GUIDE - Make your own open frame rig.

[macharborguy]

I was about to ask where the mounting area for the hard drive was, but then I realized you could just plug in a USB Flash Drive and use that as your boot drive with a linux-bitcoin distro.

Or, if it is supported, possibly a USB3 flash drive.  Not sure of actually real world usage, but some of the reviews I have seen possibly put it at least on par with PATA drives (according to Wikipedia, PATA can do up to 133 MegaBytes/sec.  USB3 apparently can do 640 MegaBytes/sec, plenty of room to breath).

Yeah, it could defiantly use a HDD mount. One could be added pretty easily, especially if you can harvest a 3.5" mounting frame from the mini tower case.

I don't bother because I boot my rigs off a 32GB compact flash in a SATA bridge. The system see's it as a 32GB SATA drive.

Nice.  is it sad that the first and only Compact Flash card I have every owned, and still have, is an 8 MegaByte one?

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[NetTecture]

Another alternativei s not to have ANY disc in a rig. I am setting up a larger operation, and we will need to have 2 control servers locally anyway... it is quite trivial to install a ISCSI target on those and then implement a network boot that chains forward to an ISCSI drive per rig. The result are discless rigs. Network performacne is not really tricky also - after booting quite nothing happens on the rigs anyway, in regard to disc.

This seriously also helps in regards to scaling up and getting another 16 computers into the grid

If you are really nice you use a ZFS based host for LUNs.

[Detritus]

Another alternativei s not to have ANY disc in a rig. I am setting up a larger operation, and we will need to have 2 control servers locally anyway... it is quite trivial to install a ISCSI target on those and then implement a network boot that chains forward to an ISCSI drive per rig. The result are discless rigs. Network performacne is not really tricky also - after booting quite nothing happens on the rigs anyway, in regard to disc.

This seriously also helps in regards to scaling up and getting another 16 computers into the grid

If you are really nice you use a ZFS based host for LUNs.

If I was running more than my three boxes I would definitely think about PXE booting them and running disk less.  It makes all the rigs interchangeable and cheaper.

[Sukrim]

Next step: Building 1-2 of these in a Ikea LACK table for added stackability + 19" compatibility!

http://wiki.eth-0.nl/index.php/LackRack

[marvinmartian]

Nice job.  Only minor critique is that you've got the GPUs pretty close together.  Why not space them farther apart to allow more airflow?  You can also angle them differently to catch air from something like a box fan, if you're dedicating a room in your house for tech that is.

[Detritus]

Nice job.  Only minor critique is that you've got the GPUs pretty close together.  Why not space them farther apart to allow more airflow?  You can also angle them differently to catch air from something like a box fan, if you're dedicating a room in your house for tech that is.

The spacing is the standard slot spacing on a motherboard. So it's card, blank slot, card, ect.

All the cards run between 59C and 74C. The 6970's (four of those on the top row) run hotter (in the mid to upper 60's) My 5870's (everything else) all run between  59C and 64C. So they seem to be getting good air flow.

Even when the outside temp's get into the 90F+ range the cards still stay decently cool.

I would space them further, but between leaving space for additional cards, and the limits of the riser lengths, that was the best I could come up with.

The motherboard plates all have the motherboard mounted all the way to the right (facing the PSU and motherboard connectors) which makes the riser cable in slot one a bit short to reach. I modified one of the plates to mount the motherboard further left, and it's a big improvement.

I'm talking to sheet metal shops about getting custom mounting plates made. Two of the design features being added are a standardized PSU mounting area and bracket, and moving the motherboard as close to the PSU as possible. For the power supply mount I'm going to have rails to keep the PSU from walking left/right, a more robust mounting bracket on the PSU face, and an adjustable Velcro strap to hold down the aft end of the supply.

[marvinmartian]

All I need now is easily openable (to mess with parts, press buttons, etc.) plastic mesh to cover the frame. Inquisitive cats and open computer cases don't mix

We have two cats with very different personalities.  One (male) is very vocal and ready to be pet / rubbed / played with  24hrs a day.  The other (female) is a bit more elusive and requires more specific coaxing to be cuddly.

Ironically, she LOVES hanging out in the basement now.  Never goes near the rigs but I think likes all the hot/warm/cool air currents created by the machines and fans.  Either that or there's some kind of strange animal EM attraction.

