My second ZEC + XMR+ ETH thread builds info links thoughts and photos.

[rockyforever]

Really cool how you guys are able to build your own platforms for these rigs. It just wouldn't be worth it for me as I don't have that natural aptitude. It would take me so long to even try to build something like that it's just more worthwhile for me to purchase something outright, but I admire that skill-set... just something I've never had.

I finally pulled the trigger on my first 2 GPU's... went with the MSI RX 470 4GB at $200 each.  Actually ended up getting them from Amazon as they had the same price as NewEgg but I have Prime so I will get them quicker through Amazon.

I'm now really leaning towards an open build on 1 of the sub-$100 ASRock Mobo's. What I am grappling with now is whether to go LGA1150 or 1151, socket-wise.  I'm assuming that both RAM and PSU will be relatively similar in cost & performance no matter which I go with (correct me if I'm wrong), so it's really down to which Intel processor I want to go with... between the 5820K & 6800K... (price difference for me is only $21)

I have looked at a few benchmarking sites and there doesn't seem to be a dramatic difference in overall performance.  Wondering if anyone here has experience with either.  I know a lot of people build with the cheapest possible CPU, but since I will be mining a lot of XMR with this rig, my impression is that a higher-end chip should add a decent amount (maybe 500-700) to my hash-rate. Trying to figure out if there would be any real advantage hash-wise to getting the 6800 over the 5820.

LGA1150 and LGA1151 doesnt affect the hashrate. I would go with whatever board you prefer. Nice choice on the MSI 470s.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138436&cm_re=biostar_tb85-_-13-138-436-_-Product

This is a recent board released that is suppose to mimic the old probtc 81. Its cheap but always out of stock recently. Lots of Mobos to choose from.

[xleejohnx]

Really cool how you guys are able to build your own platforms for these rigs. It just wouldn't be worth it for me as I don't have that natural aptitude. It would take me so long to even try to build something like that it's just more worthwhile for me to purchase something outright, but I admire that skill-set... just something I've never had.

I finally pulled the trigger on my first 2 GPU's... went with the MSI RX 470 4GB at $200 each.  Actually ended up getting them from Amazon as they had the same price as NewEgg but I have Prime so I will get them quicker through Amazon.

I'm now really leaning towards an open build on 1 of the sub-$100 ASRock Mobo's. What I am grappling with now is whether to go LGA1150 or 1151, socket-wise.  I'm assuming that both RAM and PSU will be relatively similar in cost & performance no matter which I go with (correct me if I'm wrong), so it's really down to which Intel processor I want to go with... between the 5820K & 6800K... (price difference for me is only $21)

I have looked at a few benchmarking sites and there doesn't seem to be a dramatic difference in overall performance.  Wondering if anyone here has experience with either.  I know a lot of people build with the cheapest possible CPU, but since I will be mining a lot of XMR with this rig, my impression is that a higher-end chip should add a decent amount (maybe 500-700) to my hash-rate. Trying to figure out if there would be any real advantage hash-wise to getting the 6800 over the 5820.

LGA1150 and LGA1151 doesnt affect the hashrate. I would go with whatever board you prefer. Nice choice on the MSI 470s.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138436&cm_re=biostar_tb85-_-13-138-436-_-Product

This is a recent board released that is suppose to mimic the old probtc 81. Its cheap but always out of stock recently. Lots of Mobos to choose from.

I have that mobo. It works really well with 6 cards

[QuintLeo]

yes and if you are a veteran you can get a 10% discount.

 I wish they would advertise that, didn't know about that discount.

 8-(

[philipma1957]

yes and if you are a veteran you can get a 10% discount.

 I wish they would advertise that, didn't know about that discount.

 8-(

Lowes and Home Depot both give discounts for vets.

[GabryRox]

I really admire both of those companies for giving that Veteran discount... I think a LOT more companies should be doing this but at least nice that those 2 do...

