Building and purchasing mining rig (farm)

[janpec1000]

Hello guys,

I have purchased mining computer 2 months ago and i am lately thinking to buy mining farm. I am thinking of something like that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fux4BTtqbIQ

Basically 6 cards on single motherboard with 2x 850W PSUs. Cards r9 280x.
I would like to get some suggestions if its better to get 6card rig like that or rather buy 9 card rig with 3 cards per motherboard and having 3 PSUs.


At moment my mining computer has 2 R9 290x cards, rig and farm would be in basement with cool temperature of 15 degrees in winter and 22-25 in summer. Do you guys think that Air conditioner will be required for summer? Also will 6 card rig be louder than having current noise from 2 cards. I am thinking that additional cards should not increase noise (for upper house level) as long as noise in Db is not louder right?
I have option to purchase gigabyte R9 280x cards are those good? Generally i have also option to buy same gigabyte R9 280 cards (without X) would those do ok too?

Ok then we come to another thing i am not sure if i will be able to really put everything together are there any good tutorials how to setup mining farm for beginners?
Also do you guys suggest milk boxes or is aluminum structure somehow better.

Any answers are appretiated.

[BitCoinPokerBro]

Do you guys think that Air conditioner will be required for summer?

Also will 6 card rig be louder than having current noise from 2 cards.

I am thinking that additional cards should not increase noise (for upper house level) as long as noise in Db is not louder right?

1. What is the average summer temperature in your basement? Comfortable or hot? I mean generally it's cooler in the basement no matter what time of year so it should be fine unless you have a sunroom/conservatory type basement.

2/3 . Yes 6 cards will most definitely be louder than 2. However, I doubt it'll be loud enough to be any kind of bother to anyone on the first floor.

I have 3 reference cards (quite a bit louder than aftermarket) running in the same room I sleep in. Sure the noise is noticeable but not bother sum.

[janpec1000]

1.I  think its around 23 degrees. Comfortable for sure.

2.2 R9 290x are ok without noise recognition on vent speed of 70%. Anything higher and noise is clearly heard trough ceiling into floor above. I am thinking that R9 280x should be less noise due to 3 bigger vents on card, hopefully.

Thanks for your input, looking forward for more to clarify situation. If there is anyone who has both 290x and 280x to confirm about noise please.

[eCoinomist]

I highly recommend getting R9 280x cards, and stay away from the R9 290x if you can (the noise and heat is unbearable). Sapphire cards are the best, but Gygabyte is the second best option.

The optimum setup is 4 GPUs, and you don't need double PSUs, just one Cooler Master 1200W will do a perfect job.

Aluminum frame is much better for dissipating heat and thus extending life shell of GPUs. It's also much easier to put together and fix things, compared to tight spaced plastic boxes.

I have a step by step video tutorials for building the rigs, which you can easily turn into a full blown mining farm like shown on my video. My design is cheaper, easier to build and runs more stable, cooler and quieter than the one in the youtube link the OP posted.

[janpec1000]

eCoinomist thanks for very robust explanation.
If i understand correctly alumnium think construction is better than milk crate right?
From money standpoint you would rather suggest 2 rigs with 4 cards each rather than 1 6 card rig with maybe additional purchase of 3 card rig later?

I have actually looked on your site already the only thing it kept me away is 100 bucks price, i am really trying to build economically cheaper rig as possible so therefore i try to stay away from such expenses. But i kept that option as last option if i dont have any other solution.

Thanks for your input.

[janpec1000]

Bumpity bump.

[janpec1000]

Could someone suggest best mother board?

[Seefude]

depends who you ask, but i go with cheapest one with the most pcie slots

[janpec1000]

Ok i guess i will also need USB Wireless connector for internet becouse motherboards usually dont have those implemented right?

[Axco]

I have a rig running with 6 x Gigabyte R9 280x windforce cards on the Asrock H81 pro btc motherboard built in aluminium frame using pcie riser cables (powered.)

It runs at 1950-2000watts, I have a ssd hard drive on it and use the g3420 intle haswell cpu and 2x4gb ram.

For power I have hooked up 2 x Corsair AX1200i psu's although now I know what power it draws I could change 1 to an corsair RM1000.

I don't like running psu's at 100% load I have seen the plug power monitor occasionally go just over 2000w so I have enough in reserve and would still have enough in reserve if I swapped 1 of the psu's down to a 1000.

So I do not think you would get away with using 2 x 850s for a rig with 6 x R9 280xs

Axco.

[tyknee]

(all IMHO, no warranties, provisos, or quid pro quos.)