While I'm on the subject, has anyone else noticed an increase in moth population seemingly related to BTC mining?  I do.  They seem to be everywhere, but I notice a slight population increase (eg., 2 to 5) as I get closer to the basement stairs / mining rigs.  There are also many more moths in the basement, hiding in places where the breeze won't blow them around.

I wonder if moths can see parts of the EM spectrum that we can't and love microchips running at high speed / temp.

[botnet]

I barrowed from your design and made some improvements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ru5Mz9Xqw

[marvinmartian]

I barrowed from your design and made some improvements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ru5Mz9Xqw

Nice job, especially on getting the PCI -> PCI x16 adapters working.  I've read many posts about folks having trouble with them.  What MOBO are you using?

Gotta say, I am really liking the wooden rigs.  Who knows, maybe the mild conductivity of the wood helps minimize grounding damage.  I'm not an EE, I'm a SE.

We all gotta start doing SteamPunk Bitcoin Mining Rigs (SBMRs).  Then BTCs will hit the big time.  ;-)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W1GKJlqg98k/Tgh05cb_wSI/AAAAAAAAACo/F35L1Fwql5c/s1600/bitcoin_mining_pc.jpg

[pennytrader]

I barrowed from your design and made some improvements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ru5Mz9Xqw

This is the best rig I've ever seen! Great job!

[dishwara]

Thanks for the wooden case. It gave me idea to use just a wooden reaper on top of slotted angle in the cards back side, so that instead of using some wires or threads to secure cards, i can just buy a wooden reaper of 24 inch x 1 inch x 1 inch & bolt it on top of slotted angle & can screw the cards where ever i want easily.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=33468.msg418401#msg418401

[afro25]

Can i just ask what everyone uses to turn the rigs on when you're using an open frame system?
As far as i'm aware i can't turn my rigs on without a front panel being connected, so would i have to harvest the front panel of one of my computers to build an open frame rig?

[cicada]

Can i just ask what everyone uses to turn the rigs on when you're using an open frame system?
As far as i'm aware i can't turn my rigs on without a front panel being connected, so would i have to harvest the front panel of one of my computers to build an open frame rig?

It's usually not too difficult to do if you've got an old case you can cannibalize.  You really only need the power switch.  You can also just pick up a momentary DC switch from RadioShack or such and wire the two leads to the power-button header, as that's all your power button really is.  It boils down to simply tripping the solenoid in your PSU to 'on'.

[dishwara]

My mother board comes with a switch to power on & reset in mother board itself. MSI Big Bang Marshal.
Also, in bios setup, power management i applied to power on the machine after power restore. So if power cuts & comes back, system automatically starts.
If that doesn't happen then i use screw driver to short the power + & - pins to start the system.
If you don't know about hardware, you can buy a switch & connect it to power + & - & use that to switch on the system.
Better safe than sorry. Avoid screw type method i did, if you don't know about hardware.

[cicada]

My mother board comes with a switch to power on & reset in mother board itself.

I think this is becoming a common feature on newer motherboard, my ASRock mobos also have reset, power, and 'clear cmos' buttons built onto the board.  This is how I turn my rigs on without a case.

[jpinconline]

I would also be interested in a kit this is very cool

[dishwara]

Some power switch links.
http://www.amazon.com/Power-Motherboard-Cable-Switch-Button/dp/B00345WH4A
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=power+switch+for+pc&hl=en&prmd=ivns&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1600&bih=809&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=10997433530487650282&sa=X&ei=uAY5To61DabTiAKAkazHDg&ved=0CKABEPMCMAQ4Cg
http://compare.ebay.com/like/160551466715?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&_lwgsi=y
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812201029&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Cables-_-APEVIA+CORP.-_-12201029
http://www.shophde.com/z18.html

[eskamobob1]

if you do make a kit i would be interested would the extenders be included? also, what size PSU did u use to run that many 5870s? im sure i could run like 6 or 7 on mine, but im curious what kind of wattage you could get away with for 5 

[mrbashfo]

great! has lots of info but I am too lazy to try it myself LOL... Maybe I will do one out of 1x1 wood =p

[naturallaw]

Detritus, are you still looking into putting together some kits?