Topic: 5830 x 4 Mining Rig, When to call it quits? (Read 9296 times)

Hey guys...


I have three 5830s running in a antec 1200 case  on a evga s58 sli mobo.

Since I can't fit another card in the case the way the mobo is set up.... what is the currently cheapest
way to run 4 5830s or 5850s ceaseless..... I'm thinking of doing on in the garage with a boxfan on it....
figured go with the sempron chip.. but do I really need a $200 mobo everyone has been saying this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130274


Isn't there a mobo at under $100 that could do the job?  Also can someone explain pci extenders and link to a good source for them?


What would it cost at current prices to build the cheapest mining rig.  I would be running win 7 64 bit ultimate
because I don't really know the linux Ubuntu  world.

I did.  THanks for asking!

I love the panel and I attached 4 x Scythe DFS123812-3000 "ULTRA KAZE" 120mm fans to it.

I also reversed the front 200mm fan so it was exhausting out of the case.

At first I had the side panel with the 4x120mm fans exhausting out of the case.  However, at that point I had 2x200mm fans (one on top and one on front) and the 4x120mm fans all exhausting.  The only intake fans were the 120mm in the back and the cards themselves (and I assume the PSU).  The temps still rose to > 80C on two of the cards and I decided to reverse the 4x120mm fans on the side panel to be intakes. 

That made almost no different, maybe 1C or so, but the two "problem" cards would still run in excess of 80C. 

I had the case standing upright, and the worst card was of course in the Device 0 slot at the top, so I decided to lay the case on its side.  Still no change.

The only thing I haven't tried is reversing the side panel again to be exhaust, while it's laying on its side. 

I'm at a loss at this point, and just removed the 4th card.  With the 4th card removed and 1 PCI slot between each of the cards, I can run them at 70% fan, with the side panel fans at 50% and the cards all stay right at 70C. 

At this point, I'm suspecting that the cards are touching and the fans aren't running.  It's the only explanation I can come up with, but I would think that would cause a lot of noise.

I'm open to suggestions.

Hey Rob, did you receive your new side panel yet with the  built in fans, how are your card temps?

Keep in mind one factor that I don't see anyone mentioning.  It's a hell of lot easier for the price of bitcoins to triple than it is for triple the number of people to mine coins.  So between oh yay, the price went up and oh crap more people are mining, which is more likely to happen?  Your decision should be based at least 90% of the price of bitcoins in USD at the time.

Btw since about 5 years ago, I've been using my PC to heat my room overnight in the winter cuz I have 2 outward facing walls so it gets down to like 58F normally but I usually ran something stupid overnight like a movie on a loop or virus scan.  My old PC put out a lot of heat at idle too rofl.

I find the results individual. Some chips are so strong they should've been binned for the highest series 5900-dual gpus, and some crap out even at 75c and a mild overclock.

Have a 5770 which was running at 105c (thermal threshold) for 10 hours at 980mhz, the fan had been blocked by a PSU cable.

Nothing happened and it still works to this day. & That was in late 2010.

In my personal exp., only radeon 6990 is universally comfortable with 90c+ temps 24/7 without locking up.

Thanks Bit.

I hadn't thought of reversing the front fan.  Off to do that now.

I also found this (and just ordered it):
http://www.corsair.com/cases/case-accessories/graphite-series-600-side-panel-with-windowed-and-mesh-inserts.html

Comes with a mesh screen that can mount 4 x 120mm fans.  I got 4 Scythe ULTRA KAZE series DFS123812H-3000 fans to mount on the screen to blow into the case, with the hopes I can leave the side panel on.

I think I'm also going to remove the 200mm fan at the top and replace with 2 high-speed 120mm fans to improve exhaust out the top.

Thanks for the response.  

Hey Rob,  the 600T case is incredible quality wise but the fans are too slow.  For adequate cooling on a  4x5830 rig you must reverse the fan flow on the front fan so that it exhausts the air out the front..  The 5830s exhaust to the front and back of the cards, so a lot of heat builds up at the back since its competing with the front fan pushing air in... You will also need to operate it without the side case and get another fan to blow air directly on to the top of the cards...  I use a table fan, but you could use a small highspeed fan and attach it to the top of the four cards...

Adapter 0 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
            Sensor 0: Temperature - 76.00 C

Adapter 1 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
            Sensor 0: Temperature - 77.50 C

Adapter 2 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
            Sensor 0: Temperature - 69.50 C

Adapter 3 - ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
            Sensor 0: Temperature - 76.50 C

When running aticonfig here is what my cards look like:


You'll see that the "Configurable Peak Range" only goes to 875 for the GPU and down to 900 for the RAM.  However, with the Catalyst 11.6 drivers, you can over and underclock those as evidenced by the "Current Clocks" I have configured.