I went with a 5 PCI slot board, as 6 seemed like it would cost too much in PSUs to operate. I have two 850w PS. One ran the MB and 3 video cards and was only pulling 799W as registered by the "killawatt". It was also a Seasonic single rail gold rated PS. My 2nd power supply is only bronze rated and 25% cheaper.

As far as noise, the noisiest part of my setup is the 20" box fan on it's highest setting. You can't hear the video cards over it. (I have 4 cards atm, 3 7950s, 1 r9 280x, three of the cards are 3x fan gigabytes). It's in the garage and you can only barely hear it in the house at night when everything else is super quiet.

I used "T Slot" aluminum for my "case". I recommend it for those who are not super handy with aluminum and welding. It's kind of expensive though (all the little connectors and stuff add up). In place of traditional motherboard standoffs I used 3" bolts/nuts from Home Depot/Lowes with plastic craft beads (they are technically called "Hama Beads").

Some motherboards might come with wireless, but you'd probably be better off going the USB route.

From an OS perspective, I run Linux but I can tell you straight off it's a pain (unless you're a real Linux guru type). I've lost days of mining because of Linux issues, but I'm dedicated to keeping it at this point because I don't mind making the sacrifice to learn more about Linux (not that I'm not one of those Microsoft haters as I'm writing this on my Windows 7 PC).

[janpec1000]

Axco thanks very much for your input. I dont know but i have seen many setups with 2 850W Gold PSUs for 6 cards, so how are other people getting away with it?
Just for example the guy from youtube link is using same 2x 850W power.



Thank you for your input tyknee aswell. Is it possible to run 6 cards on Windows OS? Either win 7 or win 8 x64.

[richmke]

Ok i guess i will also need USB Wireless connector for internet becouse motherboards usually dont have those implemented right?

If you are going to have 2 or more rigs running, with all on wireless, I would recommend a WiFi bridge. Most Wifi Access Points will bridge to other Access Points of the same brand. You can bridge across brands, but it may or may not work.

Having one wifi signal from the Bridge will reduce contention issues. Also, it should be cheaper than multiple USB Wifi Adapters.

Be careful about power issues. One 15 amp electrical circuit (multiple sockets on single circuit) can deliver 1500 watts (under 100 volt brownout during the summer), or 1800 watts optimally (120 volts nominal). If you are in the basement and near the electrical box, it is not hard to have additional circuits installed.

Remember, a typical PSU is 80-90% efficient. Assuming 90% efficiency, you will need 1110 watts at the wall to deliver 1000 watts from your PSU.

[janpec1000]

Ok at moment i have trouble deciding between either 2 rigs with 4 cards each and 1 PSU per rig, or 1 single rig with 6 cards. Hm.

[richmke]

2 with 4 cards each. Gives you more options.

[janpec1000]

Thats true, thanks. And becouse i am also not sure if i can "weld" two PSUs together it makes more sense to go with 2 rigs for me.

[Axco]

HI,

Firstly I should say I am in the UK with 230volts supply, my rig is on a 32amp circuit with rdc breakers.

My Corsair Ax1200i psu's are platinum rated 90+

My 6 card rig runs on win8.1 64bit

It did not work straight out of the box with 5 or 6 cards 4 yes.

I had to remove the amd and or gigabyte drivers and go with the windows provided ones which also changed the cards in device manager from R9 200 series to HD7900 series, but it works and they are all clocking at 775kh/s undervolted by 20%

It was a headache the set up day, because I added 1 card at a time up to the 4th great when I added 5 and 6 it all went wrong but I got it sorted with in the day.

Now it has been mining none stop 24/7 for 2 weeks.

Axco.

Edit, I also have a 45watt 24" fan and the LED back lit monitor running of the same socket with the power meter in (similar to a killawatt)

[janpec1000]

Thank you very much for input. What do you mean by AxPSU? Did you mean 2X1200W PSU?

[Axco]

2 of the corsair AX1200i model modular power supply units.

I hook thr 24 pin cable that goes to the mother board to the 2 PSU (Powers Supply Units) with a PSU2 cable splitter it joins 2 wires of the 2 psu to  make them both realise they are switched on from the mother board.

They sit separately ( individually) in the same rig tie wrapped to the frame, and just joined by 2 wires out of the 24 pin cable block that goes to the mother board. You can buy them at most places ebay, amazon or pc suppliers for around £10.

1 powers 4 cards, the other powers 2 cards and the mother board.

You can just do it with a pin or paperclip if you really want to. just join the green and the black on the psu not connected to the motherboard

Tope that info helps.