Author

Topic: just getting started bought 2 5850s but... (Read 1171 times)

hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 500
November 17, 2012, 03:12:43 AM
#15
My friend once faced  audio problems in 5850 HDMI then he had to change the CATALYST Drivers.
sr. member
Activity: 350
Merit: 250
October 08, 2012, 08:05:37 PM
#14
You can of course mine litecoins on cpu and gpu simultaneously, but I don't think cpu mining will worth it.

We are running some 5850s overclocked to 965Mhz core at 1.1v, and they take 190W each - not at the AC outlet, this is the exact power need of one card.

Based on that you need a psu rated at 380W for 2 cards, or 760W for 4 cards. You add the consumption of other hardware to that, and see if you put in a decent cpu and also use that to mine you'll need ~1000W, not to mention you need that amount of power at the 12v rail. If you want to leave some headroom there you should get a psu with 12v rated at 1200W. Also keep in mind you can get several different models, there are 1000W psus rated only at 750W, but also ones rated at 950-960W at their 12v rail(s).

Since high power psus can get extremely pricey here in my country the best bang for us is to get 3 slot mobos with low consumption amd cpus, a single ddr3 module, and a 700-750W psu. Everything is underclocked and undervolted except the 5850s and we boot bamt from usb - this way the base system without vgas consumes a maximum of 20W.

We also have 5970s overclocked to 865Mhz at 1.0875v to have the same mining speed per gpu as the 5850s. They consume only 280W at those settings compared to 380W for two 5850s, and cost exactly as much as two 5850s, so from now on we'll use those in dual slot mobos with cheapo 650-700W psus.

I hope this was of help Smiley
this was insanely helpful
newbie
Activity: 20
Merit: 0
October 08, 2012, 06:47:07 PM
#13
Until the hashrates spike and the ASIC miners start churning... don't discard the GPUs.

At least you can still go back to gaming with the high end GPU cards or resell them to gamers
newbie
Activity: 46
Merit: 0
October 08, 2012, 06:17:34 PM
#12
You can of course mine litecoins on cpu and gpu simultaneously, but I don't think cpu mining will worth it.

We are running some 5850s overclocked to 965Mhz core at 1.1v, and they take 190W each - not at the AC outlet, this is the exact power need of one card.

Based on that you need a psu rated at 380W for 2 cards, or 760W for 4 cards. You add the consumption of other hardware to that, and see if you put in a decent cpu and also use that to mine you'll need ~1000W, not to mention you need that amount of power at the 12v rail. If you want to leave some headroom there you should get a psu with 12v rated at 1200W. Also keep in mind you can get several different models, there are 1000W psus rated only at 750W, but also ones rated at 950-960W at their 12v rail(s).

Since high power psus can get extremely pricey here in my country the best bang for us is to get 3 slot mobos with low consumption amd cpus, a single ddr3 module, and a 700-750W psu. Everything is underclocked and undervolted except the 5850s and we boot bamt from usb - this way the base system without vgas consumes a maximum of 20W.

We also have 5970s overclocked to 865Mhz at 1.0875v to have the same mining speed per gpu as the 5850s. They consume only 280W at those settings compared to 380W for two 5850s, and cost exactly as much as two 5850s, so from now on we'll use those in dual slot mobos with cheapo 650-700W psus.

I hope this was of help Smiley
newbie
Activity: 18
Merit: 0
October 04, 2012, 06:41:13 AM
#11
GPU is dead haven't you heard?

(for litecoins maybe not)
sr. member
Activity: 350
Merit: 250
October 03, 2012, 07:29:37 PM
#10
you should look into ltc mining as asics are right around the corner.

right my plan would be to mine bitcoin and litecoin until the end of the year and then switch to a jalapeno for bitcoin and just use my rig for litecoin only. but cant you mine litecoin with a GPU? i believe i am doing that right now with the laptop i am typing this on, which has ati video. i am using scryptminer with litecoinpool.

i believe that litecoin will eventually be worth at least half of what bitcoin is now. so say 6 bucks times 100,000 litecoins in 5 years = retire. Smiley

or am i just too excited about this incredible discovery of cryptocurrency?
sr. member
Activity: 454
Merit: 250
Technology and Women. Amazing.
October 01, 2012, 11:09:49 PM
#9
what watt psu should i have for 4 cards or for 2 cards?


depends on the other hardware being used. a pure mining rig will have a single core CPU drawing 45w or less, a single stick of RAM, and no hard drive(BAMT on a thumb drive). You want about 75w for all this. If you use a quad-core 95w+ cpu, multiple sticks of RAM, and a mechanical spinup hard drive, you want more like 200w for all that, to be safe. Add another 200w per 5850 being used, 235 or so watts to be safe.

for 4 cards in a pure mining rig, use a 950w+ supply.
for 4 cards in a normal rig, use a 1200w+ supply.
for 2 cards in a pure mining rig, use a 550w+ supply.
for 2 cards in a normal rig, use a 700w+ supply.

5850 requires at a bare minimum 18amps on the 12volt rail to run stable, but you want more than that. try to use a power supply, in all of the above setups, that uses a single 12 volt rail. I'd suggest using Corsair, seem to be the best stability/power/$ ratio that i've used. g'luck.
sr. member
Activity: 350
Merit: 250
October 01, 2012, 09:44:59 PM
#8
what watt psu should i have for 4 cards or for 2 cards?
member
Activity: 66
Merit: 10
October 01, 2012, 08:12:55 PM
#7
5850's will be decent until ASIC hits and obliterates the difficulty!
sr. member
Activity: 350
Merit: 250
October 01, 2012, 08:10:53 PM
#6
lol i meant i bought 5850s. those are decent eh?
sr. member
Activity: 350
Merit: 250
October 01, 2012, 07:14:51 PM
#5
i was going to mine both with the gpu? can this not be done? wouldnt mining litecoin be better with gpu? even with my crappy laptop i get way more hashes mining with my gpu than cpu.
legendary
Activity: 2909
Merit: 1308
October 01, 2012, 08:45:02 AM
#4
youmean mining litecoin on cpu and bitcoin on gpu?
newbie
Activity: 29
Merit: 0
October 01, 2012, 08:09:29 AM
#3
I thought using a CPU to mine Litecoin was more more efficient than using a GPU?
vip
Activity: 980
Merit: 1001
October 01, 2012, 01:21:52 AM
#2
as far as I know you *can* mine on older ATI HD cards - very slowly
for any decent performance look to ATI 5xxx 6xxx or 7xxx HD gfx cards

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison
is a great resource Smiley
sr. member
Activity: 350
Merit: 250
September 30, 2012, 08:51:49 PM
#1
hi my names reno. just getting up and running and believe to make a killing on litecoins once i have 12 gpus up and running. more litecoins= more bitcoins.

i have a 3850 they both say hd but one has two monitor ports on the back and the other one has one but they both are pci-x

what is better to start with price wise a 2 slot pci-x mobo or a 4?

i defintly want to make 3 4 card machines. mining litecoin and bitcoin (at least til the end of the year then bitcoin will be running off a few jalapenos.)


also what watt psu should i have for 4 cards or for 2 cards?

i am looking to go cheap as hell on pretty much everything but the video card. even used stuff off ebay is cool with me.

im a computer tech, been certified since 2000, no prob.

Jump to: