Building my First Mining Rig

[Helios45]

Hi everyone,

So I spent the last couple of weeks researching all the information related to altcoins mining, what it takes to build a mining rig, etc...
The most difficult decision was what GPU's to go for, I first started considering the AMD 480/570/580 as I can get them for real cheap but the fact that they are only good for a few algos has made me rather looking at nVidia cards
After spending some time reading and watching youtube videos I decided I will go for the a GTX 1070 based mining rig

I'm putting together my shopping list and it's good to see some nice black friday discounts with newegg / canada computers so I need to make my purchase by week-end

The only part where I'm still confused is with the mobo/risers/PSU wiring, so I was initially thinking that a 1000w PSU would be good for a 6x 1070s rig but I realized that the rig will be running very close to 100% of the PSU and that it wasn't recommended so I'm going for 2x 650w instead which is almost half the price of a single 1250w PSU

I understand that there are precautions to take when using dual PSU like using a proper adapter (I'm getting the add2psu adapter), the only thing that is confusing me is how the 6x 1070s will be connected to the PSU, I see conflicting information about the 1070 gpu's as some people indicate they use a single 8 pin connection and others saying the 1070 requires more than one 8 pin connection, can you guys confirm how I should be connecting my 1070s ?

Also the other thing that's confusing me is the powered risers, I've seen many recommendations to stay away from using SATA power cables, if the riser has a molex connector, is it possible to connect it to the PSU using molex to molex cable?

Note that my PSUs will come with 4x PCI-E ports and 4x 6 pin Molex/Sata ports each

Thanks

[1713553531]

1713553531

[1713553531]

1713553531

[1713553531]

1713553531

[Kronos21]

I don't understand why you have to take expensive GPU GTX 1070 if you have the opportunity to buy cheap AMD 480/570/580. They are well cope with their responsibilities and what they are working on a few algorithms, you should not be interested. It is better to buy more GPU and you will earn more coins. For me it does not matter how much GPU supports algorithms. Important payback period.

[Helios45]

I don't understand why you have to take expensive GPU GTX 1070 if you have the opportunity to buy cheap AMD 480/570/580. They are well cope with their responsibilities and what they are working on a few algorithms, you should not be interested. It is better to buy more GPU and you will earn more coins. For me it does not matter how much GPU supports algorithms. Important payback period.

Thanks for the feedback
I was thinking that If Ethereum moves to POS at some stage then we will be left with very limited options to mine with the AMD cards, the 1070 can be good at mining ETH and many other algos, that's what making me lean towards it

[bigjee]

If I were you I would get the molex based power risers. (Ver 006C work great)
Also I would recommend the 2x750w G2 or P2 if they are on sale (IF you are building a rig that has more than 3 cards).

What this will do is allow you to use the peripheral connections on your evga PSU's.
So you are able to make 4 connections to risers (can make more actually) and 4 connections with gpu's at the minimum.

In the end e.g on a 6 card rig : 4 cards will be powered by one PSU and 2 cards and the remaining system components will be powered by the 2nd PSU.

I don't understand why you have to take expensive GPU GTX 1070 if you have the opportunity to buy cheap AMD 480/570/580. They are well cope with their responsibilities and what they are working on a few algorithms, you should not be interested. It is better to buy more GPU and you will earn more coins. For me it does not matter how much GPU supports algorithms. Important payback period.

Thanks for the feedback
I was thinking that If Ethereum moves to POS at some stage then we will be left with very limited options to mine with the AMD cards, the 1070 can be good at mining ETH and many other algos, that's what making me lean towards it

Ask yourself why the AMD's are cheap now and maybe you'll know the right answer.

[Helios45]

If I were you I would get the molex based power risers. (Ver 006C work great)
Also I would recommend the 2x750w G2 or P2 if they are on sale (IF you are building a rig that has more than 3 cards).

What this will do is allow you to use the peripheral connections on your evga PSU's.
So you are able to make 4 connections to risers (can make more actually) and 4 connections with gpu's at the minimum.

In the end e.g on a 6 card rig : 4 cards will be powered by one PSU and 2 cards and the remaining system components will be powered by the 2nd PSU.

