Data Center Mining Garage and Man Mining Cave ( PART 2 !!!!!!!!)

[jstefanop]

geeze what motherboard can do 16 gpus?

With any standard motherboard and some pcie multiplier you can do same thing !

unless its something like http://amfeltec.com/products/gpu-oriented-cluster/
which I have to say is pretty neat, but im sure its not cheap

Nope...this is a complete custom board engineered by me.

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[jstefanop]

I P.M asking him for 1.  Hahah.  I want 1 of these bad boy!!! Although..............that would increase my odds of 1 of them crashing rig much higher but seems like Linux handle it better than windows.  It would probably best on very stable unmod cards.   Although I wouldnt mind running 16 x Furies for bragging rights.  The Sexy designs I can do with it.....................    =)

It will actually decrease your crash rate even compared to a 4-7 GPU rig setup. I engineered these boards to be built for GPU hashing from the ground up...the cheap Chinese risers were never designed for that purpose( or at least USB 3 cables used to carry the sensitive differential pairs in PCIe lanes is a horrible way to do it). Unfortunanlty I have to reboot these mutiple times for testing otherwise id post a screeny of them running for a week straight (oh and all GPUs have modded bioses on them).

[jstefanop]

geeze what motherboard can do 16 gpus?

With any standard motherboard and some pcie multiplier you can do same thing !

Its been asked many times and he is not giving up the gold.  The motherboard is a MSI Z97 gaming 5 but he did his own bios and very low level linux kernel changes.

Not quiet, but the prototype systems I have run a Z97 variant. The host boards for the production systems will most likely be a Z170 or C236 board.

[yun9999]

geeze what motherboard can do 16 gpus?

With any standard motherboard and some pcie multiplier you can do same thing !

Its been asked many times and he is not giving up the gold.  The motherboard is a MSI Z97 gaming 5 but he did his own bios and very low level linux kernel changes.

Not quiet, but the prototype systems I have run a Z97 variant. The host boards for the production systems will most likely be a Z170 or C236 board.

@ jstefanop =  Too much teasing..........................    =)   WHEN WILL IT BE AVAIL................. This will be so SEXY FOR MY PROTOTYPE with the 4KW................  HOOK ME UP JSTEFANOP.  P.M me.  I want 1 in my FARM soon..................  I can test all variations of GPUs u desire.

[yslyung]

not an issue if cooling/exhaust airflow are well planned & designed, yeah for the 120V guys it's a pity only 900W but as far as i can recall for the ibm 2000/2500 bb's or larger psu's won't even run on 110/120V. well you know where i'm at so it's always hot & humid here all year long, so far it's doing fine for dual mining pulling roughly 915W off the wall so there's still a minimum of 20% or more allowance for the little psu.

i think the prices (that you roughly estimated above) are reasonable for a single or few small orders. i can get lower prices too if the order is large enough. i don't intend to keep too much stock atm in hand as i my inventory list gets longer by the day with the daily orders for various stuffs ranging from an m3 screw to a full customized rack of 3 rigs.

well, yeah totally agree, there's no 1 solution that fits all, really depends on each individual's setup. btw, can you get a platinum 1200W atx psu for USD 105 ? well probably during some sales period with limited purchases. an ATX psu will never be as reliable as a server PSU. ATX psu's still have issues such as not enough cables for the setup or poorer quality cables or too short. well, all the yadaa yadaa yadaa will go on haha.

yeah the fans (temp & load sensing) can be noisy IF there's insufficient airflow on the intake but so far they're ok, remember with the new setup, the entire rig will be much cleaner, less or almost no clutter hence the improved cooling + better airflow.



i'm working on couple of revisions going with 1500W platinum+ psu or a dual server psu setup for better efficiency & to maximize a 7 gpu setup, when i have the time, i'll mess with the spare bb 2000's & the breakout boards i have laying around.

do keep us updated on the new setup & i'm pretty interested to see other setups/ideas/solutions. some pics to share yet ? do test the hp's that you have & see how does it play out on your side. the 1500W platinum+ just arrived for R&D purposes.

while we are/were on the topic of PSU's discussing abt their various setups, pros & cons, configs etc here are some of them that I have used/still using/yet to use/to be tested.

[m1n1ngP4d4w4n]

Yes of course, im not talking about having AC cooled down mining rigs, just about the principle of cold/hot air aisles, the "cool air" can be either AC coming from the ground or normal air, the importance is to have a separation between hot & cold But in the case of not using AC air, you have to increase the negative pressure and the air flow, because when you use what we call "passive air" you have to increase the circulation of it, because it will obviously heat up faster, air exchange rate is the key.

