Setting up my first *ghetto* mining rig!!

[antantti]

Is that really only 673 Watts for 4 290 cards? Or am I reading it wrong?

Yes, "only" 673 watts at the wall for 4 x 290x, that's just one forgotten powersaving algo.

I don't know about the drivers. I tested them all with the same drivers, the blockchain beta ones. I also tested them with their respective latest drivers too and both gens performed worse.

They do work for some mainstream algos & miners like ETH & Claymore. You said you like ETH, you should mine that most profitable coin and trade it to ETH then. For a 290 that most profitable algo lately has been nicehash cryptonight/ ETN.

[RealKariverson]

Is that really only 673 Watts for 4 290 cards? Or am I reading it wrong?

Yes, only 673 watts at the wall for 4 x 290x, that's just one forgotten powersaving algo.

I don't know about the drivers. I tested them all with the same drivers, the blockchain beta ones. I also tested them with their respective latest drivers too and both gens performed worse.

They do work for some mainstream algos & miners like ETH & Claymore. You said you like ETH, you should mine that most profitable coin and trade it to ETH then. For a 290 that most profitable algo lately has been nicehash cryptonight/ ETN.

Are you keeping your Brennenstuhl on 24/7?

Honestly right now I just want to get it online lol, I'll figure out what to mine when I do. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it as they say

[antantti]

Are you keeping your Brennenstuhl on 24/7?

Honestly right now I just want to get it online lol, I'll figure out what to mine when I do. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it as they say

I've killed many of those china kill-a-watts before but this brennensthul just keeps going. In fact, you feel the difference when you hold it in your hand.

It has been running 24/7 for about two years now without problems.

[RealKariverson]

Are you keeping your Brennenstuhl on 24/7?

Honestly right now I just want to get it online lol, I'll figure out what to mine when I do. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it as they say

I've killed many of those china kill-a-watts before but this brennensthul just keeps going. In fact, you feel the difference when you hold it in your hand.

It has been running 24/7 for about two years now without problems.

That's great to hear. Cheap too! Just 18 euro locally.

[antantti]

That's great to hear. Cheap too! Just 18 euro locally.

I was desperate to find one after I killed those cheap ones.

All those big brick&mortars were like  so I went to a shop where I normally buy pro tools for some some other hobbies I have. At first they were  too but then they said wait, wait. And there it was , my brennenstuhl -50%, 10€. Honestly, at that point, I would be willing to pay a lot more for it.

Ghetto rig = best rig.

[RealKariverson]

My electrician came today and finished the electrical work. Now I have a direct like from the Breaker panel with its own circuit. And heavy duty all weather cables and sockets.

Image: https://imgur.com/zu6tsIe

Also, I ordered an HP DPS-1200FB P/N 438202-001 Power Supply and a breakout box with cables. The breakout box is from China though, so it'll take a while to arrive.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DPS-1200FB-Power-Breakout-Adapter-Board-10-6-2Pin-Cable-for-Ethereum-Mining-Sale/372129870321?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
This one has a power on switch as well.

[RealKariverson]

Hey, My frame's spacings are way off for the 007S risers. And I can only screw only one of the holes  Do you think it'll cause damage if they stay like in the pic for prolonged periods of time? GPU is firmly staying in place.

Picture: https://imgur.com/a/idqvN

[QuintLeo]

Mixing hawaii and polaris can be a major PITA, they like different driver generations.

About Corsair RM series, it's not the best there is but it does it's job more than well, just don't push those hawaii's with ETH/ dual mining or you might have some melted connectors.

My Brennenstuhl with rm1000x + 4x290x, calculator says $22/ day:

 16.9 and 16.10 series drivers work well on both RX 4xx and R9 2xx series cards under Windows.
It's the RX 5xx series cards and Vega where you start getting into "garbage support for older cards" issues on Windows.

 On the LINUX side, you have to go AMDGPU-PRO for anything RX series, and those drivers are just a pain in general and most of them do NOT work well with the older R9 series cards.