I don't understand why you have to take expensive GPU GTX 1070 if you have the opportunity to buy cheap AMD 480/570/580. They are well cope with their responsibilities and what they are working on a few algorithms, you should not be interested. It is better to buy more GPU and you will earn more coins. For me it does not matter how much GPU supports algorithms. Important payback period.

Thanks for the feedback
I was thinking that If Ethereum moves to POS at some stage then we will be left with very limited options to mine with the AMD cards, the 1070 can be good at mining ETH and many other algos, that's what making me lean towards it

Ask yourself why the AMD's are cheap now and maybe you'll know the right answer.

Thanks for the useful information, I'll make sure to pickup similar molex risers
The 650w PSU's I'm planning to get have 4x PCI-E + 4x peripherals each so I will have 8 PCI-E ports and 8x peripherals in total, I guess this is going to be enough to power everything right?

[bigjee]

If I were you I would get the molex based power risers. (Ver 006C work great)
Also I would recommend the 2x750w G2 or P2 if they are on sale (IF you are building a rig that has more than 3 cards).

What this will do is allow you to use the peripheral connections on your evga PSU's.
So you are able to make 4 connections to risers (can make more actually) and 4 connections with gpu's at the minimum.

In the end e.g on a 6 card rig : 4 cards will be powered by one PSU and 2 cards and the remaining system components will be powered by the 2nd PSU.

I don't understand why you have to take expensive GPU GTX 1070 if you have the opportunity to buy cheap AMD 480/570/580. They are well cope with their responsibilities and what they are working on a few algorithms, you should not be interested. It is better to buy more GPU and you will earn more coins. For me it does not matter how much GPU supports algorithms. Important payback period.

Thanks for the feedback
I was thinking that If Ethereum moves to POS at some stage then we will be left with very limited options to mine with the AMD cards, the 1070 can be good at mining ETH and many other algos, that's what making me lean towards it

Ask yourself why the AMD's are cheap now and maybe you'll know the right answer.

Thanks for the useful information, I'll make sure to pickup similar molex risers
The 650w PSU's I'm planning to get have 4x PCI-E + 4x peripherals each so I will have 8 PCI-E ports and 8x peripherals in total, I guess this is going to be enough to power everything right?

You need to know the number of cards and the type of cards.
Then calculate based on TDP total wattage.
Then based on total wattage compare to the PSU's rated wattage x 0.8 (with the 650watt PSU you only have 520 watts max of usable power).

So eg. If you go with 4  x 1070's you'll use about 600 watts (therefore only connect 3 cards (pci-e connectors) +1 riser to 1 PSU. Other PSU will be 1 GTX 1070 + remaining components + risers if you like.



 

[Helios45]

The plan is to go for six cards, was thinking of splitting the cards across both PSU's : 3 GPU's and 3 risers per PSU, that is 6x GPU's / 6 risers cables in total
TDP for 3 cards should be around 450w connecting to a 650W PSU, that is 70% PSU usage

[brownfly]

I understand that there are precautions to take when using dual PSU like using a proper adapter (I'm getting the add2psu adapter), the only thing that is confusing me is how the 6x 1070s will be connected to the PSU, I see conflicting information about the 1070 gpu's as some people indicate they use a single 8 pin connection and others saying the 1070 requires more than one 8 pin connection, can you guys confirm how I should be connecting my 1070s ?

1070 - good choice. Yes, most of 1070s come with one power connector, but there are cards with two connectors, so be careful when you buy them. I got one as a replacement for a broken one, and suddenly found that this (GB FTW) requires two power connectors and it does check it! I was lucky to have a spare one but when you put multiple GPUs, it could be a real problem.

[brownfly]

The plan is to go for six cards, was thinking of splitting the cards across both PSU's : 3 GPU's and 3 risers per PSU, that is 6x GPU's / 6 risers cables in total
TDP for 3 cards should be around 450w connecting to a 650W PSU, that is 70% PSU usage

nah, I made choice for one 1200-1300 Watt EVGA PSU. Very stable and solid for 6 1070 GPUs.

[karmakeddon]

Those EVGA psu's are good, but i do use a corsair on mine. A 1400 watt Corsair PSU powers my 6 gpu rig. It is almost the same price as the evga ones too.

