Someone requested a guide on how to build out a 6 card mining rig and so I wrote up one. This one is mainly focused on Nvidia cards, but certainly could be used to build with AMD cards as well, but would require a different mining software. This could maybe be expanded to 7 cards if you get an M.2 to PCIe adapter, but I haven't tried that. I'll try and expand on it a bit more as time goes on to include other hashrates and recommendations. If you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM or reply and I'll see what I can do to assist.
I would not recommend the 1080ti unless you have cheap electricity. You only get about 50% more hashing power than the 1080 and it uses significantly more power. I'd say cost to benefit ratio puts the 1070's at the top with the 1080's having more hashing power, but costing more than the margin you gain. So in the long run the 1080 will be more productive, but more upfront cost and take longer to pay off whereas the 1070 is cheaper upfront, but will lose out in long term production.
Motherboard:
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-PRIME-Z270-LGA1151-Motherboard/dp/B01NGTYV2Q/ref=sr_1_1?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1497395659&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+prime+z270-aSetup Video for motherboard to run 6 GPU's:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR-FkpU2KfI8GB DDR4 memory:
https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-HyperX-2133MHz-Non-ECC-HX421C14FBK2/dp/B00TY6A1P0/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1497397046&sr=1-3&refinements=p_n_feature_five_browse-bin%3A677427011%2Cp_n_feature_four_browse-bin%3A10656894011Processor:
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-6100-Cache-Processor-BX80662I36100/dp/B015VPX2EO/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1497397196&sr=1-2&keywords=intel+1151+i3Risers:
https://www.amazon.com/6-Pack-PCI-E-Powered-Adapter-Extension/dp/B01N3UVJHM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1497395758&sr=8-4&keywords=mining+risersPower supply: Get 1 for your first 3 - GTX1070/1080's buy a 2nd for an additional 3 cards
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Modular-Supply-Platinum-Certified/dp/B00A0HZMKG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497395794&sr=8-1&keywords=corsair+platinum+power+supplyFor 2 power supplys get something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Add2PSU-Multiple-Connector-Genetek-Electric/dp/B0711WX9MC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1497395957&sr=8-4&keywords=add2psuThere are cheaper options, but this makes your life simple
Cheap SSD:
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-120GB-SDSSDA-120G-G26-Newest-Version/dp/B01F9G414U/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1497396037&sr=1-2&keywords=ssd+120gbBuy GTX 1080's:
https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-ZT-P10800C-10P-IceStorm-Wraparound-Ultra-wide/dp/B01GCAVRSU/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1497396058&sr=1-5&keywords=gtx+1080https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-GV-N1080G1-GAMING-8GD-Graphics/dp/B01GJEE9BG/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1497396058&sr=1-2&keywords=gtx+1080Basically search for GTX 1080 and buy what is in stock. There are some the perform slightly better than others and if you want to find efficiency you'll have to play and see which ones perform best for you. They will all generally do about 700-800MH/s Skein
Build a mining rig case like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cscm8blV40cInstall Windows 7/8/10
Install VNC/Teamviewer for remote control
Install NVidia drivers
Increase Virtual Memory in Windows to allow for up to 16 gig of virtual memory. This will help if you decide to mine other algorithms later. Not needed for Skein.
Download and install MSI Afterburner and set the Power Limit% to 75-80% This will slightly affect your overall hashrate, but the amount of power savings vs loss of hashrate will likely end in your favor. Not to mention it will generate far less heat and extend the life of your cards.
https://www.msi.com/page/afterburnerDownload Nemo's Miner pack here and get the Alexis76ccminer from it for best Skein:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/nemosminer-multi-algo-profit-switching-nvidiacpu-miner-1777336Alternatively use SPmod's which is about the same or sometimes slightly better. You be the judge:
https://github.com/sp-hash/ccminer/releases/tag/1.5.81Put it together and it will look something like this: (only have 5 GPU's in mine at the moment simply because I had some bad cards buying clearance open box ones from Microcenter:
Total price on Amazon right now not including the wood and screws you have to buy from your local hardware store:
$3,945.02
That's with 6xGTX1080 between $500-550 each. You could certainly start with a couple of cards and a single power supply to get the price down around $2k to begin with. Hashrate will be roughly 4.35GH/s with a power draw of about 1KW/hr.
Currently that gives:
http://whattomine.com/coins/114-dgb-skein?utf8=%E2%9C%93&hr=4350.0&p=1000.0&fee=2&cost=0.13&hcost=4000.0&commit=CalculateBreak even in 68days provided price doesn't drop, less if it goes back up. You can likely get some of these parts cheaper elsewhere and drop the cost some, but this is what I got.
I'm assuming you have the following already in one way or another:
Windows license - Win 7/8/10
Mouse/Keyboard
Monitor for temporary setup - once installed install Teamviewer or VNC to remote in from another computer. Unless it locks hard you should be able to manage it remotely.
If you liked it throw a few BTC/ETH/DGB my way
BTC Wallet: 14HMrsyhfCDTpuZUTf6fS7rxTpCg8yGB2b
ETH Wallet: 0xa7fa8e2cd259054e7d9d51f72b03a9efe17aafd3
DGB Wallet: DTEMsrrcCv1VPFbDXud6MWjGQF3bLdeUKo
