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Hello everyone, first post, just wanted to get your thoughts on a rig I was putting together. Friend had me look into building an AMD machine to mine ethereum for him but came to the conclusion we couldn't source the cards. While doing that I got turned onto nice hash. Went over the numbers and figured why not?

So the list below is basically it minus a few components and GPUs. I would still need the USB risers, another PSU, probably some adapters for power, case. Trying to both cut costs and make sure I'm choosing hardware that comes with a good reputation. Also get recommendations on the best way to distribute power between PSUs. At the moment I had planned to put 3 of the GPUs and mobo on the 1250 watt. And then 3 more on a 1200 watt. But I'm not sure ~850 watt draw through a 1250 is pushing it. What would you guys do if you were planning what I was?

I just ordered 3 of the Gaming X's, all the cheaper models with decent fans had a limit of 1 per customer so I went with the nice and quiet option. And yes I know I'm over paying for a CPU, but i'd like to put it to other uses later. The reason I went with the 1080ti is they are still going for the manufacturers suggested retail and will retain their value better relative to a 1070 I paid 450 for, it's not worth that to a gamer.

Other obvious places to cut are the windows 10, I could go linux, some other os, or just find a cheaper copy (which i would prefer, windows only OS i'm familiar with)

And the SSD maybe I could cut some costs? If I went with a stick I'd probably want one that came with brand recognition and didn't cost much less than a decent SSD.

My power rate is just over .10 KWH so power efficiency isn't some huge boon. But not negligible with this power draw, which is why I only went to gold.

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8gKhP6/intel-pentium-g4560-35ghz-dual-core-processor-bx80677g4560)  ($69.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI - Z270 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yY8H99/msi-z270-gaming-pro-carbon-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z270-gaming-pro-carbon)  ($131.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/kH2rxr/gskill-memory-f42400c15s4gis)  ($33.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston - SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rtzv6h/kingston-internal-hard-drive-sv300s37a120g)  ($69.16 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GAMING X Video Card (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YNVBD3/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-11gb-gaming-x-video-card-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-gaming-x-11g) (2-Way SLI)  ($784.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GAMING X Video Card (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YNVBD3/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-11gb-gaming-x-video-card-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-gaming-x-11g) (2-Way SLI)  ($784.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GAMING X Video Card (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YNVBD3/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-11gb-gaming-x-video-card-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-gaming-x-11g) (2-Way SLI)  ($784.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - X Series 1250W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/27xfrH/seasonic-power-supply-x1250)  ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wtgPxr/microsoft-os-kw900140)  ($89.89 @ OutletPC)


Any glaring flaws? Is that motherboard well thought of in the mining community? Would you get a bigger PSU for 3 cards and the mobo?

Any input you have on the build would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time

I would go for a 6100 / 6100 T. It has 4 threads and will be nice for dgb.
My dualcores have always problems getting 6 gpus to start.

For the SSD my advise is to buy a M2 with 120 / 128 GB.

You can go with 4GB Ram, i always get 8 GB.

There is a passive cooler, for the CPU so best you do a bit searching.
It will be enough for a 6100 / T

The PSU can handle 3, maybe 4 of these beasts.
I personally go for Platinum PSUs. You will have them a long time, and they will pay for themselves.


Greetings

Wotan

Out of curiosity why do you recommend the 6100 over the 7100? And as to the "passive" cooler, i'm not sure what you mean. I can mine with a decent passive cooler. 

M2 drive makes sense, i've never used one but they're priced right. Are the gains substantive? From what I see in other threads there is no performance difference

The 8 gigs I might as well. Will make the CPU easier to use later on.

That PSU is very highly rated. But going up to the EVGA wouldn't be that much more and the warranty is worth it.

More changes than I thought there would be

Couple of ideas:

• Use EthOS instead of Windows, it comes pre-installed on a 16GB USB stick for 39 USD (https://gpushack.com/collections/gpushack/products/ethos-16gb-usb-3-0).  You'll save a substantial amount vs Windows 10 and a 120GB SSD.
• Use a Gigabyte GA-Z270P-D3 (http://ca.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z270P-D3-rev-10) board instead, normally available for 105-110 USD

If you want to get 6 working on this then make sure to go with the EVGA 1600W PSU as it has enough 8 pin and 6 pin connectors and it leaves you with enough wattage to get running. The TDP would have to be lowered to atleast 85 or less.  

the G4560 has 4 threads as well - similar to i3 6100 /T or Im mistaken?

