Building Cheap Miners : My "Secret"

[Amstellodamois]

So, the conclusion of all the benchmarks I've read is: find an architecture that uses an AMD CPU

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[nsummy]

So, the conclusion of all the benchmarks I've read is: find an architecture that uses an AMD CPU

Yes and no.  If you are talking about modern desktop processors, Ryzen wins out, the main reason being because it includes the SHA instruction set.  Probably the Epycs on the server side too, but they have barely released those to the market.  If you are interested in making a run at mining cryptonight the best bet is to find an old server on ebay with multiple xeon chips in it (The HP DL580 G7 was mentioned earlier in the thread).   The rub with the Ryzen chips are that the motherboards are expensive.

[spinx]

So, the conclusion of all the benchmarks I've read is: find an architecture that uses an AMD CPU

Yes and no.  If you are talking about modern desktop processors, Ryzen wins out, the main reason being because it includes the SHA instruction set.  Probably the Epycs on the server side too, but they have barely released those to the market.  If you are interested in making a run at mining cryptonight the best bet is to find an old server on ebay with multiple xeon chips in it (The HP DL580 G7 was mentioned earlier in the thread).   The rub with the Ryzen chips are that the motherboards are expensive.

My HP DL580 G7 with 4 x E7-8837 does about 1600H/s on cryptonight.

[Amstellodamois]

So, the conclusion of all the benchmarks I've read is: find an architecture that uses an AMD CPU

Yes and no.  If you are talking about modern desktop processors, Ryzen wins out, the main reason being because it includes the SHA instruction set.  Probably the Epycs on the server side too, but they have barely released those to the market.  If you are interested in making a run at mining cryptonight the best bet is to find an old server on ebay with multiple xeon chips in it (The HP DL580 G7 was mentioned earlier in the thread).   The rub with the Ryzen chips are that the motherboards are expensive.

My HP DL580 G7 with 4 x E7-8837 does about 1600H/s on cryptonight.

525 € shipped
...which means I'll have to dig a lot of information about them. Like do these things come with their power supplys?

[spinx]

So, the conclusion of all the benchmarks I've read is: find an architecture that uses an AMD CPU

Yes and no.  If you are talking about modern desktop processors, Ryzen wins out, the main reason being because it includes the SHA instruction set.  Probably the Epycs on the server side too, but they have barely released those to the market.  If you are interested in making a run at mining cryptonight the best bet is to find an old server on ebay with multiple xeon chips in it (The HP DL580 G7 was mentioned earlier in the thread).   The rub with the Ryzen chips are that the motherboards are expensive.

My HP DL580 G7 with 4 x E7-8837 does about 1600H/s on cryptonight.

525 € shipped
...which means I'll have to dig a lot of information about them. Like do these things come with their power supplys?

Usually 2 or 4 PSU's (1200W) included. That one u linked, has 2. I guess you could find a cheaper server and then only upgrade cpu's. No need for large amounts of RAM or HDDs.

[Amstellodamois]

On the other hand, you can buy this one and sell some RAM as well?

I's be surprised if an entry level server + 4 CPUs was cheaper than 500 €

[puntoB]

I wouldn't say it is cheap with 3 1070's

[sundownz]

I wouldn't say it is cheap with 3 1070's

It is useful to look at the date of the original post -- June 2017.

At that time the EVGA "B Stock" 1070s were $328 per card shipped... I picked up 9 pcs for $2,955.73 and they have done great (just had one with a DOA fan... EVGA took care of it).

[greyday]

Bought a couple of the Iris Pro 6200's at Microcenter for $400 to play with today - not worth it at all. Even at $250, add another $100 for Ram and SSD, it's only getting 250 H/s so you're talking about 12 months for your return.

God I love returning crap.


"So what was wrong this time?"

"Nothing, I just want my money back"

"Ok"

Search around a bit. I got my 5575r (the i5 version) for around $275, a 4gb RAM stick for around $35, and a 32gb usb3 stick for $11. Working on it right now, so far it's zippy as hell and running smooth, about to do some miner install and testing...

