My Custom Case Build

[rammy2k2]

looks very nice and clean, well done!

[mazedk]

How do you plan on attaching this case to the rack? Very interested in this as I have an old unused server room with many 4 post racks that I'm eyeballing for a similar build.

For this first one I will use my existing rack shelves. In the future I plan to use something like this:

http://www.racksolutions.com/media/catalog/product/cache/16/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/t/o/tool-less-rack-rail-1u-500w_2.gif

http://www.racksolutions.com/tool-less-rack-rails.html

Those are pretty cool actually. Gives you a bit more airflow around the underside of the motherboard aswell.

How are you planning fans to be mounted? Any updated pictures?

[Dougie]

I live in a high rise so this is my version of a garage. Storage units for resident use. Well lit and free electricity but gets hot down there.

Thanks! Looks like a good place for building stuff. Good luck. I'll be interested to see how it goes.

[CartmanSPC]

Big update. Case is done!

Now I am in the process of mounting the components...

GPU section:



Power Supply section:




Had to figure out a place to put the SSD and other misc componets. Velcro came in handy here:





That's it for now. Will run it as is without GPUs to get a baseline of power usage. Hope to get the GPUs installed in the next few days as time permits :/

[Dougie]

It looks really nice and clean. How many GPUs are you going to install?

Would you mind updating with total cost of the rig and case once you're done?!

Thanks.

[networkgeek24]

Any plans to make this hold two motherboards and double the GPU's in the future? It would get a little tight, but I think it would fit.

[cp1]

Time to buy a welder for the next project

[sr_miner]

It looks very nice and clean. 

[CartmanSPC]

First GPU installed. Starting to rethink running 7 GPUs with two 1200 watt power supply's from a cost perspective.

[CartmanSPC]

Thinking about the cost of a 7 GPU system vs a 5 GPU system.

Everything else being equal:

7 GPU system
Power Supply         2x$285.15            $570.30
GPU                  7x$377.36            $2,641.52
Dual-PSU ATX Adapter                      $10.00
Total                                     $3,221.82
Kh/s                                      5208    
Kh/$                                      1.616477643071308

5 GPU system
Power Supply                              $285.15
GPU                  5x$377.36            $1,886.80
Total                                     $2,171.95
Kh/s                                      3720
Kh/$                                      1.712746610189001

So it looks like I would get more Kh/$ using just one PS and 5 GPUs.

This assumes I can run 5 GPUs on just one 1200 watt PS which is yet to be seen. I suppose I could try a single 1600 watt PS for 7 GPUs but I really like the Corsair AX1200i because of it's monitoring features.

[CartmanSPC]

4 GPU system
Power Supply                              $285.15
GPU                  4x$377.36            $1,509.44
Total                                     $1,794.59
Kh/s                                      2976
Kh/$                                      1.658317498704439

The system has been mining with 3 GPUs for over a week now. The case brought down the temps so much that I now run the fans at 80% instead of 85% and increased the voltage from 1.100 to 1.125. Hash rate per card is up to 744 from 722.

Just got the 4th GPU today. Will try to get updated pictures after I get the 4th GPU installed. Changed the way the power supply is installed since it will only have one now.

I think I will be sticking to 4 GPU's per system since that should get me somewhere around 1000 watts (not sure yet as 1 was 300w, 2 was 500w and 3 took it to 800w). Trying to stay close to 80% of the PS's capacity so that is 960 watts out of 1200 watts.

[pr0d1gy]

4 GPU system
Power Supply                              $285.15
GPU                  4x$377.36            $1,509.44
Total                                     $1,794.59
Kh/s                                      2976
Kh/$                                      1.658317498704439

Eh... That MSI is about 250 now... Hope you waited to buy...
Case looks great tho.

[CartmanSPC]

Eh... That MSI is about 250 now... Hope you waited to buy...
Case looks great tho.

Thanks! Where is the MSI 7970 selling for $250?! The cheapest I have been able to find is $377.36 after tax and rebates.

[pr0d1gy]

Thanks! Where is the MSI 7970 selling for $250?! The cheapest I have been able to find is $377.36 after tax and rebates.

my bad, it looked like my 7950. But few months ago i got a 7950 for 340, now its 250... So my bad on that lol

But... maybe save you a few bucks?
Microcenter does have 7970 for 339 after rebate.
That's if they are near you, not sure if they ship...

[CartmanSPC]

That is a great price at MicroCenter. Thanks. They must have just lowered their price as I looked a few days ago and they were much higher. Makes me want to go buy some more tomorrow

[pr0d1gy]

That is a great price at MicroCenter. Thanks. They must have just lowered their price as I looked a few days ago and they were much higher. Makes me want to go buy some more tomorrow

Yea, i wish i would have waited till they dropped... Good luck on the rig.

