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Topic: 1300-1700$ desktop PC for mining (Read 590 times)

full member
Activity: 187
Merit: 100
Cryptocurrency enthusiast
May 24, 2017, 06:28:48 AM
#9
Why 4560? G4400 is cheaper

That's why:

my work PC

It's hyperthreaded, + 30% speed in multi-core tasks, just +10-15% price. Next step is i3, which is a waste of money. If it's mining only machine, it's better to go for Celeron G1840 like I did, but do you really want to work on it in 2017? I do not. G4560 is good enough for office, multimedia, even IDE usage (still leaves some pros in compiling though) and won't eat much money from graphic cards.
newbie
Activity: 11
Merit: 0
May 23, 2017, 12:02:51 PM
#8
I am in a similar situation, except my power is solar and I have no expenses except hardware.  I am very new to mining but not computers at all.  So to be sure before I spend any money, the specs on the machine above would be ideal for mining at home but with no electricity cost or is there a better route? 
legendary
Activity: 1624
Merit: 1129
Bitcoin FTW!
May 23, 2017, 11:40:47 AM
#7
* Pentium G4560 (it's better to have new hardware instructions)
* 2x8Gb DDR3 (16Gb is essential, or some miners will alert "virtual alloc failed" or slow down speed)
* 60Gb cheap SSD (hi, blockchain syncing)
* True-750W APFC power supply (80+ bronze or 80+ EU is enough in case of free electricity)
* Motherboard with 2-3 physical (forget about interface speed) PCI-E x16 slots with good amount of space between them (remeber about dual-slot cooling on cards)
* Cheap midi-tower case with two side mounts for 120mm fans (target them to your cards)
* 2x1080 or 3x1070, or 1080ti + 1070, prefer "turbo" ones to throw heat away from your case
* Mine "cool" algo - Zcash. Dual mining may be a bad idea due to overheating.
Why 4560? More expensive than other Pentiums on most sites and it's not like mining will take lots of CPU power. G4400 is cheaper and has those same instructions afaik. You're not doing any multithreaded applications on a mining pc much of the time so it's better to just go for a budget CPU.
full member
Activity: 187
Merit: 100
Cryptocurrency enthusiast
May 23, 2017, 11:14:40 AM
#6
* Pentium G4560 (it's better to have new hardware instructions)
* 2x8Gb DDR3 (16Gb is essential, or some miners will alert "virtual alloc failed" or slow down speed)
* 60Gb cheap SSD (hi, blockchain syncing)
* True-750W APFC power supply (80+ bronze or 80+ EU is enough in case of free electricity)
* Motherboard with 2-3 physical (forget about interface speed) PCI-E x16 slots with good amount of space between them (remeber about dual-slot cooling on cards)
* Cheap midi-tower case with two side mounts for 120mm fans (target them to your cards)
* 2x1080 or 3x1070, or 1080ti + 1070, prefer "turbo" ones to throw heat away from your case
* Mine "cool" algo - Zcash. Dual mining may be a bad idea due to overheating.
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
May 23, 2017, 11:05:48 AM
#5
best choice is of course the 1080ti but with that budget you can't get two of them you can do a mix of 1070 and 1080ti, always two card maximum, if it's not to hot there you can try 3 x 1070
full member
Activity: 350
Merit: 100
May 23, 2017, 11:00:39 AM
#4
Hi,

I can choose my work PC specifications, budget is around 1300-1700usd.
Of course I would like to use it for mining as well since there is free electricity in the office.
What hardware should I choose? Intel vs AMD? Gefore gtx vs quadro? Maybe Xeon-processor?

Thanks!



Literally sky is the limit - I am using the following and all parts are overkill but it's my first computer/miner:

i7 7700 quad core 3.6 GHz/4.2 Turbo (you can get away with a Celeron)
16gb DDR4 (you can get away with 4gb)
120gb SSD

I went with 1070's because 1080tis weren't available for local pickup, and also I know I'm going to be building a few more machines - I would just go with 1080 ti's if I were only building 1 machine.
hero member
Activity: 747
Merit: 502
May 23, 2017, 10:53:22 AM
#3
I'd advise a 2 gtx 1080ti rig, they're like 700-750$ each. If you're using the PC just for mining your processor/ram isn't going to be needed much.
member
Activity: 438
Merit: 27
May 23, 2017, 10:51:03 AM
#2
It could be a bit hot..... and noisy.
You could try 1080 Gigabyte Xtreme....its very silent.
member
Activity: 109
Merit: 10
May 23, 2017, 09:40:50 AM
#1
Hi,

I can choose my work PC specifications, budget is around 1300-1700usd.
Of course I would like to use it for mining as well since there is free electricity in the office.
What hardware should I choose? Intel vs AMD? Gefore gtx vs quadro? Maybe Xeon-processor?

Thanks!

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