need help with a mining rig

[geckogroove]

I'm totally torn as to what I should do here :/
at the moment I have my gaming pc

i5 755 CPU
seasonic 500w psu
radeon 5850
motherboard: p55-ud3r

I'm torn, do I turn this into a mining rig or build a new one?
I have $400 to play with... can boot off USB

do I buy another 5850 for this machine? buy 2 5850s for a new machine? or secret option C, your suggestion?

help

budget may be extended but as little as possible please, im 16

also I need the best bitcoin explanation that explains how I'm getting money, for the folks

cheers

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[deslok]

Get two for that machine, a 1kw psu and some risers from cablesarus if you want to get the biggest bang out of that budget.

[geckogroove]

Get two for that machine, a 1kw psu and some risers from cablesarus if you want to get the biggest bang out of that budget.

cheers, do I Trifire the cards or leave them individual? my mobo has a 16x an 8x and a 1x

how will this go gaming wise? incase bitcoin fails... my only thoughts with the second machine was so I could still game on this one

[mike678]

Get two for that machine, a 1kw psu and some risers from cablesarus if you want to get the biggest bang out of that budget.

He wont be able to afford 2 more 5850's and a 1000 watt power supply on a budget of 400 dollars.

On 400 dollars all you can really afford is upgrading the psu slightly and adding another 5850.

[geckogroove]

Get two for that machine, a 1kw psu and some risers from cablesarus if you want to get the biggest bang out of that budget.

He wont be able to afford 2 more 5850's and a 1000 watt power supply on a budget of 400 dollars.

On 400 dollars all you can really afford is upgrading the psu slightly and adding another 5850.

if it's for this machine I can tell the folks it's for "gaming" and spend a little more how much do you think?

[deslok]

Misread the card as 5830. You can expect to pay about 220-270 per 5850

[grue]

Get two for that machine, a 1kw psu and some risers from cablesarus if you want to get the biggest bang out of that budget.

cheers, do I Trifire the cards or leave them individual? my mobo has a 16x an 8x and a 1x

how will this go gaming wise? incase bitcoin fails... my only thoughts with the second machine was so I could still game on this one

dont crossfire them (may reduce performance), just use dummy plugs.

[mike678]

Well If you can find a 5850 the lowest I saw for retail is 165 but I haven't seen it on sale in ages. A good power supply goes for around 200 dollars at 1000 watts.
so around 530ish at the low end.

[geckogroove]

Well If you can find a 5850 the lowest I saw for retail is 165 but I haven't seen it on sale in ages. A good power supply goes for around 200 dollars at 1000 watts.
so around 530ish at the low end.

at the end of the day, I can get the psu and 1 card now and add another later
anyone know where to get them?

[Dargo]

If you can find 5850s at a good price (around $150), I would buy two. But they will be hard to find at this price. This leaves $100 for a better PSU, which is maybe enough to get a decent 750-850 watt unit if you can find a good deal. Actually, if you undervolt your cards a little, you might be able to work with your current PSU. See the thread below for maximizing the efficiency of your rig. But if this isn't going to be a dedicated miner, you are probably better off getting a second card and a really good psu, then waiting to expand to a third card later.

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=29132.0  

[mike678]

Well If you can find a 5850 the lowest I saw for retail is 165 but I haven't seen it on sale in ages. A good power supply goes for around 200 dollars at 1000 watts.
so around 530ish at the low end.

at the end of the day, I can get the psu and 1 card now and add another later
anyone know where to get them?

Newegg for the power supply and no clue where you can get a decently priced 5850 atm. Also note  newegg has 1000 watt power supply for 100 dollars. I'd recommend against getting those and going for the 200 range.

[geckogroove]

I would love to call this a dedicated miner although I'm a gamer so it won't be

I think I'm going to get another 5850 and a good psu, thinking about adding in another 5830 rather than another 5850 for cost wise? opinions?

[geckogroove]

would a 900w psu cut it? found one at my local store for $157 Antec HCG

so I want to know, 2 more 5850s or a 5850 and a 5830?

[deslok]

Based on the rest if your computer that 900 should be fine either way. Based on your budget you can only afford one 5850 and one 5830 and that will be cutting it  close depending on shipping of you order online

[Xephan]

I'm totally torn as to what I should do here :/
at the moment I have my gaming pc

i5 755 CPU
seasonic 500w psu
radeon 5850
motherboard: p55-ud3r

I'm torn, do I turn this into a mining rig or build a new one?
I have $400 to play with... can boot off USB

do I buy another 5850 for this machine? buy 2 5850s for a new machine? or secret option C, your suggestion?

The 5850 is a good card for mining so I'd recommend going for another 5850 and the Seasonic 500W (Depending on model) should be good enough for two of those... not recommended for long term but I've done 2x 5870 in Crossfire on those before for gaming.

Depending on your purpose for mining, you might want to see how the price of bitcoin stabilizes in the next few weeks before pumping more money in. If it dips sharply and you're not able to simply hold on to your bitcoins for the long term, it may not make sense to invest more.

2x5850 would also be fine for gaming in crossfire mode but tri-fire don't give you that much more and you'll definitely need a new PSU to handle that.

[geckogroove]

I'm totally torn as to what I should do here :/
at the moment I have my gaming pc

i5 755 CPU
seasonic 500w psu
radeon 5850
motherboard: p55-ud3r

I'm torn, do I turn this into a mining rig or build a new one?
I have $400 to play with... can boot off USB

do I buy another 5850 for this machine? buy 2 5850s for a new machine? or secret option C, your suggestion?

The 5850 is a good card for mining so I'd recommend going for another 5850 and the Seasonic 500W (Depending on model) should be good enough for two of those... not recommended for long term but I've done 2x 5870 in Crossfire on those before for gaming.

Depending on your purpose for mining, you might want to see how the price of bitcoin stabilizes in the next few weeks before pumping more money in. If it dips sharply and you're not able to simply hold on to your bitcoins for the long term, it may not make sense to invest more.

2x5850 would also be fine for gaming in crossfire mode but tri-fire don't give you that much more and you'll definitely need a new PSU to handle that.

so I've decided to get a second 5850 (when I find one in Australia) and a 900w PSU
if the price of bitcoins looks good, I'll chuck in either a third 5850 or a 5830/5870 depending on how I'm going, thanks for the help

[Xephan]

so I've decided to get a second 5850 (when I find one in Australia) and a 900w PSU
if the price of bitcoins looks good, I'll chuck in either a third 5850 or a 5830/5870 depending on how I'm going, thanks for the help

If you're into modifications and not particularly concern about how pretty it looks. It might be cheaper to just get another 600W to power 2 cards. The overall efficiency would also save you on running costs. Otherwise, I'd suggest you just put in a bit more dollar and go for the 1KW which puts the peak load at around 62~65% (PSU last longer and will be more energy efficient) and gives you headroom to add a 4th card or overclock more heavily if you need to.

[pekv2]

I would suggest getting a 1kw PSU.

That is if you are going to be using two 5850's, overclocking them & mining 24/7.

Phaedrus Quick'n'Dirty PSU calculator

Edit:
Recommended PSU's.

Recommended Power Supplies

[Dargo]

You might not want to wait too long for a good deal on a 5850. Remember that each day you wait, your are missing the opportunity to mine at what will probably be a lower difficulty level. Personally, I would go for a 5830 or even a 6950 if you can find a good deal on either of these now. If you can get them in Australia, I think the Corsair hx850 is a good option. If you check the review on hardwaresecrets.com, they say that this unit performs better than many 1000w units, and can easily pull 1000w from the wall. Essentially it is a 1000w supply, with the wattage rating reduced to get the silver 80+ rating.

[Morebitcoinsplease]

You might not want to wait too long for a good deal on a 5850. Remember that each day you wait, your are missing the opportunity to mine at what will probably be a lower difficulty level. Personally, I would go for a 5830 or even a 6950 if you can find a good deal on either of these now. If you can get them in Australia, I think the Corsair hx850 is a good option. If you check the review on hardwaresecrets.com, they say that this unit performs better than many 1000w units, and can easily pull 1000w from the wall. Essentially it is a 1000w supply, with the wattage rating reduced to get the silver 80+ rating.

I agree with Dargo, bitcoin mining is gambling, your either in it all the way or just watching from the sidelines, especially since difficulty increases about every 9 days. But with that said make sure its expendable income and not something you depend on. A 5850 will give you overclocked up to 350Mhashs  (0.225 BTC per day, bitcoinX.com) and maybe more but, I keep mine in around 330 just because my space is limited so heat builds up quickly.

So if there is a good deal and you can afford it jump in! But keep in mind to make back the cost of the 5850 is going to be a while (months).