Best bang for the buck? Whole rig

[eof]

Is there some discussion or wiki or anything on the best bang for the buck when you are building a rig from scratch?


I have been buying btc rather than mining and could sell off a bit of it and buy a rig.  I can run it with no electricity cost as part of my shared office space.

What I want to avoid is vetting hardware and doing price comparisons etc etc; I haven't kept up with hardware in years.  I am fine building the thing myself; I just don't want to pick the parts. 

I'm willing to lose some margin on profits to have a s lightly cooler rig, something less prone to failure.  I can probably get a case; but other than that I will need to buy the whole deal: psu+mobo+processor+cards

This will be a mining-only rig. 

Would like to be in the 750M - 1 Ghash range

[RulerOf]

This will be a mining-only rig. 

Would like to be in the 750M - 1 Ghash range

A budget helps

My friend and I put together a 1.2 GHps rig for about $1100.  No case, no hdd/optical.  <$1 per MHash is very doable.

5850s, AMD quad, free RAM, and MSI 890FX board with 1 kW PSU.  Should work well.  Building tonight =)

[eof]

I think I can get free ram.  seems negligble though.

800-1200 or so for a budget.

[eof]

I think I can get free ram.  seems negligble though.

800-1200 or so for a budget.

you're going to have 4x5850 then?

i would expect this to produce a lot of heat?

[Sukrim]

800-1200 or so for a budget.

BTC, USD, EUR, GBP...?!

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usd; sorry.

[RulerOf]

Buy the Azza PSAZ-1000A14 PSU from TigerDirect.  I'm using it to power dual 6990s, overclocked.  Runs like a dream, and I'm ordering 3 more.  $99 with coupon LKH29905

they have the Sapphire 5850s still in stock.  You'll want those or the ASUS ones because of the cooler design: best airflow.

Get the MSI board I mentioned, it works very well.

Buy an AMD quad athlon for $99 or something.  Newegg has them.

Get your free ram, find a spare hard drive, and off you go.  Should total you under $1000 I think, before shipping.


If you're worried about heat, buy these: http://www.amazon.com/PCI-Express-Riser-Flexible-Cable/dp/B004XD74MC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1305302419&sr=8-1

While 1X risers will work perfectly, these are the only [cheap] ones I've found that will get to you in under 2 weeks

[SgtSpike]

Buy the Azza PSAZ-1000A14 PSU from TigerDirect.  I'm using it to power dual 6990s, overclocked.  Runs like a dream, and I'm ordering 3 more.  $99 with coupon LKH29905

they have the Sapphire 5850s still in stock.  You'll want those or the ASUS ones because of the cooler design: best airflow.

Get the MSI board I mentioned, it works very well.

Buy an AMD quad athlon for $99 or something.  Newegg has them.

Get your free ram, find a spare hard drive, and off you go.  Should total you under $1000 I think, before shipping.


If you're worried about heat, buy these: http://www.amazon.com/PCI-Express-Riser-Flexible-Cable/dp/B004XD74MC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1305302419&sr=8-1

While 1X risers will work perfectly, these are the only [cheap] ones I've found that will get to you in under 2 weeks

I agree with this aside from the quad core.  A waste of electricity.  Just get a LE Sempron or something.

[eof]

So am I getting 3 5850's?

[SgtSpike]

So am I getting 3 5850's?

Yes.  They're still the best bang for the buck.  Get 3-4 of them.

[eof]

I can run 4 off just the one 1k psu?  I will probably need a nice case for all this heat then I imagine.. I have just a standard case

[SgtSpike]

I can run 4 off just the one 1k psu?  I will probably need a nice case for all this heat then I imagine.. I have just a standard case

Should be just fine.  They're only about 150w each power draw.

[ghotiblue]

What type of case would you recommend for 4 5850s? I'd imagine it would need to be pretty big to fit all 4 cards, and have good cooling. I like the Lanboy Air, but is there a less expensive option that would work just as well?

[SgtSpike]

What type of case would you recommend for 4 5850s? I'd imagine it would need to be pretty big to fit all 4 cards, and have good cooling. I like the Lanboy Air, but is there a less expensive option that would work just as well?

Personally, I'd just run with the side panel(s) off.  But I'm kind of a cheapo, especially when it comes to mining.  I'll just things as cheaply as possible.

