Building Cheap Miners : My "Secret"

[Preach]

Hey Sundownz,

New guy here, thanks for all the info, I just went through 11 pages...

When you screw down the PCI-e risers, do you have anything under them?

For anyone living in Canada, does anyone have a source for these Dell T5500 or HP Z400's or equivalents???

The cost is roughly $550 - 600 inc. shipping at newegg.ca... or ebay charges are roughly $200 to get it across the border...

For that price I can build a base system that can do up to 6 gpu's or 13 with a better power supply.

Thanks

Wil

[sundownz]

Hey Sundownz,

New guy here, thanks for all the info, I just went through 11 pages...

When you screw down the PCI-e risers, do you have anything under them?

For anyone living in Canada, does anyone have a source for these Dell T5500 or HP Z400's or equivalents???

The cost is roughly $550 - 600 inc. shipping at newegg.ca... or ebay charges are roughly $200 to get it across the border...

For that price I can build a base system that can do up to 6 gpu's or 13 with a better power supply.

Thanks

Wil

Will,

The company that does the refurbishing actually is IN Canada -- maybe they will sell direct ?

http://www.astsys.com/home/

For the risers... I simply leave the foam that comes on them on the bottom of  the PCB.

[Preach]

Too funny...

Thanks for your quick reply...

I am on the phone as we speak...

Wil

[sundownz]

Too funny...

Thanks for your quick reply...

I am on the phone as we speak...

Wil

I may also try to buy a load of them direct. If I can sort out power requirements I may add 300+ more of the Z400s =)

Just talked to my power company about setting up a big additional service here at the warehouse.

[CryptoCruncher]

Hello all,

Stoked to see that I can actually do something with an old T5500 that was about to be tossed into the dumpster at work...  It came with a 1GB Nvidia Quadro 600 card and 12 Gb Hynix Ram.
A quick search brought me here and since I had been planning to build a miner I struck gold it seems...

First problem is that the system won't boot up.  I got a blank HD in it, but I have the dreaded "2-3-4 blink with solid amber power light Pb7" code. Tried the usual and I am now looking at replacing the X5650 CPU.  If that works I am planning to add a few 580's and fire it up.

Love to hear if someone else has had to work through this particular issue before and has insights.  I'll post my build notes along the way...

 

[sundownz]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VS86SYA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hey guys -- for those buying bulk like me... Rosewill has a special on their 850-watt Quarks for $98.99 if you order 20 pcs right now.

I, of course, ordered 20 pcs this morning =)

It *may* require a business account -- as my Amazon account is as such.

-----

I have been buying 850-watt supplies almost exclusively lately... for some odd reason the deals are better than what has been going for the 750s. But... can't complain about getting a bit larger supply for the same money.

[sundownz]

Why you don't use server psu, cheaper and think more reliable?

My build philosophy on the miners is to keep it simple and each unit fully contained in or directly above "the box" (the case)... in case of an explosive and/or fiery failure I do at least have a steel box to contain it.

Also it's just simpler to have a "normal" PSU to power the PC, video cards, and risers all-in-one, IMHO. I have heard of some folks having issues powering different parts from different supplies.

Also it's nice to have a 5-year warranty on the system PSU. I just keep spares around and RMA any failed supplies... I have all Rosewill and their warranty has been phenominal in my experience.

Not to say there is anything wrong with doing it other ways... just my preference / short list of justifications for it =)

[sundownz]

Well -- good news on the ROI front. I began buying hardware in March.

I accelerated a bit buying in June... and I still have at least $25k in hardware I haven't brought online yet (I buy anything that's on sale so I don't miss out).

Even with all the extra hardware that isn't running yet... I am only 4-weeks away from getting back my entire investment! So that means all the hardware that IS running is well beyond paid for.

I am about to finish my 4th rack... and I already have all the GPUs, power supplies, and half the HP Z400s that I need for the 5th rack =)

Pretty exciting.

[hackl3r]

I' m trying to start for my first time to mine bitcoin gold, i've never mine something and bitcoin gold seems pretty good actually but i don't really know how to start!!

[sundownz]

I' m trying to start for my first time to mine bitcoin gold, i've never mine something and bitcoin gold seems pretty good actually but i don't really know how to start!!

This forum is a great resource. In fact it's where I've learned most of what I know on the topic

[sundownz]

4th rack is under construction.

I plan to have it done before I go on vacation in a week =)

[VyprBTC]

Well -- good news on the ROI front. I began buying hardware in March.

