Building a super computer... | Bitcointalksearch.org

reyals

member

Activity: 73

Merit: 10

Quote from: that1guy on September 21, 2012, 07:14:26 PM

Quote from: SysRun on September 21, 2012, 06:57:18 PM

Don't make your equipment visible from any windows. Don't tell anyone about your equipment. Get renter's/homeowner's insurance.

As far as the police, you can call your power company and let them know what's up, but that's probably not necessary.

Thanks for the response

My biggest concern related to theft, is that someone will break in hoping to score a laptop & TV, but stumble upon the servers, and stealing those too. Do you think it'd be good enough to have the rack bolted/welded into the floor and each individual server locked into the rack cabinet?

Thanks for the idea on calling the power company! I probly never would've thought of that xD

@ mufa23:
haha that'll work while I'm home, but not while I'm away! xD + I already got a shotgun with .00 buckshot & a .40 glock

How would you not have thought of that?
Have you even considered how much electricity '700 pounds' of equipment is going to pull? You're probably going to have to have the electrical company run you a special connection (assuming they will) for all the power you're going to need.

Bitznbitz

newbie

Activity: 42

Merit: 0

Quote from: mufa23 on September 21, 2012, 07:09:58 PM

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/39622
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/67109

/thread

I'mma take care them thar claim jumpers!!

Hydrogen

legendary

Activity: 2562

Merit: 1441

Police view excessively high electricity consumption as a sign of indoor marijuana growing operations. I guess you could erect solar panels, a windmill or other alternative energy source to feed your farm as a means of distributing your power generation and lowering electricity consumption footprint in an effort to avoid drawing attention.

Having a basement and using a crane to lower your machines into it, would make them difficult to steal without a crane.

Modifying the doors and windows of the room you're storing equipment in to be too small to fit your hardware through them could also be an option? Its hard to steal stuff that is too big to fit through an open doorway.

Vicious attack dogs could add yet another abstraction layer of security to your existing model.

Insurance and backdoors installed on the hardware which dial home in the event hardware is stolen and reconnected could represent yet another means of eventually eliminating theft but unfortunately not doing much to compensate for intervals of downtime between thieveries.

Shadow383

sr. member

Activity: 336

Merit: 250

Quote from: Luno on September 30, 2012, 03:42:08 AM

The OP was asking about a render / physics simulation farm, not a mining rig. If they have a warrant on a suspected grow up, they'll leave empty handed. If they don't have a warrant, you don't let them in or discuss anything with them in the door. Though your neighbours might think then that something strange is going on in your apartment. If the law suspect any type of computer crime going on, they are able to check you out without bothering you Wink

If they suspect computer crime, they'll take EVERYTHING.
Happened to a mate of mine when his torrent site got closed down rather abruptly Cheesy

FbBitcoinLottery

newbie

Activity: 10

Merit: 0

you say you want to use their idle time to mine... you can leave the miners running... the miner will only use the processing power that you are not using...

Cm5xng

newbie

Activity: 12

Merit: 0

Unless your location where this super computer is being built does not look like a farm house it should be fine.

underminer

full member

Activity: 210

Merit: 100

Not for hire.

I don't think gpu mining can be written off just yet, especially for people like the poster who will need to be running the equipment regardless.

c4n10

sr. member

Activity: 294

Merit: 250

Quote from: b!z on September 30, 2012, 07:11:07 AM

Quote from: c4n10 on September 29, 2012, 11:19:10 PM

You'd be surprised at how many states in the U.S. have some sort of "open-carry" policy. In a lot of states you're usually ok to open-carry your weapons so long as you do so responsibly.

Yes, you will get the occasional person who will call the cops freaked about the "guy with the gun" but when the police approach so long as you make it obvious that you are not dangerous, you are licensed to open carry (if necessary to be licensed in your state) and so long as your weapon is holstered in an obvious location where it can be seen.

Is that even related to OP building a supercomputer?

You obviously didn't read past the original post...

b!z

legendary

Activity: 1582

Merit: 1010

Quote from: c4n10 on September 29, 2012, 11:19:10 PM

You'd be surprised at how many states in the U.S. have some sort of "open-carry" policy. In a lot of states you're usually ok to open-carry your weapons so long as you do so responsibly.

Yes, you will get the occasional person who will call the cops freaked about the "guy with the gun" but when the police approach so long as you make it obvious that you are not dangerous, you are licensed to open carry (if necessary to be licensed in your state) and so long as your weapon is holstered in an obvious location where it can be seen.

Is that even related to OP building a supercomputer?

Envious

newbie

Activity: 29

Merit: 0

You can rent GPU clusters from Amazon.

Luno

sr. member

Activity: 504

Merit: 250

The OP was asking about a render / physics simulation farm, not a mining rig. If they have a warrant on a suspected grow up, they'll leave empty handed. If they don't have a warrant, you don't let them in or discuss anything with them in the door. Though your neighbours might think then that something strange is going on in your apartment. If the law suspect any type of computer crime going on, they are able to check you out without bothering you Wink

hickc

newbie

Activity: 29

Merit: 0

GPU miners are not going to be viable in the future as soon as the reward halving drops, so keeps this in mind when planning your next great super computer build.

c4n10

sr. member

Activity: 294

Merit: 250

You'd be surprised at how many states in the U.S. have some sort of "open-carry" policy. In a lot of states you're usually ok to open-carry your weapons so long as you do so responsibly.

