Topic: building a mining rig with $1800 (Read 6065 times)

I'm looking for a cheap case that can handles 4x4850 VGA. Is this OK?

omg I never knew of such things Haha I'm falling in love with Myopenpc!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B003CTR3ME/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0

Great info, I really like those tech benches, the one you posted looks the best out of the 4 I see there (I can't figure out if the rotatable one has a larger pci area, they don't really show).  Hmmmm now I can't decide between THOR and the benches,  I have to say thor is pretty nicely featured....

edit: thors are out of stock, looks like i'm gonna go with the openpc one!

Well, it depends on your reasons for mining in the first place. If you just like the idea of bitcoin then that's one thing, but if you are trying to make a profit, you want to maximize your cost / generation. This means either as many cards as possible on one rig or as cheap as possible multiple rigs.

For cases there is what I suggested, the Rosewill THOR, it's fairly reasonably priced (if you can find it) and has 10 expansion slots, enough for 5 cards if you space them properly (they will be cramped and hot though, and it has only ok airflow so you will need to set up some fans). Another option is a tech bench, mostly open air. You can also set up a rig like the one in the picture you list, except that the side card will block airflow from the sides getting to the crammed together cards on the motherboard. You can also get an HAF 912 (again, poor air flow, smallish case, but has 8 slots for some reason) for very cheap, an HAFX (huge case, lots of airflow, kinda expensive) which has 9 slots to uncramp things a little bit. Only the antec nine hundred TWO (v3) will be able to accomodate 4 cards, and  it would do an okay job of it I suppose.

3 cards will fit in almost any case though, 300, 900, 1200, Lian Li k57, etc. But again, when you are building a rig you want to maximize the number of cards you can fit into a single rig, or else cheap out as much as possible on multiple rigs.

Another nice option that is in between cased and caseless are what are known as "Tech benches". They are basically open-air but fully rigged up cases. One example I've been looking at would be:

http://www.amazon.com/MYOPENPC-Transparent-Acrylic-Station-motherboards/dp/B004TZ56GU/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&m=A3Q4NSDXS8U7OP&s=generic&qid=1306788458&sr=1-13

I'm still trying to work out which ones would best fit the most cards though.

Yea I did mention about the PCIe extenders if you're getting 5 GPU. The GD70 is a little pricey, but it comes with on board power button which is great cuz I'm using it naked w/o casing.

The Sempron is meant for the dedicated mining rig w/ 4/5 GPU. However, he is right about PCIEx1 to PCIe extender/adapter being an alternative so you can get cheapass MOBOs (That's one of the reason why more rigs are better because you might be able to drive the prices down more, you can get 2xPCIe2.0 MOBO at way cheaper prices than 4/5xPCIe2.0 MOBO with good spacing for 2-slot GPUs). The reason I didn't mention that is because I can't find any extenders or adapters around my area and it slipped my mind before.

I'm not all that big on Casing cuz it's like 30 C degrees all year round @ 99% humidity where I am + putting all those in a casing is just encouraging the heat.

Thx for the tip I help whenever I can.

hm... ok.  Well do you suggest anything case-wise?  Or any way to just have one sitting outside the case? I was going to grab the extender for the 4th one, thought i could fit it in the case somewhere though.  Would 3 fit in a 900 or 300?

Yeah wasn't sure about the psu, I'll grab a let expensive one.

and what would be the advantage of two cheaper motherboards?


edit: I like the way this guy put his extra card on the side: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/842/20110523005.jpg/

Just a note, you can't fit 4 double slot video cards into an antec 1200, let alone 5. Nor would you be able to fit 5 cards on the motherboard anyway, you'd need an extender for the 5th pci-E slot. That motherboard is kind of pricey for what you plan on doing, I'm not totally sure I understand whether you are building a second computer for gaming or plan on using this motherboard/cpu, but an AMD sempron will bottleneck the crap out of 6970s, so you won't be able to game on it anyway.

The only cases capable of doing 4 cards are ones with 8+ expansion slots. The only case I know capable of doing 5 cards for under $300 is the Rosewill THOR.