I accelerated a bit buying in June... and I still have at least $25k in hardware I haven't brought online yet (I buy anything that's on sale so I don't miss out).

Even with all the extra hardware that isn't running yet... I am only 4-weeks away from getting back my entire investment! So that means all the hardware that IS running is well beyond paid for.

I am about to finish my 4th rack... and I already have all the GPUs, power supplies, and half the HP Z400s that I need for the 5th rack =)

Pretty exciting.

So you have 25k in hardware not being used, and let's just say another 25k in hardware for a total of 50k that you haven't earned your money back on. If you would have put that money in BTC instead of buying the machines you'd have 450,000$

[sundownz]

Well -- good news on the ROI front. I began buying hardware in March.

I accelerated a bit buying in June... and I still have at least $25k in hardware I haven't brought online yet (I buy anything that's on sale so I don't miss out).

Even with all the extra hardware that isn't running yet... I am only 4-weeks away from getting back my entire investment! So that means all the hardware that IS running is well beyond paid for.

I am about to finish my 4th rack... and I already have all the GPUs, power supplies, and half the HP Z400s that I need for the 5th rack =)

Pretty exciting.

So you have 25k in hardware not being used, and let's just say another 25k in hardware for a total of 50k that you haven't earned your money back on. If you would have put that money in BTC instead of buying the machines you'd have 450,000$

That's right, although, since I certainly didn't predict the insane rise of BTC I chose / continue to choose the mining route -- I'm not really huge on trading coins / buying coins directly. Just my personal risk tolerance I suppose.

[RealSwissMiner]

4th rack is under construction.

I plan to have it done before I go on vacation in a week =)

Is that a warehouse or what? Looks a bit messy gotta clean up your setup once everything is running. Love the idea of having a warehouse for the rigs I would go totally nuts haha

[sundownz]

4th rack is under construction.

I plan to have it done before I go on vacation in a week =)

Is that a warehouse or what? Looks a bit messy gotta clean up your setup once everything is running. Love the idea of having a warehouse for the rigs I would go totally nuts haha

Yes it's an area of my warehouse for my "regular" business that wasn't really being used for much... just some odds & ends in this area.

As far as the cables I make those all neat once the rack is full -- the other three look nicer:

[RFisher]

https://preview.ibb.co/c5S2um/1216171146_resized.jpg

4th rack is under construction.

I plan to have it done before I go on vacation in a week =)

Is that a warehouse or what? Looks a bit messy gotta clean up your setup once everything is running. Love the idea of having a warehouse for the rigs I would go totally nuts haha

Yes it's an area of my warehouse for my "regular" business that wasn't really being used for much... just some odds & ends in this area.

As far as the cables I make those all neat once the rack is full -- the other three look nicer:

https://preview.ibb.co/eAGCDR/1121171319_resized.jpg

Hi sundownz thats pretty impressive now your on the 4th Rack, Ive been reading your articles. Ive just started out with a T5500 and 4 Geforce GTX 1060 3GB GPU's. Could you recommend a good pool to join and what mining software you use. Im a newbie

Thanks

[sundownz]

4th rack is under construction.

I plan to have it done before I go on vacation in a week =)

Is that a warehouse or what? Looks a bit messy gotta clean up your setup once everything is running. Love the idea of having a warehouse for the rigs I would go totally nuts haha

Yes it's an area of my warehouse for my "regular" business that wasn't really being used for much... just some odds & ends in this area.

As far as the cables I make those all neat once the rack is full -- the other three look nicer:

Hi sundownz thats pretty impressive now your on the 4th Rack, Ive been reading your articles. Ive just started out with a T5500 and 4 Geforce GTX 1060 3GB GPU's. Could you recommend a good pool to join and what mining software you use. Im a newbie

Thanks

Thanks =)

I am currently using Hash Refinery :

http://pool.hashrefinery.com/

I used ZPOOL for a long time but they have been unstable lately... if they fix their issues I may go back there. But for now Hash Refinery is doing me very well.

---

I use NEMOSMINER software as my profit switching front-end application:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1777336.0

---

Also... on all of my CPUs I mine with XMRIG software:

https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig/releases

And I use the HASH Vault Pool:

https://intense.hashvault.pro/

I used to use the "official pool" but had connection issues with it.

[Michael20]

What wallet you are using for zcash?

[sundownz]

What wallet you are using for zcash?

I actually do not hold or have any Zcash.

Right now I have BTC, ETH, LTC, XVG, BWK, and ITNS coins.

[sundownz]

Got the fourth rack 100% done: