Can I use an 'HP elite desk 800 G1' as a miner?

[Knightly]

Hi all,

There's a cheap 'HP elite desk 800 G1' near me with some accessories, and I was thinking of grabbing it and using the components from the computer as a mini mining rig.

It comes with an SSD, RAM, monitor etc. so I thought it might be worth getting, however, I don't know if the included PCIe slots are suitable, as they're older v2.0 ones, as follows:

(2) PCI Express x1 (v2.0)
(1) PCI Express x 16 (v2.0 - wired as x4)
(1) PCI Express x16 (v3.0)
(1) Optional PCI (v2.3)

Is anyone able to please advise if these slots are suitable for using risers?

I know that I would have to use a different PSU, but I'd plan to pull the MB (with CPU) and SSD out and put it into a mining frame.

I appreciate any assistance or advice.

Kind regards,

Knightly.

[miner29]

Should be fine....just be sure to use risers if you are adding more than 1 gpu

[Knightly]

Thanks for the response!

So you don't foresee any issues with the older version of the pcie slots, or the listed configs?

Thanks!

[JayDDee]

Check the BIOS config to ensure all PCIe slots are enabled. I had 3 GPUs mining on an old Dell with a 32 bit P4.
You shouldn't have problems.

[Knightly]

Thanks for that.

I'll see if it's still available and take a punt it'll work

[miner29]

nah i set my slots to gen2 anyways.  Mining only need a x1 connection.  If you dont have enough slots for all the gpus you can use a 4x1 splitter to connect 4 gpus on riser to one of the slots.  There will be a hard limit obviously.  The splitter is something like this (they  come in many forms)..

https://www.amazon.com/XT-XINTE-PCI-express-External-Adapter-Multiplier/dp/B07CWPWDF8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2JH9E3090HIJO&dchild=1&keywords=1+to+4+pcie+riser&qid=1609976854&sprefix=1+to+4+pcie%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-1

[Knightly]

Ah, I didn't know you could use a splitter like that to increase the number of useable GPUs....

I'm new to mining, just setting up my first rig atm, and saw this old PC, so thought I'd grab it.

[miner29]

i would also suggest using a linux based mining OS....there are several really good one

mmpOS (rig up to 8 gpus free forever)
hiveOS
Smos
Raveos


I know some allow free 30 days or some have other trial or even free cost for small miner.  I would say try them and see which one you like best...
They will be way better on older hardware then windows....and more stable.
Most are small enough to run off 16gb thumbdrive or small ssd or even old hd...but thumbdrive is lowest power

And please pay attention to power draw...  a GPU can pull a surprising amount of power and if you dont respect the power draw its easy to get the 🔥

Best to power the riser (little pcb that the gpu will plug into) with a 6pin PCIe just like is found on graphics card.  Really only the Molex (4 pin in row) has enough power to be safe.   Sata to 6 pin is asking for trouble especially with higher wattage cards. 

Always power a gpu and its riser from the same PSU if you end up with multiples.  And dont expect much from the stock psu...it was not designed to put out that many whats..and problably doesnt have that many 6 or 8 pin pcie plugs.  I use 1200 - 2600watt psu’s on my rigs.  Ive got a couple with just 4 cards and use 1000w on those.  And currently PSUs are like every other part of a mining rig...expensive and in short supply.

The riser to main board uses a usb cable (comes with the risers) and a small edge card.  Why the cable and connections are usb in shape they are not in signal.  This is actually just a way to use commodity connection to link the gpu to the card slot so data flows.

Im sure you will have plenty more to discover.  I suggest watching videos of folks building rigs on youtube and read everything you can on mining rigs.  And make use of the (Search) of the forums for answers...and of course ask questions.  There are folks here who have forgotten more about gpu mining then ill ever know

[Knightly]

Thank you so much for your considerate response, I really do appreciate it.

By the sounds of it I may as well keep the integrated PSU to run the MB etc. but just plug all the GPUs into a new, higher-wattage PSU.

I've organised to pick this old PC up, but won't use it until my current new rig is set up. On that, the CPU is being delivered today and is the last piece of the puzzle. I'll be trying Hiveos, so hopefully it all goes smoothly (as much as it can in the land of crypto!).

[JayDDee]

I would advise against multi-psu, 4x riser splitters and other advanced stuff for a beginner.
They add unnecessary complexity and increase the potential for problems that need troubleshoting.
Besides, any PSU you buy that can handle 4 GPUs mining can also handle the CPU & motherboard.

[adaseb]

I've actually had issues with an old old motherboard which had PCIe 1.0 and basically the newer GPUs wouldn't boot with it. There is no speed issue since you are mining and the bus speed doesn't really play that much of a roll. Its just the speed that the GPU communicates with the CPU and most miners do all the computations on the GPU itself and try to limit the signals going to and from the CPU as much. Hence the bus speed doesn't matter. This is a larger issue in games, not mining.

PCIe 2.0 should work because most motherboards these days come with tons of these PCIe 2.0 slots and many miners don't have issues. Typically a motherboard has 1 or 2 PCI 3.0 slots which is reserved for the GPU and the rest are for accessories however you can plug a GPU in there using a riser. So as long as its not the old PCIe 1.0 then you shouldn't have too many issues.

[Maxstl007]

Many new graphic cards still supports PCie slot 2.0 so you should be fine running any gpu on the motherboard and yes risers will work absolutely fine in the PCie slots as well, no worries, I have two motherboards one is AMD and the other is Intel with old PCIe slots like yours and they serve me very well

[safar1980]

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Motherboard-737728-001-717372-002-737728-501/dp/B01BU8KZTQ
I see the possibility of connecting 4 video cards using raisers and non-standard motherboard power supply for ATX power supplies. Will you be using 2 PSUs or will you redo a new PSU?
In China, you can buy a ready-made kit: motherboard, x2 processor and 4 GB of memory for 60-70 dollars. Instead of a hard disk, a usb flash drive worth 4 dollars is suitable