Mining Rig - reasonable? problematic?

[bitzzzone]

Here's a new rig I am building:

COMPUCASE HEC 6C28B Black Mid-Tower Case, No PSU, ATX
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold 1200W Power Supply w/ Modular Cables, 80 PLUS® Gold, ATX12V v2.3 2x EPS12V v2.92, 4x 6-pin + 4x 8/6-pin PCIe,
GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD5, AM3+, AMD® 990FX, DDR3-2000 (O.C.) 32GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI CF /2+3*, SATA 6 Gb/s RAID 5 /8, USB 3.0 /4, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX,
AMD Phenom™ II X3 705e Triple-Core 2.5GHz, AM3, HT 4000MHz, 3x 512KB L2 + 6MB L3 cache, 65W, 45nm,
CRUCIAL 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz CL9 1.5V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
SAPPHIRE Radeon™ HD 7970 OC w/ Boost 950/1000MHz, 3GB GDDR5 5700/5800MHz, PCIe 3.0 x16 CrossFire, DP + HDMI + 2x DVI,
SAPPHIRE Radeon™ HD 7970 OC w/ Boost 950/1000MHz, 3GB GDDR5 5700/5800MHz, PCIe 3.0 x16 CrossFire, DP + HDMI + 2x DVI,
SAPPHIRE Radeon™ HD 7970 OC w/ Boost 950/1000MHz, 3GB GDDR5 5700/5800MHz, PCIe 3.0 x16 CrossFire, DP + HDMI + 2x DVI,
SEAGATE 1TB Barracuda®, SATA 6 Gb/s, 7200 RPM, 64MB cache
LITE-ON iHAS124 Black 24x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA
MICROSOFT Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition w/ SP1

Any pros or cons from the experts?

Thanks.

BZ

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[Kruncha]

Looks good to me, though multiple card setups often require additional cooling, as each card heats up the other one.

K.

[MartinReynolds]

Hello,

That looks like a pretty nice build there, you might not need a 1TB drive but you could always use it again when your done. I would be using that for Litecoins, it should hold up pretty well and after it becomes too hard to mine Litecoins you got all that awesome hardware left over. Be sure to post a thread after your decide what to order, would be a nice thread.

Regards,

Martin Reynolds.

[Apostle]

I would not case them I would go open air. I have 5 7950 running at 620 khash. you want open air and riser cables's get some vented plastic racking and a big ass fan. can't go wrong.

[MartinReynolds]

I would not case them I would go open air. I have 5 7950 running at 620 khash. you want open air and riser cables's get some vented plastic racking and a big ass fan. can't go wrong.

I agree, keeping your hardware cool is key. At work we had a couple of servers go bad due to them getting way too hot, was during a really hot summers day and the room was way too hot for all the hardware but we have a school full of 300 children so we couldn't really just shut them down as the teachers use their PC's for all the classes. Well, they ended up over heating even tho we told our boss we need to turn them off but he didn't listen. Lesson learned for him I guess, anyway a few extra fans won't go a miss.

Regards,

Martin.

[Goldmember]

I would go for 7950's instead. Unless you get the 7970 cheap that should make back the investment faster, wouldn't it?

[stephengillon]

why put a dvd drive, just borrow one from a current machine til you install windows or just make a bootable usb.

no sense in wasting small amount of electricty and money on a drive

[mt_bird]

Three 7970s will overheat inside that case. If you must go with a case, something like the CoolerMaster HAF X would be better. Open air with risers would be best, IMO. Also, I would go with 7950s instead of 7970s.

[rojoRocket]

You are going to need a good cooling system for that rig... it's gonna be hawtttt!

[BitshireHashaway]

I don't think you need a 1 terabyte hard-drive, just stick with a 64gb or something, that is way to large. Also, borrow the CD Drive from another machine while your at it. I don't recommend putting it in a case, and just leaving it open air with lots of fans. With 3 video cards I don't think you will need to draw much more power from the motherboard.