[grndzero]

I agree, 4 x 5850's are the best bang for the buck. If you're willing to go down the used road, you can get them for $155-180 shipped. At 360MH/s mine are getting me right around 2Mh/s : 1 USD.

If you really want a case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112318&Tpk=pc-k57 this one is the cheapest I've found that will hold 4 cards (the drive cage is removable). You can add a second fan as an input (with filters even) and add 2 fans to the side panel and might even be able to run it closed instead of leaving the panel off.

If you just want to secure parts so they aren't loose, I'm considering this http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12912/cpa-581/Lian_Li_Replacement_PC-Q06_Modders_ATX_Aluminum_Motherboard_Tray_-_Anodized_Silver_Q6ATX.html?tl=g43c241s905&id=VwsJRRDG

[Littleshop]

If you're worried about heat, buy these: http://www.amazon.com/PCI-Express-Riser-Flexible-Cable/dp/B004XD74MC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1305302419&sr=8-1

While 1X risers will work perfectly, these are the only [cheap] ones I've found that will get to you in under 2 weeks

I have them shipped for less then they do ($12.00 plus 99 cents shipping), and I take bitcoins and I ship em within two days. 

http://cryptoanarchy.us/store

[Clavulanic]

This will be a mining-only rig. 

Would like to be in the 750M - 1 Ghash range

A budget helps

My friend and I put together a 1.2 GHps rig for about $1100.  No case, no hdd/optical.  <$1 per MHash is very doable.

5850s, AMD quad, free RAM, and MSI 890FX board with 1 kW PSU.  Should work well.  Building tonight =)

Lol, I put together a rig for <$500 that will put out almost 800Mhash/s.

Shop around is all I can say. Check lots of forums and websites for good deals.

[jasonk]

This will be a mining-only rig. 

Would like to be in the 750M - 1 Ghash range

A budget helps

My friend and I put together a 1.2 GHps rig for about $1100.  No case, no hdd/optical.  <$1 per MHash is very doable.

5850s, AMD quad, free RAM, and MSI 890FX board with 1 kW PSU.  Should work well.  Building tonight =)

Lol, I put together a rig for <$500 that will put out almost 800Mhash/s.

Shop around is all I can say. Check lots of forums and websites for good deals.

Specs?  Any used parts in the build?

My 2x 5850 rig will end up costing me:

$260 (Saphire 5850's)
$50 (Antec 900)
$0 (RAM already have)
$70 (750W Thermaltake Tough power 775W)
$45 Foxconn AMD motherboard with Dual PCI-E
$38 Sempron 140
$0 (laptop SATA drive)

So yea, less than $500 for hopefully ~700Mhash overclocked.

[grndzero]

This will be a mining-only rig. 

Would like to be in the 750M - 1 Ghash range

A budget helps

My friend and I put together a 1.2 GHps rig for about $1100.  No case, no hdd/optical.  <$1 per MHash is very doable.

5850s, AMD quad, free RAM, and MSI 890FX board with 1 kW PSU.  Should work well.  Building tonight =)

Lol, I put together a rig for <$500 that will put out almost 800Mhash/s.

Shop around is all I can say. Check lots of forums and websites for good deals.

Do your homework on whatever card you buy? Some 5850's aren't as easily overclocked as others. Reference cards are generally easier to overclock than some others. I get 360 Mh/s out of mine. Someone managed to eek out 390 from a sapphire toxic(?) I think but it was really high voltage to accomplish it.

Specs?  Any used parts in the build?

My 2x 5850 rig will end up costing me:

$260 (Saphire 5850's)
$50 (Antec 900)
$0 (RAM already have)
$70 (750W Thermaltake Tough power 775W)
$45 Foxconn AMD motherboard with Dual PCI-E
$38 Sempron 140
$0 (laptop SATA drive)

So yea, less than $500 for hopefully ~700Mhash overclocked.

[eof]

Thanks guys.

I got

MSI 890FX board with 1 kW PSU that was recommended,1gb ddr3, 4x saphire 5850  -- all on the way

Unfortunately 2 of the 5850's are on backorder..

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12912/cpa-581/Lian_Li_Replacement_PC-Q06_Modders_ATX_Aluminum_Motherboard_Tray_-_Anodized_Silver_Q6ATX.html?tl=g43c241s905&id=VwsJRRDG
^^

Does that mod board make it easy to mount the cards on the extenders so they don't move around?  I don't really see how it works..

I will try and just use a thumb drive to boot from and no other hd.