[Searing]

not an issue if cooling/exhaust airflow are well planned & designed, yeah for the 120V guys it's a pity only 900W but as far as i can recall for the ibm 2000/2500 bb's or larger psu's won't even run on 110/120V. well you know where i'm at so it's always hot & humid here all year long, so far it's doing fine for dual mining pulling roughly 915W off the wall so there's still a minimum of 20% or more allowance for the little psu.

i think the prices (that you roughly estimated above) are reasonable for a single or few small orders. i can get lower prices too if the order is large enough. i don't intend to keep too much stock atm in hand as i my inventory list gets longer by the day with the daily orders for various stuffs ranging from an m3 screw to a full customized rack of 3 rigs.

well, yeah totally agree, there's no 1 solution that fits all, really depends on each individual's setup. btw, can you get a platinum 1200W atx psu for USD 105 ? well probably during some sales period with limited purchases. an ATX psu will never be as reliable as a server PSU. ATX psu's still have issues such as not enough cables for the setup or poorer quality cables or too short. well, all the yadaa yadaa yadaa will go on haha.

yeah the fans (temp & load sensing) can be noisy IF there's insufficient airflow on the intake but so far they're ok, remember with the new setup, the entire rig will be much cleaner, less or almost no clutter hence the improved cooling + better airflow.

i'm working on couple of revisions going with 1500W platinum+ psu or a dual server psu setup for better efficiency & to maximize a 7 gpu setup, when i have the time, i'll mess with the spare bb 2000's & the breakout boards i have laying around.

do keep us updated on the new setup & i'm pretty interested to see other setups/ideas/solutions. some pics to share yet ? do test the hp's that you have & see how does it play out on your side. the 1500W platinum+ just arrived for R&D purposes.

while we are/were on the topic of PSU's discussing abt their various setups, pros & cons, configs etc here are some of them that I have used/still using/yet to use/to be tested.

KNC 550gh BTC Case *used ebay like 30 bucks with shipping* most folk just packing tape them up....clumbersome but I can move them as a unit easily



My setup using off the shelf 2 blade breakout boxes (not sure what they are called anymore) for server rack psu setup...have all the guts of regular psu with all the safety etc
of off the shelf psu etc....slick if you can find them....my buddy and me have been running such for a year no burnt psu cables or other works slick

I hacked mine into an old knc jupiter case just in case I have to lug it about....you can just tape them and zip tie them to a rack thou

my imgur page with the psu's direct

http://imgur.com/a/6lUya

my setup complete (less 2 titans 8 cubes in the other room and the 24 titan cubes I have with maxumark at data hall)

lostgonzo.imgur.com



again if you can find these blade server (2) ...these are 94% platinum eff and 2560 watts (2 psu's at 1280) was same price as ONE corsair 1200i and 15 awg wire vs 16 awg wire on the corsair 1200i....also allows us to NEVER USE knc Y adapters (16 awg ..2 cables per psu) again!

slick..anyway again was a zip tie them together hack and make the leads..6 leads to a 2 psu unit is possible

any questions ask maxumark on here ..pm him....questions...if no answer prod me and I'll get him to check his pm's

I would have had to have paid for 18 corsairs to use the 9 server setups I have made for my stuff..thus instead of 18 x 300 usd for a 1200i corsair on sale 1x a month on www.newegg.com offered 1x a month with rebate card of $30 bucks..I got 2x the amount at same price (again this was a year ago ..the price may be more
and perhaps the 2 blade boxes are harder to find...again contact maxumark for info)

so 18x 300 is  $5400.00 usd vs 9x 300  $2700 usd made quite a diff on my stuff (knc liquidation sale and upgrading old psu's) an of course at 15 awg NO FRIGGING KNC y adapters
needed (no burnt anymore...knc bad design)

anyway..stuff to look for .this stuff has been running for almost a year..so no issues if you find the stuff we used...micro-science 94% eff server psu 1280 watts and the corresponding
2 blade unit (server rack) psu breaker box with regular psu guts (see pics)

anyway just tossing it out there for those in need ..the stuff pictured in the thread by you guys is likely equiv to what we have done

anyway good luck on the hack

[shield132]

@metalmag = For Mining, if you need to use AC, you're not doing it right.  Especially if your region upper temperature is that cool.  Again I'm in the 40C in the summer and others are even higher in Arizona and we can do it fine.  Even if you have free Electricity the cost of buying, installing, maintenance, etc is very high.  Let's do some quick math.

Assuming Free electricity.

10 Rigs = 4 TON AC @ $4-7K each depending brand and SEER levels installed.
100 Rigs = 4 x 4 Ton AC  $40-70K.

1 x 4 Ton uses at peak up to 60AMP.  So you're wasting 600AMP just for AC alone!  Now you have to factor in that you will need around 600-800AMP more for your 100 Rigs so the total is up to 1400AMP.   Even Commercial space the transformer may not be powerful enough to handle 1400AMP as you're sharing with other tenants.  You can request for more power if it's available but they will charge you for it.  Now this isn't even taking the consideration of the 80% rule which means you really need at least 1700AMP.  This is taking you into Industrial spaces which requires very large warehouses.   So you're talking about something you can achieve for less than $40K which includes 600AMP of power to drive your rigs into something well north over over $200K and require special zoning to accommodate.  If you design your environment right, you SHOULD NOT need AC.  Mining is a Mathematical game.  Even at 3cents / kw, you won't even be able to compete against someone with 10 cents KW even you have to use AC.  I would invest that money into more RIGs and a better layout / exhaust strategy. If you have that kind of budget, it shouldn't be hard.  To win in this game you must keep your cost low and invest the rest into HASH.

@yslylung - Yes Finksy just got his 150 Picos in.  Your price is very competitive for a custom solution.  Finksy's cost is actually still lower so there's a small margin for reseller on top but his goal is to keep the cost as low as possible for the community.  He's sending me 20 units to test for my different Prototypes designs.  I have 10 of the HP 1200W including the V6 breakout boards plus more 4KW to play.  There's never a 1 size fit all solutions and always pros and cons with every options.  The HP solution is best if you can get them in bulk for $20 or less each as there's breakout boards $25-30, Pico $30 and cabling cost $18-25.  That brings you to about $105 for the normal consumer.  People will always argue that you can buy a ATX for almost the same price with better future resales, yadda yadda.  Maybe you can during hot sales but the cabling and configuration will not be as sexy.  The issue with this solution is that many people in America use 120V which this PSU can  only deliver 900W vs the world on 240 which this PSU can deliver 1200W. I don't have this issue so I'm not concern.    Also the HP 1200W have only 1 TINY fan, I'm not sure how well it can handle the heat but man does that fan make a LOUD pitch noise!!  This thing is definitely not something I want to run inside my house.

For large miners the 4KW is important as they don't want to rearrange rigs after it's installed in the RACK.  They also want be future proof and plug things in and never have to really think about power usage later one.  Heck most people didn't even know that ZEC and ETH first version and current version consumes WAY MORE power.  So if they're sizing based on original estimates, they're screwed.  However as you said, if you have a PSU go down, you're not just affecting 1 rig but multiple.  That's the downside, the upside is that each breakout board and PSU is so cheap, there's no reason why you shouldn't have at least 1 spare bundle if you're a large miner.  Swapping is super fast and simple.  Efficiency for PSU is also better when you're using less than 70% of load and that will be harder to do on the HP.   I like bother solutions and at the end of the day, paired with PCI Risers and Picos, I'm really liking the Server PSU setup so so much better.  No more clutters.

I have design prototypes that will take advantages of both the PROs on each solution.  At the end of the day, if you're a large farmer, you will have a variety.  There's no solution that can meet every need.   But I do think that once people see more of the cool server PSU and PICO designs now that we PCI Powered risers, they will LOVE TO GET their hands on these PICOs.

I and metalmag, we are from same country. Well, in summer temperature here mostly is between 35-40 degree Celsius. Electricity isn't free but if you have contract with bitfury (gldani free zone, both are one shit), than it's cheap, at least good for mining. Well, I agree you that investing in HASH is the main will. If I amn't wrong, BitFury and metalmag are doing thing similarly, than that means something is wrong on BitFury's side? Why didn't they choose that?
Hope metalmag will come and answer us of course. P.S your suggests are very good and thanks again.

[Marvell1]

not an issue if cooling/exhaust airflow are well planned & designed, yeah for the 120V guys it's a pity only 900W but as far as i can recall for the ibm 2000/2500 bb's or larger psu's won't even run on 110/120V. well you know where i'm at so it's always hot & humid here all year long, so far it's doing fine for dual mining pulling roughly 915W off the wall so there's still a minimum of 20% or more allowance for the little psu.

i think the prices (that you roughly estimated above) are reasonable for a single or few small orders. i can get lower prices too if the order is large enough. i don't intend to keep too much stock atm in hand as i my inventory list gets longer by the day with the daily orders for various stuffs ranging from an m3 screw to a full customized rack of 3 rigs.

well, yeah totally agree, there's no 1 solution that fits all, really depends on each individual's setup. btw, can you get a platinum 1200W atx psu for USD 105 ? well probably during some sales period with limited purchases. an ATX psu will never be as reliable as a server PSU. ATX psu's still have issues such as not enough cables for the setup or poorer quality cables or too short. well, all the yadaa yadaa yadaa will go on haha.

yeah the fans (temp & load sensing) can be noisy IF there's insufficient airflow on the intake but so far they're ok, remember with the new setup, the entire rig will be much cleaner, less or almost no clutter hence the improved cooling + better airflow.



i'm working on couple of revisions going with 1500W platinum+ psu or a dual server psu setup for better efficiency & to maximize a 7 gpu setup, when i have the time, i'll mess with the spare bb 2000's & the breakout boards i have laying around.

do keep us updated on the new setup & i'm pretty interested to see other setups/ideas/solutions. some pics to share yet ? do test the hp's that you have & see how does it play out on your side. the 1500W platinum+ just arrived for R&D purposes.

while we are/were on the topic of PSU's discussing abt their various setups, pros & cons, configs etc here are some of them that I have used/still using/yet to use/to be tested.

@yslyung  looks good when will you release for sale ?

[yun9999]

@ ysylung - Waiting on more components to arrive to complete the Prototypes.  For the HP Solution it will portable.  Designed to be compact.  You can pretty much pick them up and move them anywhere you want easily.  You can also slide them into racks or shelves compartments and put an Orion Fan behind it to control heat flow.  Hopefully that will help with the NOISE.  These things required a Noise canceling headset for their high Pitch as my office is at 76F and I'm not even powering more then 3 GPUs.  They are LOUD.  I have no intentions to going back to using BOX fans unless absolutely necessary so hopefully the Orion fan designs will help keep them cool and quieter.  The same prototypes can by used with any other Server PSU, it will just be different PSU placements.  The 4KW will be able to drive the same solution with just PCI cables running along the side and can easily be covered for an even slicker look.  I don't like noisy work environment as it's running in my garage and I have a Bitchy neighbor next to my shed. 


@ Searing - Pretty cool Box - Do you have a spare Motherboard where you can place one in to give us a better idea of size?  Maybe this would be great for a Racing 7 x 4 GPU setup??  If you can give me the dimensions it would be good. 

@ shield132 and MettalMag - Yes the Data center picture design will work but you have to remove the recirculation part and exhaust all the HOT air outside since you're not using AC.  For Intake it depends on your layout.  You don't really need to go fancy and do it below ground which will be very expensive for existing infrastructure.  Just plan your layout and make sure Cool air go into 1 side which is the Intake - Hot air goes to another side where you would block it off like a Chimney / Oven wall.  Put your massive Exhaust fan there and remove the heat out.  This way it doesn't recirculate back into the room.  You don't need AC if you do it this way.  The stronger your exhaust and heat wall is sealed, the closer you can get to Ambient temperature  as you're not recirculating back the heat.  GPUs are designed to handle over 40C ambient so you should be fine as your racks will also be cool with the flow going thru them.  Just make sure intake air matches exhaust or is higher, otherwise the exhaust fans won't be at optimal performance. 

To be profitable mining, it's best to keep things as simple as possible.  Less to buy, less to manage, less operating cost.  If you're spending too much time and money just building the infrastructure, not only are you losing money on opportunity loss but you're also leaving less $$ left over for what matters which is revenue generating HASH.  Speaking of which, I need to get my idle GPU installs.  Going to be a busy month. 

@Hawkfish007 - Your PCI Risers selling like HOT CAKES.  HURRY and ADD more.  I need at least 50 more risers and all the friends I refer to your links are complaining you're out.  They need at least 150+ combined so please stock up more FAST. 

@ Finksy - Welcome back from Vacation - Hurry and get me more 4KWs and Picos.  The readers are waiting to see the different prototypes coming from my Labs.  After I'm done with all this, I'm going to need to take a vacation too.  =)

 

[hawkfish007]

@ ysylung - Waiting on more components to arrive to complete the Prototypes.  For the HP Solution it will portable.  Designed to be compact.  You can pretty much pick them up and move them anywhere you want easily.  You can also slide them into racks or shelves compartments and put an Orion Fan behind it to control heat flow.  Hopefully that will help with the NOISE.  These things required a Noise canceling headset for their high Pitch as my office is at 76F and I'm not even powering more then 3 GPUs.  They are LOUD.  I have no intentions to going back to using BOX fans unless absolutely necessary so hopefully the Orion fan designs will help keep them cool and quieter.  The same prototypes can by used with any other Server PSU, it will just be different PSU placements.  The 4KW will be able to drive the same solution with just PCI cables running along the side and can easily be covered for an even slicker look.  I don't like noisy work environment as it's running in my garage and I have a Bitchy neighbor next to my shed. 


