Topic: Project: Stealth Mining Rig - page 2. (Read 10001 times)
Just out of interest why do you want a "stealth" rig?!
if your room is clean enough, i suggest that position all the fans blowing air into the case, and causing the air have no where to go other than GPU air exhaust outlet at the back. keep the GPU cool always with fresh air from outside. few more fans on top of the GPU, the back of the GPU also give out alot of heat.
the point is air is just like everything else, they are lazy as sheat. they will find the easiest exit ( least resistant ) if u got air from the front, and exhaust on top the casing, those cold air will just exit there.
hope my weird logic give u some idea.
the point is air is just like everything else, they are lazy as sheat. they will find the easiest exit ( least resistant ) if u got air from the front, and exhaust on top the casing, those cold air will just exit there.
hope my weird logic give u some idea.
Stealth cases...
1: Large oven-top microwave. Gut it, it can hold 2 Mobo's and up to 14 (single-gpu) cards, 4 PSU's... Has kick-ass venting on most models.
2: Medium/large in-window AC unit. Gut it, it can hold same as above...
3: Fireplace insert. Can hold same as above... Heat can be ducted in to the house in winter, exhausted out the chimney in the summer. (Might want to provide supplemental "fresh-outside air" for the supply.)
4: Mini-Fridge. Gut it, add a vent and add a silent bathroom-blower-fan. Can fit 1-3 mobo's, depending on the size of the unit.
5: Dryer machine. Gut it, you can fit up to 6x mobo's inside. Needs a good green-house or oven blower to vent it. Set it up next to the real dryer, and blow exhaust into the dryer to save on drying bills. (Use that 240v line for more efficiency.) Add your water-in for your hot-water tank into the exhaust, and save money on hot water too.
6: File cabinet (tall). Can hold 4x to 5x individual setups, in a convenient pull-out access setup.
1: Large oven-top microwave. Gut it, it can hold 2 Mobo's and up to 14 (single-gpu) cards, 4 PSU's... Has kick-ass venting on most models.
2: Medium/large in-window AC unit. Gut it, it can hold same as above...
3: Fireplace insert. Can hold same as above... Heat can be ducted in to the house in winter, exhausted out the chimney in the summer. (Might want to provide supplemental "fresh-outside air" for the supply.)
4: Mini-Fridge. Gut it, add a vent and add a silent bathroom-blower-fan. Can fit 1-3 mobo's, depending on the size of the unit.
5: Dryer machine. Gut it, you can fit up to 6x mobo's inside. Needs a good green-house or oven blower to vent it. Set it up next to the real dryer, and blow exhaust into the dryer to save on drying bills. (Use that 240v line for more efficiency.) Add your water-in for your hot-water tank into the exhaust, and save money on hot water too.
6: File cabinet (tall). Can hold 4x to 5x individual setups, in a convenient pull-out access setup.
Get some sidewinder deltas and you shouldn't have to worry about the case too much - they push 3-4 cubic feet of air a second! That's probably close to the volume of the case!
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de12tfexhisp.html
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de12tfexhisp.html
I don't particularly like that case...
This is not the one I have. I only chose it to ask for the position of the fans. The case is still not settled yet.
I like the second case recommendation you made.
So another topic:
I have a friend who is going to make me a custom closed case out of aluminium (or another material in case there are better ones).
He is kinda professional in it, so If I give all the exact measurements of the final sketch, he is able to do that nicely.
For this I made a first raw sketch as so:
Red circles Where the fan's are going to be connected
Blue square Mainboard
Red circles Where the fan's are going to be connected
Blue square Mainboard
Purple thingy Graphics cards
And of course fan-holes above the card, so that the hot air can go out!
As I want it to be as small as possible I still have a few questions.
- How far do the cards need to be separated from each other?
- How far do the cards need to be separated from the psu (which will be at the top left in the picture)
- What do you think about the fan positions?
- The cards will be attached via riser-cables, what is the maximum length of such a cable, because the card-fixer (where they will be screwed tight are going to be fixed (in height) above the mainboard)
So obviously this is a first raw sektch made with mspaint, but it will be improved over the next week as questions arise and are solved.
The case door fans push a lot of air into the card intake, and the front fans push a lot of air into the case.
I totally agree with you that it looks like it shouldn't work, but it does work just fine. YMMV, and as noted, I wouldn't do it with AMD cards, but I've known people who packed 4 6990s into the same case and kept them perfectly cool while running.
I totally agree with you that it looks like it shouldn't work, but it does work just fine. YMMV, and as noted, I wouldn't do it with AMD cards, but I've known people who packed 4 6990s into the same case and kept them perfectly cool while running.
Hmm... why is there a GPU missing? And 90c is a lot hotter than I like to keep my cards. I've heard 80c thrown around as a good rule of thumb for keeping your cards from getting damaged. But then again, most of my involvement in the mining scene was in early 2011. (Not rich, unfortunately. Stopped mining for most of 2011 and all of 2012 for various reasons.)
It will be a challenge, but affording the cards themselves it the biggest challenge which you seem to have met. I don't particularly like that case, I would really recommend something from the "Lian-Li Lancool" line or even better, a Antec Twelve Hundred V3 would be perfect. A friend of mine used 3 of these cases to run a series of computers that was used as a homemade HPC lab (the 4 AMD GPUs were running full on 24/7). It was housed in a closet, but even with the door open it was relatively quiet. Water cooling would have been a requirement except a square was cut out of the side window, in which a block of aluminum was milled specifically for the setup and a 200mm fan drew away heat up and out of the closet.