 R9 290 cards aren't hard to get the power down on - update them with a undervolt BIOS from TheStilt and DON'T overclock them.

[QuintLeo]

Are you keeping your Brennenstuhl on 24/7?

Honestly right now I just want to get it online lol, I'll figure out what to mine when I do. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it as they say

I've killed many of those china kill-a-watts before but this brennensthul just keeps going. In fact, you feel the difference when you hold it in your hand.

It has been running 24/7 for about two years now without problems.

 My Brand power meter has been working for .... hmmm, at least 15 and pushing close to 20 years now.
 Might not look as pretty as those cheap Kill-A-Watts but it's like the EverReady Bunny......

[RealKariverson]

Heeeey

Completed the rig today!! Realized that for 6 cards I don't need a 3rd PSU!! So I only installed the 2 RM ones. RM750 runs only the 2x 290x and RM850i runs everything else and all the risers. Corsair link reports it pull around 800W from the wall. My meter hasn't arrived yet.

I get ~130MH/s out of the box, drivers from windows 10 automatic updates. Pretty good if you ask me! What I'd like to know if it is possible to see temps of each GPU. Right now I can't see much info about any of the GPUs except the intel integrated one I run my monitor. Is it not possible? Or did I do something not right? I also can't do touch anything on them on MSI afterburner, no clocks not anything.

Pictures!: https://imgur.com/a/fQcwp

[Omg9500]

If afterburner not working for you it might be because of drivers. Try sapphire TRIXX instead.

[Victorio]

I get ~130MH/s out of the box, drivers from windows 10 automatic updates. Pretty good if you ask me! What I'd like to know if it is possible to see temps of each GPU. Right now I can't see much info about any of the GPUs except the intel integrated one I run my monitor. Is it not possible? Or did I do something not right? I also can't do touch anything on them on MSI afterburner, no clocks not anything.

1. Turn off automatic updates
2. EthMon - available for Win and Android
3. Connect the monitor to the primary GPU (X16_1 slot)

[nerdralph]

I get ~130MH/s out of the box, drivers from windows 10 automatic updates. Pretty good if you ask me! What I'd like to know if it is possible to see temps of each GPU. Right now I can't see much info about any of the GPUs except the intel integrated one I run my monitor. Is it not possible? Or did I do something not right? I also can't do touch anything on them on MSI afterburner, no clocks not anything.

1. Turn off automatic updates
2. EthMon - available for Win and Android
3. Connect the monitor to the primary GPU (X16_1 slot)

I use Linux, so don't have anything good to say about using Windoze.
Instead of connecting a monitor to the primary GPU, I recommend using the on-board video for the display.  You can often overclock cards a bit more when they don't need to do video out.  It's also easier for testing GPUs since you just leave the video cable plugged into the motherboard.

[Victorio]

I use Linux, so don't have anything good to say about using Windoze.
Instead of connecting a monitor to the primary GPU, I recommend using the on-board video for the display.  You can often overclock cards a bit more when they don't need to do video out.  It's also easier for testing GPUs since you just leave the video cable plugged into the motherboard.

Temperature monitoring and overclocking in AB/ODnT does not work for AMD Polaris cards, unless the primary GPU is connected to a monitor. Can't say if the same applies for Linux.

[btcgolong]

OP,
For the sake of safety, I would use 1 or max 2 server PSUs, preferably of the same model and condition. 3 different PSUs, even good quality, seem the weak point to me.
With server PSUs, you assemble the cabling by yourself and make sure every contact is strong and stable - very important when dealing with high currents. Additionally, you are not restricted to the configuration of power connectors.
Will the rig be enclosed or there will be free air flow? Low temperatures affect negatively computer hardware - I had a case when the miner started only after the ambient temperature got >15C. Haven't figured what was the problem - either the HDD or the server PSU.

