10 empty PCI-E x16 Slots, very limited budget, What to Buy?

[micucci1127]

just started with bitcoins this week.

I have a small office with 10 desktops all running intel integrated graphics right now, their powersupplies are around 300w, i think three of them are half height card only.
I don't have the budget to get monster video cards for every machine looking around $300 total to get started, should I?

1. Get older ~$50 radeons for a few just to get these systems up and hashing? (used radeon 4850's from ebay?) -- 6 of these would consume approx 600w and generate hopefully ~ 540MH/s. Anyone have these?

2. take the 300 bucks and just get something for my office machine, and do the others one at a time later. Maybe a Radeon 6950 with a new PSU? it would only pull maybe 300w (guessing) and ~300 MH/s?

3. get nothing because bitcoins will be worthless in a month? and I already pull in a steady 350 MW/h with the old/crap hardware i have floating around now. (2 x 8800gts-512mb, a 4870x2, a GTX 460se, my macbook pro 6670m when its sitting on my desk)

my only real requirements for the cards is they have decent bang/buck, and they dont have fans that sound like lawn mowers like my old 4870x2 does right now. 

just looking for ideas.

thanks,
jim

[Bitcoin_Silver_Supply]

Here is the conventional hardware chart in case it is of use:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_Hardware_Comparison#Other

[drknark]

The only efficient cards are from the Radeon HD5000 and HD6000 series. If you could find some used 5830s or 5850 that would be a good choice. Do not buy 4850s.

[Bitcoin_Silver_Supply]

The only efficient cards are from the Radeon HD5000 and HD6000 series. If you could find some used 5830s or 5850 that would be a good choice. Do not buy 4850s.

Does anyone have a very ballpark figure on how a 5830 or 5850 performs in terms of income for a full day or running? I'm aware that a lot of that would depend on the pool/program/number of cards and so fourth. But for an amateur starting at today's difficulty with one card, what could generally be expected?

[superweb]

The only efficient cards are from the Radeon HD5000 and HD6000 series. If you could find some used 5830s or 5850 that would be a good choice. Do not buy 4850s.

Does anyone have a very ballpark figure on how a 5830 or 5850 performs in terms of income for a full day or running? I'm aware that a lot of that would depend on the pool/program/number of cards and so fourth. But for an amateur starting at today's difficulty with one card, what could generally be expected?

I'm mining with one 6870(about 260Mh/s) at slush's pool for 3 and half days. The full day's income was about 0.45, 0.27 and 0.20
Short time stats so far, but hope it helps.

[drknark]

Look here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

And then here: http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php

[Endeavour79]

You should buy the HD 5830. It's still the most cost effective card and will not kill your PSU. You can even consider overclocking this cards.

[Malte]

I doubt that the pc will even boot with a 300 W PSU. In my office computer there is a 430 W no-name PSU. It won't boot with a 5770. Only if I remove the harddrive and CD-ROM. But I haven't tried running the mining app, since I suspect that the PC will freeze instantly if power consumstion of the card will spike due to mining.

The watts of the PSU is not easily comparable , you must look at how much ampere is provided on each connector.

[Miner SiX]

I'm with the above post. If the psu:s are decent you could buy used 5770/5830 cards and they should run fine. I would not invest anything for mining, but if you already have the rig(for gaming) then why not.

[Endeavour79]

HD5830 should use 175W under load..

[Malte]

Okay, if you listen to the "this will be enough power"-guys, buy one card and see if it works. (not sure if it will).
To understand, why the total watts rating of your PSU is not enough (300 W PSU - 150 W GPU = 150 W remaining power for the system), I recommend reading this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_supply_rail. The separate rating for your PSU should be printed somewhere the housing.

Like I said, my 430 W no name PSU won't even boot, not happy about that.

[Bitcoin_Silver_Supply]

The only efficient cards are from the Radeon HD5000 and HD6000 series. If you could find some used 5830s or 5850 that would be a good choice. Do not buy 4850s.

Does anyone have a very ballpark figure on how a 5830 or 5850 performs in terms of income for a full day or running? I'm aware that a lot of that would depend on the pool/program/number of cards and so fourth. But for an amateur starting at today's difficulty with one card, what could generally be expected?

I'm mining with one 6870(about 260Mh/s) at slush's pool for 3 and half days. The full day's income was about 0.45, 0.27 and 0.20
Short time stats so far, but hope it helps.

Thanks for the reply, that's useful

[computerparts]

What is your goal exactly? If it's profit then you should just forget it. You'll make far more investing in bitcoins outright than you ever would mining at this point. If you're serious then upgrade each and every one of those systems. They would all need to be upgraded with performance parts.

[micucci1127]

thanks for all of the replys

the goal is to make some extra cash, ive done seti@home and folding@home with these pcs but bitcoin is the first one ive seen that I can actually get a little something back from doing this.

how are the 5830's and the 5770's noise wise?

a few of the dells are dell percisions and i think have decent psu's to get these higher end cards working.

[bitcoinaddict]

I've run a 5830 with a 300W PSU for days on end.  As long as it's a decent PSU it won't be an issue.  Just check the 12v rail rating.

I have had two 5830s running on a 450watt, and I now have 2 5830's and 2 5770s in the same box with a 750w PSU.

Hell, if you have to run a separate PSU just for the video card until you get a better one.  No reason to let that card sit there idle, use it before difficulty goes up again.

[ZA_Myner]

In South Africa I'm strugglingto get any worthwhile 5xxx series except the 5870. Costs ~$500 and deliveres about 350-400 Mhash's .
I settled for two 6870 which deliveres about 260 Mhash's $326. I then got two 6950's /300-350 Mhash's $407.
In 6xxx you seem to rather get what u pay for. . I'm at ~1200 Mhash's  with 2 x 6870's and 2 x 6950's on 3 machines.

[micucci1127]

You should buy the HD 5830. It's still the most cost effective card and will not kill your PSU. You can even consider overclocking this cards.

Lol just tried searching for one at newegg. Guess I'm not getting one anytime soon.

[micucci1127]

Again thanks for the input.

With bitcoin prices all over the place right now I'll stick to the cheap road for now and picked up myself a used 5770 on ebay for $80. If nothing else it will go in my desktop so i can relocate my stupidly loud 4870x2 to a dell poweredge in a closet. Those dell power-edges make enough noise on their own.

I'm not trying to be a millionaire from this, nor build myself a mining army anytime soon. This is just a fun side project.