@ Searing - Pretty cool Box - Do you have a spare Motherboard where you can place one in to give us a better idea of size?  Maybe this would be great for a Racing 7 x 4 GPU setup??  If you can give me the dimensions it would be good. 

@ shield132 and MettalMag - Yes the Data center picture design will work but you have to remove the recirculation part and exhaust all the HOT air outside since you're not using AC.  For Intake it depends on your layout.  You don't really need to go fancy and do it below ground which will be very expensive for existing infrastructure.  Just plan your layout and make sure Cool air go into 1 side which is the Intake - Hot air goes to another side where you would block it off like a Chimney / Oven wall.  Put your massive Exhaust fan there and remove the heat out.  This way it doesn't recirculate back into the room.  You don't need AC if you do it this way.  The stronger your exhaust and heat wall is sealed, the closer you can get to Ambient temperature  as you're not recirculating back the heat.  GPUs are designed to handle over 40C ambient so you should be fine as your racks will also be cool with the flow going thru them.  Just make sure intake air matches exhaust or is higher, otherwise the exhaust fans won't be at optimal performance. 

To be profitable mining, it's best to keep things as simple as possible.  Less to buy, less to manage, less operating cost.  If you're spending too much time and money just building the infrastructure, not only are you losing money on opportunity loss but you're also leaving less $$ left over for what matters which is revenue generating HASH.  Speaking of which, I need to get my idle GPU installs.  Going to be a busy month. 

@Hawkfish007 - Your PCI Risers selling like HOT CAKES.  HURRY and ADD more.  I need at least 50 more risers and all the friends I refer to your links are complaining you're out.  They need at least 150+ combined so please stock up more FAST. 

@ Finksy - Welcome back from Vacation - Hurry and get me more 4KWs and Picos.  The readers are waiting to see the different prototypes coming from my Labs.  After I'm done with all this, I'm going to need to take a vacation too.  =)

 

Sorry, my travel plan got into its way. I sent my remaining stocks to Amazon since I will be gone but I will have a big batch of 6-pin risers ready to be shipped out from March 25. Sata to Molex risers are in stock and can be shipped today and tomorrow.

Can't wait to see your prototypes!

[deadsix]

Question to anyone Running Asrock H81 Pro BTC V2 boards, what do you guys do for headless starts?

[hawkfish007]

Question to anyone Running Asrock H81 Pro BTC V2 boards, what do you guys do for headless starts?

I use an emulator like this https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-fit-Headless-Display-Emulator/dp/B00FLZXGJ6/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1489268350&sr=1-1&keywords=emulator .

[deadsix]

Question to anyone Running Asrock H81 Pro BTC V2 boards, what do you guys do for headless starts?

I use an emulator like this https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-fit-Headless-Display-Emulator/dp/B00FLZXGJ6/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1489268350&sr=1-1&keywords=emulator .

Hmm has anyone tried el-cheapo HDMI to VGA adapters that are like under $3?

[yun9999]

@ All - Favor to ask to keep the thread easier to follow and less repetitive.  Let's use @ person for the response when possible rather than quote the entire post for the ones with pictures to keep it less bulky / more scrolling.  It will be more important as this thread gets past 40-50 pages where I need to do more streamlining.  


**************Design Lab brewing *************************

First I want to thank all the people who are supporting me on this project

1) Wife and daughter - Wife did all the Network cabling and prep all the GPUs.  My daughter is spray painting the RIG frames
2) Hawkfish007 for supplying H81 MBs as my Racing MB are so problematic.  Most importantly his AWESOME PCI RISERs!!!  
3) Finksy for sending me more 4KW server PSU, Fans, cabling and PICOs for the prototypes.
4) Cryptowatcher for volunteering his time to make me custom cablings
5) MarkAZ for heating and cooling recommendations / ideas.  This guy is a Genius.


 I'm not sure about you guys but I get tire of the same old boring designs that haven't really improved for GPU mining over the past 5 yrs.  This is why I want to continue pushing the envelope and see what other cool new designs we can come up with.  