EDIT TO ADD: your return enjoyment is exactly why I love Amazon; "Select reason for return: No Longer Needed". I love clicking that.

[sundownz]

I suppose its my turn to contribute something.  If you are into Cryptonight mining, which it sounds like a few of you are, check out this Gigabyte mini-pc for $250: 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164036

You won't be adding any graphics cards (unless you are using eGPUS) but this thing will hash at 614 H/S.  You might be wondering how its possible to get that kind of performance out of a cpu with a 6 mb l3 cache.  The game changer is that this processor has an embedded Iris Pro GPU with a 128 MB L4 cache.  XMR-Stak recently included an optimization to take advantage of this cache space.  It should ROI itself in 2.5 months.  You have to provide your own ram and HD, but it does come with a wifi card so you could put this thing anywhere.

I snagged one for $249.99 just now from Newegg. Should be fun! =)

[PharmEcis]

I just picked up a ton of old iron at auction.  Spent more than I wanted to, but I think I just became a mini hosting facility.    I took every single lot they had, now to make a trip to pick it up, hopefully tomorrow or Friday.

I started testing on a different server that is readily available.  I was basically able to strip it of a ton of unnecessary stuff that would alllow me to condense it's size if I removed important boards out, or repurpose the front of the case where the SAS drive housing was to housing the cards themselves.  Unfortunately, the 2 cards that were supposed to show up today from amazon are delayed until next week (hopefully by then!) so no testing today.  SMOS doesn't CPU mine, at least not out of the box so I'm getting a winimage ready.  But USB sticks so slow... lol

I have 9 1060s coming tomorrow so I'll hopefully I'll be able to test the G7 that is supposed to show up later today along with the other server I already have up and going.

[spinx]

I just picked up a ton of old iron at auction.  Spent more than I wanted to, but I think I just became a mini hosting facility.    I took every single lot they had, now to make a trip to pick it up, hopefully tomorrow or Friday.

I started testing on a different server that is readily available.  I was basically able to strip it of a ton of unnecessary stuff that would alllow me to condense it's size if I removed important boards out, or repurpose the front of the case where the SAS drive housing was to housing the cards themselves.  Unfortunately, the 2 cards that were supposed to show up today from amazon are delayed until next week (hopefully by then!) so no testing today.  SMOS doesn't CPU mine, at least not out of the box so I'm getting a winimage ready.  But USB sticks so slow... lol

I have 9 1060s coming tomorrow so I'll hopefully I'll be able to test the G7 that is supposed to show up later today along with the other server I already have up and going.

Keep me posted!

[greyday]

I suppose its my turn to contribute something.  If you are into Cryptonight mining, which it sounds like a few of you are, check out this Gigabyte mini-pc for $250:  https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164036

You won't be adding any graphics cards (unless you are using eGPUS) but this thing will hash at 614 H/S.  You might be wondering how its possible to get that kind of performance out of a cpu with a 6 mb l3 cache.  The game changer is that this processor has an embedded Iris Pro GPU with a 128 MB L4 cache.  XMR-Stak recently included an optimization to take advantage of this cache space.  It should ROI itself in 2.5 months.  You have to provide your own ram and HD, but it does come with a wifi card so you could put this thing anywhere.

Ok, I picked up and set up one of the 5575rs (identical to the 5775, just i5 instead of i7). Out of the box and just using xmr-stak with the energy saver off, I'm getting around 200-202 h/s, which is not great but not bad. I haven't figured out how to enable support for the Iris Pro yet, still working on that, but I'm feeling pretty confident I can get it up significantly...

