Is this mining rig okay?

[microzee]

Hey everyone, I'm building a mining rig/computer for mining litecoins and wanted to make sure everything is okay/compatible as this is my first build. I have a hard drive, case, cables, and fans already. The motherboard supports Intel 3rd gen, I was kinda wanting a 4th gen, but I couldn't find one. It has quad crossfirex meaning it can supports up to 4 7950's? Anyways here's the list:

http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/3BWZMD0TXUONY/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go_o_C-5

Let me know if everything's okay, if I can get something better, or if you know were I can find a 4th gen mobo with quad crossfirex at a decent price.

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[microzee]

Yeah they don't need to be on crossfire, but one crossfire slot can support 2 GPUs if you buy a bridge.

[HellDiverUK]

but one crossfire slot can support 2 GPUs if you buy a bridge.

No, it can't.

[microzee]

Please explain yourself.

[rifter390]

1 video card per pcie slot.
I think what you mean is one sli bridge will link two cards together which is true but both cards still need to be installed into their own pcie slot on the mother board. Just so you know, you don't need to crossfire them or link the cards together for them to mine coins.

[microzee]

Oh okay I see. What about the PCI express ports? Will the mining be faster in the ports that have 3.0? How many cards can I use on that mobo?

[CryptoCluster]

Oh okay I see. What about the PCI express ports? Will the mining be faster in the ports that have 3.0? How many cards can I use on that mobo?

There is no difference in mining speed for using 3.0 ports instead of 2.0.
I hope you know that mining BTC with GPU is not profitable anymore, it is barely profitable to mine scrypt coins (LTC) nowadays.

[rifter390]

Are you building this into a computer case or leaving it open air?

[notlist3d]

Are you going to be using two of the power supplies?  Just making sure you know 4 will take two of them.

[Quantus]

You will never see a ROI if you buy this to mine bitcoins/scamcoins.

[microzee]

Okay yeah I might even mine FTC as that's the newest. Anyways there's 1 pci-e 3.0, 2 pci-e 2.0 and 1 pci-e 1.0. So I'll be able to put 4 gpu's in it? What does the x16 and x4 and x1 mean? Is that the slot connector type? GPUs need x16 right? So that mobo can only take 2?(only 2 are x16)

Yes if I ever do get 4, I'll buy another PSU. But I want the mobo to be able to support 4 GPUs in case i ever do get 4.

The computer will be in a plastic milk crate.

And I definitely will not be mining bitcoins.

[rifter390]

Did you read what he posted at least? He said litecoins...

Give me a few minutes ill toss something together for you.

[microzee]

Haha okay thanks(:

[Lethos]

Ideally you'll want to be using PCIe extenders for all rigs with multiple cards, not many motherboards can cope with more than 4 without them.
These PCIe Extenders are flexible wires that plug in between the motherboard and graphics card to give extra room and allow you to use all the PCIe slots. It is worth getting powered extenders, as many high end graphics card tend to rely on the extra power usually gained from the motherboard.
Most GPU's you'd want to mine with are double or triple width (slot size) so they take up a lot of space, blocking nearby slots if you plug them directly.
This one you picked probably can't do more than 2 GPU's, slotted directly in the motherboard.

The speed (1x / 4x / 16x) means the transfer speed of data across the bus, but since the amount of data is tiny it can work on even 1x speed.
Also PCIe 2.0 or PCI 3.0 doesn't matter either within reason, as they are both compatible with each other and while their is a speed difference it won't effect a mining rig.
You only need to worry about it's speed if the GPU is going to be used for large data like gaming for example.

Good luck.

[rifter390]

Okay, just swap out your mother board and processor with these here and you can fit 4 video cards right on the board without using risers. This motherboard should support 5 video cards in total but for the 5th one to work you will have to buy a pcie 1x to 16x riser. I will link you to one of those as well. If you are building it into a milk crate then you might as well buy risers for the other cards as well. This keeps them cooler.

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-790FX-GD70-CrossFire--4DDR3-2133-CrossFireX--ATX-Motherboard/dp/B001V9KQPI/ref=sr_1_110?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1375991212&sr=1-110

http://www.amazon.com/AMD-Sempron-145-Processor-SDX145HBGMBOX/dp/tech-data/B0040BPHJO/ref=de_a_smtd

You only need 1 of this kind if you plan to add a 5th video card.

http://www.amazon.com/Powered-Flexible-Extender-Bitcoin-Mining/dp/B00CQBCKPY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1375993341&sr=8-3&keywords=pcie+riser+1x+to+16x

Get 4 of these for the other 4 video cards if you want to get better air circulation.

http://www.amazon.com/Powered-PCIe-Riser-Molex-Connector/dp/B00DQDHX2G/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1375993396&sr=8-8&keywords=pcie+riser+16x

Keep in mind if you are not going to use risers the cards will be almost touching one another and they are going to be producing a TON of heat. Buy the risers and save your self the trouble.

Hope this helps a bit.

[microzee]

I was planning on buying riser cables anyways (guess I should of added them to the list to avoid confusion) so it doesn't matter if the slots are close. Also do you have any Intel motherboard suggestions? I'm really wanting to stick with Intel as I feel it is far superior.

And thank you lethos for clearing that up(:

[rifter390]

I don't buy intel myself. I could look but to be honest with you this processor I linked you is more than enough for mining. The nice feature about this processor is it only takes like 45 or 50 watts where that intel one you had posted takes over 100. Believe me your power bill is going to go up enough as it is, no point in burning more electricity than you already have to.

Edit: It is also about 60 or 70 dollars cheaper, take that and put it towards your 4th or 5th video card.

[rifter390]

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Celeron-2-60GHz-Processor-BX80637G1610/dp/B00B4BJYVU/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1375994554&sr=1-6&keywords=lga+1155

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-EATX-Extended-DDR3-Intel/dp/B005G2U6HY/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1375994105&sr=1-6&keywords=4+way+sli

There you go. That mother board with risers should hold 6 + 1 more in the pcie 1x slot "the little tiny one" So 7 in total.

Edit: On amazon there are a few open box listing for that motherboard for $100.

[kuusj98]

I was planning on buying riser cables anyways (guess I should of added them to the list to avoid confusion) so it doesn't matter if the slots are close. Also do you have any Intel motherboard suggestions? I'm really wanting to stick with Intel as I feel it is far superior.

And thank you lethos for clearing that up(:

Why the shit buy Intel?
There is 0 reson to buy an Intel based MINING system:
1: more expensive
2: You don't need no Hype-CPU becouse everyone says its the only and the best.
3: It's a mining rig. do you want a ROI or not?
4: the Bord, the fucking bord, AMD > Intel, Price > What you get, if you know what I mean.
5: There is no reason to start shitting about crashing AMD's and that they heat your room, they run fine, beleve me...
6: I know my language in this post is rude and horrible, so you don't have to say it
7: Just beleve me, ROI is hard these days...

[microzee]

The reason I'd like Intel, is if I ever want to turn around and make it a gaming computer. But I see your point. If I was going to make it a dedicated miner, I would definitely go with amd. And I don't pay for my power bill so power is limitless (not literally)
It would be nice if you could find an Intel mobo, then I'll look at my options and my bank account and make a choice.