Please critique this mining rig build

DeathAndTaxes

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Gerald Davis

Quote from: sgravina on January 08, 2012, 11:23:54 AM

My main point is that using a USB drive major annoyance. They take many times longer to boot than a hard disk. Since I started with them I have a few as backups. My rig with the burned disk is running off of a USB now and it takes over 2 minutes for it to boot up.

Then you are doing something horribly wrong. My rigs use el cheapo USB drives and don't take more than 30 seconds to boot. With Linux I have found shutting off all the "junk" (floppy drive controller, EIDE controller, SATA RAID controller, onboard sounds, serial port) in BIOS greatly improves boot times.

I think once when I was diagnosing a slow Linux live boot I found out of the 3 minutes it took to boot about 2:15 was trying to detect floppy drive.

sgravina

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I take back what I said about SSDs.

I just burned out a disk on one of my rigs last night and I realized that most of my disks are 20 MByte laptop drives that I got from microcenter for less than $20. I have some SSDs which came with a computer I bought off of craigslist. The SSDs are fast but not much faster than the laptop drives.

You can see that I've tried to build with inexpensive parts.

My main point is that using a USB drive major annoyance. They take many times longer to boot than a hard disk. Since I started with them I have a few as backups. My rig with the burned disk is running off of a USB now and it takes over 2 minutes for it to boot up.

Sam

Fiyasko

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Okey Dokey Lokey

Quote from: jake262144 on January 07, 2012, 10:35:25 AM

Quote from: sgravina on January 06, 2012, 09:47:22 PM

I still think the SSD is worth it. Labor saved is worth a lot.

Care to elaborate, Sam?
There is no difference whether you use an SSD of a usb flash drive. Linux sees them both as /dev/sda.
Install your favorite distro, set up miners, and test the rig. If you're setting up multiple machines just clone the newly configured OS using dd and you're good to go with minimal effort.
Any quality USB3 flash drive will give you decent bootup speed. Adata N005 (which I value for its high transfer rates) is 30-something dollars.
How can one justify spending the extra cash for SSD drives?

Well. I payed $80 to make my computer boot in 10seconds (win7 from "loading" to fully ready to gameout"
And that $80 also turned my BF3 loading time into 15secs, When it used to be One min or more just to load a fking map.
SSD's are for Gamers, And people doing REDICULOS amouunts of data transfers.

Otherwise, there is no jusificaton, Just get some shitty 20GB hdd

jake262144

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Quote from: sgravina on January 06, 2012, 09:47:22 PM

I still think the SSD is worth it. Labor saved is worth a lot.

Care to elaborate, Sam?
There is no difference whether you use an SSD of a usb flash drive. Linux sees them both as /dev/sda.
Install your favorite distro, set up miners, and test the rig. If you're setting up multiple machines just clone the newly configured OS using dd and you're good to go with minimal effort.
Any quality USB3 flash drive will give you decent bootup speed. Adata N005 (which I value for its high transfer rates) is 30-something dollars.
How can one justify spending the extra cash for SSD drives?

jamesg

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AKA: gigavps

FWTW, I run 30Gh with the Asrock boards and have nothing but good things to say about them. I run 5x6950, 5x5850, 5x5870 and 5x5830 without any issues.

I also have the following items if you would like to buy them from me for bitcoins. These are extras left over from my build out.

- ASRock 970, same as I linked to.
- Sempron CPU
- Sticks of memory
- Extenders

PM me if you are interested.

All of the equipment is new and I would sell it for BTC. rjk bought some of this stuff from me and is all up and running. This would help get your costs down more.

sgravina

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Activity: 451

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I still think the SSD is worth it. Labor saved is worth a lot. But, I have 10 rigs. If you have one then the amount of maintenance you need to do is not that much. Then again I started with only one computer, you may end up with more.

I would get the MSI because you can expand it to run 6 cards. I run 4 5870 cards on mine. It burns 812 watts, 164 watts per card and 166 watts for the rest. So if you want to go to 4 cards get at least a 1000 Watt power supply. I went with Antec, Corsair, and Theraltake all 90% gold. I don't think you will make back the price difference (I haven't figured that out so I don't really know) but I'm very concerned about reliability. Things break and you want to minimize downtime. I figured that higher rated power supplies would be more reliable. Even still I did have to send one back for a replacement.

With that rig I get 406 MH/(card sec), 1.625 GH/sec total. I run cgminer at 900 MHz gpu, 160 MHz memory per card.

Sam

DeathAndTaxes

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Gerald Davis

I use that MSI motherboard. It is somewhat expensive but rock solid, and allows up to 3x5970 without expanders.

