Bitcoin Forum

Hello mining gods,

Just been wetting my feet on this world for several weeks now. My current plan is to set up 5-6 gpu rig that I can also use as my personal computer. Is this a possibility? I have seen very few people demonstrating such set up but I was not sure if this would be efficient. I know GPU mining does not really affect ram, cpu, and sdd power so if I use something like z270 + i5-7500 and use integerated graphic card, wouldnt it be decent personal computer I can use while mining full time?

GIGABYTE Z270P
i5-7500
4-8gb ram
evga g3 1000w PSU
1070 x 5 or 6

Basically my goal is to set up a rig that can be fully efficient as mining rig but also fully functional as personal computer without affecting the performance of mining. Is this quite possible? not a heavy gamer, mostly browsing, streaming. I believe integrated graphics will do fine but occassionally I guess I can take one gpu off from the mining task to play some game? Is this possible? Any advice is appreciated. Also, which 1070 do you guys recommend? I been hearing evga hybrid, evga stock etc etc.

Thanks guys.

Don't have computers with 5 or 6 1070's - All my computers are only 2 1080Ti's for now but same specs pretty much as what you're planning and I have ZERO problems surfing the web and downloading updates configs etc which mining.

When I'm updating them I actually leave it mining until it's time for me to implement the changes. So installing stuff, tweaking, general surfing have no effect that I can notice while it's mining - of course as w/everything YMMV

Yes it's very possible, you can specify in most miners which GPUs you want to be mining.
Though integrated graphics will most likely not work, you'd probably have to use one of the GPUs.
If all 6 are mining and you're using the PC, it may lag a lot so 1 will most likely have to be free.

Mining is CPU and GPU intensive even if you're mining with GPUs. If you'd want to utilize it's full potential as a mining machine you'd have to free up the PC and not multitast with anything intensive (preferably nothing at all) while it mines.

So there is no way to use integrated graphics? thats a bummer. Sacrificing one GPU for personal use does not sound very efficient. I am starting to think I should just throw in shitty cpu.

...and for sure you cannot use just one 1000w PSU for 5 or more cards

Yes you can. Tuned RX series graphics cards (ie undervolted and underclocked) consume much less power. Max would be ~140w if you also account for GDDR5 at the most extreme timing and clock adjustment.
5 or 6 GPUs are quite possible (and considerably safe) on 1000w. Just as long as everything else is low power and the PSU is really high quality, such as a Supernova P2, Seasonic, Super Flower etc.

Using a mining rig for a fully functional pc/workstation is actually very possible.
You will certainly want to increase your ram from 8 gigs to minimum 16 but more is even better.
Consider running your mining system on a vm if using windows as main OS or simply do some pid priority work if using linux.

I'd argue that 6 GPUs on a 1000W power supply isnt that safe. The PSU would be on higher than 80% load and it is not recommended for a configuration that is going to be ON for 24/7

That would be true if all GPUs were constantly drawing 140w of power. That's a theoretical maximum though just to be safe if there are any peaks.
Due to scaling the total draw will be slightly less and depending on how each GPU is configured, power draw could be slightly less for each card, moderately reducing total draw and bringing the load percentage well below 80. Plus the EVGA G3 is a very high-quality PSU so OP will have absolutely no issues.

Sounds like you know what you're talking about i've been quite absent from the PC world, looks like I learned something today

I've done it 95% load and it's safe if the PSU is good quality. It's not efficient and not recommended, you'll get good efficiency and longer life span of PSU at 80% load.

With 10 years warranty, I wouldn't worry that much.

For OP:
Yes, you can use your integrated GPU for regular tasks like browsing and watching streams etc. Just plug the monitor into the integrated GPU and you're all set. If you have AMD cards mining, you'll still need a monitor or dummy plugged in to one of the AMD cards or they won't be able to be overclocked in Windows. Nvidia does not need a dummy plug.

My daughter's PC has two RX 470 in it and is using the integrated GPU to the monitor since all she does is play Roblox and watch Youtube and the integrated one is enough for that. If her monitor is plugged into one of the AMD cards, it'll all start to lag - even Netflix. But since the integrated GPU isn't used for mining, it works great with that.

I have two rigs, one contains 7 gpus and dual psu config (1200 P2 and second psu), other 4 cards. I'm using 4 cards rig as daily pc to play games, browse internet etc.

It works pretty good, but I've one concern about FPS games. I play CS Go and I use all cards for mining. I use onboard gpu of i7 4790k for gaming. Of course graphics are bad. I've used one of the gpus instead of onboard gpu, but noticed micro stutters/lags during combat.

Besides, my wireless keyboard sometimes get locked (I'm unable to move my character using kb) but I can fire and look around using mouse.

I'd like to know if anyone else have similar issues? I'm wondering if switching to wired keyboard will resolve this issue.

Could you recommend me some other PSU that can run 6 cards with efficiency?

Is it really possible to use integrated GPU along side with 6 external GPUs? Thats the most important aspect for me. I do not want to sacrifice a card/power for my regular tasks. I am hearing some people saying it won't work when external GPUs are intalled though.. :(

An quality 80+ Platinum from companies such as EVGA,Seasonic and Super Flower would be fine. user evakka refers it as not efficient because is a curve that indicates how efficient the PSU is according to its load.
For example an 80+ Platinum rated power supply should be 90% efficient at 20% load, 92% at 50% and 89% at 100% load. So a EVGA superNOVA P2 1000W that supplies 6 GPUs of a maximum 140W will be on worst case scenario at 84% load. If you remove one you might save more money in the long term.

how about 1300W G2? would it be efficent enough to run 6? it is less than $100 difference so wouldnt it be worth investment for 6th card?

Yeah I guess that would be really efficient to say the least. 64% load sounds neat and might be more efficient than a 1000W Platinum PSU running at 84% load. So go for it.

I'm sort of in the same boat as you fellas, though on a smaller scale. I'm about to buy a new rig for the first time in a decade (hooray), nothing big just a single card setup, though I'd like to use it to try and get back some of the money I'm about to spend.

I can get my hands on one of these models despite the shortage:
Asus RX570 Expedition 4Gb
Asus RX 480 DUAL OC 4Gb
Msi RX 480 ARMOR OC 4Gb

But I'm still not sure about which I should get, admittedly I'm more inclined to the MSI 480 because it seems to be better cooled and, well, since I'll be using it for gaming as well a 480 is still a 480. But I'm afraid of lucking out on the memory lottery, couldn't find any consistent feedback regarding what memory brand those cards use, so any advice would be very much appreciated,


..also I'm afraid of bricking the card while the BIOS..none of those are dual BIOS so there is no backup in case things go wrong. Isn't there any way to test the memory straps without/before flashing them in?

Sent you a PM, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1952048.new#new but chasing a similar goal to OP except want to use 2x 1080 TI if possible . . any suggestions anyone?

The Expedition card has similar cooling to DUAL OC, and it's horrendous. I'd get the MSI Armor.
At the current rate, it will take you no more than 60 days (at worst) to get your money back from mining, if done 24/7. So you can calculate accordingly how much time it will take depending on how you use it.
Don't be concerned about what memory brand you get. Only after you buy will you know, as the memory vendors are random across 99% of cards.
And lastly don't worry about bricking the card, because you can plug the monitor into the motherboard and use the integrated graphics anytime to restore the stock BIOS. Unfortunately you can't 'test' memory straps, but a simply copy & paste won't cause any issues. If you're doing a Ryzen build which lacks integrated graphics, you may have to rent a random GPU from a local hardware store to restore the bios though.