Bitcoin Forum

I'm currently using the Antect TPQ-1200w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371032 for one of my mining rigs.  I was wondering what people thought would be a good amount a cards for it without over doing it?  Currently I have 2 5970's on it.  I have a few other cards I could add.  I have 1 6990, 2, 7970's and a few 5870's.

The power supply can deliver 100A total (1200w), and also states that 100A can be all +12v power (max 38A per "rail").

A 5870 has a thermal design power (TDP) of 188W, which can be reached when overclocking, overvolting. Allow 200W per card for overclock headroom.

200w x 5 cards = 1000W, and 200W to run the rest of the system.

Undervolt to increase your energy efficiency and you could whack on another 4 cards if you have the slots for them

My 5870's use about 100w each at 0.95v

make sure you get a high quality power cleaner/UPS.

many cheap power strips are only good for 1 surge. Even mid range power strips lose effectiveness after a year or so depending on how clean your power is.
Even if you don't see the lights flicker, there are tons of small surges throughout the day that will eventually wear down the fuses in your strip.

battery backup etc is the best investment you can make for your expensive mining rig.

Thanks for the tips all.

worst investment. no data will be lost if the power goes out.

Well, the backup is not required, but good surge protection might save you losing a lot of hardware.  As someone pointed out above, cheap "surge protection" strips are not to be relied on (though are better than nothing).

On the other hand, if your grid power is generally reliable, it may not be a big deal.

The blog "Dan's Data" has a lot of good information on power supplies / surge protection etc.