10 - 15k in mining equipment

[Current-C]

Hey all,

Mining noob here just wanted some expert opinions on what kind of equipment people would buy if they had 10-15k to spend on a new setup.  What cards would you buy?  Are towers ok or is a rack preferable?  Should you run them in crossfire or individually?  I know the economics of mining are controversial so I'm just trying to gather more info on the subject. 

Thanks!
 

[1715118547]

1715118547

[niooron]

As many Radeon 6990s you can fit on the cheapest AMD Sempron motherboards. Also quality power supplies.

[chungenhung]

I would get 5850 or lower end.
Yes, the high end cards will give you more power, but it will be a pain to manage the heat, power, and NOISE!

I've built multi-GPU platforms in the past, and come to realize never get the highest performing card. Always get something that is not too hot, too power hungry, or too big.

[Current-C]

Noise and heat shouldn't be an issue since if I were to build this I'd be running it in a warehouse -- possibly even in a walk in cooler.  I'm trying to minimize the amount of extra equipment I'd have to buy i.e. cases, processors, memory etc.  Are there motherboards that can run four or five cards?  Right now I'm thinking three to five towers with three 6990's each . . . any other specific hardware recommendations? 

[tomcollins]

Hey all,

Mining noob here just wanted some expert opinions on what kind of equipment people would buy if they had 10-15k to spend on a new setup.  What cards would you buy?  Are towers ok or is a rack preferable?  Should you run them in crossfire or individually?  I know the economics of mining are controversial so I'm just trying to gather more info on the subject. 

Thanks!
 

Buy 15k of bitcoins.

[JJG]

Hey all,

Mining noob here just wanted some expert opinions on what kind of equipment people would buy if they had 10-15k to spend on a new setup.  What cards would you buy?  Are towers ok or is a rack preferable?  Should you run them in crossfire or individually?  I know the economics of mining are controversial so I'm just trying to gather more info on the subject. 

Thanks!
 

So I have to ask: What calculations / projections did you run that made a five-figure hardware investment worthwhile?

[Current-C]

JJG,

I haven't come to the conclusion that it is a worthwhile investment yet --I'm just trying to figure out what the best hardware configuration might be so I can do a cost-benefit analysis.  I have some cost saving advantages in cooling/electricity/space that may make it worthwhile, may not.

[SgtSpike]

I'd go for AM3 sempron rigs with 1GB ram, Corsair 650W PSU, random mobo (whatever's cheap and has two PCIe x16 slots), $20 ATX case, and recertified HDD.  Then add two 5850's.  Total cost should be about $550/machine, and it'll give you more mhash/price than anything else you can build.  Just build as many of them as you want to spend money on, and use some form of Linux for the mining setup.

I did a lot of excel analysis to come up with 2x 5850's in each rig being the best configuration.  It's not the best as far as wattage is concerned, but it is VERY close to the best.  Within 10% of the most efficient config.  I figure the cost savings of initial purchase outweighs the 10% extra wattage used.

[[Tycho]]

I'd go for AM3 sempron rigs with 1GB ram, Corsair 650W PSU, random mobo (whatever's cheap and has two PCIe x16 slots), $20 ATX case, and recertified HDD.  Then add two 5850's.  Total cost should be about $550/machine, and it'll give you more mhash/price than anything else you can build.  Just build as many of them as you want to spend money on, and use some form of Linux for the mining setup.

2x5850 per case is VERY bad configuration. You'll need 0.5 PC per each GPU.
With 2x5970 you'll need only 0.25 PC per GPU, that's very noticeable difference.

[SgtSpike]

I'd go for AM3 sempron rigs with 1GB ram, Corsair 650W PSU, random mobo (whatever's cheap and has two PCIe x16 slots), $20 ATX case, and recertified HDD.  Then add two 5850's.  Total cost should be about $550/machine, and it'll give you more mhash/price than anything else you can build.  Just build as many of them as you want to spend money on, and use some form of Linux for the mining setup.

2x5850 per case is VERY bad configuration. You'll need 0.5 PC per each GPU.
With 2x5970 you'll need only 0.25 PC per GPU, that's very noticeable difference.

The cost of a single 5970 is more than the PC + 5850's combined.  I don't see any money-savings there.  If you buy two 5970's and put them in the $250 base computer, you'll spend $1550 and get about 1200 MH/s.  If you buy two 5850's and put them in the $250 base computer, you'll spend $550 and get nearly 600 MH/s.

Sorry, 5850's still win the performance/price contest.

[xf2_org]

The cost of a single 5970 is more than the PC + 5850's combined.  I don't see any money-savings there.  If you buy two 5970's and put them in the $250 base computer, you'll spend $1550 and get about 1200 MH/s.  If you buy two 5850's and put them in the $250 base computer, you'll spend $550 and get nearly 600 MH/s.

Sorry, 5850's still win the performance/price contest.

I do not see any mention of power efficiency in that calculation.

[SgtSpike]

The cost of a single 5970 is more than the PC + 5850's combined.  I don't see any money-savings there.  If you buy two 5970's and put them in the $250 base computer, you'll spend $1550 and get about 1200 MH/s.  If you buy two 5850's and put them in the $250 base computer, you'll spend $550 and get nearly 600 MH/s.

Sorry, 5850's still win the performance/price contest.

I do not see any mention of power efficiency in that calculation.

