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Other => Beginners & Help => Topic started by: Rudementry on July 13, 2011, 10:12:58 PM



Title: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: Rudementry on July 13, 2011, 10:12:58 PM
So I right now have a regular, non mining rig. Just my day to day computer. That said, all I have is an 850W PSU in it, I was never expecting to pile 3+ cards in it. But now that I want to get into mining, I decided I might as well put some cards in my desktop to save money on another PSU for now.

My desktop right now has a Radeon 6970 (OC'd to 975Mhz getting 430MHash/s)
Also included in my desktop is an i7 2600k, a Seagate 7200RPM 1TB hard drive, an Asus P8P67 Deluxe Mobo, and 8gb RAM.

My entire setup: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=15749245

I am wondering if its possible for me to put 2 Radeon 5830s into my desktop without trouble.

I did some basic math and it looks like my rig without graphics cards uses about 250W, a 6970 uses about 225W, and each 5830 uses about 200W. This rough math puts me right at 875W... over my limit. I am just wondering (hoping mostly) if maybe I did the math wrong and I indeed would be fine? Is there anyway to double check without going out and buying a Killawatt? I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me out.. maybe rerun the numbers or something.

Secondly, what would happen if I do go over the wattage? Will my PSU explode? Will my graphics cards burn up? Or will some things just simply not work, or the computer not turn on/randomly freeze?


Title: Re: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: Immuzikation on July 13, 2011, 10:24:45 PM
looks like you can fit 3 cards in there at 16x and 2 more at 1x (get extenders). i've seen two 6970s and a 5830 run off 850W. my guess is you're ok.


Title: Re: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: Rudementry on July 13, 2011, 10:30:44 PM
Yeah I've got plenty of lanes for it, I'm really just worrying about Watts.. but if a guy fit 2 6970s and a 5830? That's great news for me. Could you link me to where you saw that? :D


Title: Re: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: Wuked on July 13, 2011, 10:39:00 PM
I added 3 x 5850s into pretty much your entire setup... it currently uses around 800W of power and generates 1.1GH/sec.


Title: Re: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: Rudementry on July 13, 2011, 11:02:25 PM
I added 3 x 5850s into pretty much your entire setup... it currently uses around 800W of power and generates 1.1GH/sec.

Yikes... thats slightly disconcerting... 5850s use less power than 5830s and 6970s. :/


Title: Re: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: Wuked on July 13, 2011, 11:31:42 PM
I added 3 x 5850s into pretty much your entire setup... it currently uses around 800W of power and generates 1.1GH/sec.

Yikes... thats slightly disconcerting... 5850s use less power than 5830s and 6970s. :/

According to my power monitor my entire Rig is using about 750-800W to produce 1.1GH/sec.


Title: Re: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: Rudementry on July 13, 2011, 11:37:54 PM

According to my power monitor my entire Rig is using about 750-800W to produce 1.1GH/sec.


What power monitor are you using?


Title: Re: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: Dargo on July 13, 2011, 11:42:06 PM
Depending on what cards you decide to add, I would consider upgrading to a better power supply. I certainly wouldn't trust that PSU to deliver 850w continuously 24/7, but it might be OK for pulling 850w continuously from the wall, giving you no more than about 700w out the other end at 80% efficiency. The PSU is one piece of gear that you don't want to skimp on or be too price conscious about. A better, more efficient PSU means lower power bills and is much less likely to end up frying your other components when you drive it hard.


Title: Re: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: Wuked on July 14, 2011, 01:11:54 AM

According to my power monitor my entire Rig is using about 750-800W to produce 1.1GH/sec.


What power monitor are you using?

Some global monitor that I was sent by British Gas. I can turn everything off in the flat excluding the fridge, and then mesure my computer usage from that.


Title: Re: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: xurious on July 14, 2011, 02:55:12 AM
You could underclock the 2 extra cards you put in. Not the most efficient of ideas, but more streams running at a slightly lower speed is better than fewer running faster. Also this would generate less heat that you'd have to pump out.


Title: Re: Adding some mining cards to my rig...
Post by: vapourminer on July 14, 2011, 10:55:13 AM
thats a kingwin psu. I wouldnt trust its specs. if it were corsair, psp&c, seasonic, antec I would say its good as they are real world rated (actually underrated in most cases).