Thanks Rocky... I am very happy with deciding on those 2 MSI 470's and am actually grappling with getting 1 more to put into my initial build.  And thanks for the input on the socket issue and reference to that Mobo.  It does look like a good one for a nice price but as you say, unfortunately out of stock and I really wanna get this thing at least mostly built next weekend.

So, I think I have decided to just go with the more recent CPU (i7-6800), which of course, requires a 1151 MoBo.

I am leaning heavily towards this one:

ASRock Z170 Extreme3 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 (currently only $100 after $10 off and $30 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157672

The thing I like about this one is that it has 3 PCIe x16 slots and 3 PCIe x1 slots... so, if I use 3 GPUs for my initial build, I can just use the 3 x16 slots and avoid using risers until if and when I decide to bump this rig up to 4, 5 or 6 GPUs.  I think this Mobo was recommended somewhere in this forum (maybe even this thread) but if anyone sees any issues with it for what I want to do, please let me know.

For RAM, I am leaning towards these ($69), which have great reviews and appear to be fully compatible with my MoBo and CPU of choice:

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Intel Z170 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231884

I've also decided on an open build on this, which was also recommended in this thread ($42): assuming there will be no issue with the MoBo fitting but a bit concerned about the PSU.

DIYPC Alpha-DB6 Black Acrylic ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811353001&ignorebbr=1

For PSU, I'm looking at this for $110 ($30 off regular price).  Even though this says Intel 4th gen compatible in the description, I read in at least 4-5 questions and answers on the newegg product page that it is indeed compaitble with the Inel 6th gen CPUs, so should be good there. The thing is, I think i can only support up to 5 470's with this, so if really wanna be able to go up to 6, I guess i would need the 1000w version but that is unfortunately $45 more, so not sure what I will do there.

EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 220-G2-0850-XR 80+ GOLD 850W Fully Modular
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438018&ignorebbr=1

Any feedback on any of these components would be appreciated. Hoping to get my order placed tomorrow if all goes well

[xleejohnx]

I really admire both of those companies for giving that Veteran discount... I think a LOT more companies should be doing this but at least nice that those 2 do...

Thanks Rocky... I am very happy with deciding on those 2 MSI 470's and am actually grappling with getting 1 more to put into my initial build.  And thanks for the input on the socket issue and reference to that Mobo.  It does look like a good one for a nice price but as you say, unfortunately out of stock and I really wanna get this thing at least mostly built next weekend.

So, I think I have decided to just go with the more recent CPU (i7-6800), which of course, requires a 1151 MoBo.

I am leaning heavily towards this one:

ASRock Z170 Extreme3 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 (currently only $100 after $10 off and $30 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157672

The thing I like about this one is that it has 3 PCIe x16 slots and 3 PCIe x1 slots... so, if I use 3 GPUs for my initial build, I can just use the 3 x16 slots and avoid using risers until if and when I decide to bump this rig up to 4, 5 or 6 GPUs.  I think this Mobo was recommended somewhere in this forum (maybe even this thread) but if anyone sees any issues with it for what I want to do, please let me know.

For RAM, I am leaning towards these ($69), which have great reviews and appear to be fully compatible with my MoBo and CPU of choice:

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Intel Z170 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231884

I've also decided on an open build on this, which was also recommended in this thread ($42): assuming there will be no issue with the MoBo fitting but a bit concerned about the PSU.

DIYPC Alpha-DB6 Black Acrylic ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811353001&ignorebbr=1

For PSU, I'm looking at this for $110 ($30 off regular price).  Even though this says Intel 4th gen compatible in the description, I read in at least 4-5 questions and answers on the newegg product page that it is indeed compaitble with the Inel 6th gen CPUs, so should be good there. The thing is, I think i can only support up to 5 470's with this, so if really wanna be able to go up to 6, I guess i would need the 1000w version but that is unfortunately $45 more, so not sure what I will do there.

EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 220-G2-0850-XR 80+ GOLD 850W Fully Modular
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438018&ignorebbr=1

Any feedback on any of these components would be appreciated. Hoping to get my order placed tomorrow if all goes well

z170 motherboards wont do anything over 4 cards just a heads up.