EDIT: ok, not exactly identical, it's 2.8-3.3ghz and 4mb l3 instead of 3.3-3.8 and 6mb l3, but I still think I can get it up much higher than 200h/s

[VyprBTC]

I suppose its my turn to contribute something.  If you are into Cryptonight mining, which it sounds like a few of you are, check out this Gigabyte mini-pc for $250:  https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164036

You won't be adding any graphics cards (unless you are using eGPUS) but this thing will hash at 614 H/S.  You might be wondering how its possible to get that kind of performance out of a cpu with a 6 mb l3 cache.  The game changer is that this processor has an embedded Iris Pro GPU with a 128 MB L4 cache.  XMR-Stak recently included an optimization to take advantage of this cache space.  It should ROI itself in 2.5 months.  You have to provide your own ram and HD, but it does come with a wifi card so you could put this thing anywhere.

Ok, I picked up and set up one of the 5575rs (identical to the 5775, just i5 instead of i7). Out of the box and just using xmr-stak with the energy saver off, I'm getting around 200-202 h/s, which is not great but not bad. I haven't figured out how to enable support for the Iris Pro yet, still working on that, but I'm feeling pretty confident I can get it up significantly...

EDIT: ok, not exactly identical, it's 2.8-3.3ghz and 4mb l3 instead of 3.3-3.8 and 6mb l3, but I still think I can get it up much higher than 200h/s

I've got the i7 version, and I'm only getting 250 H/s. You're right though, it is a zippy little thing.

You said you've got it working off USB? Are you using win2go or something like that? I tried it on a rig that was using a G4400 and it was just way too laggy and slow.

Hash aside, I actually like it. Made me look into the Intel NUC version, nice and slim. 3x the price but I might I like it so why not.

[nsummy]

I suppose its my turn to contribute something.  If you are into Cryptonight mining, which it sounds like a few of you are, check out this Gigabyte mini-pc for $250:  https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164036

You won't be adding any graphics cards (unless you are using eGPUS) but this thing will hash at 614 H/S.  You might be wondering how its possible to get that kind of performance out of a cpu with a 6 mb l3 cache.  The game changer is that this processor has an embedded Iris Pro GPU with a 128 MB L4 cache.  XMR-Stak recently included an optimization to take advantage of this cache space.  It should ROI itself in 2.5 months.  You have to provide your own ram and HD, but it does come with a wifi card so you could put this thing anywhere.

Ok, I picked up and set up one of the 5575rs (identical to the 5775, just i5 instead of i7). Out of the box and just using xmr-stak with the energy saver off, I'm getting around 200-202 h/s, which is not great but not bad. I haven't figured out how to enable support for the Iris Pro yet, still working on that, but I'm feeling pretty confident I can get it up significantly...

EDIT: ok, not exactly identical, it's 2.8-3.3ghz and 4mb l3 instead of 3.3-3.8 and 6mb l3, but I still think I can get it up much higher than 200h/s

If it has an Iris pro then the L3 size is irrelevent.  The issue you will run into though is that the I5 only have 4 cores and no hyperthreading.  To take full advantage you need 8 threads.  Make sure for the low power setting you are putting in 5.  you should probably be in the 300s

[greyday]

I suppose its my turn to contribute something.  If you are into Cryptonight mining, which it sounds like a few of you are, check out this Gigabyte mini-pc for $250:  https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164036

You won't be adding any graphics cards (unless you are using eGPUS) but this thing will hash at 614 H/S.  You might be wondering how its possible to get that kind of performance out of a cpu with a 6 mb l3 cache.  The game changer is that this processor has an embedded Iris Pro GPU with a 128 MB L4 cache.  XMR-Stak recently included an optimization to take advantage of this cache space.  It should ROI itself in 2.5 months.  You have to provide your own ram and HD, but it does come with a wifi card so you could put this thing anywhere.

Ok, I picked up and set up one of the 5575rs (identical to the 5775, just i5 instead of i7). Out of the box and just using xmr-stak with the energy saver off, I'm getting around 200-202 h/s, which is not great but not bad. I haven't figured out how to enable support for the Iris Pro yet, still working on that, but I'm feeling pretty confident I can get it up significantly...