I thoguht it had 4 threads as well...After looking at the marketing i'm not sure so i just relented

Doesn't say so on amazon

I had planned to split it up between 1200 on 3 GPUs and the mobo, another 1000-1200 watt for hte last three.

Is that overkill? From what I can tell I have 15 camp circuits so to use a PSU that big I'd have to split them up into multiple circuits anyway.

edit - long reply limit because my account is new...Dragging my replies out pretty bad

I have a couple problems with an OS like EthOS, one the biggest seems to be it's aimed at AMD products. There are no guarantees for Nvidia GPUs in the marketing anyway.

Second would be the ease of use if I wanted to do something obscure. I doubt I"m savvy enough to be a first adopter of anything in this space. I need easy to use tools to help me if I don't have a guide.

As to the motherboard, do you think I"m just overspending. Both are as good as the other? Or the specific model you recommended is just more widely used in this context than the carbon?

You would be ok with a 15 amp circuit and a 6x 1080 TI rig. the max you can use on a 15 amp 120V circuit is 1800W times 80% would give you 1440W to work with. You could get the system down to around that with 85% TDP or so. Trust me that you would be ok with that sort of setup. Also you wouldn't over stress your PSU because you would have some room there as well.

Hmmm so 85% TDP of 1500 on the gpus would be 200 down. Which puts me down to 1300, plus 150 for mobo, risers, drive etc. That's 1450, that's pushing the limits of the PSU, is it really safe to do that? I don't like the idea of pushing limits on my PSU

I can understand that 2 PSU's makes the rig more likely to be finnicky, adds a failure point, and will cost more because I'll give myself more wattage leeway.

And after writing that out I realize that I should probably just split these rigs up. I have no knowledge here and am playing with fire. I wouldn't be guessing in different hobbies with high energy cost...

I think I'll just drop it down to a 5 GPU rig. It will cut into my margins but I need to learn more about the ramifications of trying to daisy chain PSUs together in a way that is not meant to be done.

I only recommend them as I have quite a few and know they work :)

As for the power supplies, use a server PSU kit like this 1500W version:
http://www.parallelminer.com/product/gpu-mining-power-supply-kit-hp-1500-watt-94-platinum/

I ended up going with the Asus Prime A

I wanted the Prime P for less than 120 but I vacillated and they bumped the price up to 190 at new egg before I made my decision.

The D3's were also overpriced presumably because of mining, couldn't find one for under 150.

I did find UD3's for a good price, maybe I should have gotten that. Would have saved me 30 relative to the prime A. Hadn't heard anything about them beyond the D3's and didn't want everything to sell out.

Also sourced a P2 1600 watt for a reasonable price

Only thing I'm worried about now is the risers...Failure rates seem pretty high no matter where I look to source them from

edit - Current Build with different prices, all i need is the case, storage, and an OS. Thanks so much for the help guys

CPU: Intel - Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8gKhP6/intel-pentium-g4560-35ghz-dual-core-processor-bx80677g4560)  ($72.89 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME Z270-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/7VZ2FT/asus-prime-z270-a-atx-lga1151-motherboard-prime-z270-a)  ($149.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/XgJkcf/gskill-memory-f42133c15s8gnt)  ($57.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2FDzK8/kingston-a400-120gb-25-solid-state-drive-sa400s37120g)  ($51.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GAMING X Video Card (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YNVBD3/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-11gb-gaming-x-video-card-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-gaming-x-11g) (2-Way SLI)  ($994.87 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GAMING X Video Card (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YNVBD3/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-11gb-gaming-x-video-card-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-gaming-x-11g) (2-Way SLI)  ($994.87 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GAMING X Video Card (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YNVBD3/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-11gb-gaming-x-video-card-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-gaming-x-11g) (2-Way SLI)  ($994.87 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GAMING X Video Card (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YNVBD3/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-11gb-gaming-x-video-card-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-gaming-x-11g) (2-Way SLI)  ($994.87 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB GAMING X Video Card (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YNVBD3/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-11gb-gaming-x-video-card-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-gaming-x-11g) (2-Way SLI)  ($994.87 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA P2 1600W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/LbtWGX/evga-power-supply-220p21600x1)  ($419.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wtgPxr/microsoft-os-kw900140)  ($89.89 @ OutletPC)

