BlockBurner's first mining machine is in the works, built with budget and utility in mind as our master plan unfolds. Not content to have some hacked together mess of GPUs and wires on a baker's rack like many GPU miners out there, I wanted a custom solution. Because I've always been a builder and computer modder, I'm going to have a little fun with it too by scratch building an optimal case instead of off the rack, because why the hell not. My partner has dubbed our dedicated mining rig "
Garden Party".
True enough, in a few months ASIC will begin a strong ground campaign that will put rigs like this into the ground for Bitcoin, though when those ASICs will be around in quantity is anyone's guess, so GPU mining is still the only way for the vast majority of us. Though later when ASICs do take over (eagerly awaiting our Butterfly Labs SC line to ship in), GPUs will find a new home in minting other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin as nothing close to ASIC type specialty hardware exists for them yet. The goal here is to create a solid rig that can perform well in all mining types.
Gigabyte AM3+ motherboard with 4x PCIe x16 slots, and a Silverstone 850w power supply to feed those hungry GPUs. Processor is a humble Sempron 145 as it won't be doing much more than running the mining programs coupled with 2Gb of bottom barrel GSkill DDR3 memory. I may increase this soon just because it is cheap, and possibly running a CryptoStore virtual machine. The VM would be better suited to run off of a proper server, but we're not there yet...
The frame will be made out of L aluminum stock found at most hardware stores
Just enough space for the essentials and cooling via several 120mm fans. The power supply I have decided will actually be mounted right over the CPU, giving more room for front fan intakes up front.<a
The outer casing will be made from 1/4 smoked acrylic plastic, that looks like this. The outer sides will have another plate we will see a little later.
After some liberal use of the table saw, all sides cut for the outer case. More to come soon, and a CNC table router will be involved.
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