Bitcoin Forum

Hello,

I need some advice from you guys.

Currently I have everything that I need for my miner, except the GPU's. It is pretty much impossible to get my planned 7950's so I have to buy some other GPU.


PSU: Platimax 1500W ( http://www.enermax.com/home.php?fn=eng/product_a1_1_1&lv0=1&lv1=52&no=191 )
Mobo: MSI Z77A-GD65


I would like to get the maximum out of my specs, so I thought about getting either:

5* R9 280X
or
4* R9 290

Is it unrealistic to get 5 of the 280X in my rig? If not... which version would be the best choice? (e.g. Toxic, Dual-X OC, Gigabyte)

I hope some experienced people can help me out a bit :-)


Thank you and best regards!

Right now it's pretty much impossible to get the 280x anyway. If you know where to get it, care to share?

I have tried both the Sapphire Toxic and Dual-X, both are good. The toxic is factory-superclocked, you'd need to dial it down to produce good results.

You're not going to find 280x or 290 GPUs anywhere. They are all sold out and back orders are all sold as well. Thats the situation here anyways.

Well I'm from germany and I can get some here :)

I have a evga supernova, and my sapphire 280x cards draw at least 250W, but more like 275W. That is after conversion, not from the wall. As long as your power supply is up to snuff you should be OK with 5 on 1500W.

I believe kh/$ ratio is better with 280x's in the USA. I am not familiar with Europe pricing.

I have 60 280x cards on order, not going to be here till January 3rd at least  >:(

I have bought 200 pcs of R280x and they come to me 8th of January, I will be using them and also have some buyers for 160, so 40 left, I can use them too or sell, if anyone is interesting to buy them jut PM me.
I can also offer full rig specialized to LTC mining.

They are available on Newegg. $400+ for the 280x. The 290x's 600.

I got me a few 7850's though for 150 each.

No, they are not. Not right now.

Besides, when they do occasionally come in stock on newegg the max order quantity is 2. Whoopie  ::)

Question: how much XP do you have with mining? If this is your first miner I'd advise you to start small, i.e. with 2x 280 cards at most.

There is many reasons for that: a) because mining difficulty will skyrocket and you'll make less $$$ than you thought and b) because setting up a mining rig is not simple plug and play (overheating, power, stability, etc). If you see it as a (possibly loss-making) hobby go for it! But don't count on making a lot of money.

Also remember whom you are competing with: guys ordering 50-200 cards at once (!), lots of XP with setting up miners, undervolting, flashing etc. and living in a country where electricity costs ~0.10USD/KWh. You pay 0.25-0.30USD/KWh in Germany. Pretty much only third world countries pay more - thanks to your/our solar crazy green party. For example, I believe mining wouldn't have been profitable in Germany this summer.

I'd go with the 280 for one simple reason: cooling. Unless you put your rig outside at 0-10 degrees you'll quickly run into overheating. Heck the reviews I've read mention that 290's overheat/throttle even when playing normal games!!! Only the resale value speaks for the 290.

I was lucky enough to grab 2x7990 two weeks ago for 2x600USD on offer and I'm mining the hell out of them. I'll probably recover the cost of the cards before new year, but I don't expect that to continue for much longer.

280x's are no chumps, they will quickly rocket to 95c and bounce off the 2d clock rate if you let them. This is 6 280x's

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab357/pontiacg5_2010/IMG_20131130_122606_zps3b193910.jpg

In this case. The GPU fans are kinda quiet for long life, at least not 100% (important!) but it is loud and hotter than you could imagine. I love it, while it's -5c outside.

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab357/pontiacg5_2010/DSC_0014_zpsd48342b8.jpg



I had 6 gigabyte cards too, while I was testing. Before the bubble interrupted me  >:( >:(

http://i879.photobucket.com/albums/ab357/pontiacg5_2010/DSC_0165_zps28b6bfba.jpg

If you trust my judgement, go with sapphire dual-x. I've had two different kinds of sapphire dual-x 280x cards, and both do better than gigabyte's 280x.

Thats some nice looking rigs! I'm building my tomorrow and I hope mine will look as good as yours.

I just decided to go for the dual X, just to come to this thread and you give me the same advice =)
Also found some shops where they are on stock, but none of them are close to me and I will have to wait for delivery :-/



Thanks for the responses. Thread can be closed I am happy now.