Lots of stuff!  Designing with Wood is fun and easy.  Hopefully 1 day I can find cheaper metal material and make custom cases.  

Lots of HP PSU, Finksys Hurricane Fans and tons of Hawkfish007 risers!







I had a AHA Moment when I saw the HP PSU's compact design and said it would be perfect for the SERVER CASE!!  But upon testing it, this HP 1200W PSU gets Stupidly high Pitched LOUUUUD  due to it's tiny high RPM fan even when barely pushed over 50%.  The only way to keep it quiet is to feed it cool air or have another FAN to blow at it.  I don't know how I'm going to be able to do this with the server case design so back to the LAB to tinker on this.






Finksy's Custom PICO designed by a Miner for Miners!  
It came out way better than expected so I can't wait to get my hands on them.  





Heavy investment
This is a very big investment for me just to learn how different GPU type, size, air flow work best in what config etc.  In a large farm, it is more practical to standardize on only a few types of GPUs.  This standardization help keep operating cost low (same ROM, quickly understand issues, etc) and also make it very easy to RMA similar GPU type or always have a GPU receipt that is within 30 days for quick returns of fail ones.  So needless to say after all the design work is done, I will be selling these to friends for very cheap prices as I prefer this type of standardization.  

This is also over 4 rigs worth that are just idle for different configs and the only time they will be mining is during the heat and power tests.  Expensive project as that's an opportunity lost of almost $1K a month at current income level.  However, I think it will be worth it as we may learn more things from this rather than keep doing the SAME OLD SAME OLD.  Please keep in mind, I got mostly RX470s but will also use different GPUs to test as we have a future proof solution not just an EASY Solution (470).  


This is only half of the gears shown.  The other half is in the garage or in transit.





Here you can see I purchased most of the different RX470 that matters.  I didn't bother with the Sapphire Ref 470 as it will operate similar to the 480 in the picture.  The XFX single fan is actually very tiny, this picture, somehow is not showing proper proportion but it's very tiny compare to the MSI red.





The only way I can SHUT UP the HP 1200W is to give it a beefy Hawkfish007 or FINKSY fan.  I can't recommend these HP1200W for home use or even the garage unless you can use some other fans to keep it cool.  The high pitch noise will travel thru my Garage door vs the white noise from the bigger fans that wont.   Not as loud at Antminer S7 / S9 but almost just as annoying!  You MUST feed it cool air to keep it quiet.  I will try to make a custom Fan mount for it but I wonder what will happen during summer high temps.  Even if your office is 70F AC, it will get hot and get stupid pitch loud.  For open air, should be easy to solve this issue with box fans or a custom fan next to it. However I really wanted this to work for the Server case as the form factor is perfect!


@YSYLUNG - Does the HP 1500W have bigger fans and is maybe quieter?  I need a server PSU solution for the server case and the IBM 2KW wont' fit sideways nor is there a good fan solution in that space to keep either the HP1200W or the IBM 2KW PSU cool.



Thank you everyone for following and for your valuable feedback and support.

[citronick]

Question to anyone Running Asrock H81 Pro BTC V2 boards, what do you guys do for headless starts?

I use an emulator like this https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-fit-Headless-Display-Emulator/dp/B00FLZXGJ6/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1489268350&sr=1-1&keywords=emulator .

I have a bunch of these, now not used, because of rigs moving from Windoze to Linux.

There are cheap ones too, not the Compulab ones (which is Made in Israel) but very hard to get or no stock.

Suggest that if you get the cheaper ones, try out one or two before buying in bulk.

[yslyung]

1 of the reason is the breakout board design for the HP 1200's that you are using atm. it's blocking the intake, well not entirely but i guess every bit helps. double side tape a fan in front of the intake would be a good idea (i'm getting some of the afb 1212's in). i think the 38mm is a bit overkill, try those delta afb 1212's. uses less power n quieter, imo it should be sufficient. on the wooden rig, i think the gpus are sitting a little too low. some models of gpus does spits air out to the bottom but with the fans there it should help. a little more breather space like the pic below. yeah most likely it's not as bad as an open case compared to a server case.



tested before by placing a fan in front of the intake, lots of ample space & it cools down the board too, not too bad 2 in 1. might implement that on future revisions.

i haven't actually power the 1500's up yet. basically it's the same size (width) of the 1200's but it's a tad longer with dual fans on top of each other. wait let me snap a pic a measuring tape next to it, but i think it should fit into a 4U case.



