Mining rig

[Hampuz]

Hey! I'm pretty new to the crypto scene, although i have read about bitcoins for over a year, Just started lately with mining, and not being so surprised i have way to low hashes for it to make me any money.

So i have been thinking about building a good computer or mining rig.

So i am asking you guys for some tip's, Should i just get a new good computer with crossfire maybe etc? 

I want to focus on mining alt coins and not btc or ltc.  Probably scrypt based ones.

Thanks in advance!

-Hampuz

[enuro12]

You should start by telling us what you want to mine

[Hampuz]

You should start by telling us what you want to mine

I want to focus on mining alt coins and not btc or ltc.  Probably scrypt based ones.

Thanks in advance!

-Hampuz

[Hampuz]

You could build your own or find one on Ebay. A solid machine with 2 Sapphire 7950's would be a good start.

Okay! Would it be good then for some time? Also, would i be able to mine whatever, and what speed do you reckon i gould get?, Many questions i know, but thanks if you take the time to answer accordingly!

[Telosaur]

A couple of considerations for you, fine sir.

If you're going to build your own miner, you'll need a solid power supply unit. Don't skimp out for a cheapy; you need a good, sturdy PSU. If you're going to go down the path of 2x 7950s, I recommend a bare minimum of 750Watts. I use an Earthwatts Antec 750W PSU; others might recommend more Watts. Secondly, know that crossfire doesn't help your mining - it actually lowers your hash rate.

So you need to tell us your budget. 2x 7950s will set you back ~$450 US I'm guessing and then you'll need to pay for the computer parts, PSU, assemble it yourself etc. Fine-tuned, you'll get ~1200kH/s speeds

You can mine any coin on the market with this; some coins like Primecoin use your CPU to mine instead of the graphics cards but most of the coins you'll want to mine are scrypt GPU based.

Any other questions?

[Hampuz]

A couple of considerations for you, fine sir.

If you're going to build your own miner, you'll need a solid power supply unit. Don't skimp out for a cheapy; you need a good, sturdy PSU. If you're going to go down the path of 2x 7950s, I recommend a bare minimum of 750Watts. I use an Earthwatts Antec 750W PSU; others might recommend more Watts. Secondly, know that crossfire doesn't help your mining - it actually lowers your hash rate.

So you need to tell us your budget. 2x 7950s will set you back ~$450 US I'm guessing and then you'll need to pay for the computer parts, PSU, assemble it yourself etc. Fine-tuned, you'll get ~1200kH/s speeds

You can mine any coin on the market with this; some coins like Primecoin use your CPU to mine instead of the graphics cards but most of the coins you'll want to mine are scrypt GPU based.

Any other questions?

Thanks for the usefull info!

I am thinking about putting down $2000 tops. Will that be any good?

[Telosaur]

Thanks for the usefull info!

I am thinking about putting down $2000 tops. Will that be any good?

You're welcome

$2000 is plenty - You don't need top of the line cases or high-speed RAM or terrabytes of HDD storage so that saves some money. Just another consideration - sticking more than 2 graphics cards inside a computer is difficult due to heat and space considerations. It's possible if you use risers and rest a card against the case; this is why some people make miners in crates --> http://www.cryptobadger.com/2013/04/build-a-litecoin-mining-rig-hardware/.

Else, just buy 2 graphics cards and leave it at that. Depends on how confident you are with computer parts, I suppose.

But for $2000....you could almost look into building 2 computers with 2 cards each...and if you were keen, add a 3rd card later on using a riser. Your choice.

[Hampuz]

Thanks for the usefull info!

I am thinking about putting down $2000 tops. Will that be any good?

You're welcome

$2000 is plenty - You don't need top of the line cases or high-speed RAM or terrabytes of HDD storage so that saves some money. Just another consideration - sticking more than 2 graphics cards inside a computer is difficult due to heat and space considerations. It's possible if you use risers and rest a card against the case; this is why some people make miners in crates --> http://www.cryptobadger.com/2013/04/build-a-litecoin-mining-rig-hardware/.

Else, just buy 2 graphics cards and leave it at that. Depends on how confident you are with computer parts, I suppose.

But for $2000....you could almost look into building 2 computers with 2 cards each...and if you were keen, add a 3rd card later on using a riser. Your choice.

Okay!  If i would think about using this computer for daily basis use from time to time aswell, would that drag down the hashes if i perhaps buy a good CPU and more ram? Maybe i should just get one pc for mining sitting there next to my other one?

[Telosaur]

Okay!  If i would think about using this computer for daily basis use from time to time aswell, would that drag down the hashes if i perhaps buy a good CPU and more ram? Maybe i should just get one pc for mining sitting there next to my other one?

When you're mining at high intensity (which you want to be doing for optimum hashes) the computer really doesn't like you doing anything else. I think miners like cgminer were originally designed to have a scaled intensity between 0 and 20 so you could dial it back if you wanted to do other stuff at the same time. But the difference in power between intensities at the higher end means that if you want the best performance you can't really use the computer for anything else. So for a dedicated miner you essentially set it up and let it run. A better CPU and RAM wouldn't help you multitask between mining and normal use, alas.

I use my home computer as a miner - when I need to do something important, I turn off the mining software and use it normally. So I'd recommend, if you have the cash, to build a stand-alone computer to mine beside your other comp (which can also be a miner too if you set it up right). Otherwise you can do what I do and mix it up with a single PC.

[Hampuz]

One more thing, if I use two cards without using crossfire, how do I make it work? Never had a pc with 2 graphics card, and as I stated I am a newbie 

[Telosaur]

I think what you're asking is: if I just stick in a second card what will the computer do with it? Well, it will idle in the background without crossfire and any software that needs two cards will use the second one too. Otherwise for normal use it'll sit there, waiting. Games wont touch the second card unless it's Xfired; miners and folding@home software will. Your mining software will pick it up and use the card if you tell it to.

When both cards are seated into the mobo and plugged into the PSU, your comp should recognize both cards. Now the trouble starts: you'll need to download a graphics driver to let the cards talk effectively with the computer. I don't know what the current 'miner accepted' driver is, but I have a feeling it's Catalyst Control Center version 13.1. You'll also need to download the OpenCl APP SDK version 2.6. If you're lucky, it'll all work the first time. Otherwise you'll be tinkering with software for a while trying to figure out.

See, when I built my miner I had to put in card #1 and leave the other one out while I installed all the software. Then I put card 2 in and let that auto-install, then I did the mining software tinkering. If I had two cards in without a driver the machine would crash when I tried to install it.  That's the magic of 'will it work, God I hope so' computer tech

Do you have a friend that can help you with this sort of thing? It'll help enormously and save you from having to live your life on the forums.

[Hampuz]

I should be allright, and i'll take your advice on putting them in one at a time. Have built a couple of pc's so I know the basics, but as a newbie to mining and never having 2 cards I just wanted to make sure.  And thanks again mate! You have helped alot!

[Telosaur]

No worries mate, all the best! The one-at-a-time trick works well for me. And you'll learn by doing; that's what I found with my mining experience. You should be right having some basic computer-building experience under your belt.

Again, just make sure your PSU can handle mining - research the peak power draw on any cards you're going to buy and leave ample room for extra wattage.