Need advise on mining components

[Betsinski]

Hello guys,

I’m new to the community but I really like the idea.

Anyway I need your advice on something I was thinking about.

So my idea is instead of building a rig from scratch, I will try to use what I already have for start.

My desktop currently is:
Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6
DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo E6550, 2333 MHz (7 x 333)
Asus HD 5770 CuCore
NeoTech 80plus 520W PSU

I currently get about 150 MHash/s which is just ridiculously low.
If I buy 2x Ti HD5850, 1GB, Sapphire Vapor-X by my calculations I will receive about 500 MHash/s
But there are 2 things that are bothering me. First I don’t think my power supply can handle these VGAs and second my motherboard doesn’t support Crossfire. About the last one IMO will not affect mining performance since I can just use different miner for each card. What do you think about that ?

So my calculations are – 2 x $288 = $576 and let’s say $150 for a PSU = $726 just for 3 components

What do you think about this ?

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation!

[1714179791]

1714179791

[Betsinski]

And also another question. Which is better 5830 or 5850 ? Or is 5870 worth the money ? Ohh god im very confused 

[hamczu]

You will receive about 700MHash/s if you overclock them a little bit.
My 2x5850 (960/300) make about 700 stable and 750 at peak.

about buying hardware:
just calculate which card would first earn money for itselt
that's why im my local market (Poland) buying 5850 is most profitable purchase
5850: 350 Hhash/s / 200 $ = 1,75 Mhash/s/$
5870: 420 Hhash/s / 327 $ = 1,28 Mhash/s/$

[wigsgiw]

Hi!

1) 150MH/s isn't ridiculously low, there are likely to be plenty of people around who throw less than that at it and are quite happy doing so.
2) No, you probably can't handle those cards with that power supply. Probably 850W+, but the brand quality is also very important. Read reviews.
3) If fortunate, you can get around 500MH/s with 2 5830's: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison, if you aren't afraid of overclocking. They're also about half the price of 5850's ($230 vs $110, from a glance on NewEgg; I'm not from the US - your prices seem high). But with a decent enough powersupply and fortunate chips, you could get ~700MH/s if you did spring for 5850's.
4) From what I understand, crossfire doesn't matter for mining - and is better without.

Really, it comes down to how much money you are willing to throw at this, given the ever-increasing difficulty. If you just want to get started and have a tinker with lower risk, buy one card, and skip the power supply. It is unlikely that you'll see any serious return on any investment at this stage - so just keep that balance in mind.

Or you could always just get one card, and stick with your 5770 as well...

[JayC]

You should be getting 200+ Mh/s out of a 5770...  You should spend sometime tweaking the settings and learning how to get the most out of your card(s) before spending money on new cards.

[Betsinski]

Thank you for the answers

@JayC OCed core at 950 MHz gives me 170+ but the temperature is too high - 82C and I want to keep it <80. Maybe if i improve the airflow inside the box i will be able to keep the core at 950MHz 24/7 but still the difference is not that big...


I'm not from US either. I'm from Bulgaria, Eastern Europe and here local dealers sell 5850 for $288 That's why im currently looking to buy used card and a power supply. And... yeah maybe I will stick with my 5770 + hopefully 5850 as this will be the cheapest mining upgrade.

[wigsgiw]

I'm not from US either. I'm from Bulgaria, Eastern Europe and here local dealers sell 5850 for $288 That's why im currently looking to buy used card and a power supply. And... yeah maybe I will stick with my 5770 + hopefully 5850 as this will be the cheapest mining upgrade.

Then def have a look at the 5830 and see if the price is lower I'd say - either way with 2 cards I fear that you'll need to get a new power supply regardless.

[Betsinski]

@wigsgiw 5830 is 8$ cheaper than 5850 - 280$

@JayC I just managed to get 190MHash/s but a core temp of 85C is way too high

[Aqualung]

@wigsgiw 5830 is 8$ cheaper than 5850 - 280$

strange... i bought 5830 for 126$ here in Russia and i can't find 5850 in shops... only 6850's

[wol-va-rine]

Thank you for the answers

@JayC OCed core at 950 MHz gives me 170+ but the temperature is too high - 82C and I want to keep it <80. Maybe if i improve the airflow inside the box i will be able to keep the core at 950MHz 24/7 but still the difference is not that big...