do take measurements of the bboard that you are currently using & some space for cabling but most likely it should fit in nicely.

your server case, what is the direction of the flow, if i'm not mistaken it's front to back so there could be some hot air passing thru the intake. just test it out & see how it goes with various positions.

ah ha, i have a cooling solution for you on the bb's mate. based on your pic above, can you place the bb at the same spot of the HP ? if you can then move it a little to the right so you can fit a fan between the side of bb & the wall of the case, draw some lines, either start cutting or drilling some holes, i;d personally go with drilling some holes. voila, air intake or exhaust solved for time being.

speaking of pico, i've been getting some PM's, please be patient as i ran out of stock & will be only placing orders this coming monday & it does takes a while for them to reach me excluding mods. here's a pic of them. top is standard 18 awg wiring with a modded pcie header. length of the cable is roughly 30cm. bottom is modded with a 16awg cable with pcie header, length is approx. 52cm.



let's see if the OP warehousing offer still stands. i can get more accurate shipping rates to USA now. let's see how it goes as there's few more steps to go before i can get my hands on them. prolly finsky will be ahead of me in modding them & have them delivered. OP, can you snap a pic back of the pico that you are playing with ? do take note, they do get a little warm, make sure there are some airflow over them.

*** i'm NOT doing any ads or whatsoever, it's just a community request & i'm trying to help to supply them & i do not make a fortune out of them ***

[Marvell1]

@ All - Favor to ask to keep the thread easier to follow and less repetitive.  Let's use @ person for the response when possible rather than quote the entire post for the ones with pictures to keep it less bulky / more scrolling.  It will be more important as this thread gets past 40-50 pages where I need to do more streamlining.  


**************Design Lab brewing *************************

First I want to thank all the people who are supporting me on this project

1) Wife and daughter - Wife did all the Network cabling and prep all the GPUs.  My daughter is spray painting the RIG frames
2) Hawkfish007 for supplying H81 MBs as my Racing MB are so problematic.  Most importantly his AWESOME PCI RISERs!!!  
3) Finksy for sending me more 4KW server PSU, Fans, cabling and PICOs for the prototypes.
4) Cryptowatcher for volunteering his time to make me custom cablings
5) MarkAZ for heating and cooling recommendations / ideas.  This guy is a Genius.


 I'm not sure about you guys but I get tire of the same old boring designs that haven't really improved for GPU mining over the past 5 yrs.  This is why I want to continue pushing the envelope and see what other cool new designs we can come up with.  

Lots of stuff!  Designing with Wood is fun and easy.  Hopefully 1 day I can find cheaper metal material and make custom cases.  

Lots of HP PSU, Finksys Hurricane Fans and tons of Hawkfish007 risers!







I had a AHA Moment when I saw the HP PSU's compact design and said it would be perfect for the SERVER CASE!!  But upon testing it, this HP 1200W PSU gets Stupidly high Pitched LOUUUUD  due to it's tiny high RPM fan even when barely pushed over 50%.  The only way to keep it quiet is to feed it cool air or have another FAN to blow at it.  I don't know how I'm going to be able to do this with the server case design so back to the LAB to tinker on this.






Finksy's Custom PICO designed by a Miner for Miners!  
It came out way better than expected so I can't wait to get my hands on them.  





Heavy investment
This is a very big investment for me just to learn how different GPU type, size, air flow work best in what config etc.  In a large farm, it is more practical to standardize on only a few types of GPUs.  This standardization help keep operating cost low (same ROM, quickly understand issues, etc) and also make it very easy to RMA similar GPU type or always have a GPU receipt that is within 30 days for quick returns of fail ones.  So needless to say after all the design work is done, I will be selling these to friends for very cheap prices as I prefer this type of standardization.  

This is also over 4 rigs worth that are just idle for different configs and the only time they will be mining is during the heat and power tests.  Expensive project as that's an opportunity lost of almost $1K a month at current income level.  However, I think it will be worth it as we may learn more things from this rather than keep doing the SAME OLD SAME OLD.  Please keep in mind, I got mostly RX470s but will also use different GPUs to test as we have a future proof solution not just an EASY Solution (470).  


This is only half of the gears shown.  The other half is in the garage or in transit.





Here you can see I purchased most of the different RX470 that matters.  I didn't bother with the Sapphire Ref 470 as it will operate similar to the 480 in the picture.  The XFX single fan is actually very tiny, this picture, somehow is not showing proper proportion but it's very tiny compare to the MSI red.





