Help me build my Ether-GPU-Rig

[igotBAWS]

Dear Mining-Professionals, please help me setup my mining Rig!

I want to make a 4x GPU Mining Rig. As i am a fan of cryptocoins for some time now, i think it's time to get that mining-feeling. For this, i want to build a rig which is not losing me money. I pay about 10 cent per kwJ.

So help me make a Shopping List! Here is what i have found, that needs to be bought:

• 4x r9 280x (AMD HD 7970)
• 1x Motherboard: maybe ASRock+H97+Anniversary -> for future GPU
• 8gb ram of the cheapest/used RAM (enogh?)
• 1x Power Supply: Corsair 850W (enough?!) - or maybe 2x 750W for 4x GPUs 1000W for 4x GPU
• 1x cheapest SSD possible
• 4x PCI Extender?!
• 4x Powered Risers - PCIe x1-x16
• 1x CPU: Something like this: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00B4NZYRQ?keywords=Intel%20Celeron%20Dualcore%20CPU&qid=1454876953&
• Any special cooling needed?!

Please tell me how to improve that shopping list. Maybe this list will help more people, who want to start mine some coin.

Thank you in advance!

Edit: Making List items in green, when someone approves them or i have made up my mind.

[techcoin12]

go with R9 390 or better ... 280x are becoming aged.

PSU should be 1000watt or better , i always bought 1200watts back in the day for 4 cards to be safe...YMMV

usb extenders are the new way to go ... but i have no exp. with them ... i am sure others can lend a little advice on them.
good luck

[JuanHungLo]

go with R9 390 or better ... 280x are becoming aged.

PSU should be 1000watt or better , i always bought 1200watts back in the day for 4 cards to be safe...YMMV

usb extenders are the new way to go ... but i have no exp. with them ... i am sure others can lend a little advice on them.
good luck

I recommend no less than 1200 watts gold rated 80 power supply.  My 7970's x 4 average 950watts at the wall for ETH. 
1200x.8 = 960.

[westseat]

If you under volatage the 7970 to 0.95v for the core voltage, 860MHz/1250  MHz for the core/memory frequency, 850W is enough. Otherwise you have to use 1000W power supply at least.

[JuanHungLo]

If you under volatage the 7970 to 0.95v for the core voltage, 860MHz/1250  MHz for the core/memory frequency, 850W is enough. Otherwise you have to use 1000W power supply at least.

Depends on the GPU.  My XFX's can't be undervolted past 1.125 or they lock up.  The Sapphires and Gigabytes can.

[igotBAWS]

Thank you for all the replies!

About the GPU, the r9 390 (no X) is two times the price of the r9 280x. Are you speculating, that the 280x wont be able to mine soon? What i see, the 280x can mine at 25Mh/s. And the 390 is getting about 30MHs.

Are you experiencing different values?

Edit: After checking out, that most Motherboards are offering 5 Slots i think of going 5x R9 280x. Will a 1300W Supply be enough?

[RustyNoman]

go with R9 390 or better ... 280x are becoming aged.

PSU should be 1000watt or better , i always bought 1200watts back in the day for 4 cards to be safe...YMMV

usb extenders are the new way to go ... but i have no exp. with them ... i am sure others can lend a little advice on them.
good luck

If you wan to mine Ethereum only. 280x is the best card. It is more efficient than R9 390 or higher graphics cards.

[Greenenergy]

You should use GTX 970 because of their low power consumption. However, I would not recommend you to start mining Ethereum now, it's too late, because the difficulty is rising really quickly.

[bluebox]

You should use GTX 970 because of their low power consumption.

Agreed, unless OP is looking to recover all h/w investment and isn't concerned about power cost. Then again, a 4-way 970 SLI 3-monitor rig would be killer running Project Cars occasionally, so there are other benefits...

However, I would not recommend you to start mining Ethereum now, it's too late, because the difficulty is rising really quickly.

When I started mining ETH ~5 weeks ago, the difficulty was ~10K; it's now over 12K, and I haven't seen a dip in production. Solo mining might be better for a hash rate over 100MH/s, but in the long run a good stratum pool might be more of a sure thing IMHO.

Also, a dual core Celeron will likely not be sufficient for 4x GPU's of any kind, hyperthreaded or not; need at least one thread/physical core (4-core proc). An Athlon might get you there for the same price.