I'm not from US either. I'm from Bulgaria, Eastern Europe and here local dealers sell 5850 for $288 That's why im currently looking to buy used card and a power supply. And... yeah maybe I will stick with my 5770 + hopefully 5850 as this will be the cheapest mining upgrade.

1. your motherboard DOES support crossfire, why do you think it doesn't...? X38 is an Intel chipset, Intel chipsets = crossfire, Nvidia chipsets = SLI, but yeah, you don't NEED crossfire in this case...

2. you don't need an 850w PSU for crossfire, a good quality 550w to 650w will be fine, something like a Corsair TX650, the key with PSUs is the quality, a reputable brand will usually output the rated wattage, a crappy cheap brand will usually not output the advertised wattage...

3. add this to the end of your command line and your MH/s should jump over 200+  " -v -w 256 ", without the quotes of course, with that you should be able to lower your OC some and still get a decent MH/s, also, if you're not, set your fan to 100%...

5850s seem to be the sweet spot for mining and I think the vendors are catching onto this, you know, the whole supply and demand thing, prices seem to actually be going up on 5850s instead of going down on them like it should with an older card, the 5850 also uses less power than a 5830, even though the 5830 is the least expensive of the three 5800 series cards, it actually uses about as much power as a 5870 but gives you half the hashes, so in the long run the 5850 is the best card by far of the three...

I run my 5850 at 925/500 and get 330+ MH/s, this is my main miner on my kids' computer so it mines about 20 hrs a day, I need another card quick though, my other card is a 4890 and it uses a lot of power, runs very hot (shadercore runs at 100°+) and only pulls 90+ MH/s, not very efficient at all, even a 5830 would be an improvement...  

[wigsgiw]

@wigsgiw 5830 is 8$ cheaper than 5850 - 280$

Woah! Decision made. In terms of the two cards - you could always run two power supplies, meaning you have the option of getting a cheaper / lower wattage power supply to run the 5770 maybe, and then use your 525W for the 5850... perhaps.

[wol-va-rine]

@wigsgiw 5830 is 8$ cheaper than 5850 - 280$

Woah! Decision made. In terms of the two cards - you could always run two power supplies, meaning you have the option of getting a cheaper / lower wattage power supply to run the 5770 maybe, and then use your 525W for the 5850... perhaps.

yeah, that is just crazy, here in the states a 5830 is about $110 (a sale just ended on a Sapphire 5830 for $90) while a 5850 is around $160...

[wol-va-rine]

@wigsgiw 5830 is 8$ cheaper than 5850 - 280$

strange... i bought 5830 for 126$ here in Russia and i can't find 5850 in shops... only 6850's

IIRC a 6850 is just a rebadge of the 5850, except it uses less power, it might not overclock as well and may have a few less shaders from what I've read, it should still be almost as good as a 5850 for mining though...

[Aqualung]

IIRC a 6850 is just a rebadge of the 5850, except it uses less power, it might not overclock as well and may have a few less shaders from what I've read, it should still be almost as good as a 5850 for mining though...

but it's not) according to the hardware compare table... in fact 6850 looks like slower than 5830)

[Betsinski]

Hmm 6850 is 240$ here and btw im currently looking at 149$ Sapphire 5850 but unfortunatelly they ship only to US

[wol-va-rine]

IIRC a 6850 is just a rebadge of the 5850, except it uses less power, it might not overclock as well and may have a few less shaders from what I've read, it should still be almost as good as a 5850 for mining though...

but it's not) according to the hardware compare table... in fact 6850 looks like slower than 5830)

yeah, just saw that, I guess what I read was wrong, the amount of shaders on that card is pitiful...lol, the problem is that 5850s are hard to find for a decent price right now (at least here in the states), the 5830 is cheap and performs well, but it's a power hog, if you're gonna use that much powah you might as well spend the extra, get a 5870 and almost double your MH/s too...

[JayC]

@wigsgiw 5830 is 8$ cheaper than 5850 - 280$

@JayC I just managed to get 190MHash/s but a core temp of 85C is way too high

Something is wrong with your airflow then...  I'm getting 212 Mh/s out of a 5770 in a dual card config, one is 58C and the other 67C.

Have you underclocked the memory down to 300mhz?  What software are you using?  SDK version?