I agree the PSU is likely oversized. My guess is that mining 3x5870 don't pull more than 650W DC (remember PSU are rated in DC, AC at the wall will be about 10% higher). So 850W is probably fine. Nothing wrong going with a larger PSU expect you may be paying for power you don't need.

If this is a dedicated mining rig I would drop the SSD unless you just enjoy wasting money and power. It will provide absolutely no benefit. If you boot from USB drive you can turn off entire SATA subsystem in BIOS and save a couple watts (while you are there turn off USB3, onboard sounds, EIDE, etc).

Nyte

newbie

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Quote from: ?? on ??

With those GPUs you could easily get away with a smaller PSU. 750-850 watts would be more than enough. Also, you could save money by going with a different motherboard. For 3 GPUs, you could get a $75 motherboard and a pci-e 1x->16x cable if it only had 2 pci-e 16x slots. That would probably knock $175 off the cost of your rig and wouldn't have any negative effect on your hash speed.

I actually have 4 of those 5870 cards, but I thought I read somewhere that things get a little crazy when you add the 4th card. But that said, I do have 4 cards I can use.

Also, should I be factoring in the cost of PCIe extension cables?

jake262144

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The LZP-1000 is a superb power supply.
It's able to give you 77 83 amps in the 12 volt rails.

Quote from: ?? on ??

With those GPUs you could easily get away with a smaller PSU.

With this PSU he can add another GPU later on without hassle and additional expenses.

Nyte

newbie

Activity: 13

Merit: 1

Thanks all for the feedback. A lot to digest, but goes down smooth Wink

So based on these comments here's the "Virgin's Mining Rig, v0.2":

Motherboard:

MSI 890FXA-GD70 AM3+ AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD, $185
Alternative: ASRock 970 EXTREME4, $109
(I think I'm going with the MSI in this build - I have nothing but great experiences with MSI)

Processor:

AMD Sempron 145 Sargas 2.8GHz Socket AM3 45W, $40

Memory:

Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066, $14

Graphics:

3 x Radeon HD 5870 2GB GDDR5, $600
(For my build, I already have these cards - other builds may want to consider something different)

HD / USB / SSD:

USB: Kingston DataTraveler 101 Gen 2 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive, $9
Alternative SSD Build: OCZ Vertex Plus 60 GB SATA II SSD 60 GB, SATA 3Gb/s, $80

No Case:

Open-air build: Cost Unknown

Power:

KINGWIN LZP-1000 1000W 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified, $229

Total Cost (w/USB): $1077
Total Cost (w/SSD): $1148

So a couple of thoughts:
The power supply could be cheaper, but it seems investing a little more up front might pay off in reduced energy costs in the long run. Not sure if $100 extra is justified though.
The MSI Motherboard is $80 more than the ASRock. I love MSI and have great experiences with their boards. I have zero experience with ASRock.

So, potentially this build could be at $997 going with the ASRock.

How's this looking?

jake262144

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Beg your pardon? Rebooting a dedicated miner a lot? Doling out money for a SSD drive?
Let me check my calendar - is it All Fool's Day yet? Surely you must be joking.

If you need bootup speed just buy a faster flash drive, something using USB3 like A-Data N005.

sgravina

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I agree with most of the advice presented here. Get a good efficient power supply. A good motherboard, I use the MSI 890FXA-GD70, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130274. Don't get a case, a waste of time, money and it doesn't work as well.

I disagree about the hard drive. I started out with usb sticks and switched to 60 G ssd drives. You end up rebooting the computer a lot, especially when getting the computer set up, and the fast boot time of an ssd drive really helps.

Sam

jjiimm_64

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Quote from: jamesg on January 06, 2012, 02:58:25 PM

Quote from: rjk on January 06, 2012, 02:53:01 PM

Quote from: jjiimm_64 on January 06, 2012, 02:51:28 PM

Quote from: jamesg on January 05, 2012, 09:30:23 PM

Get these at ebay -> http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-ATI-Radeon-HD5870-HD-5870-PCI-e-3D-Video-Graphics-Gaming-3-Port-Card-w-HDMI-/130608691744?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item1e68e27a20#ht_2994wt_1348

At $170 each, you can get three for $540.

Saves you $60.

gyg, i got excited when you showed this link, but they they are not 170 each.... they are Price: US $370.99 each..

Wow, they used to be cheaper, wonder why the seller changed the price so dramatically.

speaking of gpus, and not to hijack the thread or anything, but does anyone know where to get new 5870's other then ebay?

They must have changed the price today to see if they can make some more money. Bastards.

legolouman

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Decent Programmer to boot!