[GabryRox]

thanks for that heads-up xlee!  So, what designation exactly do i need to look for in the Mobo title/specs to know if it will accept more than 4 GPUs?  I thought since this one has 6 PCIe slots that it would work to plug 4 GPUs into them (what else would they be used for, audio cards?)

A few other ASRock boards I looked at also are Z170 but a couple are H97 and then one higher end Z97.  Are these the labels that indicate how many GPU's it can take?

I know i need to look for LGA-1151 since that is the CPU i decided on, and 6 total PCIe slots... but what other easy way is there to tell what boards will support 6 cards?

Thanks!

[rockyforever]

thanks for that heads-up xlee!  So, what designation exactly do i need to look for in the Mobo title/specs to know if it will accept more than 4 GPUs?  I thought since this one has 6 PCIe slots that it would work to plug 4 GPUs into them (what else would they be used for, audio cards?)

A few other ASRock boards I looked at also are Z170 but a couple are H97 and then one higher end Z97.  Are these the labels that indicate how many GPU's it can take?

I know i need to look for LGA-1151 since that is the CPU i decided on, and 6 total PCIe slots... but what other easy way is there to tell what boards will support 6 cards?

Thanks!

Nothing to look for, just from people stating that certain board can't do more than 4 gpus for some reason.

[GabryRox]

OK thanks... back to the drawing board I guess lol. I will do a search in this forum to try to find some other recommendations.  I think most of the ones recommended for 6 cards in this thread are either out of stock or LGA-1150, so will see what else I can find, but any recommendations are welcome... looking for LGA-1151 to support up to 6 GPU's, preferably around $100 or so.

And another noob-ish question... I'm assuming that all PCI slots need to be Express, not standard (old) PCI.  I have seen some nice looking Mobos with 6- PCI slots but 3 of them are standard PCI.

Thanks again...

[philipma1957]

Why must you use the i7 6800 CPU?

[rockyforever]

Why must you use the i7 6800 CPU?

same question. No need mining, the cheapest cpu is what you want.

[philipma1957]

Get the biostar z170 and make two card rig then go,to four cards.

Use a low cost g4400 or g4500 cpu

[GabryRox]

So, on the CPU side, I am under the impression that a good one (like 6800k or 5820k) can mine almost as much XMR as 1 of the 470s i have coming.  If you look at the list below, it shows CPUs like a very old i5-3520m providing a hash rate of 438 K/s and a i5-3570k getting 344.  I have not seen benchmarks for any 5th or 6th gen 800k series like I mentioned above but would assume that since they are much more advanced than those 3rd gen CPUs on this list, they should be able to mine XMR in the 500-700 M/s range. If i had to pay the full $400+ for these it might not be worthwhile but since I can get them for $200, it seemed to be a good idea... if they will indeed get around 600.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MI-ic0Os25hgGUImW54sUIjZY_pUNQNa_W8Se5pRGBs/edit#gid=0

Now that I looked up that g4500 CPU Phil mentioned though, I see that it only pulls 65W as compared to the 140W of the ones I was considering, so that obviously should be factored in.

I'm curious... have you or are you able to ascertain what hash rate you are able to get solely from that g4500 mining XMR?  I would like to try to figure out the difference to do an ROI calc but again, I'm also kind of speculating on the capabilities of the 800k's so might be tough. But, even my VERY old i7-2600k is averaging about 100 H/s, so seems as though a current version could get 5-6x that.

I guess my other question would be, if I am dedicated to building a rig capable of 5-6 GPUs, could that g4500 even handle that?  Do you have it running any of your 4-card rigs?

