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NoahWL1 (OP)
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June 06, 2015, 01:57:46 AM |
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I can't afford an S5 right now and I'm not completely in this for the money, mostly fun. So I was thinking of getting 2 Antminer S3s off eBay for around $90 each, maybe cheaper, and then pick up the power supply listed below to power the two. It has four PCI-e connectors and supplies 744 watts of power on the 12 volt rail, so I believe it will be sufficient. However, I don't want to make any mistakes, as I've made many regarding PSUs before. Would this power supply be able to run 2 Antminer S3s at stock speeds? Thanks. Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139106&cm_re=Corsair_TX750-_-17-139-106-_-ProductNewegg is out of stock of them, but I can find them elsewhere. Thanks for your help. |
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NoahWL1 (OP)
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June 06, 2015, 02:08:22 AM |
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I'll check that out, thanks for the tip. Will borderline make the cut? Would it be an issue? I restart my miners every day or so, so maybe it won't matter then? |
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NoahWL1 (OP)
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June 06, 2015, 02:34:48 AM |
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Not sure why I didn't think of going with an 850w PSU... As if those didn't exist or something. Anyways, I think this would work fine. I've seen many say they can run 2 S3s off a 750w, so 850w should provide plenty of headroom. Still, I'd love your guys' opinions. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139022 |
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rkinnin
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June 06, 2015, 02:43:05 AM |
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I have two s3's running on a tx-750 BUT ......I do no overclock them. I run them stock. .....since late winter, all good. I do not reboot unless the chips X out. ......rare. |
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NoahWL1 (OP)
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June 06, 2015, 02:44:57 AM |
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I have two s3's running on a tx-750 BUT ......I do no overclock them. I run them stock. .....since late winter, all good. I do not reboot unless the chips X out. ......rare. Alright, that sounds good. I think I'll go with an 850w for a bit of overclocking headroom for the winter. Not much, but at least some. Thanks for the info! |
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alh
Legendary
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Activity: 1850
Merit: 1055
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June 06, 2015, 07:26:20 AM |
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My thinking is that the PSU is the LAST place to skimp on money. In general it can be used in the future with new mining hardware, or for some other use. If it's a high quality PSU it will hold it's resale value way better than the mining hardware. Solid fitting PCIe connectors and 16AWG wire is a winning combination. I would also never push the PSU beyond 90% of it's rated load on an ongoing basis. Anytime anything is marginal with the "power supply chain" (i.e. PSU, AC input, connectors, and cables), you can fight all kinds of "gremlins". In my opinion saving money on the PSU is "penny wise, pound foolish".
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quakefiend420
Legendary
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Activity: 784
Merit: 1000
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June 06, 2015, 07:58:15 AM |
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I have two s3's running on a tx-750 BUT ......I do no overclock them. I run them stock. .....since late winter, all good. I do not reboot unless the chips X out. ......rare. Alright, that sounds good. I think I'll go with an 850w for a bit of overclocking headroom for the winter. Not much, but at least some. Thanks for the info! See the link in my sig for reasonably priced miner PSUs with platinum efficiency!  |
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rkinnin
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June 06, 2015, 12:41:06 PM |
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I have two s3's running on a tx-750 BUT ......I do no overclock them. I run them stock. .....since late winter, all good. I do not reboot unless the chips X out. ......rare. Alright, that sounds good. I think I'll go with an 850w for a bit of overclocking headroom for the winter. Not much, but at least some. Thanks for the info! it wasn't a choice i wanted to make using the tx-750 but I needed a psu in a pinch and our local Best Buy was the only source. Thankfully it was on sale ....the downside is that it was the largest size they had. I have continued to use it but plan to look at the bitmain psu's next. would love some real opinions on it the bitmain psu, not arguments as the other thread has turned into. |
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NoahWL1 (OP)
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June 06, 2015, 02:36:51 PM |
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My thinking is that the PSU is the LAST place to skimp on money. In general it can be used in the future with new mining hardware, or for some other use. If it's a high quality PSU it will hold it's resale value way better than the mining hardware. Solid fitting PCIe connectors and 16AWG wire is a winning combination. I would also never push the PSU beyond 90% of it's rated load on an ongoing basis. Anytime anything is marginal with the "power supply chain" (i.e. PSU, AC input, connectors, and cables), you can fight all kinds of "gremlins". In my opinion saving money on the PSU is "penny wise, pound foolish".
I'll keep that in mind, thank you. I don't think I'd ever sell a PSU as I have a lot of places to use it (even a low powered one) but it would be nice to not have to buy a new one for the next set of miners... I'll keep looking, thanks. |
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sidehack
Legendary
Offline
Activity: 3416
Merit: 1865
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
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June 06, 2015, 03:24:04 PM |
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It's hard to go wrong with server PSUs, like I, Quakefiend420, Jabberwocky and pmorici sell. You can find anything from 750W to almost 3KW between us.
16AWG cabling is a definite requirement for anything you're looking at pulling more than about 150W per cable. If "the Bitmain PSU" means the 1600W thing they're selling, it's only got 18AWG wiring so not rated for the 300W loads you might see with some miners. Probably okay for running S3 off a single cable per board but not if you want to overclock. A good 750W server PSU should handle two overclocked S3, a 1200W would handle 3 easily and just going up from there.
One benefit from using server PSUs with breakout boards is user-defined cabling. You're not limited to the wires the manufacturer thought you'd need. You can get what you want, and there are plenty of options even within this forum for wire gauges, lengths, termination styles and such. And then in the event that your PSU fails (which server PSUs tend to be more sturdy and reliable than consumer-grade ATX, though there are a few very solid ATX models with comparable reliability and efficiency), you need only a replacement PSU because the breakout board and cabling are all still good. If you have a spare PSU on hand already, it'd take about ten seconds to swap it in instead of however long it'd take to undo the octopus of wiring from an ATX and reconnect the octopus for the replacement. Makes things a lot easier.
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NoahWL1 (OP)
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June 06, 2015, 03:41:17 PM |
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It's hard to go wrong with server PSUs, like I, Quakefiend420, Jabberwocky and pmorici sell. You can find anything from 750W to almost 3KW between us.
16AWG cabling is a definite requirement for anything you're looking at pulling more than about 150W per cable. If "the Bitmain PSU" means the 1600W thing they're selling, it's only got 18AWG wiring so not rated for the 300W loads you might see with some miners. Probably okay for running S3 off a single cable per board but not if you want to overclock. A good 750W server PSU should handle two overclocked S3, a 1200W would handle 3 easily and just going up from there.
One benefit from using server PSUs with breakout boards is user-defined cabling. You're not limited to the wires the manufacturer thought you'd need. You can get what you want, and there are plenty of options even within this forum for wire gauges, lengths, termination styles and such. And then in the event that your PSU fails (which server PSUs tend to be more sturdy and reliable than consumer-grade ATX, though there are a few very solid ATX models with comparable reliability and efficiency), you need only a replacement PSU because the breakout board and cabling are all still good. If you have a spare PSU on hand already, it'd take about ten seconds to swap it in instead of however long it'd take to undo the octopus of wiring from an ATX and reconnect the octopus for the replacement. Makes things a lot easier.
I was looking into some server grade PSUs but I was also sort of staying away from them because of my inexperience with them. Personally finding a PSU with enough power, connectors, and even replacement is easy enough for me. But server PSUs are made for running at full tilt constantly so maybe one of those would be better. They're a lot cheaper, too, from what I've seen. |
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