Topic: Mining rig cooling solutions (Read 3812 times)

That is what I have but they're all over the place, which is why I want to merge them into bigger rigs and stack GPUs vertically.

If you have only single 6 GPU mining rig,just need a big fan and a window facing outside, control your rig temperature under 70 degree C,it's all

Hi guys,

Didn't want to post a new thread but here's the situation I have:

I have some open-air 6 GPU rigs scattered all over my house I'd like to move in my 4m by 6m garage at 3m height (13 by 20 ft and 10ft height). For this to work I have to find a way to have larger rigs and stack them vertically and be able to cool the space without AC (at least during the night, because during the day it can get 40C/100F around here. I use nvidia 1070s in all rigs.

So first thing I tried is this:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/man1u53mh0va9y4/Photo%2014-03-2018%2C%2015%2015%2035.jpg?dl=0

... a larger open air chassis with enough space to fit in around 40 GPUs right now with enough space for another 40 on the 2nd "floor". At the bottom I've placed 6 fans rated at about 200m^3/hour each (7000f^3). Result: some GPUs were ok at about 30-40C, others went all the way up to like 70C with outside temp at around 10C/50F, I suppose based on how them fans were blowing air from underneath. Needless to say I have to use compressed air to blow out all the dust from the cards after this little experiment.

Ditched this for the time being and now I'm trying:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/676b12qxaxcfzrp/Photo%2014-03-2018%2C%2015%2015%2045.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0iwo6n9ng6rgpl1/Photo%2014-03-2018%2C%2015%2015%2052.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rfq0gsbrhgvrbl7/Photo%2014-03-2018%2C%2015%2016%2004.jpg?dl=0

I've designed this to hold up to 40 GPUs in each compartment. Those are regular 12V PC fans on the locker doors, and I had the same 200m^3 fans in those holes on the sides (4 of them). If I could get this to work I would move all GPUs in a few of these lockers and spend the summer in any other way than rebooting rigs. Unfortunately the results were awful, even with only 9-10 GPUs per compartment they were getting as hot as 65C / 150F.

I have not tried yet the weed tent nor the mineral oil bath, considering to give these a try as well.

Bottom line is I am getting frustrated and afraid I'll have to either turn it all off during the day for the entire summer, or switch to AC which will set me back some $. Would very much appreciate any feedback or suggestions.

Cheerios!

Angry Chicken on Youtube posted a video about a pretty creative solution based on that principle he's going to try out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu-ryc4Wx14

Ok true, this could be used as a great advantage.
Or you are heating up your whirlpool outside

However, water cooling allows you to divert heat to a single location, where it can be extracted much more efficiently.  For example, if you run tubes to radiators that direct air into an enclosed environment (like a box), then a duct fan can evacuate all the heat.  Radiators can also be installed in a window etc.

I don't think that watercooling is an option because the generated heat remains exactly the same as when using air cooling.
Adding more and more water cooled cards will give you the same problem: where to dump your heat.

the best cooling solutions to mining rig is to have enough ventilation. ventilation means must have an air-in and air-out duct circulation using open air unenclosed room to keep the air flowing freely. air conditioning does not suffice the solution too keep the GPU cool because an air-conditioned room are operated in an enclosed room where the air circulation are moving within the room only. besides air-condition system is not energy effecient for keeping the GPU cool. the recommended solution is try to put your mining rig in an open space or room with adjacent windows, one for the air-in and other for the air out.

Ah, this is some good advice. I agree - use physics to your advantage and suck in cold air (low to the ground). And then expel (suck/blow out) hot air closer to the ceiling. I only have a single 6 GPU rig at the moment, but thinking of adding more, so then I will have to try something along the lines of your suggestion, to have better airflow throughout the room.

Aha, yes, that is kind of what I had in mind myself. I started off with just a single fan blowing between 2 cards. It seems to make a difference. But yeah, like some of the other guys have said - it seems playing with the power of the GPU's also helps. Looks like mining ZenCash vs ETC+sia also runs the GPU's cooler.

I had initially thought of it, it's no so much the price as the hassle when you need to troubleshoot or when you have to RMA a GPU. Not mentionning the potential dangers of having water around a bunch of rigs...I'd rather avoid it


Yes but you can only undervolt so much until it becomes unstable or you lose too much hashes. It is definitely important to undervolt, but having some good airflow where you store your rigs is just as critical. I've had 2 RX470 that have been hashing for about a year that eventually gave up on me in one month. They were undervolted but it became difficult to keep the room temperature low enough.

Also, do not store anything that has no use in your mining cave. Everything gets hot in a room and eventually acts like a heater because of the inertia.

I'm using box fans to cool my GPUs as some of my in-built fans of my GPU got broken.

Air conditioning is always the best way to go. But actually the only really essential thing you need to do is undervolt.
Undervolting effectively cools down your GPUs without much impact to hashrate.

My two water-cooled 1080 TI's run at about 43C

I put a big floor fan in front of the rig and it is cooling greatly. As big I mean 40cm of the blades diameter. It makes cooling acceptable also in a hot enviroment.

Did anyone ever use water cooler as RIG cooler?
I think the water cooler can lower your GPU temperature by about 10 ^oC.
But I have not tried it because the price is expensive. 

are fans enough for cooling? 

Ideally, have a big fan suck in fresh air that you blow on your rig(s) or int he room where you have them and have another that sucks the air outside. kinda the same way you would cool your house in a hot summer. Air needs to move in order to cool and for that, it must have somewhere to go so you need to create the low pressure (with a big fan for instance). imho, case fans in front of the frames aren't really super useful in an open air case anyway. Their CFM is usually pretty low.

The problem is no so much that the GPUs get hot (above 70°+) since they can perfectly handle it, the problem is to cool the air of your room down, otherwise your cards only have hot air to work with.

In my case, I had 7x 6 cards rigs in a 6-8 square meter room with only a 20x40cm hole in the wall to blow the air outside. So I got a large 60cm fan to blow in fresh air and bought 2x 7" car fans off of aliexpress (quite noise but high air flow) to suck the air out. The room still got quite warm, but at least air circulated.

Also don't forget heat goes up, so put your rigs as close to the floor as possible.

Air conditioning uses way too much electricity to be worth it for most home miners, unless their house/apartement is already cooled with A/C.

will try that and report back
thanks

try a suction fan configuration. that means a fan that sucks the heat away from the cards, not blowing air on the cards