[pics inside] custom built 8-card rack

m3sSh3aD

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Right, YOU CANT JUST PLUG 8 CARDS INTO THE MOTHERBOARD!!! The normal extenders supply 75 watts from the board. RUnning 4 VGA (4x75W(300W)) is the limit. Least i found. I blew a motherboard plugging 5 in it. YOu need moidify or buy extender WITH POWER MOLEX to power the cards direct from the PSU. THats why i kept my rigs below 4 and still use power molex for the 4th card as it loses performance without i found

Although i dont know what all your cards are. I run 5850's.

I hope you have VERY GOOD 1000W or GOOD 1200W, i.e, Corsair AX1200, antec HPC 1200W PSU's etc, I blew a cheap one and cheap one = KNACKERED HARDWARE, i warn you now

YOu thought about HEAT! i got 8 running now.well 11 with comp, and use a 12" out take fan to get rid of it. 2x4 rigs. Bottom pic on this post shows what i use for extraction of heat. its HOT! without something.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.494839

New (11.6+) drivers dont need DUMMY's at the back wither with windows (if your windows). Although 10.4 with 2.1SDK is the best. CGminer and diablo.

AND FANS, you need fans mate. serious fans, them cards are close, WAY too close if you ask me. In in for a suprise i recon haha. 2 rigs of 4 mate, 2 rigs of 4

Greedy, i tried

haploid23

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Quote from: dovewing2000 on September 03, 2011, 04:41:42 PM

haploid can I have permission to ask trini8d to build me one using your design lay out (or may be add to it?)

ya sure, go ahead and use the design, i don't mind at all. in fact, stellan0r saw this thread and did the exact same thing but stretched it a little bit. i believe he posted pics of his version on the first page.

wknight

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I must say.. very impressive! Nice work..

It has given me some ideas for a project next weekend

dovewing2000

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haploid can I have permission to ask trini8d to build me one using your design lay out (or may be add to it?)

Jezzz

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Looks great. Can't wait to hear reports on the temps of your cards.

stryker

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very nice indeed, like a piece of art Grin

caston

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Looks very impressive

haploid23

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ok it's pretty much done, i just have to connect all the wires and power it on.

i shorted the two presence pins with a small wire on each of the pci-e slots. this motherboard requires it if using pci-e x1 extension cables.

rear view

top view

front view

side view

another different angle

plastic.elastic

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Quote from: BkkCoins on August 21, 2011, 02:37:07 AM

I'm sure digikey.com will have those connectors but trying to find it will be hard without a part # or at least a manufacturer.

It may help to find a PCI Express spec page that indicates a mfr. part# first.

Googling: pci express power connector turns up some,

Also it turns up this spec which gives you the part# for digikey.

... seems digikey doesn't carry that series but mouser does and they should be easy to order from.

31 cents each.

I have searched and gosh, the damn connector is sure not easy to go. You will have to get those square pins as well...

I think i will stick with my original plan, which is using the 4pin molex connectors, essentially turns the PSU to modular and buy molex to pci-r connectors as needed. More resistance = less efficient but probably cheapest and easier to do.

newunit16

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I run two PSU's. 530w and 620w (around that) to power 4x 5830's. Pulls about 720w from the wall.

Yes, it is not a good idea to run the PSU without the 5v rails loaded. The second PSU wouldnt even boot without putting a load on the 5v. SOO, I plugged it into the hard drive:) Problem solved.

For about 10-15$ you can get a handy 2xPSU adapter from frozenCPU. Yeah, its dead simple to splice, but why splice and lower the "resale" or "re-use" value?

You could also use some heavy resistors on the 5v rail. This is what they do when they're making a CPU PSU into a bench PSU. (See sandbar resistor)

BkkCoins

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firstbits:1MinerQ

I'm sure digikey.com will have those connectors but trying to find it will be hard without a part # or at least a manufacturer.

It may help to find a PCI Express spec page that indicates a mfr. part# first.

