Need Hardware Suggestions (MB and PSU)

[Dalkore]

what about the Sapphire 7970?   I went with those because the fans looked better than other models in the same price range. 

That's a good choice. Traditionally Sapphire has been one of the best, if not the best, brand for mining. For the 5800 series, at least, Sapphire is my go-to brand, and I'm wary of anything else. And I'm not aware of any reason to think different for the 7970s. I noticed that the user reviews for the Diamond 7970 are very good, which is a bit surprising b/c Diamond is usually considered one of the crappier brands. But the XFX 7970 (especially the black edition) is a good choice, and one that a lot of miners seem to be going with. Another advantage of the Sapphires you went with is they don't have the blower-style fans, so they will quieter. But on the other hand they will be harder to keep cool in a case since they will exhaust more hot air into the case. But IMO if you are serious about mining, you should go with open air DIY case, and for that your choice will be quiet and will probably cool better as well. If you don't want to build your own open air case, I think there are still people selling good ones on the forum. They may be more than you'd like to pay, but I think it is just a waste to go with a traditional case, unless you are in a situation where you absolutely need to keep things neat and covered up. And it will be very difficult to get more than 3 cards in a traditional case while keeping everything cool. I got a traditional case for my first build, and that was the biggest regret I had - that case now sits in a corner collecting dust.

Sweet.   I thought it looked good, but I didn't think about the blower style, I might of gone the other way if I did it again.   

Case:  Have you seen this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811353001 

Any thoughts on using those?

That a good price for a test bench, but it doesn't leave you with any way  to raise the GPUs above the mobo for use with risers. Personally, I would go with something much cheaper like this

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=25815.msg375543#msg375543

at least until you have time to build your own or find someone who can sell/build one for you. Ugly, but effective, and makes it very easy to switch cards around if you need to. One thing you would want to add to that "design" is some stiff wire or clips running between the cards to keep them from toppling against each other. Also get some mobo standoffs so the mobo rests up off the ground. With those additions, this is actually a very workable setup. Yeah, I know, it seems crazy after you've got all this other sweet hardware to have it resting on such a ghetto framework, but it works fine, and is a good solution until you can find something more permanent. Keep in mind that your initial experimentation with your system may influence your ideas for what kind of open air case you really want, so there's no harm in going with something cheap and flexible initially. Mining is definitely one of those things where you experiment and learn as you go along, and it is wise not to invest too much money in things you think you need before you have even mined your first share. The case I spent $80 sitting in the corner is a testament to that. Initially I thought it was too "ugly" to have my hardware resting on some ghetto rack, but then I discovered that it was much uglier seeing my cards overheat in the case, lol.

I need some sort of solution to keep them neat and clean.   I went with a basic Thermatake case I am going to add fans too and the one it comes with seem to be positioned correctly.  $50 and totally screwless.

[Dargo]

^^^ OK, but if that case doesn't work out, then buy an open air case from member Spotswood

http://richchomiczewski.wordpress.com/home/trays/

Those are sweet frames for mining, and the price really is pretty reasonable for what you are getting (and how much work it would take to build your own).

[crazyates]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159116

$80 cheaper than that SeaSonic, and works great. Modular, with enough PCI connections for 3 cards. I do trust Coolmax, and it's run @60% for the past 6 months with no issues.

[Dalkore]

That is not bad actually for a 1Kw.   I am using a PC Power & Cooling 80 Silver for the system I am working on as we speak.

[Serenata]

About motherboard and CPU...

I got an AMD based motherboad with an AMD A8 3850 and pumping an additional ~60Mh/s from its APU...

[oldDirty]

About motherboard and CPU...

I got an AMD based motherboad with an AMD A8 3850 and pumping an additional ~60Mh/s from its APU...

Nice stuff.
Do you run another AMD/ATI Card simultaneous with that APU?

[crazyates]

About motherboard and CPU...

I got an AMD based motherboad with an AMD A8 3850 and pumping an additional ~60Mh/s from its APU...

Any way of comparing the Watt difference between idle and mining on just the GPU part of the APU? I wonder how efficient that is...

[Serenata]

Nice stuff.
Do you run another AMD/ATI Card simultaneous with that APU?

Yes, one 5850 and one 5870, all three of them hashing happily with cgminer v2.4.1 under Win7 64

Any way of comparing the Watt difference between idle and mining on just the GPU part of the APU? I wonder how efficient that is...

I suppose I could take some readings (at the wall), this weekend, removing the other cards first....

[oldDirty]

Nice stuff.
Do you run another AMD/ATI Card simultaneous with that APU?

Yes, one 5850 and one 5870, all three of them hashing happily with cgminer v2.4.1 under Win7 64

Nice Info, thx, but i think i wait the new A10 Apu, as a option for a future second system.

[Serenata]

Any way of comparing the Watt difference between idle and mining on just the GPU part of the APU? I wonder how efficient that is...

Here are your results:
IDLE 62W
LOAD 90W
Average Mh/s 64.8 (10min)

Reading taken at the wall. Only one computer connected to the power meter (no monitor, no other devices) with no PCI Express cards.

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
MB:      ASUS F1A75V-PRO
CPU:      AMD-A8 3850
RAM:      2x CORSAIR VENGEANCE PC3-15000 (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9B)
PSU:      CORSAIR TX750W
HHDs:   3x various brands
DVD-RW:   2x Samsung
FANs:      3x 120x120mm

I hope this info is complete and helpful

[crazyates]

Any way of comparing the Watt difference between idle and mining on just the GPU part of the APU? I wonder how efficient that is...

Here are your results:
IDLE 62W
LOAD 90W
Average Mh/s 64.8 (10min)

Reading taken at the wall. Only one computer connected to the power meter (no monitor, no other devices) with no PCI Express cards.

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
MB:      ASUS F1A75V-PRO
CPU:      AMD-A8 3850
RAM:      2x CORSAIR VENGEANCE PC3-15000 (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9B)
PSU:      CORSAIR TX750W
HHDs:   3x various brands
DVD-RW:   2x Samsung
FANs:      3x 120x120mm

I hope this info is complete and helpful

Thanks so much for your time in figuring this out!

So that's about 28W for 65MH/s for 2.3MH/W. That's not as bad as I thought it would be.