Constructing a Mining Rig Questions

[cryptopi]

I would like to get into mining for the first time and since I have surplus cash on hand that I don't mind losing, the best way seemed to be by building a dedicated mining rig with GPUs (please correct me if I am mistaken in thinking that). I would really appreciate any advice anyone could give me with regard to the construction of my new rig because I am a total noob . Even though I am new at this, I believe I have a basic idea with reagards to what I want my rig to contain:

• between 4 and 8 7970 GPUs (would like some advice regarding this
• either a standard i7 or the i7 hexcore special edition CPU
• intel SSD (of any size that I choose, betwen 50 and 500 GB)
• a PSU of some kind
• a case of some kind
• a motherboard of some kind (please tell me which one)
• a network card of some kind
• a sound card of some kind
• 16 GB of DDR3 RAM

That is about all I know . Can anyone please point me to a good guide/tell me any other parts I will need/advise me on the parts I have already selected in the list above (especially tell me which motherboard/sound card/network card I wil need)?

Any input at all would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[southerngentuk]

If you really want to do this then I recommend

Raspberry PI
10 port Hub
x no. block erupters

You probably be wasting your money and will not make ROI, but it may satisfy your urge.

or

Wait a couple of months and start with some Klondike K1`s, you may just get your money back then.  

You need to read  a lot more before you continue.

A basic calculator for estimating yield http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator (note: does not allow for increase in difficulty)

[btceic]

I concur, I spent $1500.00 just a few months ago and now wish I would have spent that money on BTC to purchase some ASICs or at least FPGA's.

We are in an awkward time, tons of money coming into the ecosystem but we all have to be patient and wait for ASIC's anything else is a waist of time imo.

Seriously do yourself a favor and don't waste your money.

[Trongersoll]

Yes, you could use GPUs if you are just playing. but really, ASIC based miners are really the way to go currently. If you can buy bitcoins you can buy ASIC miners at current prices, otherwise there is eBay. the 333 Kh/s Erupters are going for about $150 on eBay, about 1 BTC through group buys. Even they are considered expensive for what they do. you can see here what to expect from GPUs:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

Any PC can host, the Raspberry Pi is just cheap to run. in your list, 16 gig is over kill, if the computer is only mining, 2 gig is plenty. If you run Linux, just about any SSD would do even 32 Gig is enough. Heck, an 8 gig USB stick would work.

When it comes to mining everyone is looking for ways to reduce cost because once you start mining the setup you have will make a little less roughtly every 10 days due to increase in difficulty. so if you don't keep increasing your hash rate you will fall behind. it is kind of a arms race. Cost of your Elec. is even a significant factor which is why people are giving up on GPUs. ASICs use very little Elec.

Also, most motherboards have sound on them no need for a sound card. MBs also network hardware built in. Intel i7 is over kill as well. A Celeron or AMD Semperon <sp> will do the job as well.

[cryptopi]

I would like to build a gpu rig for two reasons, the first of which is gpus have an excellent resale value because they are multipurpose while fpga and asic units are more only bitcoin and the second of which is I would like to mine altcurrencies and not bitcoin.


Thanks

[Trillium]

Your list of parts looks like a gaming pc gone scrypt mining rig. The problem here is that if you are just going to use it for mining you've spend probably $1000 extra on stuff you don't need.

For example, that CPU is total overkill... people here use i3's i5's celerons or the AMD equivalents because they're cheap and because mining isn't CPU intensive.

SSD? Why? Just use an old 40 GB HDD or even a 500 GB from the sale bin at your local computer store ($20 - 30?).

You need to minimize your capital so that you can see ROI sooner rather than later. You should be operating your mining rigs like it's a business especially if you have invested $1000's in it only for the purpose of mining cryptocoins.

As for the PSU and motherboard there are plenty of threads on this forum about good hardware to use. Just use the search and browse the mining sections of the forum.

[jeannie]

If you really want to do this then I recommend

Raspberry PI
10 port Hub
x no. block erupters

You probably be wasting your money and will not make ROI, but it may satisfy your urge.

or

Wait a couple of months and start with some Klondike K1`s, you may just get your money back then.  

You need to read  a lot more before you continue.

A basic calculator for estimating yield http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator (note: does not allow for increase in difficulty)

Where are you able to get those eruptors?

[Trillium]

Where are you able to get those eruptors?

The group buy subforum?

[Trongersoll]

I would like to build a gpu rig for two reasons, the first of which is gpus have an excellent resale value because they are multipurpose while fpga and asic units are more only bitcoin and the second of which is I would like to mine altcurrencies and not bitcoin.


Thanks

you should have mentioned altcurrencies in your initial post. Since this is a Bitcoin forum, of course we assumed that you were intent on mining bitcoins. I haven't a clue about alt coins, listen to Trillian, she seems to know her stuff.