UPS or not?

[skippylou]

Hi, I am taking a very preliminary look at bitcoin mining.  I have a linux box with four 9800gx2 GPUs that might be suitable.  I would need a big UPS or live with half a dozen power failures which will occur this summer.  With current software, what are the potential losses for operating without a UPS?  Recoverable graceful failure or catastrophic losses?  

[Kaepora]

Hi, I am taking a very preliminary look at bitcoin mining.  I have a linux box with four 9800gx2 GPUs that might be suitable.  I would need a big UPS or live with half a dozen power failures which will occur this summer.  With current software, what are the potential losses for operating without a UPS?  Recoverable graceful failure or catastrophic losses?  

I would recommend that yo setup your PC to reboot after a power failure and automatically start your mining software backup at launch along with whatever other software you are using. Otherwise you would need to use the UPS on the computer & your internet modem so you don't lose connection during a power outage. As for losses it depends how long power outages last and how many hashes you get power hour on average.

[cp1]

Those cards are going to be so inefficient I don't know if it will be worth running them.

[skippylou]

Those cards are going to be so inefficient I don't know if it will be worth running them.

If I run it in the winter I can eliminate one of my 1500 watt space heaters so the power won't cost anything.  Heating season is only about two months here (New Mexico high desert).  Not planning on making a living with this stuff anyway.