Probably gonna take a few months of solid mining to recoup most of that rig's cost (given current $5USD/ETH)...  

[Greenenergy]

You should use GTX 970 because of their low power consumption.

Agreed, unless OP is looking to recover all h/w investment and isn't concerned about power cost. Then again, a 4-way 970 SLI 3-monitor rig would be killer running Project Cars occasionally, so there are other benefits...

However, I would not recommend you to start mining Ethereum now, it's too late, because the difficulty is rising really quickly.

When I started mining ETH ~5 weeks ago, the difficulty was ~10K; it's now over 12K, and I haven't seen a dip in production. Solo mining might be better for a hash rate over 100MH/s, but in the long run a good stratum pool might be more of a sure thing IMHO.

Also, a dual core Celeron will likely not be sufficient for 4x GPU's of any kind, hyperthreaded or not; need at least one thread/physical core (4-core proc). An Athlon might get you there for the same price.

Probably gonna take a few months of solid mining to recoup most of that rig's cost (given current $5USD/ETH)...  

So you would recommend him to mine anyway ? What would be better for him, pool or solo ? Pool is easier I think. I don't know the other pools, but I'd recommend him Suprnova, because every time I mined for fun (it never brang me a penny of profit ), this was where I went.

[Narosya]

Also, a dual core Celeron will likely not be sufficient for 4x GPU's of any kind, hyperthreaded or not; need at least one thread/physical core (4-core proc). An Athlon might get you there for the same price.

Probably gonna take a few months of solid mining to recoup most of that rig's cost (given current $5USD/ETH)...  

For a dual core Celeron, it is fine to do the mine itself as the mining is done by the GPU. But it take long time to initialize.

[JuanHungLo]

Also, a dual core Celeron will likely not be sufficient for 4x GPU's of any kind, hyperthreaded or not; need at least one thread/physical core (4-core proc). An Athlon might get you there for the same price.

Probably gonna take a few months of solid mining to recoup most of that rig's cost (given current $5USD/ETH)...  

For a dual core Celeron, it is fine to do the mine itself as the mining is done by the GPU. But it take long time to initialize.

Yeah, the processor doesn't matter.  Most of my ETH mining is on rigs with AMD single core Sempron 145s.  I see no difference with them and my rigs that have much, much faster processors.

[bluebox]

So you would recommend him to mine anyway ? What would be better for him, pool or solo ? Pool is easier I think. I don't know the other pools, but I'd recommend him Suprnova, because every time I mined for fun (it never brang me a penny of profit ), this was where I went.

I never recommend mining unless you know the rules of CryptoFight Club...  

A GPU rig is a GPU rig, good for certain algos only. As long as the assumption is that you could "get into mining" and end up with very little — or nothing at all — in the end.

For starters a pool would be the best thing, some pools are better than others, but that's up to individual trial/error. I've always thought solo mining should be a second step once familiar initially mining in a pool. Suprnova, Coinotron, others well known are fine to start, ymmv on some than others.

First thing to do is have a plan, stick with it, and ignore forum FUD otherwise you'll get nowhere fast.

BTW dual-core is ok, I was thinking RAM, sorry — 8GB w/dual core is fine, 1GB wouldn't be.

[Greenenergy]

So you would recommend him to mine anyway ? What would be better for him, pool or solo ? Pool is easier I think. I don't know the other pools, but I'd recommend him Suprnova, because every time I mined for fun (it never brang me a penny of profit ), this was where I went.

I never recommend mining unless you know the rules of CryptoFight Club...  

A GPU rig is a GPU rig, good for certain algos only. As long as the assumption is that you could "get into mining" and end up with very little — or nothing at all — in the end.

For starters a pool would be the best thing, some pools are better than others, but that's up to individual trial/error. I've always thought solo mining should be a second step once familiar initially mining in a pool. Suprnova, Coinotron, others well known are fine to start, ymmv on some than others.

First thing to do is have a plan, stick with it, and ignore forum FUD otherwise you'll get nowhere fast.

BTW dual-core is ok, I was thinking RAM, sorry — 8GB w/dual core is fine, 1GB wouldn't be.

That's why I went at Suprnova, for the ease of use. Unlike the other pools, this one keep your earning in a wallet maintenaid by the pool, while the others do an auto-payout for each ETH mined.