Questions about building a RIG

[ryuzera]

Hello guys

Nice to meet you all, i'm new in this cryptocoins world.
I've been reading about trade and mining and I will try to do some mining to see if it's profitable or not.

I already have a desktop with the following specs

Power Supply: I dont know the Watts of it but I'm pretty sure that can handle 2 good GPUs
Motherboard: Intel DP965LT - The MB has one PCIe 16x and others 3 PCIe 1x (can I put 4 GPUs on my motherboard using risers ? of course depending on the Power Supply)
Memory: 4GB DDR2
HD: 500gb
Graphic card: That's the poing of it
To get start on mining to see if worth the effort and money, I'm thinking of buying the RADEON RX 470 4GB.

Can you tell me if worth the investment ?

I'm thinking about mining ethereum or zcash with this setup, do you guys think that can be profitable ? and with time if i get some goods results I will increase the numbers of graphic cards.

Thank you

[Vann]

If you can get the cards for ~$200 and don't pay too much for power, I would say it's a pretty low risk investment. The current return timeframe to break even on a $200 RX 570 4GB is ~44 days on ETH and about ~35 days if you dual mine.

https://whattomine.com/merged_coins/1-eth-dcr?utf8=%E2%9C%93&hr_eth=28&fee_eth=3&hr_dcr=750&fee_dcr=1&p=200&cost=0.1&commit=Calculate

On ZEC the timeframe is ~55 days

https://whattomine.com/coins/166-zec-equihash?utf8=%E2%9C%93&hr=290.0&p=200&fee=3&cost=0.1&hcost=200&commit=Calculate

The PSU is the second most important factor in a rig besides the GPU's. You need a good quality gold or better rated PSU that can handle the load and have all the connections you need. A ~$110 EVGA G2 750W or 850W PSU can easily handle up to four cards. The higher efficiency will also save you money in the long run.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438018

That motherboard should be able to handle up to 3-4 cards. The problem with more than two cards in a case is it will be hard to get good airflow to keep the temps in check. If you have more than two cards I would suggest removing the motherboard and building the BBT mining case below out of two 8ft pieces of 1/8" x 3/4" angled aluminum, one 8 ft 1" x 3" piece of pine and #8 1/2" self-tapping screws. The case will fit up to 7 RX 4XX/5XX if you put them about 1 inch apart. The cost of the aluminum angles and screws was ~$35. If you build it out of all wood, the cost would be less than $10. That's a much better design that allows for good airflow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5xNrlxsCVs



The only tools needed were a drill with a 3/32" hex titanium drill bit to drill pilot holes and a #2 phillips screwdriver bit. A hacksaw with a 32 tooth blade and a plastic miter box to cut the aluminum and wood. The case is very sturdy and can support up to 7 GPU's.

BBT also recently uploaded a case build video with a smaller form factor for a four card rig:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n9tgRw_JkM

The benefit of the previous case is it would give you room to expand in the future. Though I would also suggest making the case 1.5" taller from 9 1/4" cuts to 10 3/4" cuts to give you more clearance when using USB risers.

[ryuzera]

Thank you for your  reply.

Dual mine that you are talking about mining is the Claymore that they are talking about in this post https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1433925.0

About the power supply I'm pretty sure that can handle at least for start 2 GPU's, I will check my PSU to be sure if can handle even more GPU's

The RX 470 I can get for around $250 ~ $290, I will buy one and see, it's a little bit expensive here, but I think that it will be profitable anyway

And about the case, I will build one my own.

Your suggestion will be very helpful.

And i'm sorry to ask but do you have any suggestions where to start ? Mining software ? suggestion of pool ?

[reids]

Power Supply: I dont know the Watts of it but I'm pretty sure that can handle 2 good GPUs

Find this out before you do anything else. The rest of the specs of your PC do not seem likely to have a PSU that can handle 2 GPUs.

[Skol600ml]

Famous last words:

"I'm pretty sure there is no bear in that cave"
"You don't have the guts to shoot me"
"I dont know the Watts of it but I'm pretty sure that can handle 2 good GPUs"
"I'ts just a mushroom, that won't kill me"

[ryuzera]

I do have a Geforce GTX 260 896mb 448bit , but I know that can't be used for mining .