EDIT: Also worth noting that you will be hard pressed to find any 5850s these days. Amazon has been out of stock for about a month and there's no real reason to believe they will get any more anytime soon. Your best bet is to buy used cards or else you will have to go skinny with 5830s, another reason why it might be better to go with 2 cheaper motherboards that can utilize PCI-E x1 slots with extenders.

EDIT #2: The antec quattro is an incredible waste of money. You will likely be able to run 4x 5850s on a quality 750Watt power supply (maybe even less but let's play it safe). You can pick up a quality one of those for about half the price.

Will 4 or 5 video cards fit in the altec 900 or 300?


What case config did you use?

Glad you mentioned that, I was about to buy them haha, now I don't need any!  Also another quick question, should I get the molex adapter x16 extenders? and why would someone need the 1x extender?  Would I be able to turn regular pci ports into express ports with that?

Thanks again for your help, I'll throw a bitcoin your way

U don't need dummy adapters for Linux Rigs. U do however need one on ur 2nd GPU on ur gaming/mining rig if u're not using dual monitor like me

I don't need the crossfire though, correct? I can have my main gpu hooked up to (sometimes) a monitor but the others can all be used by miners, right?

[Edit] Whoops, this was already answered

What you did is very similar to my setup, only I wanted an actual replacement/gaming PC as well.

Here's what I bought on NewEgg:
     1   
DISCOUNT FOR COMBO #642427
-$40.00
     1   
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX
Item #: N82E16819103727
$140.99
     1   
Thermaltake TR2 TRX-1200M 1200W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817153119
$229.99
     1   
ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131646
$119.99
     1   
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811129042
$59.95
     2   
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
Item #: N82E16820231311
$169.98
($84.99 ea)
     1   
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Item #: N82E16827135204
$20.99

Subtotal   $701.89
Tax   $0.00
 UPS 3 DAYS   $13.45
Order Total   $715.34

I then got two cards on Amazon: (Currently Out-of-Stock)
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Radeon-PCI-Express-Graphics-100282XTREME/dp/B004W75ATI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306812248&sr=8-1

If you do this, you will need to purchase a CrossfireX Bridge as well:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PD81LW

Also, I recently have this being shipped to me to make sure I'm using my PSU efficiently:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009MDBU

EDIT: My only comment on your build specifically would be whether or not you really want to get a Full Tower Case.

ALSO, I almost forgot this sucker:
http://www.amazon.com/Antec-Cyclone-Blower-Case-Expansion/dp/B000051299/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306813611&sr=8-1

Holy crap, thanks for all this help!  Here's what I think I'll go with for the insurance then:

Mining rig:
(put this up top) ~$1000 (I have a slightly more expensive psu in there, might change that)
+ extenders and dummy adapters

Gaming rig:
GPU: 2x6970s (~$720)
buy the rest later

= around $1800! yay!

I have a couple old hdds laying around, so I'll just use one of those for the OS.  I'll have to look around about the casing like you said, but I have the altec 1200 in there just for now.  I'll keep the top updated to my build

I'm not sure how much power. I think I've read somewhere when Overclock the 5850 draws around 200 W. But recently I read you could run 4 of them off a 850 W. I'm not sure how much does the MOBO+CPU draws either. So I'm going with 1000W~1200W if 5x5850.

You don't need xFire to mine. Specify different miners to each GPU just like you said.

And with regards to the casing I think it'll be better to just go with no casing if you're intending to go 5xGPU since heat is going to be a real problem. Take a look at the "Show off your mining rigs" thread somewhere, you'll get an idea about casing, placement and etc.

I took the liberty to link to (see in quote) newegg to give a rough estimate of the prices, your insurance and additional investments

1000W PSU - $195 + $80 + $270 + $160 + $12 + RAM for your gaming rig = $717 + RAM
1200W PSU - + $120 = $837 + RAM

Balance from insurance should be close to $800~$1000, enough to get 4~5 GPU example (2x6970+2x5850)-(2x320)+(2x150)=$960
All these are just from ur insurance. You'd still need to buy a Sempron 140 ($38) for your mining rig, a 2/4 GB Thumbdrive ($6)(Linux) + MOBO for your gaming rig + PSU ($70) for your gaming rig [optional + HDD + OS if you need] (If you got more than 6 GPU then get PCIe extender