Quote from: jake262144 on January 06, 2012, 08:09:41 AM

Quote from: rjk on January 05, 2012, 08:41:12 PM

No, Corsair is good.

Very few manufacturers actially build PSUs (the actual manufacturers are companies like Seasonic, CWT, Delta, Superflower, Impervio, or FSP).
The others just purchase built PSUs and put their labels on them.
Corsair doesn't manufacture PSUs.

That particular one was OEMd for Corsair By Channel Well Technologies (CWT).
The HX1050 is based on CWT's recent PUC platform which is a decent design.
Efficiency-wise it does 80 PLUS SILVER⁽¹⁾ though the HX1050 was never certified.

Links:
(1) http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story2&reid=245

I'm not going to pick a fight on PSU's, but I've always liked Compucase's Zephyr Line. I like the quality, efficiency, and price.

jamesg

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AKA: gigavps

Quote from: rjk on January 06, 2012, 02:53:01 PM

Quote from: jjiimm_64 on January 06, 2012, 02:51:28 PM

Quote from: jamesg on January 05, 2012, 09:30:23 PM

Get these at ebay -> http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-ATI-Radeon-HD5870-HD-5870-PCI-e-3D-Video-Graphics-Gaming-3-Port-Card-w-HDMI-/130608691744?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item1e68e27a20#ht_2994wt_1348

At $170 each, you can get three for $540.

Saves you $60.

gyg, i got excited when you showed this link, but they they are not 170 each.... they are Price: US $370.99 each..

Wow, they used to be cheaper, wonder why the seller changed the price so dramatically.

They must have changed the price today to see if they can make some more money. Bastards.

rjk

sr. member

Activity: 462

Merit: 250

1ngldh

Quote from: jjiimm_64 on January 06, 2012, 02:51:28 PM

Quote from: jamesg on January 05, 2012, 09:30:23 PM

Get these at ebay -> http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-ATI-Radeon-HD5870-HD-5870-PCI-e-3D-Video-Graphics-Gaming-3-Port-Card-w-HDMI-/130608691744?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item1e68e27a20#ht_2994wt_1348

At $170 each, you can get three for $540.

Saves you $60.

gyg, i got excited when you showed this link, but they they are not 170 each.... they are Price: US $370.99 each..

Wow, they used to be cheaper, wonder why the seller changed the price so dramatically.

jjiimm_64

legendary

Activity: 1876

Merit: 1000

Quote from: jamesg on January 05, 2012, 09:30:23 PM

Get these at ebay -> http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-ATI-Radeon-HD5870-HD-5870-PCI-e-3D-Video-Graphics-Gaming-3-Port-Card-w-HDMI-/130608691744?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item1e68e27a20#ht_2994wt_1348

At $170 each, you can get three for $540.

Saves you $60.

gyg, i got excited when you showed this link, but they they are not 170 each.... they are Price: US $370.99 each..

legolouman

hero member

Activity: 504

Merit: 504

Decent Programmer to boot!

Quote from: jake262144 on January 06, 2012, 02:31:43 PM

Quote from: legolouman on January 06, 2012, 02:21:38 PM

A lot of miner's don't even use an actual Hard Drive. Normally it is a flashdrive with LinuxCoin on it. They load the rails with a resistor.

Aren't you mixing two different concepts? The resistor trick is only required when using multiple PSUs with one rig. It has nothing to do with using flash drives.

That was a misunderstanding. That makes more sense. I'll edit my post. Thanks.

jake262144

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Activity: 210

Merit: 100

Quote from: legolouman on January 06, 2012, 02:21:38 PM

A lot of miner's don't even use an actual Hard Drive. Normally it is a flashdrive with LinuxCoin on it. They load the rails with a resistor.

Aren't you mixing two different concepts? The resistor trick is only required when using multiple PSUs with one rig. It has nothing to do with using flash drives.

legolouman

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Activity: 504

Merit: 504

Decent Programmer to boot!

I think you can shave off a lot.

Go with:

AMD Sempron-saves power and costs less.
CPU cooler? As far as I'm aware, you can stay stock, but heat is a problem. Even in a open rig.
Minimum memory you need, doesn't even have to be 1600 or high end or anything.
Why SSD? I'd rather get a junk Platter style if you insist on a drive
Don't bother with a case.

Your build seems almost like an odd gamer build. Just with the entire setup. Only thing is a gamer wouldn't pick a tri fired (can you even do that?) 5870.

I think you can do better than the 5870's (not positive, and I'm not researching it)
Litecoins aren't really worth the extra power/heat that you will have to deal with.
A lot of miner's don't even use an actual Hard Drive. Normally it is a flashdrive with LinuxCoin on it.

Topic: Please critique this mining rig build (Read 3191 times)