A little update. I have built the rig and am quite happy with it. The HAF X keeps my 4x5870 rather cool. I am running Linuxcoin from a USB flash drive. Haven't figured out persistence yet, but I have an old HDD so I might just do a Linux install.

The top card is the hottest, I guess due to a temperature gradient in the case. I created space between the card by inserting plastig wedges. Cards run at 900MHz GPU / 300MHz memory clocks, which gives me 370MHash/sec for each card.

I am running phoenix with VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=9 WORKSIZE=128 and the poclbm kernel. It took me a while to figure out that the parameter DEVICE:xx should be numbered 0,1,2,3, (4 for the CPU), while the AMD tool lists the active GPUs as 0,3,6,9.

Here are the numbers:

5870 #1:   78.5 ^oC
5870 #2:   74.0 ^oC
5870 #3:   70.0 ^oC
5870 #4:   63.5 ^oC

Ambient temp is 25 ^oC

Any suggestions how to crank it up further? AMDOverdriveCtrl maxes out at 900MHz. I think I could set the chassi fans to 100% in the BIOS to create extra airflow, but I am not unhappy with the numbers so far.

Does it look anything like this?

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=7427.msg184765#msg184765

Exactly that may turn out to be an important detail.

Sent last sunday, arrived last tuesday. EUR. SEPA. No problems for me.

But by mining you kind of buy insurance against a fall in bitcoin value, considering the (historically) strong correlation between price and difficulty (but of course: historic results...no guarantees....etc.)

Why are you not thrilled with it if I may ask? I just ordered this PSU.

I think these kind of data should be plotted logarithmically. I did a polynomal fit, exp may be better, but still it seems to fit nicely.

Yes, that sounds like a good suggestion!

Indeed. I would like to see it on a log-log scale though. Anyone can do that?

amazon.de
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You would need a Freight forwarder like Borderlinx or AddressGermany.com, or a nice forum member of course

It seems like the situation here in Europe is somewhat better regarding the 58xx cards. Plenty of them for sale where I live. Would anyone be interested in having them shipped overseas?

Yeah, it was that part that I was afraid of. Well, I'll have to see how I can make it as cool as possible. I can place it in front of a window to give it fresh air. I reckoned in a well designed case it may work out quite ok. I believe I read another post from a member having a HAF X that he did not have any issue with high temps.

I think I will give Linux a go for a start, to avoid the dummy plugs and to get the most out of the cards. Is there a lot to win with overclocking?

Great! Thanks! I'll check them out.

Considering his username at least he wont need EMI shielding

Thanks, had not really thought about it that way. I have a win7 licence that I could use, what overclocking software would you recommend (so I can search more efficiently for it on the forum)?

@Reikoku. Yes, good point. The mobo does not have a GPU on board, if that is of any relevance.

@Freakin. Right, thanks. At what times would you have to plug in monitors, only during card setup/initialization or al the time?

@Bitbitcoincoin. The HAF X has 8 expansion slots. One of the reasons I chose it.

A very similar setup to mine. I am going for a 4x5870, same mobo, same cpu, similar PSU. I just wonder why you want to have 8GB ? As I understand, 2GB is more than enough.

I would personally go for 4 x 5870 and 2x 6990 as it would be a good balance in terms of wattage, and, well it just seems to make sense .

Hi guys!

Just wanted to thank you first for this incredible forum. Lots and lots of info and generally good spirit and a lot of brains. I find bitcoin fascinating stuff and after reading for a few days I decided to join the party, realizing that I am a latecomer.

My plan is to bet on two horses: buying and mining, so I have invested equal amounts in bitcoins and equipment. There are many arguments for and against, and it can turn out good or bad. But anyway, I don't really miss the money and the main reason for putting time, money and effort in this is that I see it as a learning opportunity. See if I can manage putting a rig together, configuring a linux system, joining a pool, etc. But also trying to understand the basics of cryptography, OpenCL, etc. It doesn't seem like rocket science (well, except for the cryptography and OpenCL ), and as I said, this forum is awesome in case of problems.

So, this is the stuff that is arriving tomorrow:

4 x XFX 5870
MSI 890FXA-GD70
AMD Sempron 140
2GB DDR3
8GB USB Flash
Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1200W
Cooler Master HAF X

I read a lot about 5830/5850 having the best value for money, but I figured the 5870 is very valuable as well at 150GBP and may yield close to 1.6GHash/s in a single rig, if I can keep it cool enough.

Reason to buy a case is that I need it to be tidy, I just don't like the idea of having loose components lying around. The HAF X actually has great looks so could not really withstand it . The motherboard has been praised by many and I can see why, with the slot spacing.

I do not really have high expectations about this mining being very profitable for me, but at least it feels good to have the hardware. At least, I can let it work for me at times during which it is profitable. I can always get rid of it and I would have had a good time tinkering with it.

I have not been focusing at all on how to setup the software. Is LinuxCoin the easiest to start out with?
Neither have I got any overclocking-experience. I think I'll save that part for later...
I am curious about the noise and heat this is going to generate. I have a separate space for the machine but it gets hot in here during the summer....

Any advice on the 4x5870 setup,  the mining software, etc, is welcome! I might come back with specific questions when I run into them.

I will also try to help out others, despite the very limited knowledge I have at this point!