3 PCs for mining?

[janpec1000]

Hello guys,

So i have major problems with getting rig for mining. In my country there is simply lack of r9 radeon cards or any other good mining cards, and there is no power supplys over 850w, unles i  would want to wait 1 month or more.

So i am wondering what do you guys think of getting 3 separate PCs with minimum processors RAM and disk and get 650W power in them and R9 280x or R9 290(x or without).

Second option is 2 PCs, where 1 would have 2 cards on 850 W PSU.

I am wondering how much more power consumption will go trough additional ram, processors and disk installed instead having it all on one PC. I am guessing since cards are biggest consumption on mining it shouldnt play much role will it?

Thanks for suggestions ahead.


I would order components from net, but it would cost me quite bit more.

[janpec1000]

Bump.

[Mexxim]

Where do you live?

A Setup (Board,Cpu,ram, disk) takes up about 80-150W of power. Therefore you'd rather connect many small PSU's together instead of having multiple PC's. It should work fine for 2-4 PSU's.

[kalus]

Hello guys,

So i have major problems with getting rig for mining. In my country there is simply lack of r9 radeon cards or any other good mining cards, and there is no power supplys over 850w, unles i  would want to wait 1 month or more.

So i am wondering what do you guys think of getting 3 separate PCs with minimum processors RAM and disk and get 650W power in them and R9 280x or R9 290(x or without).

Second option is 2 PCs, where 1 would have 2 cards on 850 W PSU.

one 850w PSU will run two 280x, 8gb ram, i7 processor.  

I have a rig setup like this i assembled from spare parts when we went through a local shortage of large power supplies.  

get a watt meter to buy peace-of-mind - the belkin watt meter only cost me $20, and i was able to move off 1000w power supplies for many of my rigs.

[hyphenated]

Run a Google search on ATX 24 pinout (image).  Pin 16 is PS-ON.

Tap into that line on the Master PSU (the one running your computer), and run it to the same pin on your Slave.  You can get auto connectors that can be crimped over the insulation - pick the correct size, or cut, solder and cover.

Do the same for any Ground (ie Pin 18 or 19).

Now your Master & Slave will turn on together when hit the power button.

The Slave PSU will only be needed for 12V supply to some of your GPUs - as PCIe connectors tend to be a rare resource you may need y-cables.  I would suggest that you power the riser for that card from the Slave as well.

Be aware that running parallel PSUs carries some risk - stick with good quality parts. 

Several people run rigs on 2 by 750W PSUs, but generic PSUs vary wildly - just because it says it's 750W doesn't mean it is, and it may distribute the output in a bizarre fashion.  Stay conservative, and use a Wattmeter (remember that at the wall and in the box are different).