1) I prefer Win 10 Pro because:

a) It's portable in that a copy can migrate to any other PC and it's easy to shuffle components in and out of a system. Win home is locked to the initial configuration.

b) Pro gives access to the PITA group policies

c) Win 10 Pro can be found on ebay at a decent, probably cheaper price.



 

Hmmm the PITA group policies are a bit above my head, but after looking into  it's not unlikely into a scenario where I need it and kick myself for trying to save a few dollars.

I'm pretty sure they let you transfer the home copy of windows now (in some cases anyway). They do with 7 anyway I just did it, I was under the same impression as you tho. Some confusion on that front on their policy.

I'll go with pro because on ebay or wherever it's gonna be minimally different pricing anyway. Thanks for the advice

I didn't buy most of this stuff at the prices I listed, that was just PC part picker auto populating the values it could find, not sure if i want to go with kinguin ebay or what. Haven't looked into it yet need to find a good vendor on a site like that

Edit - deleted my response to get a proper quote...Made me wait 6 minutes to re post lol

Lots of users tell you will need a skylake CPU!
I bought 6100 / T and never had problems with 6 or 7 GPUs

Yea I saw that a lot too, but could find no evidence there was truth to it. Saw many rigs running on the 7100 and 6100 and various other lower processors. People saying both kabylake and skylake are incompatible. Must have just had other problems.

So I just went with the 4560 which is the cheapest 4 threaded chip on offer, pretty sure it has the same igpu as well. Which is what I will be using it for after.

you paid nearly $1000USD for a 1080ti? that's pretty high.

as for power use, set a realistic tdp of ~75% and each card should draw <200W, and the entire system ~1150W

I guess it does indeed make sense to use two 1000W PSU's when I looked at the number of VGA ports. You would either need to use splitters with the 1600W PSU which is undesirable considering the wattage draw and the rating on the cables. I believe you would use a 24 pin splitter that attaches to the motherboard to make sure both PSU's turn on at the same time.

Those are damn high prices for the 1080Tis, OP should reconsider the store, even in my country those cards are cheapier than this.

About the TDP, is a good move to reduce the wattage, since those cards are 250W (or more => custom cards) each at 100% power.

NO lol, i paid 740*

"I didn't buy most of this stuff at the prices I listed, that was just PC part picker auto populating the values it could find, not sure if i want to go with kinguin ebay or what. Haven't looked into it yet need to find a good vendor on a site like that"

They were 787 yesterday from pc outlet tho

Like i said the hardware is a hedge, hahahaha

Well I'm only one short, and couldn't I just run the 8/6 combo through one of the ports?

You think that's too much?

I had looked around and people were saying don't run 2 Ti's off the same port, but everything else would be fine with two.

I ran a 7950 off one port for with a 6/8 pin adapter. Obviously these are not the same cards but I hadn't even considered this would be a problem with that many slots.

Hmmmm maybe I will need to add another PSU and more GPUs to make it whole. I should be able to get 8 going on this board on windows

hopefully I can find them...

Def going to reduce wattage, after he said that I looked into it with my own 1080 and recommended settings. Very little gains to push it higher, although now I'm worried about the adapters. . . We shall see.

Everything will be here in a few days

And no I bought the GPUs for 740 USD

Spoke with a rep from EVGA, pretty sure i can get 7 of them on the PSU safely assuming i limit TDP.

5 of the 8x6 pin combo

4 of the 8 pins

I can't use any more adapters. 7 is the limit on the ti's with these models. And you'd have to cut your power pretty low to get it to work