http://www.coinminingrigs.com/Mining Rig Build Guide – 4x GPU Mining Rig
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Home-built Litecoin or Bitcoin mining rigs are a great way to invest in the new digital currencies, while avoiding some of the risk involved in purchasing the coins outright. By building a mining rig, you invest in off-the-shelf litecoin mining hardware that can later be re-sold (sometimes at a profit), if gpu mining become unprofitable in the future. Today’s Mining Rig Tutorial will show you how to assemble a fairly easy to build milk crate mining rig, capable of 3GH/s for bitcoin mining or 2,800KH/s for litecoin mining. I have built several of these rigs for myself and friends. Build time should be no more than 2 hrs for a machine that, as of the time of this writing, will mint you anywhere between $15-$25 USD worth of crypto-currency every day. As always, your mileage may vary.
Mining Hardware Build List
Power Supply – $250 Seasonic X-1250 80PLUS Gold Certified Power Supply Unit
Motherboard – $99 – ASRock MB-970EX4 Socket AM3+/ AMD 970/ AMD (best motherboard for mining at the moment, and in stock at Amazon as of this article).
Graphics Cards (GPU) – $1,200 to $1,600 I use four of the Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 at $400/ea or four of the Sapphire Radeon 7950 at $320/ea in each rig. This one with a stock cooler works also, and can be had for only $280 (after mail in rebate). One of the Amazon reviews for the $280 card, shows specific settings for Litecoin mining which is helpful. To answer the 7970 (~$420) vs 7950 (~$320) question, basically, the 7970 gets roughly 100-150 more Mh/s or Kh/s than the 7950 for higher hashing density per rig (see bitcoin mining hardware comparison and litecoin mining hardware comparison). I couldn’t decide either and ended up buying both types for my rigs. Either card will work great in this mining rig build.
CPU – $40 - AMD Sempron 145 Processor (get the cheapest you can find since this has no bearing on mining, but is a necessary component of course)
RAM - $55 – 8 GB Corsair DDR3 RAM (Litecoin mining can be fairly memory intensive, especially if you are using GUI Miner with Reaper, which is one of the easiest to configure, so 8GB is about right for a 4x GPU mining rig).
1x to 16x Powered Riser Cables - $18 – (2x $9) PCI Express 1X to 16X Slot Flexible Extension Cable (to connect 2 cards to both 1x slots on motherboard and allow spacing between cards for heat dissipation – powered risers are easier on your motherboard) If these are sold out, ask around on the bitcoin or litecoin forums. They tend to be hard to find.
Powered 16x to 16x Riser Cables – $30 – (2x $15) PCI Express 16X to 16X Slot Flexible Extension Cable (to connect 2 cards to both 16x slots on motherboard – using a powered riser cable will put less strain on your motherboard) If these are sold out, ask around on the bitcoin or litecoin forums. They tend to be hard to find.
Hard Drive – $50 - 500 GB SATA laptop drive (alternatively you could boot Linux from a USB drive or get a small, but very fast Solid State Drive for around $40)
Case - $6 - Plastic Milk Crate (you might be able to pick one of these up at an office supply store for less)
Extra Cooling - $30 - Box Fan (best cooling for a mining rig, pushes all that hot air away from the rig)
Operating System - $0-$90 - Windows 7 is my preference, but if you’re familiar with Linux you can of course download it for free (some folks consider Linux to be the best OS for litecoin mining, since it keeps your overall costs down, improving your litecoin mining ROI or return-on-investment).
Monitor, Mouse and Keyboard (to install the OS and configure the mining software, no need to buy more than one set since you only use this for setup)
TOTAL COST TO BUILD A LITECOIN MINING RIG:
~$2,200 for a 2,800 Kh/s Custom Litecoin Mining Rig (based on 4x Sapphire Radeon HD 7970)
~$1,800 for a 2,200 Kh/s Custom Litecoin Mining Rig (based on 4x Sapphire Radeon 7950)
Daily Litecoin Profit in USD:
~$20/day (on 4x Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 at current difficulty / exchange rate @0.10/kwh)
~$15/day (on 4x Sapphire Radeon 7950 at current difficulty / exchange rate @0.10/kwh)
Putting it all Together – Assembling your Litecoin Mining Rig
Unpackage everything
Install processor and RAM on motherboard
Plug in all riser cables
Place motherboard in plastic crate
Plug in SATA hard drive
Connect all GPUs to riser cables and fasten them to plastic crate evenly spaced out for maximum heat dissipation
Plug in all power supply connections
Connect mouse, monitor and keyboard and an internet connection (I used a USB WiFi adapter)
Check all connections once more
Fire it up! Install the OS if needed. Install Graphics card drivers. Install mining software. Make sure fans are doing their job. Fire up the mining software, tweak for maximum hasrate and let ‘er run!