When I built this setup years ago it was meant to use 2 GPU's already, but I wasn't in the gaming mode anymore so I didn't bought a second one. But I need to go home to check the real capacity.

And I was at downtown here in my city and I couldn't find any graphic card to mining.

Any suggestions of alternative graphic cards to search in the stores?

I saw on amazon.com RX 470 for around $600,00 it's too much expensive right ?

[jpouza]

I do have a Geforce GTX 260 896mb 448bit , but I know that can't be used for mining .

When I built this setup years ago it was meant to use 2 GPU's already, but I wasn't in the gaming mode anymore so I didn't bought a second one. But I need to go home to check the real capacity.

And I was at downtown here in my city and I couldn't find any graphic card to mining.

Any suggestions of alternative graphic cards to search in the stores?

I saw on amazon.com RX 470 for around $600,00 it's too much expensive right ?

What? 600 USD for an AMD Radeon RX 470?? Is that it? If so, no way expend 600usd on a rx470.

You could also think in some nvidia cards and other algorithms such as Equihash, Lbry...cards like a 1060 or 1070 GTX are also a good choice for the mining operations.

[ryuzera]

I do have a Geforce GTX 260 896mb 448bit , but I know that can't be used for mining .

When I built this setup years ago it was meant to use 2 GPU's already, but I wasn't in the gaming mode anymore so I didn't bought a second one. But I need to go home to check the real capacity.

And I was at downtown here in my city and I couldn't find any graphic card to mining.

Any suggestions of alternative graphic cards to search in the stores?

I saw on amazon.com RX 470 for around $600,00 it's too much expensive right ?

What? 600 USD for an AMD Radeon RX 470?? Is that it? If so, no way expend 600usd on a rx470.

You could also think in some nvidia cards and other algorithms such as Equihash, Lbry...cards like a 1060 or 1070 GTX are also a good choice for the mining operations.

Wow, lol I just bought 2x EVGA 1060 6GB, even before I read your reply.

It's a good choice ?

Hoping the see some profits soon, as per my calc it will take around 3 months to have my ROI.

[jpouza]

It is a good choice, with the proper setup you can get some profit with those Pascal cards, since they can be very low consumption (wattage) cards.

I usually use Nicehash program with multi-algorithm, the only peoples complains are about the big fee they ask, but I like it since it pays me automatically in Bitcoin, that is the most important thing to me.

You can find more info here:

http://www.legitreviews.com/silent-ethereum-mining-evga-geforce-gtx-1060-22-mhs_195529

[reids]

I do have a Geforce GTX 260 896mb 448bit , but I know that can't be used for mining .

When I built this setup years ago it was meant to use 2 GPU's already, but I wasn't in the gaming mode anymore so I didn't bought a second one. But I need to go home to check the real capacity.

And I was at downtown here in my city and I couldn't find any graphic card to mining.

Any suggestions of alternative graphic cards to search in the stores?

I saw on amazon.com RX 470 for around $600,00 it's too much expensive right ?

What? 600 USD for an AMD Radeon RX 470?? Is that it? If so, no way expend 600usd on a rx470.

You could also think in some nvidia cards and other algorithms such as Equihash, Lbry...cards like a 1060 or 1070 GTX are also a good choice for the mining operations.

Wow, lol I just bought 2x EVGA 1060 6GB, even before I read your reply.

It's a good choice ?

Hoping the see some profits soon, as per my calc it will take around 3 months to have my ROI.

You are for sure going to fry your psu unless you check that asap

[ryuzera]

I just checked

My PSU is https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Akasa/Venom_Power_550W/3.html

According to whattomine 2 of them needs 180W, with one HD 500gb plus a Core2Quad processor.

I believe that can handle the job, or I'm wrong ?

[QuintLeo]

Your power supply should handle 2 x GTX 1060 without issues.

 More than that will probably be a problem, it only seems to have 2 x PCI-E power connectors.