For what it's worth, my "newbie" account was created in 2011. I just lurk.

And yes, Vosk brought me here.

.046

Re-activated my 5-year dormant account here just to post in this thread.

I haven't been this excited for an alt-coin since LTC. I've moved some stagnant bags around and built an 779 NRG stake (as much as I could afford right now) and really hope to one day be able to set up a master node.

Some tips:

• Being from the US, I couldn't go through DigiFinex, so went through KuCoin. Was pretty simple and they let you pull out up to 2BTC per day without ID verification.
• If you're even remotely thinking about staking, download and start syncing the core asap.

Really love this project. Can't wait to see NRG in the top 10!

I'm interested as well. 

rpa7nU9aPTD5mxUBP9FUDq36iUTTjAx2gS

8VuKK1ChWno1aFV6ZV1nG9XVY6mfobVGwG

Thanks!

I actually have 4 of those 5870 cards, but I thought I read somewhere that things get a little crazy when you add the 4th card. But that said, I do have 4 cards I can use.

Also, should I be factoring in the cost of PCIe extension cables?

Thanks all for the feedback. A lot to digest, but goes down smooth

So based on these comments here's the "Virgin's Mining Rig, v0.2":

Motherboard:

• MSI 890FXA-GD70 AM3+ AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD, $185
• Alternative: ASRock 970 EXTREME4, $109
• (I think I'm going with the MSI in this build - I have nothing but great experiences with MSI)

Processor:

• AMD Sempron 145 Sargas 2.8GHz Socket AM3 45W, $40

Memory:

• Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066, $14

Graphics:

• 3 x Radeon HD 5870 2GB GDDR5, $600
• (For my build, I already have these cards - other builds may want to consider something different)

HD / USB / SSD:

• USB: Kingston DataTraveler 101 Gen 2 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive, $9
  
• Alternative SSD Build: OCZ Vertex Plus 60 GB SATA II SSD 60 GB, SATA 3Gb/s, $80

No Case:

• Open-air build: Cost Unknown

Power:

• KINGWIN LZP-1000 1000W 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified, $229

Total Cost (w/USB):   $1077
Total Cost (w/SSD):   $1148

So a couple of thoughts:
The power supply could be cheaper, but it seems investing a little more up front might pay off in reduced energy costs in the long run. Not sure if $100 extra is justified though.
The MSI Motherboard is $80 more than the ASRock. I love MSI and have great experiences with their boards. I have zero experience with ASRock.

So, potentially this build could be at $997 going with the ASRock.

How's this looking?

Thanks for the feedback.

I love building gaming rigs, so I'm approaching this with that background and mentality. I'm sure I'm going overboard on some components (which is why I'm doing this post, of course )

I could take it or leave it on the case. I've had good experience with the Antec 300 case and they are cheap atm, so I threw that in.

I usually build with Intel i5s or i7s. I just can't bring myself to cheap out too much on the CPU. But I will if it's not worth it.

Did I go cheap on the PSU?

Hello all!

I'm pretty new here. You might have seen my "Diary of a Bitcoin Virgin" post I made last month. I've stuck it out and am still lurking the forums.

I want to build a mining rig, and I've searched quite a bit for rig builds. But posts with actual builds don't seem to exist.

So from what little I've pieced together, I'm come up with this. I'd appreciate if you could critique this and let me know why or why not it would be a decent build for a mining rig.

Motherboard:

• Biostar TA990FXE AM3+, AND 990FX chipset, $130

Processor:

• AMD FX-6100 3.3 GHz (3.9 GHz Max Turbo Core), Hexa-Core, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache, $160

CPU Cooler:

• Xigmatek Gaia SD1283, $30

Memory:

• Mushkin Enhanced Redline 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) 240-Pin DDR3-1600 Kit Dual-Channel Desktop Memory Kit, $40

Graphics:

• 3 x Radeon HD 5870 2GB GDDR5, $600

Hard Drive:

• OCZ Vertex Plus 60 GB SATA II SSD 60 GB, SATA 3Gb/s, $80

Case:   

• Antec Three Hundred, $58

Power:

• Corsair Professional Series HX1050 80 Plus Silver Certified 1050-Watt, $210

Total Cost:   $1308

I'm pretty sure it's a given, but I'm going for max value - lowest time to break even. I also went with the 6-core AMD for some CPU mining too (litecoin).

