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I have been building PC's for over 15 years, and I know that in the past, motherboard stand-off's and mount screws were necessary for proper grounding. I have recently been working with a crypto currency mining startup. We have two rigs with identical hardware, except for the GPUs. One of our rigs is running nvidia GTX 1070Tis and works as expected. The other is running ATI RX 580s and is getting extremely low voltage to the GPU's. The powered risers have been replaced, as well as the PSU. No change. I know that now days, not all of the stand-off holes in all motherboards are grounding loops. Our rig boards are sitting on foam on a metal rack, with no stand-offs and no mount screws. The motherboard model is asrock h81 pro btc R2.0. Before we replace the board, I'm wondering if it could be a grounding issue with the board. The manual is no help, and I am not physically there to check grounding with a multi-meter. Does anyone know if this board requires stand-offs and mount screws for proper grounding? I'm running out of ideas. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

davidgo
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Steve Hostetler
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    Low voltage is usually a sign of an underspecced PSU. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Mar 16 '18 at 04:23
  • If it works with one set of video cards and not another, why do you think it has something to do with the mounting holes? I don’t think it has anything to do with that. – Appleoddity Mar 16 '18 at 04:26
  • Because, The cards have different architectures. It is not outside the realm of possibility that, because the cards handle voltage regulation differently, that ATI could be more sensitive to voltage fluctuation caused by improper grounding. I'm just trying to rule things out. – Steve Hostetler Mar 16 '18 at 06:47
  • So you choose the most obscure reason on why you might be having problems instead of checking the most obvious ones first? As for the grounding thing see [this](https://superuser.com/questions/1138512/what-exactly-is-grounded-through-motherboard-standoffs) question and its comments as well as [this](https://superuser.com/questions/557184/should-i-use-plastic-insulating-washers-when-attaching-a-motherboard-to-the-case) one. – Seth Mar 16 '18 at 06:56
  • The current PSU is new. None of the voltage rails on the PSU itself are reading low. Why do so many people online feel the need to be smartalics when people ask for help? – Steve Hostetler Mar 16 '18 at 07:06
  • As for under specced PSU, It's an 80+ Gold rated 1300 Watt EVGA. powering 3 RX 580's. It is neither under specced, nor, broken. Thus, I'm looking for other solutions. – Steve Hostetler Mar 16 '18 at 07:17

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