Power supplies, mobos, and ram. (oh my!) Oh, and cooling...

af_newbie

legendary

Activity: 2702

Merit: 1468

Quote from: Da3dalus on May 14, 2012, 05:33:13 PM

And how many can I connect to one mobo?
And do they require any special setup?

You can connect as many as your OS, USB driver allows. I only have 5 Icarus boards (~90W), so they all go at the back of my GD70 mobo.
I've read that some people tested 91 Icarus boards on one system without any issues. You hook up FPGAs to USB hubs and hub goes to your mobo.
So sky is the limit. Or your pocket.

Most don't require any special setup, just USB-COM driver, some miners use libusb library to connect. So it depends on which device you buy.

af_newbie

legendary

Activity: 2702

Merit: 1468

Quote from: Da3dalus on May 14, 2012, 04:57:45 PM

Quote from: ?? on ??

Quote from: Da3dalus on May 14, 2012, 04:34:27 PM

What are FPGAs? I've heard of them but never known what they do

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison#FPGA_Devices

Usually, the FPGA boards are attached to host computer via USB/COM port.

Miner software is available for many FPGA boards, so you have a choice.

If you're still interested in GPUs, I have three 7970s that I'd sell at discount Wink

So what are the benefits to FPGA's?
[/quote]

Lower power consumption = less heat.

They are expensive comparing with GPUs. BFL (BitForce) is an exception, but they have "unknown delivery dates". 6 weeks, became 6 months for some.
GPUs are readily available. So it is a plus.

Gomeler

hero member

Activity: 697

Merit: 500

There is an entire sub-forum to FPGAs. Check it out. Since you are in LA you deal with very high power costs and very high ambient temperatures. The MH/W efficiency on FPGAs would make perfect sense for you, if you are in the belief that Bitcoin will be around for a while.

Da3dalus

newbie

Activity: 22

Merit: 0

Quote from: af_newbie on May 14, 2012, 05:06:23 PM

Quote from: Da3dalus on May 14, 2012, 04:57:45 PM

Quote from: ?? on ??

Quote from: Da3dalus on May 14, 2012, 04:34:27 PM

What are FPGAs? I've heard of them but never known what they do

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison#FPGA_Devices

Usually, the FPGA boards are attached to host computer via USB/COM port.

Miner software is available for many FPGA boards, so you have a choice.

If you're still interested in GPUs, I have three 7970s that I'd sell at discount Wink

So what are the benefits to FPGA's?

Lower power consumption = less heat.

They are expensive comparing with GPUs. BFL (BitForce) is an exception, but they have "unknown delivery dates". 6 weeks, became 6 months for some.
GPUs are readily available. So it is a plus.
[/quote]Are they worth it?
And how many can I connect to one mobo?
And do they require any special setup?

Da3dalus

newbie

Activity: 22

Merit: 0

Quote from: ?? on ??

Quote from: Da3dalus on May 14, 2012, 04:34:27 PM

What are FPGAs? I've heard of them but never known what they do

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison#FPGA_Devices

Usually, the FPGA boards are attached to host computer via USB/COM port.

Miner software is available for many FPGA boards, so you have a choice.

If you're still interested in GPUs, I have three 7970s that I'd sell at discount Wink

[/quote]So what are the benefits to FPGA's?

Da3dalus

newbie

Activity: 22

Merit: 0

Quote from: ?? on ??

Quote from: Da3dalus on May 14, 2012, 03:54:31 PM

Quote from: ?? on ??

If I were you, I'd plan for how are you going to remove the heat from the room.

If is one thing to blow a fan on your cards to move air, but when the room gets warmer
the whole cooling setup becomes less effective as ambient temperature raises.

Hint: Don't think A/C is a good idea. You don't want to use energy to heat air and use energy to cool air.

I asked that in the OP. So you're saying I should use something like liquid cooling?
I live in Los Angeles, so I can't just blow in cool air from outside.

Water cooling is expensive. If you are willing to spend $$$, go for it. You have to worry about pump failures, RT monitoring of pressures etc.
Lots of headache, if you ask me.

Better to position the shelf in the coldest room in your house (lots of ground/soil as heat sink) and run duct vents to the outside.
Ideal, natural setup would be a vegetables cellar, like they used to do in the old days. If you have access to a backhoe....

I think GPU mining is very inefficient way to mine. FPGA is much better. But if you have your mind set on GPUs, design your setup to
remove the heat. If you put multiple rigs each consuming 800W, you can add up all the wattage and that will be your heat that you have to worry about.
Not to mention the wiring. You can probably run 2 rigs on your 15A circuit, with three, you'll be tripping the breaker.

If I were you, I would stay away from GPUs, unless of course you already invested in the hardware.

What are FPGAs? I've heard of them but never known what they do

Da3dalus

newbie

Activity: 22

Merit: 0

Quote from: ?? on ??

If I were you, I'd plan for how are you going to remove the heat from the room.

If is one thing to blow a fan on your cards to move air, but when the room gets warmer
the whole cooling setup becomes less effective as ambient temperature raises.

Hint: Don't think A/C is a good idea. You don't want to use energy to heat air and use energy to cool air.

I asked that in the OP. So you're saying I should use something like liquid cooling?
I live in Los Angeles, so I can't just blow in cool air from outside.

Gomeler

hero member

Activity: 697

Merit: 500

Just go with 2x2GB kits and split 1 stick per rig. 1GB and 2GB sticks are almost identical in pricing and another gig doesn't hurt in case you end up running other things like p2pool.

racerguy

sr. member

Activity: 270

Merit: 250

yeah 1 gig is plenty for a mining machine.

Da3dalus

newbie

Activity: 22

Merit: 0

Quote from: 1l1l11ll1l on May 13, 2012, 11:32:35 PM

He's got 2 PSUs on each shelf. One per system.

Whoops.
That's also when I saw the big 750 written on the side.
Anyway, my other questions remain. What motherboard is recommended, and will 1 gig of ram work for each?

1l1l11ll1l

legendary

Activity: 1274

Merit: 1000

He's got 2 PSUs on each shelf. One per system.

Da3dalus

newbie

Activity: 22

Merit: 0

Hey.
I want to run multiple rigs with 4 Radeon 5850's each.
I'm building a large shelf with shelves of 2 setups on each shelf. I want to hook together each shelf to only one power supply, like so:
http://666kb.com/i/c3nl88syzjphlpbor.jpg
~~How much power would I need for each shelf?~~

Also, what motherboard would you guys recommend for such a setup?

Also, would 1 gig of ram be fine for each setup?

ALSO, should I just attach fans for each computer, or attach large fans to each shelf?

Topic: Power supplies, mobos, and ram. (oh my!) Oh, and cooling... (Read 2275 times)