Scrypt Mining Hardware

[lyth0s]

Hello,
Since there is no "hardware" subforum under the altcoins topics I thought i'd ask this question here. I'm looking to possibly build a scrypt miner, probably for LTC or w/e the highest transfer rate to BTC per day would be (IE Franko or Anon coin etc). However, I've noticed that the power usage cuts down quite a bit on the revenue I would generate.

With that being said, can anyone give me an example build of a PC with graphics cards that would be efficient at mining scrypt coins? And estimate how much wattage it would use total? I've looked at the LTC mining hardware page, but I still don't know the most efficient builds in terms of initial cost, operation cost and hashing power (maybe even throw in some resell value   ).


I appreciate any help/advice or any path that people could point me in. Especially if you have an altcoin miner yourself I also love photos of the miners if you havent already posted it here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7216.new#new

[skleven]

The term GPU-mining is dead, is just not true. In my case, i`m runnig my rigs at least until summer. If i just break even in power, it`s free heating.

The best card today i guess is the 7950. A 7970 is 10-15% faster, but cost a lot more. I have just 2 rigs going now, one with 4x 7950 at a 1200w psu and 3x 7870 at a 750w psu. I`m also building a rig with 2x watercooled 5970 that i bought second hand.

Some keywords regarding hardware:

- One big rig pay better off that two smaller ones.
- Get a motherboard that can handle a lot of GPU`s.
- Don`t be cheap when buying PSU.
- Buy a cheap and low power CPU.
- Scrypt also use a lot of RAM.
- Do not build a miner in a case, it just gets to damn hot..

And one last thing. Remember AMD will soon release their 9xxx series. So we might see some new scryptmonsters on the marked.
Also a lot of cheap 7xxx series on the second hand marked.

[lyth0s]

How much and what type of ram would you suggest? How much wattage does your rig pull from the wall? and is the 7950 currently the best $/hashes or $/wattage?

Thanks for your help

[TheSpiral]

How much and what type of ram would you suggest? How much wattage does your rig pull from the wall? and is the 7950 currently the best $/hashes or $/wattage?

Thanks for your help

(Going by eBay pricing)
Of the current gen, the 7950 is easily the best Price/Hash.
Of the current gen, the 7790 and 7990 both have a higher Hash/Watt (but MUCH less Price/Hash, so I wouldn't consider them)

Previous gens have some good stats, but also drawbacks. 5830, 5850, 6850, and 6950 are very cheap and produce decent hashrates, but not very power-efficient and may have compatibility issues with certain drivers.

tl;dr the 7950 is probably the best bet, being most balanced of the lot and should play well with current drivers.

EDIT: For RAM, I've had a couple rigs with 2 GB DDR2 that were fine, but it's generally advised to have 4 GB.

[lyth0s]

How much and what type of ram would you suggest? How much wattage does your rig pull from the wall? and is the 7950 currently the best $/hashes or $/wattage?

Thanks for your help

(Going by eBay pricing)
Of the current gen, the 7950 is easily the best Price/Hash.
Of the current gen, the 7790 and 7990 both have a higher Hash/Watt (but MUCH less Price/Hash, so I wouldn't consider them)

Previous gens have some good stats, but also drawbacks. 5830, 5850, 6850, and 6950 are very cheap and produce decent hashrates, but not very power-efficient and may have compatibility issues with certain drivers.

tl;dr the 7950 is probably the best bet, being most balanced of the lot and should play well with current drivers.

EDIT: For RAM, I've had a couple rigs with 2 GB DDR2 that were fine, but it's generally advised to have 4 GB.

Ok thank you spiral. Would you mind also recommending a motherboard/cpu and PSU for me? I know the electricity cost of these scrypt miners (or GPU mining in general) is very important for efficiency.

Edit: Assuming that I go down the 7950 route, maybe about 4 of them to start, but it'd be nice if the mobo could expand to like 6+ later if I wanted. Also do i need powered PCI-E risers?

[adnanabbas]

How much and what type of ram would you suggest? How much wattage does your rig pull from the wall? and is the 7950 currently the best $/hashes or $/wattage?

Thanks for your help

Hello there, I need some advice on a scrypt mining rig that i am trying to put together. I am ready to build one and i would like your advice.

So far i have decided to go for

4x GIGABYTE GV-R928XOC-3GD Radeon R9 280X
Antec HCP-1300 Platinum 1300W
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD1 2.5" 64GB

I need to know what i should get for a CPU and Motherboard, as i will need 4x pci express slots. Also Could you recommend what i should do for the housing.