(PSU and MOBO assume 2x6970 xFire, 4 RAM slots for option and Cheapest Investment since if anything fails you could swap the GD70 for ur gaming rig)

This config gives you
1 Dedicated Mining Rig @ 4x5850 = 1.3~1.4 Ghash/s
1 Gaming/Dedicated Rig @ 2x6970 = 800 Mhash/s
Total = 2.1~2.2 Ghash/s

Insurance Cover $1,800
Additional Investment ($38+$6+$70[+HDD+OS]) = $114

This should be all you need. Just tweak a little to your liking. I forgot US still sells 1GB RAM and changed the 2GB to 1GB. Remember the PCIe Extender if you get 5 GPU from ur Insurance

EDIT: I forgot you wanted i7 in that case you can't use GD70 for ur gaming rig. Reconsider some of the config. This is to give you an idea.

Ive got the MSI 890fxa-gd70 as my miner board... Im using 4 slots of the 5, they're double slot cards, so you're going to have to be creative... Also I dont know if its just my board, but in a 3 card configuration, I cant get the middle card to work.Im using the Sapphire 5850s as well, just fyi.

Its configured:
Card
fan
space
Card
fan
space
Card
fan

I couldnt figure it out, but every time I tried that I saw 3 devices in device manager that were 5850s, but only 2 in catalyst/display settings. It wouldnt allow me to extend the display to enable the middle card. I did have dummy plugs, and with 4 cards in the system It works well, but this is without using the black pci-e slot. Like I said it might only be my board, but check to make sure it's able to be utilized before you dive in. 4 cards run really hot when they're all in their respective slots, so be prepared for that. My cards run 300 mhash/s each, and they run between 80 (coolest card) up to 90C (hottest card).

Yeah, and from what I'm reading the 5850 is the most efficient miner, and there are (were) 5850's on amazon for $150 each, which means I can buy a LOT of them.  Not sure if I have access to this much power haha

With the $1800 at your disposal, it's probably best to splurge it all on good GPU's then.
Then make a dedicated mining machine with those good GPU's like grue suggested.
That will get you the most bang/buck as far as mining is concerned.

This sounds great, thanks so much for the info!  Yeah this computer is completely dedicated to mining.  I have a couple followup questions:

• How much power might this draw?  What should I do to the appt I'm in to make sure I'm not gonna blow things up?
• Will 5x5850's fit in the altec 1200 case?  Any tips on what will hold all of this?
• Do i need to crossfire anything? or can i just specify the gpu on 5 different miners?

Yeah good point, thanks.


Yeah, it has to be a replacement of same value (which I'm claiming at $1800), so I'm pretty sure I can't swing multiple computers.  Plus I don't have that much room/power 

cards that are connected with extenders are terrible for gaming. My evaluation of your rig was on a pure mining basis. . You could always stick with 1 or 2 cards (connected via x16) while you game, and connect the rest of the cards using extenders. it's highly unlikely that you will use ALL of your card's processing power, but you'll save a ton of money.

extenders can be obtained here:
https://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=6128.0 (already pre-cut for x16 cards)
or ebay (not pre-cut, but only $4 vs $16)

If the issue is with the insurance, try to get more GPU from the insurance and then use cash to buy the MOBO of ur choice
GD70 is what one of my rigs is using. It's got 5 PCIe slots.


Consider this option.
 - GD70 (5 PCIe slot)
 - 1000W/1200 PSU (support 5x5850)
 - CPU of your choice
 - HDD of ur choice (If theres a need)
 - Casing of ur choice
 - RAM (2 GB + What u want to use)
 - a few other GPU from the balance of $1,800

Piece together a dedicated mining rig using the GD70+Sempron 140 [Purchase ur own], 2 GB RAM, PSU & GPU + Ubuntu/Linux on Thumbdrive (4 GB) [For 5 GPU get 2 PCIe Extender for $9]

As for your own computer. U still have Casing, CPU of ur choice, RAM, HDD & GPU (Assuming you got 3 or more from the insurance). All you need to buy is MOBO and PSU.

You'll get at least 2.5 Ghash/s with a working computer of ur liking + dedicated rig (naked or cheap casing). (total around 5~7 GPU) With a bit more investment.