, the 2nd m2 slot doesn't work. Not sure if my slot is broken or the mobo doesn't support 9 cards. Now my rigs has 7x1050ti and 1x1060 with nvOC linux system, works well and very stable.
I got 8 cards working in Windows 7. That was an adventure. You have to manually update the registry to pull that one off. Windows 10 doesn't have that issue. I haven't tried 9 cards in Win7, but I've heard it's not possible.
On the Linux side (XUbuntu 16.04), I've been having some issues with the X server configuration. I currently have 7 cards running well there and have been focusing on overclocking and undervolting the nvidia cards and I think I've got a good, stable script working now. I only have two M.2 converters and installed them both in my Win7 rig (was the only working rig I had at the time, so why not?
Here are the next things on my list to test (order subject to change):
- Add 9th card to Win7 rig and see if the rumors are true that 9 won't work. My registry edits to get 8 cards working make me wonder if those same edits will also get 9 to work.
- Add 8th and 9th card to Linux rig and see if the motherboard supports that. I recall something about the 2nd M.2 on some motherboards not supporting PCIe and only support storage and/or memory.
- Convert Win7 rig to Linux if it will give the ability to run 9 cards.
FYI...that Win7 rig is on an ASUS Prime Z270A mb (7 PCIe slots and 2 M.2 slots just like the MSI). The Linux rig has the MSI Z170A Gaming M5 mb. Obviously, I might have different results with the second M.2 slot on these rigs. If one or both of these boards allow me utilize both M.2 slots, then I'll order more, but I have what I need to do the appropriate testing.