Googling: pci express power connector turns up some,

Also it turns up this spec which gives you the part# for digikey.

... seems digikey doesn't carry that series but mouser does and they should be easy to order from.

31 cents each.

plastic.elastic

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Quote from: ?? on ??

Quote from: plastic.elastic on August 17, 2011, 11:21:26 AM

I know you can use an adapter to turn on the second PSU, but from what that means the second PSU would have no load on other rails (3.3v and 5v ) correct? Is that not recommended tho? Let me know if you have know other way

Also it would be great if we can pull all the 12v wires from the PSU to power the cards (atx connector, eps, p4 12v, molex). Are there any online store we can get these common connectores? (male one)

Plastic - I found this blog post helpful when investigating my questions about why some GPUs aren't recognised when plugged into x1 slots with extenders. His GPGPU rig has four 5970s, sucking down well over 1000W via two 560W PSUs, and since the smaller server-grade PSUs aren't targeted at the 'extreme gamer' community, they didn't come with loads of PCIe power cables. So he contrived a methodology to convert any PSU's output wiring into multiple PCIe power cables for graphics cards. May be just what you're looking for?

Thanks but that didnt asnwer my question AT ALL.

Hint, my question is the sentence with a question mark!

plastic.elastic

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Quote from: BkkCoins on August 19, 2011, 07:14:04 AM

Quote from: haploid23 on August 19, 2011, 04:33:05 AM

my kill-a-watt meter says my voltage drops down to about 115v off the wall. what's an acceptable AC voltage so that it doesn't go unstable?

Many of the better PSU have specs on input voltage from 90-240 VAC. I'd expect that means they can work fine down to 90V input. Switching supplies are not so sensitive to input voltage when designed to work with a usable range.

Of course, power is power, so a lower input voltage means a higher current draw. For a long line you're much better off with 240 VAC as the current loss will be less. And of course thicker cable makes a big difference.

You wouldnt want the voltage drop below 100v, or your PSU will be overheated = toasted.

plastic.elastic

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Quote from: haploid23 on August 19, 2011, 04:33:05 AM

Quote from: plastic.elastic on August 17, 2011, 11:21:26 AM

Hi OP,

please update on the power consumption and how you distribute the power to the cards.

I know you can use an adapter to turn on the second PSU, but from what that means the second PSU would have no load on other rails (3.3v and 5v ) correct? Is that not recommended tho? Let me know if you have know other way

Also it would be great if we can pull all the 12v wires from the PSU to power the cards (atx connector, eps, p4 12v, molex). Are there any online store we can get these common connectores? (male one)

ya i'll update all that info once it's finished and finalized. but for now, i have 5x 5870 on there just to test it. i have a seasonic 750w and a cougar 700w PSU, the seasonic 750w powers the motherboard's main 24pin and CPU power, as well as 3 GPUs. the cougar PSU powers the addition 6-pin power connector on the motherboard for the extra pci-e juice, as well as GPUs. i'm not sure if there are adapters for the CPU power cable to 6-pin pci-e cable. using the CPU power cable to power the video cards is good utilization of excess 12v line, assuming that the PSU is multi rail. if there's no adapters, you can just connect all the yellow wires together i believe

Dont be confused, my concern has nothing to do with single rail or multi rails. Lots of ppl thought with single rail PSU, they can plug as many devices as they want. Thats asking for a failure.

My concern is because i dont know a store that sell connectors so i can better redesign the power distribution. So far only 4pin molex connectors are common, all other connectors are very rare,

BkkCoins

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Quote from: haploid23 on August 19, 2011, 04:33:05 AM

my kill-a-watt meter says my voltage drops down to about 115v off the wall. what's an acceptable AC voltage so that it doesn't go unstable?

Many of the better PSU have specs on input voltage from 90-240 VAC. I'd expect that means they can work fine down to 90V input. Switching supplies are not so sensitive to input voltage when designed to work with a usable range.

