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Hey guys,
so I'm planning to create a small (for start) farm of 1070s, since I can get them for a good price,
but I'm wondering - most of the "lower end" 1070 models (like gigabyte, inno, asus...) have a single 8 pin connector,
instead of 8+6.

Are they good for mining? I read they are prone to throttling, I'm guessing that is not good in 100% gpu load situations,
like 24/7 mining.

What are your experiences?

Thanks

Fan type? Generally you don't want blower cards for mining. Assuming you can get them at an extremely good price, they're really not at cost effective as RX 470s that outhash the 1070s with almost all algorithms and cost just around 160 with rebate.

Open air, of course.
I'm just wondering about that 1x8 pin connector, and how does it affect mining, I intend to push them to at least 2075 mhz, possibly more.
I can get 1070s at almost 60% of usual price, so... 470s have faster ROI, but take more mobos, ram, disks, PSUs... to achieve the same earning rate.
I made a lot of calculations, and this seems like the optimal setup.

Just not sure about that 1x8 pin... The cheapest model I can get is gigabyte's.

I can't see any problem in 1x8 pin most of the new cards are like that, the gigabyte g1 is good too.

I prefer blower cards, I find them more reliable since the radial fans never fail, and even AMD's crappy blower coolers on 290s and 470s can keep the card from thermal throttling if you ramp up fan speed enough. Only reason I would run crappy sleeve/low-end ball bearing fans (fuck FirstD and Power Logic) is if the card is cheaper, or if noise is a factor.

Just make sure if you're using risers their powered ones. With only 1x8 pin connected more power
will be drawn from the slot. The slot + 8x1 gives you 225W of headroom if it's evenly distributed.
Pushing the OC too high may not be wise. Keep an eye on all the connectors and wires supplying
power to the GPU for signs of overheating.

well, generally speaking less pci-e connectors means less overclocking potential, if you intend to keep your cards at stock values or even undervolt them, then go ahead for the 8pin cards,
otherwise pick 8+6pin.

Remember amd's rx 480 when it came out? supplied only with 6pin connector wasn't enough to keep the card mining safely even at stock values, other 3rd party manufacturers later learned on their mistakes and implemented 8pin connector and it works as it should.

With more GPU farms you'll have a hard time paying power bills. Overclocking raises power and don't get you much in return. So in reality you'd want underclocking potential rather than overclocking. In that regard 1x8pin is more than enough.

Thanks for the advice - that is exactly something I'll try today (finally getting a consumption meter),
I need to check if card running at, for example, 80W has better ROI than card running on 140W and giving like xx% better hash rate.
When on this topic, how much are you guys paying for electricity and where are you located?


@Bare - yeah, true.
Right now I'm using KFA2 1070 with 8+6 pins, and it's running 2075 mhz 24/7, power consumption around 80%, temp 60c.
I'll check the concrete Watt numbers today.

@rentGPU,
yeah Gigabyte G1 is the cheapest (open air) model I can buy, I have their gtx 970 and I've been abusing it for months and I must say I'm very satisfied.
Ps, their 1070 comes with 3 year warranty! Very nice indeed.

I've heard a lot of bad stuff about blower style GPUs, so I won't take them, even though ASUS blower 1070 is the cheapest one can buy.

Exactly what bad things did you hear about blower cards?

They generally run a bit hotter at equivalent noise levels, but if you're at <100w, even a potato could cool it--thermal throttling/overheating is a non issue with 1070s that aren't massively overclocked/overvolted.

On the flipside, you won't have to spend $15 and 30 mins of your time, or waste a few weeks of downtime for RMA when your fans go bad.

Also, since all the heat is exhausted from the back, it is easier to manage heat and airflow.

Even the noise problem is magnified, since most blower cards don't make a high pitched whiny sound like most non-blower cards with their tiny motors do.

Tell me what algo the 470 outhashes the 1070? If you will find even one, i will be VERY surprised.

I have a bunch of ZOTAC mini 1070 rigs.  The mini's have a single 8 pin connector. 
I haven't had any trouble with them; although to be fair: I have never set them to max powerlimit. 

The 1x8pin connector will supply up to 196w theoretically. Most of the GPUs are 170-180w with a single 8pin connector on them. The 1070s are extremely low on power consumption compared to most cards. Equihash for example, you'll see about 100w used. You have plenty of room for overclocking if power isnt an issue. Otherwise, lower the TDP and enjoy the cold cards.

To be honest, my comp at idle uses 95W, with 1070 and 970 at overclock it uses 450W, which seems damn high to me.
At underclock it goes down to just 410-420W, which is not really meaningful improvement, given how much hashrate is lost (15%).

Some days I managed to keep it at 370W stock clock, but I have no idea how I managed that, tbh.

1X8pin should be support enough power.

 PCI-E spec states 150 watts on a single 8-pin connector (the connector ITSELF spec works out to 288 watts at 12VDC but PCI-E runs it very conservatively) AND 75 watts out of the PCI-E bus itself.

 Highest TDP on any 1070 I own is 180 watts (high-clock Gigabyte units but have 1 x 8-pin power connector) - STANDARD TDP on the 1070 is 155 or so.

 I have a couple of units running Folding@home (VERY power intensive) on those Gigabyte cards with no stability issues.



 IIRC the 970 had a slightly higher or the same design TDP as the 1070 has.


 Blower-style cards very - like ANYTHING ELSE.
 Some are good reliable and run cool (HIS Ice-Q 7870 is the coolest-running 7870 I ever used), other run hotter as the fan doesn't blow as much air (though it blows most of it OUT of the case which can sometimes help a LOT).