Yet Another Beginner Rig Thread

[bleedkira]

Hey guys, new to mining, have been thinking about building a dedicated rig.

Antec Three Hundred
ASRock 870 EXTREME3
AMD Athlon II X2 255 @ 3.1ghz
GSKill 2gb (2x1gb) DDR3 1333
WD 320gb 7200RPM
2x SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5830
Diablotek 750W PSU

All this totals only $551.91 on newegg with shipping. Is there anywhere I could cut back and save money? Also, is it reasonable to assume I could pull 350Mhash/s from this setup?

[RyNinDaCleM]

Drop the case, and get a better PSU!

[SgtSpike]

At stock speeds, with little or no optimization or overclock, a 5830 will pull 220MH/s.  So that setup will give you at least 440MH/s.

Drop it to 1GB of ram and a single-core Sempron processor to save money if you're really desperate.  Also, I think cheaper hard drives can be had.  The PSU I'm not familiar with, but if it has good ratings on newegg, it's probably ok.

Are you forgetting about an OS?  Or are you using linux?  Or do you already have a Windows license?

EDIT:  And yes, get a different case.  There's some good $20 specials on newegg that would work just fine...

[bleedkira]

Drop the case, and get a better PSU!

Having no case is not an option for me, so do you have a suggestion for a more cost effective one?

At stock speeds, with little or no optimization or overclock, a 5830 will pull 220MH/s.  So that setup will give you at least 440MH/s.

Drop it to 1GB of ram and a single-core Sempron processor to save money if you're really desperate.  Also, I think cheaper hard drives can be had.  The PSU I'm not familiar with, but if it has good ratings on newegg, it's probably ok.

Are you forgetting about an OS?  Or are you using linux?  Or do you already have a Windows license?

EDIT:  And yes, get a different case.  There's some good $20 specials on newegg that would work just fine...

If I drop it to a single core / 1gb RAM I feel like I'd have to go with a linux distro and when I was last running linux ATI driver support was pretty crappy compared to Windows. Has this changed? If it has, I'll definitely drop down on the hardware and get my lovely arch running on it instead of my planned Win7.

[SgtSpike]

Windows 7 will run fine on 1GB of ram and a single core sempron.

I don't know enough about linux to answer your question regarding drivers, etc.  All I know is, many people are successfully mining in linux, and usually at slightly faster speeds than in Windows.

[bleedkira]

I'll have to look into it, but I'd love to run linux on it instead of Windows. Thanks for your input.

[FooDSt4mP]

Windows 7 will run fine on 1GB of ram and a single core sempron.

I don't know enough about linux to answer your question regarding drivers, etc.  All I know is, many people are successfully mining in linux, and usually at slightly faster speeds than in Windows.

Mining on linux with ATI works fantastically.

[bleedkira]

Alright, after changing to sempron, 1gb, and a cheaper case it's only $480 shipped Thanks a lot for the input.

[jme621]

Alright, after changing to sempron, 1gb, and a cheaper case it's only $480 shipped Thanks a lot for the input.

i got a nice airy, roomy case from local place for ten bucks, might check in your town if you have local shops first to save even more. granted its not the best looking case but plenty of room for mobo and dual cards and stuff.

[CubedRoot]

Windows 7 will run fine on 1GB of ram and a single core sempron.

I don't know enough about linux to answer your question regarding drivers, etc.  All I know is, many people are successfully mining in linux, and usually at slightly faster speeds than in Windows.

Mining on linux with ATI works fantastically.

I can concur with this statement. I am running 3 5850's in my rig. Running Ubuntu, and getting a solid 1 gigahash/sec with this setup, and its stable.  I am using the Antec 300 case and its a very good case with good ventilation. My 3 cards will stay around 60c in it. The most I have ever seen it get to is about 70c on one of the cards.  I have the GPU fans set to run at 80% and the 2 case fans are running at their highest speeds.

Oh, if you are going to use PCIe Extenders, you will need to modify the case a little.  I just riveted some 1/2" aluminum C-channel above the stock PCI card mounts.  This let me mount the PCI cards on the C-channel a little higher than normal and leave room for the PCIe extenders to plug in.  I have also been thinking of putting a 4th card in this rig using more C-channel to mount it in the void space above the northbridge

Have fun with the new rig!  

[Maxxx]

I use the test bench style like in my sig below for a case but it sounds like you found a cheap one that works. My dual 5850 rigs run with a Sempron 140, single core and 1 GB or RAM. This works awesomely with Linux and just SSHing into the boxes to manage everything and do any reboots or tweaks needed.

I ran XP on one for a while, and with phoenix the CPU usage makes the GUI sluggish. They're dedicated headless anyways so it doesn't matter, but I find managing the systems easier through SSH than VNC on Windows.

[innervisi0nn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR2fGkdhDyY

My video will get you 288 mhash/s with my settings

975 core clock
340 mem clock
80% fan speed
pocblm -v -w128 -f0

I have the same setup, 2x XFX 5830 (stock is ~204/10 mhash/s)

Using MSI Afterburner, let me know if you need help.

[Genrobo]

That hard drive sale, just ended recently.
My bad.

Case wise, I recommend the Apex Vortex 3620
It's only about $45 with shipping, but it's just as good as an Antec Three Hundred, if not better.

Trust me when I say, you do NOT want that Diablotek PSU.
Those things are pieces of junk.

[innervisi0nn]

Hard drive wise, you can get a 500Gb caviar blue for only $35 with free shipping right now if you use the MEMORIALWKND promo code on Newegg.

Case wise, I recommend the Apex Vortex 3620
It's only about $45 with shipping, but it's just as good as an Antec Three Hundred, if not better.

Trust me when I say, you do NOT want that Diablotek PSU.
Those things are pieces of junk.

Nice case for that price, I like the HAF 922.
Also, AZZA 1000W PSU > Diablotek PSU.

You dont realy need a 500GB HD, just like how I didn't need a 320GB HD, but its a steal.

[Genrobo]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256071

This PSU will do just fine, and only costs about $10 more than the Diablotek one.

Also, the Silverstone's warranty is 5 year, vs Diablotek's 3 year.
Your entire rig is worthless if your power supply blows out, so I'd go with a better brand than Diablotek.

[innervisi0nn]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256071

This PSU will do just fine, and only costs about $10 more than the Diablotek one.

Also, the Silverstone's warranty is 5 year, vs Diablotek's 3 year.
Your entire rig is worthless if your power supply blows out, so I'd go with a better brand than Diablotek.

Just make sure you have enough 6 pin connectors or converters for your cards!

[bleedkira]

Big thanks to everyone who posted here, it's much appreciated. Will likely be ordering all the parts for this within the next couple of weeks.