HD 7970 [0.75 BTC bounty to the cheapest possible 4X7970 Configuration]

[lightlord]

I am interested in buying HD 7970 for mining bitcoins. But I am wondering if a HD 7970 will work on a pci 2.0 motherboard.
As Its not intended for gaming but just for mining. And this bandwidth shouldn't make a difference on the mining performance.
I want to 100% make sure it works before I go out and buy this as I am worried the screen could end up showing nothing.

Anyone tested or know for sure it would work?
I had in the past tried a HD 5770 on a pci 1.0 slot which supposedly said would work fine. But nothing showed on the screen.
So I am just worried the same thing won't happen here.

Me buying the pci 2.0 instead of pci 3.0 would save me a lot of money. So hopefully it works.

Also I heard of extender cables, so i can get a motherboard with 4 slots and just extend the cable into it hangs out.
As 4 7970 wouldn't fit. Which site sell these extender cables? And which cables would work?
As I plan on a four 7970 build. What is the cheapest possible configuration?

0.75 BTC bounty, To the cheapest possible configuration. And list the parts and price.
I am in Canada so note the shipping costs as well. And sites that do ship to Canada.

Prize will be distributed to the winner on March 30th.

[1714008570]

1714008570

[1714008570]

1714008570

[Miner99er]

Yes a 7970 will run on a PCIe 2.0 slot. I currently have one paired with a Core I7 920 and ASUS Sabertooth X58 board. Works fine.

Also, taking  ashot at the cheapest system

AMD Sempron 145 (Use OEM cpu cooler) - $40
MSI 890FXA-GD70 - $160
2GB Ram (1gb is cheaper... by $1. Get 2GB) - $10.99
SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST1200-G 1200W ATX - $269.00 (has MIR also)
4xVisiontek 7970 (amazon) - $2210 (2nd day priority shipping)
$30 wood frame from home Depot - Build it yourself.

No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!

Edit: Didn't notice the Canada thing. Well, that's a starting point...

[hongus]

Not sure about 7970s but I'm not a miner so I wouldn't know much. People usually go with the 5xxx series to save money.

[Aion2n]

My Sapphire 7970 work fine with Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-RH!!!
 

[Scared]

Yes a 7970 will run on a PCIe 2.0 slot. I currently have one paired with a Core I7 920 and ASUS Sabertooth X58 board. Works fine.

Also, taking  ashot at the cheapest system

AMD Sempron 145 (Use OEM cpu cooler) - $40
MSI 890FXA-GD70 - $160
2GB Ram (1gb is cheaper... by $1. Get 2GB) - $10.99
SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST1200-G 1200W ATX - $269.00 (has MIR also)
4xVisiontek 7970 (amazon) - $2210 (2nd day priority shipping)
$30 wood frame from home Depot - Build it yourself.

No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!

Edit: Didn't notice the Canada thing. Well, that's a starting point...

How do you fit 4x7970's into that Mobo without cooling issues? From the pictures of the Mobo it appears that all 4 cards would have no space between them. Are you running 7970s on this board if so what's temp do they run?

[Jaryu]

Yes a 7970 will run on a PCIe 2.0 slot. I currently have one paired with a Core I7 920 and ASUS Sabertooth X58 board. Works fine.

Also, taking  ashot at the cheapest system

AMD Sempron 145 (Use OEM cpu cooler) - $40
MSI 890FXA-GD70 - $160
2GB Ram (1gb is cheaper... by $1. Get 2GB) - $10.99
SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST1200-G 1200W ATX - $269.00 (has MIR also)
4xVisiontek 7970 (amazon) - $2210 (2nd day priority shipping)
$30 wood frame from home Depot - Build it yourself.

No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!

Edit: Didn't notice the Canada thing. Well, that's a starting point...

How do you fit 4x7970's into that Mobo without cooling issues? From the pictures of the Mobo it appears that all 4 cards would have no space between them. Are you running 7970s on this board if so what's temp do they run?

you don't put them into a case, you mount them outside on cable risers so you can put a couple of inches between them if you want.

[Scared]

Yes a 7970 will run on a PCIe 2.0 slot. I currently have one paired with a Core I7 920 and ASUS Sabertooth X58 board. Works fine.

Also, taking  ashot at the cheapest system

AMD Sempron 145 (Use OEM cpu cooler) - $40
MSI 890FXA-GD70 - $160
2GB Ram (1gb is cheaper... by $1. Get 2GB) - $10.99
SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST1200-G 1200W ATX - $269.00 (has MIR also)
4xVisiontek 7970 (amazon) - $2210 (2nd day priority shipping)
$30 wood frame from home Depot - Build it yourself.

No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!

Edit: Didn't notice the Canada thing. Well, that's a starting point...

How do you fit 4x7970's into that Mobo without cooling issues? From the pictures of the Mobo it appears that all 4 cards would have no space between them. Are you running 7970s on this board if so what's temp do they run?

you don't put them into a case, you mount them outside on cable risers so you can put a couple of inches between them if you want.

He said "No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!" so I took that as he did not use extenders with this Rig.

[Beaflag VonRathburg]

I should have 8 hours of semi free time upcoming. Saving this post as a reminder for later.

[neo_rage]

Any cheap mobo (e.g. asrock h61del, possible to install 6 pci-e cards), memory[2-4gb kingston], cpu[celeron 1155]... = at least 150$ max, and around 150W.
Any usb flash to install os on it.

Main price is a power supply. 4x7970 will take around 1200W of power, may be a little more.
You should use 2 PSU, or PSU that can handle around 1400W on 12V lines permanent (peak to 1500W).
So, any cheap psu up to 1500W, e.g. antec, may be 2 PSU at 800W each.

So 150$+ PSU cost + video card's costs. That's cheapest config, but no one can talks about it's reliability.

[lightlord]

I will distribute out the prize to the winner on March 30th.
I However will also increase the prize to 0.75BTC as well from 0.5BTC.

I am looking for who ever comes up with the most cost effective/power efficient/
and most mining rates.

I was planning on HD 7970s, as I heard they are very power efficient. But if you
show me a more efficient miner, and for even cheaper price list them and the components.
I just want to make btc at the most possible, cheapest possible build. And most power efficient at the same time.

Also I am looking for a somewhat reliable build. I don't want it end up dying in the next week or so.
I did once tried two PSU, jumped one psu. The jumped one died about 3 weeks later.
So I don't think its that reliable.

I plan on it running for at least a few years without any major problems

The person who does the best, I will give you an award.

Best regards
 

[lightlord]

bump

[d3m0n1q_733rz]

If you're wanting to utilize 4 cards, you need to use an extended ATX motherboard and case which is capable of handling it.
This board in particular should handle all four cards.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131802
Make sure that the case is capable of handling the extended ATX board with the spacing for the four cards (two slots each).  If you want to go water cooled, it shouldn't be as much of an issue, but make sure to connect the cards together in parallel instead of serial to allow the heat to transfer better with less resistance on the pump.  
Also, since you're using four cards, you'll need two power supplies to handle them.  I have a Cooler Master that's capable of top and lower mounting for the PSU.  Unfortunately, mounting one on the top takes away the exterior water cooling holes, but you can mount both supplies and use a cable to activate them both.
Recommend running the motherboard and two graphics cards off of the first.  Then run HDD (low-power is best for this application [USB flash-drive is better as it runs off of the motherboard using ~500mw@5V]), fans and two graphics cards off of the other.  Make certain that the PSUs are energy efficient so that it'll cost you less in the long-run.  I perfer multiple rails as this will generally keep your power "cleaner" and your heat output down.  Be careful though.  I have a PSU that has a switch that puts it into multi-rail or "turbo" mode which combines all of the rails into one.  It came in turbo mode by default and many people reported that the single-rail mode burned out the entire unit.
If you're extremely particular, look into purchasing a power factor correction unit for the home/office.  However, if you followed my suggestion, your PSUs will already have active power factor correction built-in.  They rank from bronze to silver to gold with gold being most energy efficient.
I hope this helps.  ^_^

I need to know how you jumped the PSU as well.  Did you only jump the power-on trigger wire or did you run the entire unit in parallel to the other?  If only the trigger wire, it shouldn't have failed the way it did.  This should hold especially true if you use multi-rail and different rails for each component.  That would be one rail for each card, one for HDD and one for fans that aren't connected via motherboard.  The motherboard should already be on its own rail if the PSU's built right.
Now some will say that multi-rail's a waste of time and money.  Honestly, they don't understand what it's used for and how it decreases noise between components.  But I had a DVD burner that created system noise when it was burning a disk due to the change in power usage and interfered with my CPU power causing lockups.  Tossed in a multi-rail PSU and the problem was gone.  I stand behind them.

[Miner99er]

Yes a 7970 will run on a PCIe 2.0 slot. I currently have one paired with a Core I7 920 and ASUS Sabertooth X58 board. Works fine.

Also, taking  ashot at the cheapest system

AMD Sempron 145 (Use OEM cpu cooler) - $40
MSI 890FXA-GD70 - $160
2GB Ram (1gb is cheaper... by $1. Get 2GB) - $10.99
SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST1200-G 1200W ATX - $269.00 (has MIR also)
4xVisiontek 7970 (amazon) - $2210 (2nd day priority shipping)
$30 wood frame from home Depot - Build it yourself.

No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!

Edit: Didn't notice the Canada thing. Well, that's a starting point...

How do you fit 4x7970's into that Mobo without cooling issues? From the pictures of the Mobo it appears that all 4 cards would have no space between them. Are you running 7970s on this board if so what's temp do they run?

you don't put them into a case, you mount them outside on cable risers so you can put a couple of inches between them if you want.