Earlier post, I mentioned that the 5850's are NEARLY as efficient as the most efficient cards in terms of MH/s to wattage used.  I won't bother withh showing the calculations here, because I'm lazy, but it was within 10% efficiency of the top cards.  Basically, unless you're paying like $1/kwh for electricity, it doesn't matter.

[[Tycho]]

2x5850 per case is VERY bad configuration. You'll need 0.5 PC per each GPU.
With 2x5970 you'll need only 0.25 PC per GPU, that's very noticeable difference.

The cost of a single 5970 is more than the PC + 5850's combined.  I don't see any money-savings there.  If you buy two 5970's and put them in the $250 base computer, you'll spend $1550 and get about 1200 MH/s.  If you buy two 5850's and put them in the $250 base computer, you'll spend $550 and get nearly 600 MH/s.

Oh sorry, i didn't knew that 5970 is twice as expensive in your country.

[SgtSpike]

2x5850 per case is VERY bad configuration. You'll need 0.5 PC per each GPU.
With 2x5970 you'll need only 0.25 PC per GPU, that's very noticeable difference.

The cost of a single 5970 is more than the PC + 5850's combined.  I don't see any money-savings there.  If you buy two 5970's and put them in the $250 base computer, you'll spend $1550 and get about 1200 MH/s.  If you buy two 5850's and put them in the $250 base computer, you'll spend $550 and get nearly 600 MH/s.

Oh sorry, i didn't knew that 5970 is twice as expensive in your country.

Mmmm, yeah, you certainly have to take local costs into account.  My particular analysis and conclusion that 5850's are the best bang for your buck are dependent on online shops, mostly available only in the US.

[deadlizard]

http://www.cyclone.com/products/expansion_systems/600-2710.php 

[SgtSpike]

http://www.cyclone.com/products/expansion_systems/600-2710.php 

Lol, clicking on the "Buy" link doesn't even show anything with that particular product number.  I'd bet it's much cheaper to just build four separate computers though.

[sniper_sniperson]

I'd go for AM3 sempron rigs with 1GB ram, Corsair 650W PSU, random mobo (whatever's cheap and has two PCIe x16 slots), $20 ATX case, and recertified HDD.  Then add two 5850's.  Total cost should be about $550/machine, and it'll give you more mhash/price than anything else you can build.  Just build as many of them as you want to spend money on, and use some form of Linux for the mining setup.

2x5850 per case is VERY bad configuration. You'll need 0.5 PC per each GPU.
With 2x5970 you'll need only 0.25 PC per GPU, that's very noticeable difference.

Best ... I'll say compromise, is the 3 GPU on one mobo + decent low TDP dual-core cpu + max 1GB DDR2. 3 x 5870 or one 5970 + one 5870 will consume below 600W for 1Ghash/s speed. Nuff said

[deadlizard]

http://www.cyclone.com/products/expansion_systems/600-2710.php 

Lol, clicking on the "Buy" link doesn't even show anything with that particular product number.  I'd bet it's much cheaper to just build four separate computers though.

indeed it costs a bit more than the original post wanted but damn it's cool

on topic I would get 2 of these
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/142547/MOTHERBOARD_AMD_SOCKET_AM3/MSI/890FXA-GD70.asp
and put 2 5870 in each (just under $15k) using mining profits to expand to full capacity eventually swapping out 6990's   

[jedi95]

This setup worked great for me in terms of both Mhash/$ and Mhash/watt:

GPUs: 4x reference design 5870s.
These can be found used for about $200, but the downside is finding them with an intact warranty is difficult. If you prefer having a warranty you can substitute 4x 2GB 6950s and unlock them to 6970s. With recent mining developments (BFI_INT) the 69xx cards are more attractive than before. At $270 you can buy 4 of these for less than 2 6990s. Cheap 5850s are also an option, but most of the ones you can buy new don't use the reference cooler and as a result you can run into heat problems with a quad GPU setup. If you want to go the 2x5850 route you can substitute the motherboard and PSU for cheaper ones.


CPU: Cheapest AMD Sempron you can find - $39
You can go cheaper if you don't mind buying a used motherboard, but sadly AM2 4xPCI-E motherboards are extremely hard to find with an intact warranty.


RAM: Any cheap 1GB stick, you don't need more than that for a dedicated miner - $13
Memory bandwidth on the host machine makes no difference for GPU mining.


Motherboard: MSI 790FX GD70, but any 4xPCI-E AMD that allows 4 dual-slot GPUs to fit works - $185
Some alternatives are the newer MSI 890FX GD70 (more expensive, easier to find) and the much older MSI K9A2 Platinum. (very hard to find)


PSU: Corsair TX950 - $150
This is just personal preference, but in my experience using cheap, low-quality PSUs for 100% load 24/7 applications is a bad idea. Obviously this is up to individual user to decide, but make sure that the PSU can support 8x PCI-E 6-pin connections. (using the molex -> PCI-E adapters is fine)


HDD: Cheapest you can find, alternatively you can use a USB stick or boot from LAN.
I'm not going to go into specifics here since there are many alternatives to buying a new HDD for each node. Just keep in mid that you don't need much HDD space for a dedicated miner.


I was able to build my quad 5870 setup for $1070 and it produces 1.7 Ghash/sec while consuming about 900W from the wall. Overheating and noise are not a problem, I can run the cards at 65% fan and get temps in the mid 70s. However I had an extra HDD and RAM on-hand already, so expect to pay more this.

[sniper_sniperson]

jedi95, 1.88 ratio Mhash/Watt ... not bad. Lower the cpu's voltage and freq for an attemp to reach >1.9