[technocoma]

I would go with 7950.. They are quite easy to get 650k hash and some 7970 are lucky to even get near that..

[bennett616]

How much does a set up like this cost?

Andy B

[bitzzzone]

Hey thanks for all the comments!

I made some modifications to my parts list:

AMD, FX-6100 Six-Core 3.3 - 3.9GHz, AM3+, 8MB L3 cache, 95W, 32nm, Black Edition
COOLER MASTER, Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler, Socket 1155/1156/1366/775/AM3/AM2, Copper/Aluminum,
GIGABYTE, GA-990FXA-UD5, AM3+, AMD® 990FX, DDR3-2000 (O.C.) 32GB /4, PCIe x16 SLI CF /2+3*, SATA 6 Gb/s RAID 5 /8, USB 3.0 /4, HDA, GbLAN, FW /2, ATX,
CRUCIAL, 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz CL9 1.5V SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
SAPPHIRE, Radeon™ HD 7970 OC w/ Boost 950/1000MHz, 3GB GDDR5 5700/5800MHz, PCIe 3.0 x16 CrossFire, DP + HDMI + 2x DVI,
SAPPHIRE, Radeon™ HD 7970 OC w/ Boost 950/1000MHz, 3GB GDDR5 5700/5800MHz, PCIe 3.0 x16 CrossFire, DP + HDMI + 2x DVI,
SAPPHIRE, Radeon™ HD 7970 OC w/ Boost 950/1000MHz, 3GB GDDR5 5700/5800MHz, PCIe 3.0 x16 CrossFire, DP + HDMI + 2x DVI,
WESTERN DIGITAL, 500GB WD Caviar® Green™ (WD5000AZRX), SATA 6 Gb/s, IntelliPower™, 64MB Cache
LITE-ON, iHAS124 Black 24x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, OEM
COOLER MASTER, HAF X (RC-942-KKN1) Black Tower Case w/ Window, EATX, 9 Slots, No PSU, Steel/Plastic
CASE FAN, LED Fans Maximum Package, Green
AEROCOOL, Touch 1000 Black Controller Panel, 4-Channels Fan / Temperature, Touch Screen LCD, 5.25" Bay
COOLER MASTER, Silent Pro Gold 1200W Power Supply w/ Modular Cables, 80 PLUS® Gold, ATX12V v2.3 2x EPS12V v2.92, 4x 6-pin + 4x 8/6-pin PCIe,

This should run cooler and I can monitor the temp.  I'm not quite ready for the totally open approach.

[qitupx]

Cooling is the primary concern..I have a pretty crappy computer I pulled out of work (single core sempron at 1.8 Ghz) and shoved a 7950 in there along with a box fan. It is some compaq computer with no fans so it isn't exactly the king of cooling..450 watt PSU powers this thing.

[jonptl]

What about 7850?

[BitshireHashaway]

Cooling is the primary concern..I have a pretty crappy computer I pulled out of work (single core sempron at 1.8 Ghz) and shoved a 7950 in there along with a box fan. It is some compaq computer with no fans so it isn't exactly the king of cooling..450 watt PSU powers this thing.

Lol neat:). Does it make enough so that it is worth the power?

[BitshireHashaway]

This should run cooler and I can monitor the temp.  I'm not quite ready for the totally open approach.

Running cooler is always a good thing. If you are not quite ready for the totally open approach they maybe try a light open case with still some covering. It is great for cooling, and I was wondering why are you against this?

[mt_bird]

I'm not familiar with those 7970s, but if they are voltage locked, might be difficult to keep them from overheating inside a case. Open air setup would be better.

BTW, I have three 7950s inside a HAF X and they run cool enough, but I don't know about three 7970s... If you go with the HAF X, be sure to remove all the dust filters from under the various grills to improve airflow. There's enough room inside that case to rig up risers to get even more separation between the gpus. Also, for my Sapphire 7950s, I found them to run cooler if I reversed the side case fan to make it exhaust instead of intake.

[bennett616]

How much does a set up like this cost?

Andy B