Topic: Buying a rig Vs Building a rig (Read 962 times)

This is something that may be hard decision but i prefer to go building cuz i now what i put i now it works. This is still opinion to debate but for sure it something that miner/individual need to make for himself. This is also the case if you want to buy used rig or to buy new one almost same decision to make hard in the end.

Depending on your interest on mining and would depend on your budget. If you really like to learn to make rig-set ups on your own then its would do, you are not only building but also learning for more other projects ahead but if you dont have interest and do like to have plug and play then pre-built would also do but you would really give out some cash on that. Its your preference.

You will probably save at least 50% if you build one yourself or even more sometimes.

Building a rig will be a good experience and when you are done will be rewarding as well be helpful if something goes foul then you can fix it.  The last thing you want is to be calling "the man" every time something doesn't work right, then waiting on them to fix it.  There are a lot of little things to know like software, bios mods, issues with the OS or mobo bios that you would benefit from learning first hand.

Anyway it should be a hobby, so enjoy it.

This makes me think of an old saying about the gold rush in America...


Question: Who got rich during the California gold rush?


Answer: The people who sold shovels.

the only reason to get into this 'business' is if u were planning on staying in the mining field for at least 6 months.  With that being said, if u were to even think about buying a rig, STOP RIGHT THERE.  you are probably not the right person to be mining in the first place, as it requires a lot of tedious upkeep and technical/semi-technical knowledge.   you need to love and be involved in the intricacies of hardware, software, and everything in between.   

this is just my personal opinion, b/c of anything breaks, and believe me, IT WILL, you want the technical know-how and thirst for problem solving to step in and just make the dang thing work!  If you are lacking this, than just keep your money and invest instead.


just my two cents.

Build from scratch...because you will save money and you will learn how to do it...you want to learn, so you can build the next one, and the next one, and the next one...

If you aren't ready, or haven't built a computer before, philipma1957 advice is best.


Overall to do well with mining (so you can keep up with technological changes), you have to know your equipment and software inside and out...

it depends  you could buy one from best buy add a second card and call it a day.

you would have a 2 card rig.

You don't even need someone to build it for you, you can build it yourself, its tedious, tiring and complicated, but is fun and you learn so much from it and that's the key part from building it yourself, that you get experience and knowledge that no one else in the world have right now, except for the people that get into it, and in general is people that passionately built it, it makes you be more connected to the rig in a way lol.

What's the difference? The title seems misleading. If you are getting someone to build a new one then the only advantage is you get to choose components. Said components are supply-restricted right now.

If you can't personally diagnose and resolve hardware / software / network issues then maybe look at a plug and play solution (pre-built)

Building your own is better and cheaper. It's also the easiest part about a rig. Getting it working and maintaining it is much harder. There is lots of information on this board and elsewhere that will help you find out what you need. The basics are a motherboard that is known to support the number of GPU's you want to use. There are many options here. Dedicated mining motherboards like the ASRock H81 BTC Pro, Biostar TB85 and Biostar TB250-BTC and TB350-BTC are good options but hard to find unless you want to pay a premium. Other boards that work well are the ASUS PRIME Z270-A / AR which support up to 9 GPU's using M.2 to PCI-E adapters.

The next items you need are CPU and RAM that supports the socket type of the motherboard. Common sockets are Intel LGA 1150 with DDR3 RAM and LGA 1151 with DDR4 RAM. All you need is a basic processor, no need to go for more expensive options and 4GB of RAM is enough. It's a good idea to check the motherboard manufacturer's website to make sure the CPU and RAM models are on the recommended list to use with the motherboard. For a hard drive most go with a 120 GB SSD with Windows, again a basic model from a good brand is all you need. If you want to run smOS, a good USB 3.0 flash drive is another option.

The PSU is the most important factor in a rig. If your PSU goes down, at best so does your whole rig and at worse it could damage equipment. You need a good quality gold or better rated PSU that can handle the load and has enough PCI-E and Sata connectors for the cards and Risers. Good options are EVGA and Corsair.

For ETH and ETC mining, AMD RX 4XX/5XX cards have better performance and dual mining capability compared to Nvidia options that are more expensive. The problem is finding multiple AMD cards without getting gouged is very hard ATM. For Equihash mining, the Nvidia 1070 or 1080 is a good option if it's not much more than a 1070. Scrypt mining like LTC, was taken over by ASIC's years ago and can no longer be mined profitably using GPU's.

For risers I recommend going with 6-pin PCI-E risers. They use three thicker wires made to handle a higher draw and four capacitors for a more stable currrent flow compared to the 3 capacitors and thinner wires used by Sata or Molex risers. The 6-pin risers also use a voltage regulator to prevent spikes.

For a case I recommend building your own using the BBT mining case below out of two 8ft pieces of 1/8" x 3/4" angled aluminum, one 8 ft 1" x 3" piece of pine and #8 1/2" self-tapping screws. The case will fit up to 7 RX 4XX/5XX if you put them about 1 inch apart. The cost of the aluminum angles and screws was ~$35. If you build it out of all wood, the cost would be less than $10. That's a much better design that allows for good airflow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5xNrlxsCVs



The only tools needed were a drill with a 3/32" hex titanium drill bit to drill pilot holes and a #2 phillips screwdriver bit. A hacksaw with a 32 tooth blade and a plastic miter box to cut the aluminum and wood. The case is very sturdy and can support up to 7 GPU's.

BBT also recently uploaded a case build video with a smaller form factor for a four card rig:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n9tgRw_JkM

The benefit of the previous case is it would give you room to expand in the future. Though I would also suggest making the case 1.5" taller from 9 1/4" cuts to 10 3/4" cuts to give you more clearance when using USB risers.

I'm trying to get into mining Litecoin Ethereum Classic and possibly some Equihash coins.

Should I buy a pre-built rig or have someone build one from scratch?