This entry was posted in GPU Mining Rigs, Mining Rig Guides and tagged 7970, Bitcoin Mining, coin mining, cpu, Feathercoin, Feathercoin Mining, gpu mining, Litecoin Mining, mining, Mining Rig, Motherboard for Mining, psu on April 23, 2013.
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http://www.coinminingrigs.com/#ixzz2U3FNiVBxMining Hardware List
Essentially, a Litecoin or Bitcoin mining rig is a custom-built PC with parts chosen for maximum hash rates (determines how fast you can mine) and minimal overall cost. Here are the parts you’ll need to build this budget sub-$1,000 rig.
Power Supply – $115 - Corsair 850 Watt Bronze Rated PSU. A high efficiency, gold-rated power supply uses less power, but if your electricity is under 0.15/Kwh it may not be worth the extra $. I like modular PSU’s for ease of assembly.
Motherboard – $85 – ASRock 970 EXTREME4 AM3+ AMD 970 Motherboard (this motherboard has two of the 16x PCI-e slots for your two videocards spaced far enough apart for airflow that PCI-e riser cables are optional.
GPUs – $640 (2x $320) - Sapphire Radeon 7950 - I use these 7950′s and have overclocked them to mine Litecoin at 600+ Kh/s each and Bitcoin at over 600 Mh/s each. Though I haven’t used it myself, this Gigabyte 7950 has been recommended by other mining rig builders (it can get up to 700Kh/s with a firmware flash according to folks on the Litecoin forums). Another recommended card is the $299 Sapphire 7950 (with a stock cooler, which basically sucks air in the side of the card and shoots it out the back). Check out the one Amazon review on that last card, detailing how to configure cgminer for this specific GPU. For specific configuration details be sure to read this litecoin mining hardware comparison.
CPU – $35 - AMD Sempron 145 Processor (get the cheapest you can find since this has no bearing on mining, but is a necessary component of course)
The 7950 is the best GPU for Litecoin Mining.
RAM - $30 – 4GB Kingston DDR3 RAM (Litecoin mining can be fairly memory intensive, especially if you are using GUI Miner with Reaper, which is one of the easiest to configure, so 4GB is a good amount to have for a 2x GPU mining rig).
Hard Drive – $40 - 32GB Solid State Drive or boot Linux from a fast USB thumb drive)
Case (optional) – $6 - Plastic Milk Crate (you might be able to pick one of these up at your local office supply store for less)
Power Switch - $6 – A basic Motherboard Power Switch does the trick, making it easier to start up your mining rig.
Extra Cooling - $30 - Box Fan (best cooling for a mining rig, pushes all that hot air away from the rig)
Operating System - $0-$90 - Windows 7 is my preference, but if you’re familiar with Linux you can of course download it for free (some folks consider Linux to be the best OS for litecoin mining, since it keeps your overall costs down, improving your litecoin mining ROI or return-on-investment).
Monitor, Mouse and Keyboard (to install the OS and configure the mining software, no need to buy more than one set since you only use this for setup)
Upgrading Your Budget Litecoin Mining Rig
Minus the optional cost of the operating system and mouse/monitor/keyboard for setup (I assume you already own this trio), our rig easily slides under the $1,000 limit we set for ourselves. One of the nice features of this litecoin mining rig, thanks to the motherboard’s additional PCI-e slots, is the ability to upgrade it to a 4x GPU rig (effectively doubling your hash rate). You would simply need to purchase two more Radeon 7950 graphics cards, four PCI-e riser cables (one 1x to 16x and three 16x to 16x, to space the cards out for airflow), and one additional cheaper 650 watt power supply to provide power to the extra cards to make this a 2,400 Kh/s rig. To connect your two PSU’s safely, I’d recommend an Add2PSU Multiple PSU Adapter. You can use this adapter for bigger builds as well. I’ve seen folks connect two 750 Watt PSU’s with one to power a 6 GPU mining rig.
Putting it all Together – Assembling your Budget Litecoin Mining Rig
Un-package everything (be sure to keep original packaging for future re-sale or warranty work)
Install the Sempron 145 CPU and RAM on the motherboard (the processor comes with a good heatsink and fan assembly; it’s a question I am often asked).
Plug in the hard drive or optionally a USB thumb drive.
Insert the 7950 graphics cards in the 16x PCI-e slots (big blue tabbed slots)
Plug in all power supply connections
Place motherboard in plastic milk crate (This is optional, as some folks prefer to set the motherboard up on a table or utility shelf, like this one, without any case. The milk crate comes in handy if you plan to put the graphics cards on riser cables.)
Connect mouse/monitor/keyboard and an internet connection (You can use a USB WiFi adapter, however in my experience, a hard wired ethernet cable connection to your modem/router will have fewer ‘stale shares’ when mining Litecoin.)
Check all connections once more
Start up your rig! Install the operating system, latest graphics card drivers, and mining software. Make sure the fans are doing their job. Start the mining software, tweak for maximumhash rates and mine some Litecoin!
Read more:
http://www.coinminingrigs.com/#ixzz2U3Admb1S
