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Well I have a bunch of GPUs laying around that I can't really use due to heat, breaker limitation, and electricity cost. To celebrate the final months of GPU mining, I'd kind of like to go nuts until ASICs jack everything to the moon, and burn through all my rigs and gpus in a final burst of hashing glory, and to do that I'd either need to rent like some office space (hard to find, expensive) or rent some datacenter space.

I've never done datacenter hosting, and my rigs are certainly not in any specific XU (1u, 2u, etc) format, so would this just be unfeasible if I'm not set up to maximize space? Any tips from people who have worked in/with datacenters before would be appreciated, even if it's just to lemme know that it's a retarded idea (if you explain why).

Probably a really bad idea because you'd have to convert everything to rack mount machines, pay to send them out there and to be installed, pay for them to run there, etc.  If you can find a run down office space, you are probably better off.  All the costs would nickel and dime your profits to death.

Burn em

Such was my worry. Finding space is annoyingly difficult. Explaining that I want a small cheap space, with 24/7 A/C and like 5-10kW of power usually leaves most potential renters suddenly "without any space to rent" :(

What you got to keep in mind, is that datacenter space, costs money. 5 to 10 kW is most likely going to be 2 racks + power = 400 + 400 + 95 + 95 = 990 + network (50 as you don't need much) = 1040 a month that would cost you. You might be able to go a bit cheaper, but this is the minimum what you need to be able to generate to make it affordable. Doesn't really matter whether it is euro or dollar, DC prices are about the same.

You don't have to convert your PC's, just go look for things like this: http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-19-Inch-175lbs-Adjustable-Cabinet/dp/B008X3JIQI/ref=sr_1_cc_3?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1366966895&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=19-inch+rack+shelf

Couple of those and you'll be able to just stack pc's, or organise them in any other way you want.

Something to keep in mind is that you don't want a hot / cold corridor DC when using Desktop PC's.

I've had them since 2011, sitting idle. I haven't sold them because quite frankly I find it a hassle to negotiate a price for each card with each person (getting lowballed constantly), then finally when a deal is struck, packaging each card individually and shipping it off. I'd probably do it if someone took a bulk of the cards in one go, but otherwise it's really a lot of trouble, and they all paid themselves off long long ago. I'm a bad trader because I don't like it heh.


Lots of good info there, thanks friend. A shame it seems like I can either find cheap space, or cheap power but not both :P

Sell them for LTC

I love how these threads turn into for-sale. Vultures!

I'm actually in contact with a couple people for space, if I can't find anything reasonable in the next week or so I may sell, but I would do it in the For sale forum. I'm not looking to unload "cheap" as I'm lazy and it's not worth my while though.

On another note, does anyone have experience with Evaporative cooling? A couple of places do not have built in AC, and I don't want to buy, install, and/or run an AC unit, and this seems like an inexpensive solution for when I'm not around to ventilate the space. But how much do these really raise humidity? If I were gone for 8-12 hours, would a space get humid enough to cause condensation?

I use a data center for stuff other than mining. Just so you can get an idea of the cost here is what I pay.

4 full size enclosures
1 two post rack
Multiline FastE
100 Mbps internet with 10 Mbps base
1 20amp/208volt redundant pair
2 20amp/120volt redundant pair
2 20amp/120volt

Total 100 amps of power
80 amps of usable power

Limited to 125 watts/sq ft

about $4,300/month

Recently evaluated moving to other data centers but we seem to be getting a great rate for being in a premier data center. Found that we would end up paying more for lesser data centers. Our price might be because we have been there for around eight years now.

Note:
To comply with National Electrical Code Article 220.3 (B) (9) (pre 2008) and 220.14 (I) (2008 and later) we are allowed continuous loads to draw only 80% of a circuit breaker’s rated capacity

ty for the info, always good to have comparisons. I suppose though that pricing is dependent upon usage? I found some pretty good rates, however the big killer seems to be that for colocation people expect you to be there for a while (else a large set up fee), which makes no sense if I'm just looking for a quick flash in the pan. C'est la vie.

You might also want to consider this option. 24 GPU per rack. Under development but a lot cheaper than everything else depending on what your goal is.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=191117.0

I saw it, it doesn't really help me however, as I mentioned power is my big downfall. That thing would just trip all my breakers and probably burn my house down. Not entirely sure who could run that thing at full capacity either.

I'm working on it. But right now, anybody with 220V/240V in their garage or shop could. It seems that we will not exceed the 6000W envelope/TDP for the 7950-7970. So we will be at 25A on 240V. Very reasonable, you will not burn your house down with that.
The only complication is exhausting the heat, which is about 20500 BTU. I'm looking at both air cooling with ducting for racks and oil cooling with heat transfer to the outside.

Lucky for those that have a 30A 240W line in their home. Unfortunately not so for this fellow.

I did find what seems to be a pretty good deal, looking at the fellows quote above. 2 Full Cabinets, wired with 15A of 240V (208V obv usable) each, unlimited 100mbps internet, 24x7 hands on tech, for $1100/mo, with no setup fee. Looking like datacenter is back on the table wewt. Now I just have to figure out how I would remote admin all that nonsense.

How would you remote admin it?

It is fairly easy to rig up your own electric, swapping 110 to 220/230 is fairly easy as long as you are able to steal (by steal, I mean from another breaker or room in the house, not illegally stealing it)* it from somewhere else. Owning your own property helps a lot. I have 100amps of 230v I rigged in my garage with 54,000BTU of cooling. I am an IT professional (I'm a typical Network/System engineer/admin) with no background in wiring up houses or doing HVAC work. I was able to learn all of it fairly quickly and once you do one, the rest are cake (I've been consulting in the area of power/cooling solutions for the past 5 years now since I did my first one).

*Edit

It will vary from country to country, but I know for a fact that if you do your own mains wiring of a fixed structure where I live (Australia) you are opening up a huge can of worms. For example, if you have a fire and your $20k of mining equipment burns to the ground, or worse, your whole house/unit etc. when your insurance company conducts a fire investigation (or worse if there was a death and the authorities conduct their own investigation) then there is a very substantial chance they will realise you've done your own non-qualified electrical work and you will get zero payout from your insurer. An event like that could easily land you in debt for life, or in jail for some years.

It even varies from state to state within a country. I live in Maine, there is no contractor licenses required, so even if I do it myself, I am not voiding any insurance benefits. Not to mention if you do things cleanly, they wouldn't be able to tell it from an electrician's work anyway. I am not saying "do a hack job." I am merely stating electrical and HVAC is not above the average human intelligence to install or setup...regardless of your background. I am in the IT field now, but I grew up in the CT valley picking tobacco (farm boy).