The only way I can SHUT UP the HP 1200W is to give it a beefy Hawkfish007 or FINKSY fan.  I can't recommend these HP1200W for home use or even the garage unless you can use some other fans to keep it cool.  The high pitch noise will travel thru my Garage door vs the white noise from the bigger fans that wont.   Not as loud at Antminer S7 / S9 but almost just as annoying!  You MUST feed it cool air to keep it quiet.  I will try to make a custom Fan mount for it but I wonder what will happen during summer high temps.  Even if your office is 70F AC, it will get hot and get stupid pitch loud.  For open air, should be easy to solve this issue with box fans or a custom fan next to it. However I really wanted this to work for the Server case as the form factor is perfect!


@YSYLUNG - Does the HP 1500W have bigger fans and is maybe quieter?  I need a server PSU solution for the server case and the IBM 2KW wont' fit sideways nor is there a good fan solution in that space to keep either the HP1200W or the IBM 2KW PSU cool.



Thank you everyone for following and for your valuable feedback and support.

Those pico cables look sweet I think i will wait till your and finsky come up with a nice working prototype before i look into buying anything new.

@yun9999 I went through what you are doing trying out multiple video cards etc, problem with these polaris cards is its hard to standardzie since the quality of Rx 470s even in the same brand is so up and down

If i had the money to standardize i'd go with ref 480s and 470s (visiontek)

I would be willing to buy some of your racing mobos, they are fininky but i did find as long as you follow these steps they work ok :

1. Install windows do not do anything with the bios.
2. Update bios using their bios flaher tool, this will cause you to have to reinstall the OS

at that point you can swap out the 6th gen cpu if you want for a kaby lake variant since the new bios works with those, you can also do the setting changes to allow for 6 cards.
I did find that on these boards PCI-E slots can go dead.  One of mine went dead on my first board luckily i only do 5-6 card rigs so it was no big deal.

[m1n1ngP4d4w4n]

Damn guys, you're giving me too many ideas, stop posting such awesome stuff >_< (nah continue but i hate you  )

[yun9999]

@ysylung - Let me see a closer picture of your breaker board and the HP 1200W.  It looks the same to me as there's really only 1 style / pattern of breaker board for this PSU even with different revision and models as it have to lay flat.   The Fan I'm using only consume 9W and is pretty powerful.  The empty space between the breaker board cabling and the intake is quite thin, I'm not sure if any fans would do the job in between but would be nice if there is.  I would like to see your fan placement for it.  The heat is not from the GPU, I can have this thing on the side and it would do the same.  I will have to MOD my rigs to support ths.

For the server case, the intake comes from the rear and push all cool air across thru the front. I need a solution for it, otherwise will stick to EVGA but I was like damn, I can fit 2 of these in easily and get as much power for any GPU I want.

@ Marvell1 - I would prefer to return these to NewEgg then to give your or others headache with them.  Two of them will require CMOS clearing plus BIOS flashing to support the cheaper CPUs.  Not hard but why the heck do I have to do all these extra steps.  1 board have 1 bad slot and 1 slot that if you plug anything in, Windows won't boot.  1 board the LED for the boot up status is dead.  I would have been willing to deal with the hassle if it worked with Simple but it was giving me too much issues with more than 1 GPU with simple.  I'm just keeping 5 to play because I absolutely love the LEDs.  Just when I ask to not quote the long pictures, you did it. HAHAHA   

Agree with you on RX470 being so different even with the same cards.  The Sapphire 470 Nitro I bought when it first came out is completely different then the current version.  No more LED, the plastic is cheaper and they have so many RAM variations. However you just have to keep a few different ROM vs trying to keep 4-6 different ROM per card type (Mem shift, Power Save, OC, etc). I just bought these different Play cards and the fact that they are all different means more time to flash, figure out what works and is a headache if I run Mix cards in a server case where I can't see what I have.  I don't use GUI to flash as that's too time consume and you have to unplug PCIe which will ruin it over time.  Doing 3 at a time via GUI for a 7 GPU rig is way too time consuming especially when you have many rigs and at times would like to switch between ZEC and ETH roms.  Standardization allows me to FLASH quicker, RMA quicker, know of all the bugs that goes with it as I will have more experience with it.  When you're running over 400 GPUs, I don't think you want to deal with too many vendors.  You stick to the good vendors that provides good RMA services and support as every week or two something will surely fail at this scale.  I also agree with you on the original Ref 480.  Those were dream cards, the new ones are CRAP.  I'm ready to smash my MSI Ref 480.  Only 6 out of 10 are good but they can barely do 26-28 not like the old ones.