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Bitcoin => Mining => Topic started by: The Koolio on June 03, 2011, 11:09:04 PM



Title: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 03, 2011, 11:09:04 PM
Hi guys, currently have one 5870, decided to go all out and buy three more 5870's cause i want at least 1600 hash speed. In order to do this I'd need two new things, a psu and motherboard. My remainign system should be ok, i have 3 HDD and a 530 i3. Could you guys tell me what psu would be best for 4 gpu's as well as a suitable motherboard? Are there any advantages to running two systems? I was planning on banging this all in a rack mount with pce extenders... ideas? Heat control will include numerous case fans and two large desktop fans.


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: tonking on June 03, 2011, 11:29:24 PM
u need 1200k~up psu brand like antec seasonic crosshair
i dont know about motherboard though


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: pokermon919 on June 03, 2011, 11:31:03 PM
Hi guys, currently have one 5870, decided to go all out and buy three more 5870's cause i want at least 1600 hash speed. In order to do this I'd need two new things, a psu and motherboard. My remainign system should be ok, i have 3 HDD and a 530 i3. Could you guys tell me what psu would be best for 4 gpu's as well as a suitable motherboard? Are there any advantages to running two systems? I was planning on banging this all in a rack mount with pce extenders... ideas? Heat control will include numerous case fans and two large desktop fans.

I'm running 3 with Corsair TX850w, so for 4 I'd probably go with 1k or up from a brand name psu company. As for mother board, if you 4 vid cards is all you'll use for that rig http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157207 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157207) then the ASRock with a 1x->16x extender is perfect and the cheapest I've found so far. Next step up would probably be the MSI890.


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 03, 2011, 11:59:46 PM
Hi guys, currently have one 5870, decided to go all out and buy three more 5870's cause i want at least 1600 hash speed. In order to do this I'd need two new things, a psu and motherboard. My remainign system should be ok, i have 3 HDD and a 530 i3. Could you guys tell me what psu would be best for 4 gpu's as well as a suitable motherboard? Are there any advantages to running two systems? I was planning on banging this all in a rack mount with pce extenders... ideas? Heat control will include numerous case fans and two large desktop fans.

I'm running 3 with Corsair TX850w, so for 4 I'd probably go with 1k or up from a brand name psu company. As for mother board, if you 4 vid cards is all you'll use for that rig http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157207 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157207) then the ASRock with a 1x->16x extender is perfect and the cheapest I've found so far. Next step up would probably be the MSI890.

Thanks for that, that linked board only takes 3 cards no?

What hash rates u getting per gpu


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: pokermon919 on June 04, 2011, 01:46:01 AM
Use a pci1x to 16x extender. Bam 4 cards  8)


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: Lightspeed on June 04, 2011, 12:36:13 PM
does hashing not require any serious amount of PCIExpress bandwidth and are able to function at full speed @ 1x instead of 16x/8x/even 4x ?


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: Genrobo on June 04, 2011, 12:41:09 PM
bcpokey likes to claim that a TX750 is good enough for 4 overclock 5870's


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 04, 2011, 12:56:39 PM
bcpokey likes to claim that a TX750 is good enough for 4 overclock 5870's

surely u need over a 1kw otherwise ur looking at burnt toast? going to my local computer exchange to see their cards and MB


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 04, 2011, 03:59:33 PM
surely u need over a 1kw otherwise ur looking at burnt toast? going to my local computer exchange to see their cards and MB

If you can find one, look at the MSI 790FX-GD70. It's cheaper than the others and has 4 PCIe 16x slots. And there is another one with 5 PCIe 16x slots: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130274

Thats perfect, thanks for that, found one on amazon for £108 thanks! Just a query though, the 5870 is a pce 2.1 card, does this board accept 2.1?


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 04, 2011, 04:03:27 PM
also if im going to run 4 5870 at full load, you think I should get a 1200w psu or even a 1500w?


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 04, 2011, 04:23:48 PM
also if im going to run 4 5870 at full load, you think I should get a 1200w psu or even a 1500w?

I have 4x5870 and for me it works :) 1200w should be plenty. I run headless Linux, with 1020/314 GPU/Mem clock on all 4 cards.
The PSU I use is probably very close to it's limit, but it works (1000W):
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Flower-GmbH-SF-1000P14HE-Super-Flower/dp/B004C1OK36/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1307203652&sr=8-1

But to be on the safe side, better use something slightly bigger. By the way, that's a s***load cheaper outside UK.

as is everything, the queen bums us here on prices... This whole system I could save over £200 from buying in USA


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 04, 2011, 04:33:37 PM
Guys I could appreciate some extra help (as if you havent already been enough help!). Below is my shopping list on amazon, total comes to just over £1000. Could one of you just take a few mins just to make sure everything works together and that I havnt made any mistakes, as I dont want this arriving and me being an idiot and overlooking simple problems. Ill give my first mined BTC to whoever takes the time and checks it for me and replies first. Once you've replied Ill need you to pm your wallet address to me! thanks! btw include any cables I might need. As you've prob already guessed im not that technically minded. I setup my current 5870 rig with a friend and I know a quad system is going to be harder

MSI 790FX-GD70 Motherboard
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATAIII 6Gb/s 16MB Cache 3.5 inch Internal Hard Drive OEM
1 SATA Power Adapter Cable and 1 SATA Data Cable
LG GH22NS50.AUAA 22x SATA DVDRW Drive
Corsair CMPSU-1200AXUK 1200W Power Supply
XFX Radeon HD 5870 - Graphics adaptor X 4
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 CPU Cooler
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad 955 Core 3.2GHz Processor 4 x 512 KB Boxed
Eligible for FREE Super Saver S
Corsair TW3X4G1333C9A 4GB 1333MHz CL9 DDR3 Memory Kit
Arctic Silver 5 3.5g Thermal Paste
Cat5e RJ45 Ethernet LAN Network Cable UTP Lead 20M


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 04, 2011, 04:46:11 PM
yeah optical i can rip out my current system anyway, the artic cooler ill take off, but i might buy a cheaper fan as it gets hot here. Also how many case fans you think i should run, this is going to be an open air rig so no case, ill have two desktop fans here, but obv i need a few lil fans to direct airflow between the graphics cards. also will I still need an extender cable for each gpu or is spacing fine on this mb


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 04, 2011, 04:48:49 PM
sempron 160 work on that mb?

my bad, I didnt read the spec properly lol


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 04, 2011, 04:59:44 PM
Just thinking about where im putting this, as its open air what would you suggest I rest this all on? I can get a rubber mat, or even pack it into a 4u server case or something?


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: pokermon919 on June 04, 2011, 06:21:55 PM
use extenders to space them out, it will drop temps quite dramatically.


Title: Re: 4 x 5870, need hardware choice help
Post by: The Koolio on June 04, 2011, 06:27:16 PM
yup ordered 4 on ebay! just stuck as to where to put this. I have space, i just dont know what to put it on top. I dont want vibrations or heat being affected. Ihave a glass table, i was thinking that and some rubber supports for the corners of the mb. either that or a diy screw everything to a random piece of metal or server case on ebay for cheap