[brownfly]

it is up to you, i dont mind I like EVGA, they are cool and quiet. One of my right consumes almost 1200 Watt that PSU promises to produce and no problems at all.

[Helios45]

The first and most important pieces of my rig have just arrived, feeling so excited and looking forwad to receiving the rest of the parts so that I can start assembling it

[karmakeddon]

Those 1070's looks like a good score! Did you get them during the Black Friday sale? I would suggest waiting for tomorrow too if you are still buying some more components as there will be a Cyber Monday sale still coming up and you might be able to snag other components you would need such as PSU's on the cheaper side.

[umine]

....
I understand that there are precautions to take when using dual PSU like using a proper adapter (I'm getting the add2psu adapter), the only thing that is confusing me is how the 6x 1070s will be connected to the PSU, I see conflicting information about the 1070 gpu's as some people indicate they use a single 8 pin connection and others saying the 1070 requires more than one 8 pin connection, can you guys confirm how I should be connecting my 1070s ?
....

It depends on GPU model: Palit has one 8-pin connector, MSI Gaming has 8+6 pin, EVGA SC has 8+8 pin (!!! Why for card with 150W TDP). You should connect all proper connectors to your GPU

....
Also the other thing that's confusing me is the powered risers, I've seen many recommendations to stay away from using SATA power cables, if the riser has a molex connector, is it possible to connect it to the PSU using molex to molex cable?
....

SATA Power connector uses 18AWG cable (in normal brand PSUs). It's quite enough for powering one riser. But you should check the cable after connecting and mining begin by finger method (The cable has not to be hot)

[Helios45]

Those 1070's looks like a good score! Did you get them during the Black Friday sale? I would suggest waiting for tomorrow too if you are still buying some more components as there will be a Cyber Monday sale still coming up and you might be able to snag other components you would need such as PSU's on the cheaper side.

Yep it was a black friday deal and they quickly sold out, i had to drive 400kms to get them from the only store that still had inventory
Bought also all the rest of my components from newegg/amazon, plenty of black friday deals too

[Helios45]

....
I understand that there are precautions to take when using dual PSU like using a proper adapter (I'm getting the add2psu adapter), the only thing that is confusing me is how the 6x 1070s will be connected to the PSU, I see conflicting information about the 1070 gpu's as some people indicate they use a single 8 pin connection and others saying the 1070 requires more than one 8 pin connection, can you guys confirm how I should be connecting my 1070s ?
....

It depends on GPU model: Palit has one 8-pin connector, MSI Gaming has 8+6 pin, EVGA SC has 8+8 pin (!!! Why for card with 150W TDP). You should connect all proper connectors to your GPU

....
Also the other thing that's confusing me is the powered risers, I've seen many recommendations to stay away from using SATA power cables, if the riser has a molex connector, is it possible to connect it to the PSU using molex to molex cable?
....

SATA Power connector uses 18AWG cable (in normal brand PSUs). It's quite enough for powering one riser. But you should check the cable after connecting and mining begin by finger method (The cable has not to be hot)

Thanks, I realized when I unboxed my Zotac mini that it needs only 8pin power, happy days

As of the risers I will see what kind of cables I get with my PSU's, though I have enough peripherals connections on the PSU's to connect each riser on its own

[umine]

Thanks, I realized when I unboxed my Zotac mini that it needs only 8pin power, happy days

As of the risers I will see what kind of cables I get with my PSU's, though I have enough peripherals connections on the PSU's to connect each riser on its own

GL with your rig creation!
Would be nice to see the result (some photos of working equipment). Each mining rig  is own way unique. Everytime it can be found an interesting and original idea of mining rig construction

[Pantoflascrypt017]

How is the mining going? In total what was your outlay around abouts to put the rig together?

Good luck!

[kapipindot]

You can choose 2x750w power supply to power you 6 gpu. With 1500w, you can still add 2 morp cards in the future of your mobo is able to add 8 gpu. As with the risers, ver009 is the lates though I have not read recent reviews. I guess the durability of theae risers were merely a lottery since there are no credible manufacturer of these. Good choice on nvidia as you dont have to do bios mod. Goodluck and happy mining.

[Helios45]

There we go guys