He said "No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!" so I took that as he did not use extenders with this Rig.

Open Rig, No risers... still cheapest, and can be bought for roughly the same price as just the motherboard linked in the previous post.

[1l1l11ll1l]

Cheapest is grab some used P4 systems (HP DC7600 is my choice) with extender cables each will run 2 cards. I grab mine surplus for $25 each. For the 7970 you'd need to upgrade the PSU.

I can run 5870's with the stock PSU, or 5970 with a mild upgrade.

Before you know it, you'll have a room like this:

[d3m0n1q_733rz]

Yes a 7970 will run on a PCIe 2.0 slot. I currently have one paired with a Core I7 920 and ASUS Sabertooth X58 board. Works fine.

Also, taking  ashot at the cheapest system

AMD Sempron 145 (Use OEM cpu cooler) - $40
MSI 890FXA-GD70 - $160
2GB Ram (1gb is cheaper... by $1. Get 2GB) - $10.99
SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST1200-G 1200W ATX - $269.00 (has MIR also)
4xVisiontek 7970 (amazon) - $2210 (2nd day priority shipping)
$30 wood frame from home Depot - Build it yourself.

No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!

Edit: Didn't notice the Canada thing. Well, that's a starting point...

How do you fit 4x7970's into that Mobo without cooling issues? From the pictures of the Mobo it appears that all 4 cards would have no space between them. Are you running 7970s on this board if so what's temp do they run?

you don't put them into a case, you mount them outside on cable risers so you can put a couple of inches between them if you want.

He said "No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!" so I took that as he did not use extenders with this Rig.

Open Rig, No risers... still cheapest, and can be bought for roughly the same price as just the motherboard linked in the previous post.

I recommend against the MSI board as there have been numerous problems with the BIOS.  If anything, try to go with the ASUS.  It will cost less in the long run because you won't have to replace the board after a week.  And, while open air does cost less, if you want to keep things running cool, you still need a fan of some sort circulating the air around.  You can get a pretty large one and have it blow straight down on the board if you like.

[steamboat]

Yes a 7970 will run on a PCIe 2.0 slot. I currently have one paired with a Core I7 920 and ASUS Sabertooth X58 board. Works fine.

Also, taking  ashot at the cheapest system

AMD Sempron 145 (Use OEM cpu cooler) - $40
MSI 890FXA-GD70 - $160
2GB Ram (1gb is cheaper... by $1. Get 2GB) - $10.99
SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST1200-G 1200W ATX - $269.00 (has MIR also)
4xVisiontek 7970 (amazon) - $2210 (2nd day priority shipping)
$30 wood frame from home Depot - Build it yourself.

No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!

Edit: Didn't notice the Canada thing. Well, that's a starting point...

How do you fit 4x7970's into that Mobo without cooling issues? From the pictures of the Mobo it appears that all 4 cards would have no space between them. Are you running 7970s on this board if so what's temp do they run?

you don't put them into a case, you mount them outside on cable risers so you can put a couple of inches between them if you want.

He said "No mucking with extender cables and what not... Priceless!" so I took that as he did not use extenders with this Rig.

Open Rig, No risers... still cheapest, and can be bought for roughly the same price as just the motherboard linked in the previous post.

I recommend against the MSI board as there have been numerous problems with the BIOS.  If anything, try to go with the ASUS.  It will cost less in the long run because you won't have to replace the board after a week.  And, while open air does cost less, if you want to keep things running cool, you still need a fan of some sort circulating the air around.  You can get a pretty large one and have it blow straight down on the board if you like.

what problems have you been having with the bios? i currently have a 890-gd70 running 5 cards just fine, with the 6th getting installed tomorrow. i actually had the most trouble w/ the gigabyte 990 ud7. piece of S#I^ refuses to boot to the BAMT img on usb.


also, to OP: cheapest 4x configuration uses risers (saves ~ 40 bucks, assuming you can get 4 risers for 20$). if you don't want to use risers, you can get gd-70's for ~124 open box from newegg (170 new). 30$ sempron processor, 13$ 2g stick of ram, 10$ usb, a few 6 pin adapters for 10$and any cheap 1000w psu will do you fine. (may even be able to use a smaller psu, my 5 6950's are eating ~ 800w at the wall). i would make sure to get the reference design exhaust system. throw a couple popsicle sticks in between the cards and they'll get plenty of air, especially if you set up a wind tunnel-like effect with hot and cold isles.

tl;dr- $277 for an easy to set up rig that'll run your 7970's like a champ.
also, 5970's are still the mh/$ king, so if you don't care about warranties or highresell value (assuming the crash of bitcoins, which is the only reason you should be selling them) i'd go with 5970's.

did i has win prize?