I must have a different model. Mine only goes up to like 875.

This is in Ubuntu 11.04 running ATI Catalyst 11.6


Very helpful.  (They're at 100%, I tried 101% and it didn't work)

How do you get it to 990? Did you modify the bios?


Turn the fan speeds up.

Keep in mind that 5830's (or any other card) tend to crap out once you hit 84 degrees C if they're overclocked.

The other day I forgot to manually turn the fans on (via aticonfig), and I started up the miners on all 3 cards -- the card on top reached 90+ degrees, but the machine didn't freeze up.

That's because I also forgot to run the overclocking script.

I bet if I had overclocked but forgot to turn fans on, the machine would have required a reboot.

Update:  I clocked the RAM down to 300, so I'm at 990/300.  They appear stable, but still too hot in my opinion, so any suggestions would be great.  This is still with only 3 5830s, no idea how you're keeping 4 at a lower temp, as mine now have about 1.5" between each card.


Yep, as I was typing this my GPU1 hashrate dropped below 200, so I had to shut it down.  I can only run 2 cards with the case closed up and am going to have to pull everything out of the case and back on the motherboard box in open air to run safely...  Sigh.

I know corsair makes good PS, but u r overloading it wayyyy over.
i use 2x 650 for my 4x 5830 OCed rig. I like to make sure my PS can run smoothly and don't crap out on me due to excessive heat.

worthless?
please give them to me.

Bit, sorry to bother again, had a question.

I just got my Corsair 600T and LOVE the case.  Tons of room and that cable routing system is incredible.

I got 4 Sapphire 5830s installed and they fit great on the Motherboard.  However, with the case fans at 100% and my GPU fans at 100%, I can't keep the cards cool enough to be stable at 990/600.

Did you do anything different?  I know you're running RAM lower than I did, but does that really change the temp by 10C / card?

Did you stick with the stock fans?  Or replace them?  Did you connect the fan headers to the case controls, or to the motherboard?

Did you replace the TIM on the GPUs?

Sorry for all of the questions, but you and I have the exact same rig, so I'm trying to make improvements.  With 3 cards in my case (and the case closed up) my cards run to the high 80s and into the 90s, which is too hot for me, with 4 cards they just heat up and freeze.

Thoughts?  Really appreciate any insights you have.

Thats right, I'm using slots 1, 2, 4, and 5.  As for the Sata connector, I'm using a regular straight in cable, just bent over 90 degrees to avoid the video card above it...

I have the same board.  Which slots are you using the cards in?  Right now I have 3 cards with like 1" of space in between each, but am thinking of getting this case and that will require me to shuffle the cards.

Looks like I'd have to put them in PCI-E 16x slots:  1, 2, 4, and 5, leaving 3 empty (going from the slot closest to CPU as 1).  True?
Did you get a right-angle SATA cable for the Motherboard port?  The ones that came with the board seem to bump the GPUs up and they won't sit flush, so I used one of the SATA on the back panel.

Thanks for info.

No extenders required, this MSI board can easily handle 4 cards.  Not much space left between them maybe 5-8mm, but enough for ventilation.  The case is very good space wise, it has 8 slots so plenty of room.  I hear you about the wife, mine has been complaining since day one about the rig before and after I cased it up.

Bit, did you need any extenders for that MoBo / Case combination?  I'm currently running the exact same setup, but case-less.  The wife is getting itchy about the motherboards just sitting on my desk and is insisting I close them up.

How much space between the cards in that case?

Full Spec.

CORSAIR 600T CASE, 3 FANS
UBUNTU 11.04, AUTO LOGIN/AUTO REBOOT EVERY 6 HOURS
4 x 5830 SAPPHIRE  / CLOCK 980, MEMORY 300  - 75 TO 85 DEGREES
MSI 890FXA-GD70 MOTHERBOARD
COOLER MASTER 850W SILENT PRO PS - 80Plus Bronze Certification
CHEAP AMD SEPRON QUAD CORE
1TB WD SATA

Sweet. Should be able to squeeze enough juice out of my 800w Corsair GS800 for four 5830's then 

I wouldn't quit before costs exceed profits. but you can't know in advance when/if that happens because price of bitcoins can double in several months and future difficulty rises % are unknown..

your electricity cost is pretty low, here in europe we pay 2-3 times as much in some countries - so you have a big advantage compared to miners with much higher electricity bills for same results

Yeah that sounds more like it to me.

