New rig! Some software and hardware questions?

[ollebolls]

Hello everyone!

I've been thinking of building two rigs both of which will use 7990 for GPU mining.
I'm looking for advise on the following

* Linux/Windows?
- I am thinking of Linux since I am much more used with it and I wanted to run the OS from a thumb drive. Any thoughts? I also find it easier to administrate with just using SSH etc.

* MSI/Sapphire/Asus?
- Will it matter? What is better on win/linux?

* PSU? 1200W or will 1000W be enough?
- I'm thinking of 1000W, but unsure

* Alternating pools or just one pool, any tips on alternating pools such as multipool.us?
- Unsure if alternating pools are the way to go..

The rigs will be built without chassis and placed in a cold cellar. I dont think I will be using water cooling.

Thank you for all your help!

/O

[ZCrumpet]

Great questions.  I'm working on building a rig as well (components are being shipped!) and found the guides here http://www.coinminingrigs.com to be helpful.  A number of the components are hard to find at reasonable prices presently.

Linux OS from thumb drive would work just fine

I've seen warnings to stay away from the XFX, HIS, and Powercolor brands but the others (MSI, Gigabyte, Sapphire) seem to be acceptable.

The PSU will depend on what GPU you end up going with, and how many.  Use a chart like this one https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AlhSF602y9DSdHRneWVZcjJLWmhjaVBMTHVCR3l4eHc&toomany=true to determine the total Watts needed for your card(s) and then select the appropriate PSU.

I'm also up in the air on which pool or type of pool.  With many of the alt coins being more lucrative than litecoin presently in addition to the very dynamic nature of these markets, I'm personally leaning toward a multipool like [Suspicious link removed].  You can check out recent profits here [Suspicious link removed]/profits.html[/url]

[ollebolls]

Thanks man, but your links got censored. Could you post them again?

[ming08108]

Hello everyone!

I've been thinking of building two rigs both of which will use 7990 for GPU mining.
I'm looking for advise on the following

* Linux/Windows?
- I am thinking of Linux since I am much more used with it and I wanted to run the OS from a thumb drive. Any thoughts? I also find it easier to administrate with just using SSH etc.

Linux definitely you get more khs too.

* MSI/Sapphire/Asus?
- Will it matter? What is better on win/linux?

Probably does not matter, just read reviews on each of the cards and get a long warranty.

* PSU? 1200W or will 1000W be enough?
- I'm thinking of 1000W, but unsure

PSU's are most efficient at about 40-60% load higher can save you money in the long run.

* Alternating pools or just one pool, any tips on alternating pools such as multipool.us?
- Unsure if alternating pools are the way to go..

Depends what you think the future value of some coins are going to be. Also alt pools have very high variance in profits.

The rigs will be built without chassis and placed in a cold cellar. I dont think I will be using water cooling.

Thank you for all your help!

/O

[roundrobin]

Linux or Windows? - the *NIX/BSDs have the benefit of easily being administrated over SSH, as you say.

PSU 1200 or 1000W? - I'm running a 7990 on a 900W PSU. Works just fine as PSUs today are made to be able to CONSTANTLY SUSTAIN the wattage they are rated for, and the 7990 draws well under 900W.

[ollebolls]

Thank you all for the answers.

What flavor of Linux do you recommend? What will work the best?
Would you recommend running it on USB?

Thanks once again!