[kslavik]

How about this:

7 GPUs:
1. PSU 2x1000W PSU:   $99x2 = $198
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159132

2. Motherboard: MSI Z77A-GD65  $114
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MSI-Z77A-GD65-Intel-Z77-Chipset-LGA-1155-USB-3-0-Supports-3rd-Gen-Intel-i7-i5-i3-/271252638284?pt=Motherboards&hash=item3f27eaca4c

3. Intel Celeron G1610 Ivy Bridge = $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116889

4. 8GB Memory $76
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231427

5. GPU 7xMSI 7950 at $199 = $1393
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B007NG3WR2/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1376768677&sr=8-1&keywords=msi+7950&condition=used

6. HDD at $50

Total Price: $1881
Kh/s = 4550
Kh/$ = 2.4

5 GPUs:

1. PSU 2x1000W PSU:   $99x2 = $198
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159132

2. Motherboard: MSI Z77A-GD65  $114
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MSI-Z77A-GD65-Intel-Z77-Chipset-LGA-1155-USB-3-0-Supports-3rd-Gen-Intel-i7-i5-i3-/271252638284?pt=Motherboards&hash=item3f27eaca4c

3. Intel Celeron G1610 Ivy Bridge = $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116889

4. 8GB Memory $76
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231427

5. GPU 7xMSI 7950 at $199 = $995
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B007NG3WR2/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1376768677&sr=8-1&keywords=msi+7950&condition=used

6. HDD at $50

Total Price: $1483
Kh/s = 3250
Kh/$ =  2.19


When you calculate the total price of the systems with 7GPU vs 5GPU, you have to consider all the components to come up with a correct Kh/$ ratio.

[pr0d1gy]

Why use a hard drive tho? Could use less power and $ on a usb stick? Thats just me tho...

[CartmanSPC]

Thanks for that kslavik. I choose some more expensive options as I wasn't looking for the cheapest build but that looks like a nice list.

For anyone wondering here are the component costs. Waiting on an additional discount of between 10-30 on the last GPU. Not included is the aluminum cost of around $40-60 and the cost for the tools to build the case.

Code:

Component     Part Number	        QTY	 Unit Price 	 Ext Price 	 Discount 	 Subtotal 	 Tax 	         Shipping Total 	 Rebate 	 Grand Total 
Power Supply  CP-9020008-NA	        1	 $339.99 	 $339.99 	 $51.00 	 $288.99 	 $21.67 	 $4.49 	 $315.15 	 $30.00 	 $285.15 
Video Card    R7970 TF 3GD5/OC BE	1	 $429.99 	 $429.99 	 $20.00 	 $409.99 	 $30.75 	 $3.99 	 $444.73 	 $38.88 	 $405.85 
Video Card    R7970 TF 3GD5/OC BE	1	 $429.99 	 $429.99 	 $20.00 	 $409.99 	 $30.75 	 $3.99 	 $444.73 	 $35.00 	 $409.73 
Video Card    R7970 TF 3GD5/OC BE	1	 $429.99 	 $429.99 	 $65.00 	 $364.99 	 $27.37 	 $-   	 $392.36 	 $15.00 	 $377.36 
Video Card    R7970 TF 3GD5/OC BE	1	 $429.99 	 $429.99 	 $60.00 	 $369.99 	 $27.75 	 $-   	 $397.74 	 $20.00 	 $377.74 
Motherboard   MSI Z77A-GD65	        1	 $131.74 	 $131.74 	 $-   	         $131.74 	 $10.54 	 $-   	 $142.28 	 $25.00 	 $117.28 
Memory        CMX8GX3M1A1333C9	        1	 $69.99 	 $69.99 	 $25.00 	 $44.99 	 $3.60 	         $0.52 	 $49.11 	 $-   	         $49.11 
CPU           BX80637G1610	        1	 $34.99 	 $34.99 	 $-   	         $34.99 	 $2.80 	         $-   	 $37.79 	 $-   	         $37.79 
Storage       SDSSDP-064G-G25	        1	 $54.99 	 $54.99 	 $-   	         $54.99 	 $4.40 	         $-   	 $59.39 	 $-   	         $59.39 
										
	                                         $2,351.66 	 $2,351.66 	 $241.00 	 $2,110.66 	 $159.63 	 $12.99 $2,283.28 	 $163.88 	 $2,119.40 
		

[CartmanSPC]

Few more pics. Haven't plugged in the last GPU yet as I'm waiting on some more modular power supply cables.

The powered riser connections came out nice.


In the rack.