[citronick]

So, on the CPU side, I am under the impression that a good one (like 6800k or 5820k) can mine almost as much XMR as 1 of the 470s i have coming.  If you look at the list below, it shows CPUs like a very old i5-3520m providing a hash rate of 438 K/s and a i5-3570k getting 344.  I have not seen benchmarks for any 5th or 6th gen 800k series like I mentioned above but would assume that since they are much more advanced than those 3rd gen CPUs on this list, they should be able to mine XMR in the 500-700 M/s range. If i had to pay the full $400+ for these it might not be worthwhile but since I can get them for $200, it seemed to be a good idea... if they will indeed get around 600.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MI-ic0Os25hgGUImW54sUIjZY_pUNQNa_W8Se5pRGBs/edit#gid=0

Now that I looked up that g4500 CPU Phil mentioned though, I see that it only pulls 65W as compared to the 140W of the ones I was considering, so that obviously should be factored in.

I'm curious... have you or are you able to ascertain what hash rate you are able to get solely from that g4500 mining XMR?  I would like to try to figure out the difference to do an ROI calc but again, I'm also kind of speculating on the capabilities of the 800k's so might be tough. But, even my VERY old i7-2600k is averaging about 100 H/s, so seems as though a current version could get 5-6x that.

I guess my other question would be, if I am dedicated to building a rig capable of 5-6 GPUs, could that g4500 even handle that?  Do you have it running any of your 4-card rigs?

My Sapphire RX480 x 6 runs on Celeron 1840 (2 cores) just fine - ASrock H81, 8GB RAM, 120GB SSD, Win10 and Crimson 16.9.1 - this rig can mine XMR and ETH using Claymore very well. Btw, the RX480 has ROM mod 29MHs below 100w per GPU courtesy of Heliox, without messing with Wattman or Afterburner. Running very well and stable.

If you mine XMR using CPU, you can use Joblo's Cryptonight miner and there is a special swicth that enables you to use how many cores to mine XMR - that way, you still could do some other work with the spare core.

[citronick]

Get the biostar z170 and make two card rig then go,to four cards.

Use a low cost g4400 or g4500 cpu

Just ordered this combo the other day Phil - from Newegg.

I decided to build separate XMR rigs with RX470-4GBs - and keep my existing ETH rigs running on its own.

This time no SSDs and risers, just 128GB M2 boot drive will do fine.

Thanks for the tips.

I hope to put them in a decent chassis -- hope I have better luck compared to your unfortunate attempt previously.

Will post when completed.

[GabryRox]

Thank Cintronik... I am currently using MinerGate, which at the very least, seems to be a good way to learn for noobs like myself. It has a very easy to use GUI with no coding or command line stuff that I dont quite get at this point. Not only does it allow the same #of cores to dedicate option, but also provides a GPU intensity throttle as well.  I may get into some of the other CPU/GPU mining options down the road if they offer better hash rates though, so good to hear about them.

oh btw, I did find what looks like a pretty good resource for MoBo's that accept 4-6 GPUs:

http://cryptomining-blog.com/tag/motherboard-for-ethereum-mining/

Granted, this is about 5 months old, but at least at that time, there were not really any 1151 MoBo's would do more than 5 GPUs. several ASRock options for 4 or 5 (which i will be looking into) but would have to reconsider 1150 if I really want to have the capability of 6.

[citronick]

Thank Cintronik... I am currently using MinerGate, which at the very least, seems to be a good way to learn for noobs like myself. It has a very easy to use GUI with no coding or command line stuff that I dont quite get at this point. Not only does it allow the same #of cores to dedicate option, but also provides a GPU intensity throttle as well.  I may get into some of the other CPU/GPU mining options down the road if they offer better hash rates though, so good to hear about them.

oh btw, I did find what looks like a pretty good resource for MoBo's that accept 4-6 GPUs:

http://cryptomining-blog.com/tag/motherboard-for-ethereum-mining/

Granted, this is about 5 months old, but at least at that time, there were not really any 1151 MoBo's would do more than 5 GPUs. several ASRock options for 4 or 5 (which i will be looking into) but would have to reconsider 1150 if I really want to have the capability of 6.