Of course, power is power, so a lower input voltage means a higher current draw. For a long line you're much better off with 240 VAC as the current loss will be less. And of course thicker cable makes a big difference.

haploid23

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Quote from: plastic.elastic on August 17, 2011, 11:21:26 AM

Hi OP,

please update on the power consumption and how you distribute the power to the cards.

I know you can use an adapter to turn on the second PSU, but from what that means the second PSU would have no load on other rails (3.3v and 5v ) correct? Is that not recommended tho? Let me know if you have know other way

Also it would be great if we can pull all the 12v wires from the PSU to power the cards (atx connector, eps, p4 12v, molex). Are there any online store we can get these common connectores? (male one)

ya i'll update all that info once it's finished and finalized. but for now, i have 5x 5870 on there just to test it. i have a seasonic 750w and a cougar 700w PSU, the seasonic 750w powers the motherboard's main 24pin and CPU power, as well as 3 GPUs. the cougar PSU powers the addition 6-pin power connector on the motherboard for the extra pci-e juice, as well as GPUs. i'm not sure if there are adapters for the CPU power cable to 6-pin pci-e cable. using the CPU power cable to power the video cards is good utilization of excess 12v line, assuming that the PSU is multi rail. if there's no adapters, you can just connect all the yellow wires together i believe

Quote from: mikeo on August 17, 2011, 08:45:46 PM

Santa Fe, New Mexico. I've got a 100ft wiring run on a 15amp circuit and when I added my miner to that circuit with another gaming rig, printer, couple of routers and a switch I had the dreaded VD! Yes, voltage drop down to ~105 volts which resulted in a very unstable mining platform.

my kill-a-watt meter says my voltage drops down to about 115v off the wall. what's an acceptable AC voltage so that it doesn't go unstable?

stellan0r

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Quote from: ?? on ??

Scheiße - I've just ended up replacing my sorry excuse of a drill for a proper German one - a Bosch... the last one wasn't straight and the drill bit would wiggle round in a small circle. Cheesy

The Bosch drill is obviously so much better quality, I'm looking forward to using it. I don't know how to use rivets though, that's the next step as it'd really tidy up my aluminium frame designs. Did you learn from someone else (if this was your first attempt at metalwork), or do you know a good website with practical instruction on the best way to do riveting (i.e. steel rivets in aluminium)?

(and there goes a week's worth of mining... luckily the Bosch drill was half price!) Grin

I got a small Bosch IXO for as an electric srewdriver, lots of power for such a small tool

About the metal work, it was simply learning by doing and looking at the pictures of the OP. A handy guide for using a riveting tool is this:

http://www.hansonrivet.com/w13.htm

take a look at my pictures to see what type of tool I am using. Then use steel rivets, with 3 or 4mm diameter. You need to drill a hole for those that is 0.1mm bigger than the rivet, so you need a 3.1 or 4.1 mm drill. also don't forget to look at the length of the rivet, mine are for materials of 1-3mm, 3-6mm or 6-9mm thickness (choose appropriate to the thickness of the material you want to put together (and if you have to put two 1.5mm thick alu bars together, use a 1-3mm rivet, not a 3-6mm long!)

mikeo

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Quote from: stellan0r on August 14, 2011, 02:36:42 AM

Quote from: mikeo on August 13, 2011, 09:33:48 PM

@haploid23,

I hope you have planned well regarding the electrical supply. Sounds like you may live in an apartment. If so, I'd be concerned about available circuits to support the power draw from a 6xGPU rig. Just saying.

LOL where do you live?

Santa Fe, New Mexico. I've got a 100ft wiring run on a 15amp circuit and when I added my miner to that circuit with another gaming rig, printer, couple of routers and a switch I had the dreaded VD! Yes, voltage drop down to ~105 volts which resulted in a very unstable mining platform.

plastic.elastic

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Quote from: haploid23 on August 14, 2011, 11:22:48 PM

Quote from: PiGames on August 13, 2011, 06:26:40 PM

This rig looks amazing.
...

