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I'm looking at building a single-card rig with a Sapphire 5830.
I have no plans on expanding this rig.
I need some pointers on what hardware to get.

Here's my current list:
OS: Ubuntu
RAM: 1GB of DDR*
CPU: Some sort of single-core AMD chip
Mobo: ???
PSU: CORSAIR 450W 80+
Card: 1x Radeon 5830 (Overclocking and Underclocking memory)
Case: A slice of wood from Home Depot
-Slapping on a HDD, mobo, and PSU won't do the job
-Gotta find out how to secure parts onto wood...use pen to mark holes and power drill into wood?
HDD: Sata2 120GB (Only $10 so...)

hiya, Everyone builds differently, but it mainly goes by what your paying for your electricity, personally i don't care as i want a cryptocurrency.

O.S. depends on skill level, if you just want ease of use any windows platform with giuminer will work, ubuntu is good for cgminer for tweaking, I use both and my miners don't have a wallet on for security.

as regards hardware i usually use low heat and where possible low power, with cpu i use a low TDP single core usually 775, a slow bus speed board (as you only intend on using one pci-e this will greatly increase your choices) with low capacity and speed memory, remember that forking out for an expensive rig is so not worth it, many of my rigs just have 1 stick of DDR 512mb, and i still use some ide HDD 20-80GB i have lying around.

As for building it, i just use cases, so cant advise on wood.

but as always have fun building and mining.
 

Electricity won't be a problem as it's included in my rent. I'm assuming an extra $20 won't matter as I live with 2 other units.
GUIminer won't cut it, hell I might even run *BSD on this to get more mhash.
I might smack on a 1GB ram stick but won't a single-core bottleneck the GPU?

Do you already have the card with no other use for it? If not I don't recommend doing this.

OS: Ubuntu works.
RAM: 1GB should do.
CPU: It won't, get the cheapest you can, usually an AMD single-core.
Mobo: The cheapest you can get.
PSU: 450W from a good brand should be enough.
Card, case: Ok.
HDD: OK but alternatively you can use a USB flash drive.

+1 for saying what I actually wanted to say! good call on usb drive too, but i use old mobo's and they don't support usb boot so be carefull going that way. also good call on P.S.U. 600 80+ is overkill, I used a 550w 80+ on a 5870 and still only drew 320w at wall (kill-a-watt)

No, I don't have this card yet. I'm trying to buy a "brand new" one for $90, shipping is included.
I was also offered a CORSAIR CX430 V2 430W 80+ power supply from one of my friends because he didn't need it.

I have a use for all my USBs. I have an ancient HDD which isn't SATA and mobo that only has a AGP slot so I'll need to buy a new one.

Will its sole purpose be mining or will you use it for other purchases?

i have used 5830 extra laying around, used it for 2-3 month last year then dusted off and put it back in its box. let me know if you want it and how much you'd like it for.  i'm US, around NYC area

Like I said, this card will be dedicated 24/7 mining. It will not be used for anything else.

single 5830 won't get you much.

Honestly, 300Mhashes/sec is decent. It's good enough for me considering I have FREE electricity.

okay :) Enjoy.. You'll want more soon :) Get's addicting :)

Srsly. I got no more money to invest in Minging Hardware!

lol that's what I always say :P

I can easily send you the "schematics" of the wooden case I made for my mining hardware, but the rig I setup is made to house 5 double-width gpu's. You honestly, could just throw the mobo on a small box (think USPS medium flatrate) and then pop the card into a pci-e 16x slot. Tuck it away somewhere and just make sure it's mining.

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn119/ChanceCoats123/20120701_205446.jpg (http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn119/ChanceCoats123/20120701_205446.jpg)

Only has 4 cards in it right now, but the 5th is in the mail. :)

Edit: And I realized shortly after taking the picture that my second PSU was off and only 3 cards were running. LOL It's back to normal now.  8)

sent you a PM

I know you won't listen because it is fun as hell to build/maintain a miner....but it really isn't worth it right now.  MAYBE if you mine Litecoins, but that is up and down daily.  I'm expecting it to average out between .002 - .003BTC/per with 5+ difficulty once the hype settles.  Hopefully I'm proven wrong.  With that said, get a used 5850 or 5870 off ebay.  Everyone buys new, but these are small investments, and you're getting good hash speeds out of a well supported card.  I bought 4 5850 off ebay, and have yet to have a problem.  Mined LTC and BTC with ease. 

if your going to do this get a motherboard with at least 3 pci-e slots (I like asrock extreme3) so you can expand later I know you will want to, or get a 5970. They are selling below $300 lately. Corsair makes great power supplies and is one of the most critical components of your mining rig. I would suggest the tx650 for room to grow, but you could get away with the vx450

edit: if your living in a small apartment/house you probably don't want to do this unless you can vent heat outside. Every watt you use for mining is eventually turned into heat

I think I did exactly what you are looking at except I used a different case.
I get 321 with a 1GHz overclocking using CGminer inside BAMT from a USB stick on my sapphire 5830.
http://24.36.61.231/btcminer.jpg

The specs are an Athlon 64 3200+ with an older ASUS AM2+ motherboard with an Nvidia chipset (avoid Nvidia chipsets... not that they make them anymore) and 2GB DDR2. The power supply is an antec VP450 and I would be more than comfortable to add a second card into the PCI-e 1x slot with an adapter and power it with additional molex to PCI-e power connectors. It has now been moved to my metal server rack and sits nicely with the power supply behind it.

I built with a used 5830, a new VP450 and the rest spare parts. I wanted to keep my ROI under 3 months at what was $5.50/BTC.

So my advice:
Here's my current list:

OS: Ubuntu
BAMT is a lighter-weight linux designed for mining off a 4GB $7 USB stick. Save you $$$ on a hard drive. But if you already have a hard drive, then all the power to you.

RAM: 1GB of DDR*
If this is the case, you will be looking in the used market for older motherboards that support DDR. DDR3 ram is cheap these days.

CPU: Some sort of single-core AMD chip
My recommendation is to build an AMD APU based system. You will get some extra megahashes from the GPU part of the APU and they are decently cheap. Something like:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130641
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106013
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148147

Mobo:
PSU: CORSAIR 450W 80+ >> just got one for my server
Card: 1x Radeon 5830 (Overclocking and Underclocking memory) >>> I've gotten 1000/300 stable
Case: A slice of wood from Home Depot
-Slapping on a HDD, mobo, and PSU won't do the job
-Gotta find out how to secure parts onto wood...use pen to mark holes and power drill into wood?
HDD: Sata2 120GB (Only $10 so...)

That's uhhhh. Weird.....


I will start a thread soon on sharing some pictures of their rigs..


Yesterday I build a nice wooden stand for 2 x GD70's and 10 x 5800 series cards :)

Your Household-Insurance will be very happy if they see your "rig". xD
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One 5830 is not much, but it's a beginning. Better get a board that offers your more PCIe Slots for the future.

Hey, I got into Bitmining by buying one of those Sapphire 5830s from Newegg and fighting just to get it above 300MHs. I thought I was doing pretty good!  ;D

I think you've got too much overhead in items that aren't GPUs if you only get 1 GPU per computer. The more cost effective rigs are 4-5 GPUs each.

Me too.    I started with x1  5830 from newegg and parts from the closet...   aka the first hit is free.

Next thing you know you're trying to figure out how you're going to pay for today's lunch with quarters dug up from the back of the couch, and you've got 16 GPUs that all smell like fish. Or was that a bad dream I had...