The H81 BTC Pro is probably the most popular for mining and has been around since the Litecoin mining days.
All my mining builds are with this board - cheap and good. You do need to have PCI risers though which I hate...

IMHO, my favourite config is 4 or 5 GPUs because it takes on less power draw and this way avoid having to get an expensive PSU. With 4-5 GPUs, something like a750/800 watts PSUs like EVGA-G2s is more affordable.

[vapourminer]

So, I think I have decided to just go with the more recent CPU (i7-6800), which of course, requires a 1151 MoBo.

I am leaning heavily towards this one:

ASRock Z170 Extreme3 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 (currently only $100 after $10 off and $30 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157672

The thing I like about this one is that it has 3 PCIe x16 slots and 3 PCIe x1 slots... so, if I use 3 GPUs for my initial build, I can just use the 3 x16 slots and avoid using risers until if and when I decide to bump this rig up to 4, 5 or 6 GPUs.  I think this Mobo was recommended somewhere in this forum (maybe even this thread) but if anyone sees any issues with it for what I want to do, please let me know.

something you should be aware of: some mobos will disable some pcie slots when others are in use. so just because it has 6 slots doesnt mean you can always use them all at the same time. not sure about the one you linked to however.

best thing is doing what youre doing.. check in build threads and see what others have made work.

[vapourminer]

And another noob-ish question... I'm assuming that all PCI slots need to be Express, not standard (old) PCI.  I have seen some nice looking Mobos with 6- PCI slots but 3 of them are standard PCI.

thats a negative on pci only slots. they need to be pciE

sorry if thats already answered, im blowing through threads right now as im in that dang real life thing..

[philipma1957]

So, on the CPU side, I am under the impression that a good one (like 6800k or 5820k) can mine almost as much XMR as 1 of the 470s i have coming.  If you look at the list below, it shows CPUs like a very old i5-3520m providing a hash rate of 438 K/s and a i5-3570k getting 344.  I have not seen benchmarks for any 5th or 6th gen 800k series like I mentioned above but would assume that since they are much more advanced than those 3rd gen CPUs on this list, they should be able to mine XMR in the 500-700 M/s range. If i had to pay the full $400+ for these it might not be worthwhile but since I can get them for $200, it seemed to be a good idea... if they will indeed get around 600.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MI-ic0Os25hgGUImW54sUIjZY_pUNQNa_W8Se5pRGBs/edit#gid=0

Now that I looked up that g4500 CPU Phil mentioned though, I see that it only pulls 65W as compared to the 140W of the ones I was considering, so that obviously should be factored in.

I'm curious... have you or are you able to ascertain what hash rate you are able to get solely from that g4500 mining XMR?  I would like to try to figure out the difference to do an ROI calc but again, I'm also kind of speculating on the capabilities of the 800k's so might be tough. But, even my VERY old i7-2600k is averaging about 100 H/s, so seems as though a current version could get 5-6x that.

I guess my other question would be, if I am dedicated to building a rig capable of 5-6 GPUs, could that g4500 even handle that?  Do you have it running any of your 4-card rigs?

Yes I have an i3-6100t and a g4500  running the two four card rigs  they basically get 92-96mh doing  eth coin  they use about 590-610 watts the i3-6100t  and about 615-630 watts the g4500

if you run eth only  on the biostar z170 board   the best cpu is a g4400t    then the i3-6100t   both of these will allow the four card rig to do 590-610 watts  at about 95mh on eth only.

   I like the four card build due to its size.  If I were to do all my rigs over again I would have all 4 card mobos from biostar and sit them on a wooden rack I have. I would also change out my storm door on the back of my garage as It would allow more air flow if it were a full size screen.

   I had 3 two card mobos with cpus left over from mining btc and ltc back in 2012.  so I started mining eth with them.  I had 2 three card mobos from builds of gamers for friends. (they were rma replacements)   so I had 5 boards with 3 cpus for zero cost to start and I had 3 hd7970 gpus all idle.  So my beginnings with eth coin  were based on that 'free' gear.