From my calculations, you rig would be running OK with 2x 750-1000W or 1x 1600-2000W server PSU + a DC-DC ATX converter (picoPSU). If you're a skilled DIY enthusiast, I can help you with details in PM.

Yep, I would had bought a couple from www.parallelminer.com but they're in the US and the Custom charges were gonna rape me. I will keep exploring that option to replace the PSUs I have. But next week I have to have the rig online.

It's gonna be open air. Temperatures right now at night are already ~5C. :/

Could not find if you mentioned where you are from in the thread ? What area of the globe do you come from ?

[RealKariverson]

I get ~130MH/s out of the box, drivers from windows 10 automatic updates. Pretty good if you ask me! What I'd like to know if it is possible to see temps of each GPU. Right now I can't see much info about any of the GPUs except the intel integrated one I run my monitor. Is it not possible? Or did I do something not right? I also can't do touch anything on them on MSI afterburner, no clocks not anything.

1. Turn off automatic updates
2. EthMon - available for Win and Android
3. Connect the monitor to the primary GPU (X16_1 slot)

Thank you!
I run into some electrical problems yesterday and I uninstalled it for a day. I will continue setting it up tomorrow!
EthMonitoring looks like one hell of a tool! Can't wait to try it!

So I need to put one card on the PCIe3 x16 slot and connect my monitor on it to be able to see temps and OC for all cards?

@btcgolong
I'm located in Southern Europe

@nerdralph
Yeah I already have the monitor on the onboard gpu.

[Victorio]

So I need to put one card on the PCIe3 x16 slot and connect my monitor on it to be able to see temps and OC for all cards?

The primary GPU is the one connected to the 1st PCI-Express X16 slot. You can connect it through a riser - no problems. A HDMI-DVI or HDMI-VGA emulator will also work instead of the monitor.

[RealKariverson]

So I need to put one card on the PCIe3 x16 slot and connect my monitor on it to be able to see temps and OC for all cards?

The primary GPU is the one connected to the 1st PCI-Express X16 slot. You can connect it through a riser - no problems. A HDMI-DVI or HDMI-VGA emulator will also work instead of the monitor.

Thanks! I was in disbelief of how easy that fix was!

I also set up EthMonitoring. Great tool.

I installed the blockchain drivers (had to disable internet, no matter how many ways I tried to stop automatic updates, it was still installing them on its own). I gained ~6MH/s throughout all 6 cards.
I atried some very mild OC on the 390 which has excellent temps and got 30MHs with it. But it was also OCing the 290 on its own. I don't know why. Just these 2. But they both hash at 30MH/s now. Went from 136MH/s to ~140-42MH/s. Is it worth it to bother with custom BIOSes? Or this is good enough you think? Ethermine reports 150MH/s effective hashrate.

The 390 fluctuates from rarely 20 to 26 to mostly 30MH/s and RX560 from 9 to 12MH/s. 290 gave a 24MH/s once too.

I can't push these anymore because I already pull 850w from the wall with the 850 PSU with 91% efficiency.
I can't OC the 2x 290x at all also since they don't have the best temps, they're at 84-87C

Quick edit: I got the 290x cards to go at 30Mh/s with a mild OC and temps stayed the same.
 

[antantti]

Is it worth it to bother with custom BIOSes?

Custom bios only speeds up cryptonight and equihash, if you are only mining dagger gains are so small that it's not worth the hassle.

[RealKariverson]

Hmm, I'm having some problems now. After an hour, OCed or stock speeds it keeps crashing. First time it worked for 7 hours straight, then 3, then it won't stay going for over an hour. :/

Maybe the blockchain drivers? Maybe the PSU when it pulls 800w stock 850 OCed from the wall?

I think I found something. Maybe that was causing it. I went to fire it up now again and one card wasn't working. Its riser on the montherboard the usb port was touching the solder of the next one. When I put a piece of paper between it worked. I'm not sure that was why the card wasn't working, I didn't want to test it and let it touch on purpose.
Maybe that's why it was crashing, after a while, it would touch or something.