Breakdowns: How often and typical issues?

[Tonto97]

I see many vids on YT, and general searching pertaining to breakdowns. They make it a point that you should figure these in when you're looking at your total profits.

Through searching around, I can't seem to find a list of the most common breakdowns that occur, and cost of fixing them.

In truth, the only thing specifically I've heard are GPU fans. That makes sense to me while I think about things further down the line in my mining career. Fans seem fixable, but a pain to do so. I'll have to deal with that when that happens.

I wanted to see if there were really any other common issues that you "guys in the know" deal with on a regular basis?

If GPU fans are the main issues, how long should I expect to start having problems with them? I know we can't pinpoint exactly, but just a rough guesstimation would be helpful.

I am sure GPUs themselves prolly have a life expectancy in years/running time. Is there a guesstimation out there of the most common life cycle of GPU running? If I can get info on that, I'd also both non OC, and OC'd.

If I'm asking something that is commonly asked all over these boards, I apologize in advance. If there are some, I have no problems doing leg work and reading through them if a link is provided.

Any information would be helpful and I thank you for your time.

[Phantoms001]

I think the toughest thing to do is getting everything setup and dialed in.  Every card is different and you can have 2 of the exact same rigs but they run quite different.  You think your up and running then it will just stop.  You have to keep tweaking till you really get it stable. 

[leonix007]

In my case, I usually dealt with power interruptions, having no power for at least 5hrs almost twice a month gives gpu failure undetected upon backon and needs constant pullout , pullin for a reset,it so freakin pain in the ass when it happens to 3-5 rigs and im out of location.

[ica7000]

SATA cables and SSD fry outs.  I've switched to USB drives since then. 

[Vann]

Fans being the only moving parts in a rig are definetly the most common point of failure. The goal is to keep temperatures at a constant, moderate level (below 75C). It's a good idea to use supplemental fans, like a $20 box fan to keep good air circulation and remove heat around the cards. That makes the card fans work more efficiently, so you don't have to turn them up high. Which prolongs the life of the fans. Fans running 24/7 at 80% or higher will wear out quickly, <12 months. It's also much cheaper and easier to replace a box fan than multiple card fans. If you have more than 2-3 rigs in a room, you will probably need to look for ways to exhaust the air, so that it's not just circulating the same hot air.

GPU's are otherwise very resiliant to mining. If you have a problem with a GPU, you will usually know it soon after buying it. I just had to RMA my first GPU that died after just 3 months (would turn on and was detected by Windows, but no video output and it would not mine). That card, a Asus STRIX RX 580, would crash and oveclock much less than other similar cards I have.

[[R]onimus]

It happens to me once in a while but it is somehow annoying.

While mining - NiceHas Miner. 1.8.x - I sometimes see that the rate drops from the usual when I started it and when I check AB, I noticed that one of the GPU sensors is not responding. I have 5 GPUs of the same brand type.

When I check Device Manager, I notice that all are fine. But when I check each one in GPUz one of the cards will show "unknown"

What I would do is to uninstall(Delete the driver) the driver to one of the GPUs in Device Manager and then as soon as if brings back all of them I re fire my miner and all is well again.


Any thoughts?

[Agozyen]

Fans are what go for me first. Usually.  I have to GTX 1070s that aren't working now, no idea why.  One shows up in device manager the other doesn't.  I don't have the time to track it down right now, but my experience its's fans and PCIe risers and power supplies.  

 If you  don't have one get a good Power supply tester, they are fairly inexpensive and this will go a long way towards narrowing any potential problems you may run in to.