EDIT: ok, not exactly identical, it's 2.8-3.3ghz and 4mb l3 instead of 3.3-3.8 and 6mb l3, but I still think I can get it up much higher than 200h/s

I've got the i7 version, and I'm only getting 250 H/s. You're right though, it is a zippy little thing.

You said you've got it working off USB? Are you using win2go or something like that? I tried it on a rig that was using a G4400 and it was just way too laggy and slow.

Hash aside, I actually like it. Made me look into the Intel NUC version, nice and slim. 3x the price but I might I like it so why not.

I'm using Lubuntu, did an install to a 32gb usb3 drive. Since it's mostly going to be mining, I kept it a pretty minimal install.

I think the key to better hashrates lies in the SDK for OpenCL from Intel. Problem is you have to sign up first, and it can take up to 2 days before they send you a link to the files. There is a Windows version as well.

Also I deleted and reinstalled xmr-stak and now am getting 140h/s. Gonna have to figure out why THAT is...

[VyprBTC]

I suppose its my turn to contribute something.  If you are into Cryptonight mining, which it sounds like a few of you are, check out this Gigabyte mini-pc for $250:  https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164036

You won't be adding any graphics cards (unless you are using eGPUS) but this thing will hash at 614 H/S.  You might be wondering how its possible to get that kind of performance out of a cpu with a 6 mb l3 cache.  The game changer is that this processor has an embedded Iris Pro GPU with a 128 MB L4 cache.  XMR-Stak recently included an optimization to take advantage of this cache space.  It should ROI itself in 2.5 months.  You have to provide your own ram and HD, but it does come with a wifi card so you could put this thing anywhere.

Ok, I picked up and set up one of the 5575rs (identical to the 5775, just i5 instead of i7). Out of the box and just using xmr-stak with the energy saver off, I'm getting around 200-202 h/s, which is not great but not bad. I haven't figured out how to enable support for the Iris Pro yet, still working on that, but I'm feeling pretty confident I can get it up significantly...

EDIT: ok, not exactly identical, it's 2.8-3.3ghz and 4mb l3 instead of 3.3-3.8 and 6mb l3, but I still think I can get it up much higher than 200h/s

If it has an Iris pro then the L3 size is irrelevent.  The issue you will run into though is that the I5 only have 4 cores and no hyperthreading.  To take full advantage you need 8 threads.  Make sure for the low power setting you are putting in 5.  you should probably be in the 300s

So you're pulling 600 h/s on your i7? What needs to be changed in the config or CPU file . . . I'm only pulling in 250, I didn't mess around with any of the low power settings, it's still on the stock "false" -

[greyday]

If it has an Iris pro then the L3 size is irrelevent.  The issue you will run into though is that the I5 only have 4 cores and no hyperthreading.  To take full advantage you need 8 threads.  Make sure for the low power setting you are putting in 5.  you should probably be in the 300s

Well that sucks a bit. And I was wondering why they don't have hyperthreading, every i5 I've owned up to now has. Weird.

Still, at 300 I'm not thrilled but I'd be happy enough, that's a 4.5-5 month ROI which is about average for mining gear. It's only pulling 40W so far while mining, so that's not too shabby...

[VyprBTC]

If it has an Iris pro then the L3 size is irrelevent.  The issue you will run into though is that the I5 only have 4 cores and no hyperthreading.  To take full advantage you need 8 threads.  Make sure for the low power setting you are putting in 5.  you should probably be in the 300s

Well that sucks a bit. And I was wondering why they don't have hyperthreading, every i5 I've owned up to now has. Weird.

Still, at 300 I'm not thrilled but I'd be happy enough, that's a 4.5-5 month ROI which is about average for mining gear. It's only pulling 40W so far while mining, so that's not too shabby...

Damn not bad at all - 71w is what my i7 version is using.

[greyday]

Hmmm, according to Intel, the 5575r chip is CAPABLE of hyperthreading. I wonder if there's a driver that can enable it?