|
Title: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: vennardk on May 22, 2011, 04:04:06 AM So I don't have the funds to build a whole new rig but I could possibly upgrade. The thing is, I'm sort of a newb at this and am worried that I'll buy some stuff that isn't compatible. I will be mining probably 75% of the time. I'll occasionally be gaming. I see everyone likes the 5800 series cards. Would I be able to use this series of card with my current card?
MotherBoard is currently my limiting factor. I'm using the one PCIe 2.0 slot it has. The two PCI x1 slots are free: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138122 The video card is a GeForce 9600 GSO and is a bit dated. I'd love to use it still as a second or third card if I could...: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121255 CPS is a 2.5 dual core: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072 Power Supply is 550w: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811162042 Currently I'm pushing 18 Mhash/s using GUIMiner version 2011-05-01. I'd love to get as high up as I can using a cheap budget of no more than $250 and a high end budget of $500. My goal is to upgrade my rig and use mining to pay for some of it without worrying about break even. Thank you for any input. Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: smooth on May 22, 2011, 04:07:52 AM Get rid of your card and get a 5870. Everything else should be fine. If you want to run multiple cards you will have to either replace your motherboard or get a x16 card to work in a x1 slot (using an adapter and/or modifying the hardware) and then you may also have to upgrade your power supply, so the cost goes up quite a bit. Just getting one good GPU is your best ROI here.
Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: Jaime Frontero on May 22, 2011, 04:08:51 AM Get rid of your card and get a 5870. Everything else should be fine. If you want to run multiple cards you will have to either replace your motherboard get a x16 card to work in a x1 slot using an adapter and/or modifying the hardware and then you may also have to upgrade your power supply, so the cost goes up quite a bit. Just getting one good GPU is your best ROI here. yup. what he said... Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: xenon481 on May 22, 2011, 04:10:47 AM Look at both 5850 and 5870. Availability and pricing can make the 5850 more palatable than a 5870.
Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: Basiley on May 22, 2011, 04:13:54 AM Look at both 5850 and 5870. Availability and pricing can make the 5850 more palatable than a 5870. both worth money's.and 69xx's too. but im prefer 5xxx for sentimental value/reasons as well as for less power-consumption/per FPS/MH. Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: Jaime Frontero on May 22, 2011, 04:17:03 AM Look at both 5850 and 5870. Availability and pricing can make the 5850 more palatable than a 5870. both worth money's.and 69xx's too. but im prefer 5xxx for sentimental value/reasons as well as for less power-consumption/per FPS/MH. i prefer the 58xx as well - but not for sentimental reasons. they have more stream processors, lower power requirements, and are cheaper for a given AMD performance-point. unfortunately, they're getting pretty hard to find. accept no backorders... Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: vennardk on May 22, 2011, 12:23:28 PM Could I get a 5800 series card and two lesser cards that would fit the PCI express x1 slots? Any suggested cards for doing this?
Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: xenon481 on May 22, 2011, 12:26:24 PM Could I get a 5800 series card and two lesser cards that would fit the PCI express x1 slots? Any suggested cards for doing this? Even the 58xx series cards can work inside of PCI epress x1 slots. x16 throughput is not required for mining. Depending on motherboard/slot configuration, it is possible that some x1 slots might not be usable for this purpose. Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: Bitsinmyhead on May 22, 2011, 12:31:48 PM What you going to do is...
Sell old 550 PSU... Sell old GPU... Buy new 750 PSU... Buy 3x 5850... Buy 2x x1 raisers... Install, mine, be happy... This going to cost about 500... Should give you bout 1Ghash... Better than everything suggested... Think big, have no regrets... Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: vennardk on May 22, 2011, 01:13:21 PM What you going to do is... Sell old 550 PSU... Sell old GPU... Buy new 750 PSU... Buy 3x 5850... Buy 2x x1 raisers... Install, mine, be happy... This going to cost about 500... Should give you bout 1Ghash... Better than everything suggested... Think big, have no regrets... I really like this idea! Can anyone else confirm if it will work? Do you think I have enough room on the mobo to do this? A link of the mobo can be found in my OP. Also, everyone seems to be sold out of the 5850s. How much worse are the 5830s? Again, this will be a "for fun" thing not hardcore. Ok... Maybe semi hardcore.... ;) Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: xenon481 on May 22, 2011, 02:14:58 PM I just purchased a 5850 from newegg two days ago for $185 with a $30 mail-in rebate.
Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: Bitsinmyhead on May 22, 2011, 02:54:35 PM If no cheap 5850 can be had....
Buy 5830... They can be had for a hundo a pop... Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: vennardk on May 22, 2011, 05:11:06 PM Could someone please take a look at this and tell me if you honestly believe I can fit three 5830 in here....
MoBo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=13-138-122-S03&ISList=13-138-122-S01%2c13-138-122-S02%2c13-138-122-S03%2c13-138-122-S04%2c13-138-122-S05&S7ImageFlag=1&Item=N82E16813138122&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=BIOSTAR%20TForce%20TP43D2A7%20LGA%20775%20Intel%20P43%20ATX%20Intel%20Motherboard Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102878 Thanks. Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: Bitsinmyhead on May 22, 2011, 05:30:49 PM Yes, you fit them in somehow...
I am running 2x 5850 + 5970... On similar mobo... You need two x1 raisers... Search forum, be creative... If you buy 5830... Use this promo code: EMCKEHK42 ... You get them for $99... If you buy before monday 12PM... Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: Jaime Frontero on May 22, 2011, 05:32:28 PM Could someone please take a look at this and tell me if you honestly believe I can fit three 5830 in here.... MoBo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=13-138-122-S03&ISList=13-138-122-S01%2c13-138-122-S02%2c13-138-122-S03%2c13-138-122-S04%2c13-138-122-S05&S7ImageFlag=1&Item=N82E16813138122&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=BIOSTAR%20TForce%20TP43D2A7%20LGA%20775%20Intel%20P43%20ATX%20Intel%20Motherboard Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102878 Thanks. sure. theoretically. but it's all about the case and the cooling. i wouldn't try that one. get the MSI with 5 PCIe slots - and a full-tower, 9-slot case, with plenty of room for fans. Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: Bitsinmyhead on May 22, 2011, 05:58:09 PM Don't overspend on mobo/case...
You always get it to work... If you have those extenders... Worst case, add extra fan... See a lot of people here overspending... Key is spend money on PSU/GPU... Everything else cut to the bone... Be creative and you get it to work... He is not making a 4x 6990 rig... 5PCIe+full tower would be such a waste... Everyone can buy expensive equipment and mine... The winners will be those who can squeeze... The most out of cheap equipment... Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: vennardk on May 22, 2011, 09:06:45 PM These are the only risers I can find... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158099&cm_re=x1_riser-_-15-158-099-_-Product
As you can imagine, these wouldn't help given my MoBo layout. Am I missing something here? Thank you for your continued patients with me. :) Title: Re: Upgrading a rig for under $500. What are my options? Post by: vennardk on May 22, 2011, 09:38:53 PM Alright, I've found extenders. I see where I'll have to get creative.... :)
|