Yes, you will get the occasional person who will call the cops freaked about the "guy with the gun" but when the police approach so long as you make it obvious that you are not dangerous, you are licensed to open carry (if necessary to be licensed in your state) and so long as your weapon is holstered in an obvious location where it can be seen.

b!z

legendary

Activity: 1582

Merit: 1010

Quote from: SysRun on September 21, 2012, 06:57:18 PM

Don't make your equipment visible from any windows. Don't tell anyone about your equipment. Get renter's/homeowner's insurance.

As far as the police, you can call your power company and let them know what's up, but that's probably not necessary.

They can still use those heat cameras and think you're running a mini weed farm.

@OP move out of your mom's house and rent an apartment somewhere with less GTA players. or rent space at a datacenter

underminer

full member

Activity: 210

Merit: 100

Not for hire.

I would say if you have 10,000 - 15,000 to spend, definitely budget in a change of address, all it takes is one unfortunate incident and you will lose all of your progress. Can you imagine explaining what the total value of your equipment was to an insurer? Even if they believed you they wouldn't want to pay out if the time came, reducing their commitment one way or another.

I am interested to see how this project of yours is coming. It seems to me that this forum would be a good place to buy mining hardware, fyi.

ingrownpocket

legendary

Activity: 952

Merit: 1000

Quote from: that1guy on September 21, 2012, 06:43:24 PM

Hey all,
I'm looking into building a computer cluster for rendering 3D models and for simulating physics, and I'm considering using the idle time for mining bitcoins. My biggest concern is... How the hell do I stop someone from stealing the computers or from the cops thinkging I'm doing something illegal??

I'm afraid someone will steal the equipment (even though it'll weigh 700lb+ total) just because it looks expensive. There have been a lot of ghetto looking people moving into my area and I really don't want my computers stolen.

I'm afraid the police will think I'm upto something illegal because my electric bill will rise significantly. I heard rumors about the police raiding people's homes because of the increase in energy consumption. I'm sure the police wouldn't think twice about raiding my home, because there were two other houses in my neighborhood that have been raided because they were drug dealers (one guy had bombs and my next door neighbors were the sinaloa drug cartel running a 34 million dollar operation). I really don't wanna get raided & I REALLY don't want my computers confiscated or something.

Any ideas??

I have a few other questions, too, like cooling, but I'll save those for later

All together I'm looking to spend $10,000-$15,000 through out this project.

I would seriously consider changing home.

Arto

donator

Activity: 213

Merit: 100

Quote from: sobriket on September 22, 2012, 08:26:56 AM

Why not rent space in a data centre? Your box won't fit in the usual rack space but this way you deal with the issue of theft and conspicuous electricity use.

My thoughts exactly. With a budget on the order of what the OP described, colocation at an affordable data center is what I would do. If you don't expect to need hands on the equipment too frequently, it could even be a data center not in the same town or region, which should help in finding a cost-effective provider.

Alternatively, renting a small office in a business park or industrial area might be an affordable and comparatively more secure (versus keeping the rig at home in a bad neighborhood, at least) option.

sobriket

full member

Activity: 144

Merit: 100

Why not rent space in a data centre? Your box won't fit in the usual rack space but this way you deal with the issue of theft and conspicuous electricity use.

Lethos

sr. member

Activity: 476

Merit: 250

Keep it Simple. Every Bit Matters.

Depends on how elaborate you are prepared to go:

For home installations of really expensive items that aren't on show I'm always a fan of the hidden room.
These are usually easy as hell to pull off in basements. Since the floor size is not always the same size as what is above it in old houses.

Half the room off with plasterboard and make a small door shaped hole in it's place. So you have a hidden and open portion of the space.
Place a really heavy bookcase or similar in front of said hole. I'd recommend, removing any "feet" on the bookcase and replace it with marble sized ball bearings to allow it to slide and move around abit.

Fit a A/C unit, big box freezer etc, anything old and clunky that makes a decent amount of noise in the open space, nearby to disguise the sound of the computer in the hidden space. That A/C unit could even help with all that extra heat.

Put a ton of stuff in the open space and make sure this fake wall is decorated, so it's fake-ness is not too easily noticed.

In the advent it is found, I do recommend bolting and chaining it to the floor, so at the least removing it from it's hidden room is difficult and time consuming.

... I could go on...

TheMan

member

Activity: 65

Merit: 10

Make sure that you don't make it obvious that there is something very valuable in there. The thieves might be tempted if they see your house rocking steel enforced window and doors, make the security as high as one of your paranoid neighbors. I would take the easy route and just move to someplace else if you got that much money to spend in the first place...

Topic: Building a super computer... (Read 2197 times)