I'm running 4x 5830 with a 650w TX650 v2...really
It is running at 100% load but is stable

As I said above, I'm running 4 5830s, two 850W PSUs, 2 CPUs, 2 Motherboards, an LCD Display, and an aux fan.  I'm pulling 810W for everything from the wall.

An 850W PSU will run 4 5830s, a single CPU, and RAM, no problem at all.

I ran 4x 5830 on a 850w with no problem, Only pulled 708w from the wall.

"No way a 800w will handle 4x5830

5830s take up 188w each about, OC'd they can take up 250w

Even 3 will be cutting it close OC'd but will be alright so as long as you aren't running anything else high power.

For 4 I would get at least a 1000w PSU. I'd go with a 1200w just to have more headroom personally."

188w is the MAX TDP, not the actual power consumption. When you downclock the memory, each of my cards consumes only ~175w, leaving ~150 on my 850w to power everything else (more than enough).

NOW 

Hi,

But OP says they have 4 x 5830's OC'd with an 850w psu which is why I want to know OP's full spec...

Depends on the quality and brand.
The higher series Corsair, Seasonic and Silverstone PSU's practically last forever even at high load due to the very long-aged components under the hood, unless you drive over it with a bulldozer.

The "downside" is that they cost $200-$300, more than some casual users' entire rigs.

No way a 800w will handle 4x5830

5830s take up 188w each about, OC'd they can take up 250w

Even 3 will be cutting it close OC'd but will be alright so as long as you aren't running anything else high power.

For 4 I would get at least a 1000w PSU. I'd go with a 1200w just to have more headroom personally.

I'm not 100% sure but I think 800 wats might initially sustain 4 5830's but power supplies do degrade over time so after running 24/7 for awhile I'm sure it wont be able to handle it.

Hey, Whats the full spec on your rig? I have two 5830's right now and was thinking of adding another two into my pci-e 1x slots, using pci-e extension cables and four Molex to pci-e  power adapters. But I'm worried that my 800w Corsair PSU might not be able to pump out enough juice for that.

Everything else in my rig is pretty low power, sempron 140, 2gb ram, low power hard drive etc.

This just tells you. Do not keep your mining rig in a room with ac. Electricity bill will make you cry. During winter(depends where you live), if you only have electrical heating, you might be able to heat your house with mining rigs and thus get the power for free".

FWIW:  4 5830s, all the trimmings on 2 mobos, plus additional fan, all in at 810W full bore.

$2.50 / day in costs
$12.50/ day in revenue
$10 / day in profit

I'll be mining for a while

My guess is difficulty will outpaced by price increases in the long term

Not only do you have to pay for cooling, but in most states the kWH charges are HIGHER in the summer than than the winter.  This is true in Ohio (I have an additional per kWH Summer charge).  So, you gain twice in efficiencies when mining in the winter:  lower heating bills (sorta), and a lower kWH charge.

Indeed. I really wish I had found out about bitcoin a few months earlier, not only because I'd be flush with so many bitcoins I'd be swimmin in em, but because we had one of the most brutally cold winters in my states history riiiight before I turned my room into an oven (I literally warm my whole house when I ventilate the heat to home). Shame not all things work out as we might like them heh.

This.

haha I posted something about seasonal mining elsewhere.  In the summer you have to pay for cooling, but in the winter mining rigs end up subsidizing your heating costs 

"When to quit mining" -- that's a personal decision.

How much money would you have to earn to make mining worth it?

It's not a silent cash cube that spits out dollar bills every so many hours. It's a noisy, hot PC that has periodic problems (overheating, etc.) and needs regular check-ups/maintenance (cleaning the fans that run 24/7 before your PC is choked with dust)

You need to make sure the miners are always running, etc.

And of course you have to worry about selling the BTC, and turning it into something you can use/spend.

And you ARE taking the full attention (as in, 100%) of a $500 PC running 24/7 to get $X per week. You can't play games on it, for example.

Yes, altogether it's not that big of a deal, but it might be considered "not worth it" if, say, you were only making $10/week. Others might go through all that for $5/week -- it depends on the person.

around 4 million difficulty with no further price increase is my cutoff point.

But I'll continue to mine through the winter even if we surpass that since I need the heat.  Next summer I will shut down.

simple....when your electricity bills come to more than you're mining !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your still making good profit, but your hardware will be worthless if you wait esp 5830s b.c they have no use besides mining, gamers are not buying them...

Hey guys, I've been mining 24x7 for the last month and a half at about ~ 1207.00 MH/s with 4 x5830's and an 850Watt Supply.  My power cost here is 8.5 cents/kWh.  With these inevitable complexity increases when do you think I should call it quits?