I appreciate you checking this out and look forward to your feedback!

Hi Patrick! Oh for sure, I did a lot of reading before I decided to get involved. I understand this is a new frontier when it comes to currency.


Hi Gabi! Yeah, I understand it's not a get-rich-quick scheme. But it is the best chance we have for an alternative currency in the digital age. I want to be a part of that.

Imagine my disappointment when my new GTX 570 turned out to be a duck when it comes to mining. Hence the reason for building a new rig. I don't want to burn out my new gaming rig (especially since I can't even break even on electricity costs with this card!)

I haven't really had a mentor in all this, so I understand that I'm going to have to spend some time getting myself educated. I'm hoping all these hours I've put into it will help me teach others how to get involved much more quickly.

Day 1 (Monday, December 5th)
I learned about Bitcoins today. It looks really intriguing! I love the idea of a new currency not tied to the whims of fractional banking. I'm going to give this a try!

Setting up the wallet seemed easy enough. Did a bit of reading on weusecoins.com. I stopped at the Bitcoin Faucet - ok, now I have .005 BTC. Hmm that doesn't seem like a lot. (Calculator) Ok, I have 1.5 cents. woohoo...

Day 2 (Tuesday, December 6th)
I decide today that I want to buy some BTC.  Go back to weusecoins.com. Gosh, this documentation doesn't really seem very complete.

Do a bit of googling. Find my way to Bitcointalk Forums. Spend about 2 hours reading about how to get started buying BTC.

Get an account at MtGox, easy enough. Oh wait, I can't fund it with Paypal, Credit Cards, or even ACH Bank Transfers...

OK, since I'm in the US, I guess I have to get an account with Dwolla. Fuck, why do I have to jump through so many damn hoops!

Dwolla account done. I have to verify my bank account... should be easy enough.

What about Mining? That sounds interesting. (I spend 6 hours on the forums reading about mining while I wait...)

Day 3 (Wednesday, December 7th)
Still no deposits from Dwolla to verify account.  I'll spend some more time researching mining.

WTF, I need a degree in programming to understand this mining business... The newbie guides are somewhat helpfull, but very incomplete. I have to spend hours filling in the gaps.

A GUIMiner! OK, I think I can handle that. Fuck it won't work.

(6 hours of research later)


Ok, got the GUIMiner working. My GTX 570 is only crunching 105 Mhash/s and I read that it's not enough to go solo, so I join a pool.

Damn, my computer is noisy! Install overclocking software and find out my card is cranking away at 87C! Crank it down to the 70C range.

Shit, now I'm only mining at 65 Mhash/s    I'm not even sure what that really means, but I know it's a lot slower than what I've been reading about.

I'll just let it crank away overnight and see where I'm at.

Day 4 (Thursday, December 8th)
Dwolla account verified! Initiate USD transfer. Transfer will be completed in 6 days! Fuck! I guess it's back to mining.

Check on my mining progress and after 18 hours of mining I've made... 14 cents! WTF!

I guess if I'm going to take this serious I need to look into building a mining rig.



Shit... Plenty of pictures of rigs, but hardly anyone posting about their specs.

Do some poking around on the interwebs (newegg, amazon, ebay, etc for some vid cards). No one sells 58xx and 59xx or are out of stock... awesome...

Bid on a used 5970 card on ebay and win it. Awesome!    OK, now I just need to figure out how the crap to build a system around it.

Day 5 (Friday, December 9th)
After spending another 3 hours reading the forums this morning, I decide it's time to post.

I consider myself pretty savvy when it comes to computers, internets, and the like. I love the idea about Bitcoins. But it seems like there's an extremely high learning curve for someone to get started.

Anywho...

I'm going to probably build a mining rig. I'm a gamer and like to build computers so worst case scenario it won't go to waste.

I hope my MtGox account gets funded some time this year. I'd really like to be able to start purchasing and using Bitcoins (you know... if there's actually anything worth spending them on).

Oh, and if you have any advice for a struggling noob, feel free to send some my way.

Thanks for reading.

tl;dr
It's fucking too damn hard to get involved with Bitcoins.

Allow myself to introduce... myself.

Newbie here. Just lurking for build advice. I have access to cheap electricity, so I'm hoping to get a couple rigs up and running soon.