When it's all build you should def update with some specs (watt draw/ total m(g)hash/ heat , yadda yadda) definitely looks like a fun project

thanks! yup, will do. hardware specs, speed, and temps will all be posted once it's finished

Quote from: mikeo on August 13, 2011, 09:33:48 PM

I hope you have planned well regarding the electrical supply. Sounds like you may live in an apartment. If so, I'd be concerned about available circuits to support the power draw from a 6xGPU rig. Just saying.

lol why do you think i live in an apartment? hard wood floors, big tile kitchens, backyard, etc... don't think an apartment has that Wink

. i'm at my house for the summer, but i will however move back to my apartment when school starts, although this rig will stay at the house. the room that i host all these miners has a 15amp breaker, i'm able to put 2 full miners with 4 GPU's each, i tried adding a 3rd one and trips the circuit breaker. i guess this 7-GPU rig will be the only one in the room, all other miners will be moved somewhere else.

Quote from: stellan0r on August 14, 2011, 02:46:31 AM

I probably have to reduce the setup to 10-11 cards, as I made the same mistake with the height of the CPU cooler. Also it's low profile, the pci-e riser cable blocks the fan. Maybe I can fix that with some cable binder. If I want to spend that much money, I will solve that problem with a Corsair Hydro Series H70 Water Cooling System.

hmm you didn't learn from my mistake huh? i also made the mistake of the making the the bars that support the GPUs too low, so some of the pci-e extender cables hits the CPU fan. i posted about it and took pics. you should also get a similar low profile cooler like i did. not only is it very low profile (1U), the fan is also totally encased so you don't have to worry about any cables getting caught in it.

man... you and catfish sure typed a lot haha

Hi OP,

please update on the power consumption and how you distribute the power to the cards.

I know you can use an adapter to turn on the second PSU, but from what that means the second PSU would have no load on other rails (3.3v and 5v ) correct? Is that not recommended tho? Let me know if you have know other way

Also it would be great if we can pull all the 12v wires from the PSU to power the cards (atx connector, eps, p4 12v, molex). Are there any online store we can get these common connectores? (male one)

haploid23

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Quote from: PiGames on August 13, 2011, 06:26:40 PM

This rig looks amazing.
...

When it's all build you should def update with some specs (watt draw/ total m(g)hash/ heat , yadda yadda) definitely looks like a fun project

thanks! yup, will do. hardware specs, speed, and temps will all be posted once it's finished

Quote from: mikeo on August 13, 2011, 09:33:48 PM

I hope you have planned well regarding the electrical supply. Sounds like you may live in an apartment. If so, I'd be concerned about available circuits to support the power draw from a 6xGPU rig. Just saying.

lol why do you think i live in an apartment? hard wood floors, big tile kitchens, backyard, etc... don't think an apartment has that Wink

. i'm at my house for the summer, but i will however move back to my apartment when school starts, although this rig will stay at the house. the room that i host all these miners has a 15amp breaker, i'm able to put 2 full miners with 4 GPU's each, i tried adding a 3rd one and trips the circuit breaker. i guess this 7-GPU rig will be the only one in the room, all other miners will be moved somewhere else.

Quote from: stellan0r on August 14, 2011, 02:46:31 AM

I probably have to reduce the setup to 10-11 cards, as I made the same mistake with the height of the CPU cooler. Also it's low profile, the pci-e riser cable blocks the fan. Maybe I can fix that with some cable binder. If I want to spend that much money, I will solve that problem with a Corsair Hydro Series H70 Water Cooling System.

hmm you didn't learn from my mistake huh? i also made the mistake of the making the the bars that support the GPUs too low, so some of the pci-e extender cables hits the CPU fan. i posted about it and took pics. you should also get a similar low profile cooler like i did. not only is it very low profile (1U), the fan is also totally encased so you don't have to worry about any cables getting caught in it.

man... you and catfish sure typed a lot haha

Topic: [pics inside] custom built 8-card rack (Read 11864 times)