I know there are people on this board that have access to such milling machines, but if you are in a location where there are designers or a college/school of design, they will likely be happy to help with your project (or maybe the people that live around me are just kind of hippyish in that way =p). Other metals can be used of course, however the aluminum was a no-cost option for us as it was being used as a doorstop/scrap from a larger project. Good luck!
I know there are people on this board that have access to such milling machines, but if you are in a location where there are designers or a college/school of design, they will likely be happy to help with your project (or maybe the people that live around me are just kind of hippyish in that way =p). Other metals can be used of course, however the aluminum was a no-cost option for us as it was being used as a doorstop/scrap from a larger project. Good luck!
Aside from hardware tricks you should go undervolting your cards.
It will reduce temperatures dramatically.
(Depending on energy and BTC price, it will increase profit too.)
It will reduce temperatures dramatically.
(Depending on energy and BTC price, it will increase profit too.)
The case door fans push a lot of air into the card intake, and the front fans push a lot of air into the case.
I totally agree with you that it looks like it shouldn't work, but it does work just fine. YMMV, and as noted, I wouldn't do it with AMD cards, but I've known people who packed 4 6990s into the same case and kept them perfectly cool while running.
I totally agree with you that it looks like it shouldn't work, but it does work just fine. YMMV, and as noted, I wouldn't do it with AMD cards, but I've known people who packed 4 6990s into the same case and kept them perfectly cool while running.
No. Not unless you want to turn your case into an easy bake oven. 3 cards max. Each spaced evenly. Case must have good airflow and wire management. Your sketch is a perfect example of what not to do. The cards are not spaced at all and won't receive any fresh air due to:
1. being sandwiched together.
2. cable obstruction.
1. being sandwiched together.
2. cable obstruction.
Actually, that case did work just fine to keep those cards cool. It wasn't great, which is why I eventually moved to 3 card designs, but the biggest issues is that while nVidia cards have a nice step at the intake to deal with being crammed together, AMD cards don't, so don't cool nearly as well in that configuration.
The case door fans draw air IN - the cards suck air from that area, so blowing cool air into them helps a lot.
It works, but I don't use 4 cards in that configuration anymore for good reasons.
I find it very difficult to believe those cards were not suffocating. Nvidia or not, any card sandwiched together like that takes in heat from the card directly below it. I can't see how those cards were getting any fresh intake at all.
No. Not unless you want to turn your case into an easy bake oven. 3 cards max. Each spaced evenly. Case must have good airflow and wire management. Your sketch is a perfect example of what not to do. The cards are not spaced at all and won't receive any fresh air due to:
1. being sandwiched together.
2. cable obstruction.
1. being sandwiched together.
2. cable obstruction.
Actually, that case did work just fine to keep those cards cool. It wasn't great, which is why I eventually moved to 3 card designs, but the biggest issues is that while nVidia cards have a nice step at the intake to deal with being crammed together, AMD cards don't, so don't cool nearly as well in that configuration.
The case door fans draw air IN - the cards suck air from that area, so blowing cool air into them helps a lot.
It works, but I don't use 4 cards in that configuration anymore for good reasons.
I think I would have the side fans pull in fresh air (pressurizing the case, making the GPU fans do less work).
If you can wait, I would consider using ASIC for a stealth mining rig. A mini ITX board should leave lots of room for 4 of klondike 64 boards. I have not investigated how much case modificatuion would be required to mount them though.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/klondike-16-chip-asic-open-source-board-preliminary-190731
200W should be more stealthy than 800W
If you can wait, I would consider using ASIC for a stealth mining rig. A mini ITX board should leave lots of room for 4 of klondike 64 boards. I have not investigated how much case modificatuion would be required to mount them though.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/klondike-16-chip-asic-open-source-board-preliminary-190731
200W should be more stealthy than 800W
Those HAF X cards let you put a full 360mm RAD in the top, and keep it inside the case. Maybe go the WC route and do that?
360mm rad isn't enough for 4 cards. You would need 480mm minimum and a damn good one at that. And water cooling gets expensive real quick.
No. Not unless you want to turn your case into an easy bake oven. 3 cards max. Each spaced evenly. Case must have good airflow and wire management. Your sketch is a perfect example of what not to do. The cards are not spaced at all and won't receive any fresh air due to:
1. being sandwiched together.
2. cable obstruction.
1. being sandwiched together.
2. cable obstruction.
Those HAF X cards let you put a full 360mm RAD in the top, and keep it inside the case. Maybe go the WC route and do that?
So as far as my theory goes, I made up this (unprofessional) little sketch.
What do you think? Could it stand 4 cards this way?
Any better spread of the fans?
What do you think? Could it stand 4 cards this way?
Any better spread of the fans?
If you try, you can cool 4 cards on air fully contained in a case.
http://blog.cryptohaze.com/2012/02/quad-gpu-builds-with-case-part-2.html
That said, I don't recommend it, and have since moved to 3 cards per system with 1 space between them for better cooling. This is easier to power, easier to cool, and keeps cards significantly cooler. This is the "standard build" now for the boxes I've got in a data center.
http://blog.cryptohaze.com/2012/02/quad-gpu-builds-with-case-part-2.html
That said, I don't recommend it, and have since moved to 3 cards per system with 1 space between them for better cooling. This is easier to power, easier to cool, and keeps cards significantly cooler. This is the "standard build" now for the boxes I've got in a data center.
Go with full-card waterblocks. You can easily dump the ~0.8-1 kW of heat coming out of 4x 7970s with fullcover blocks and sufficient radiator to support it. Chances are you won't be able to mount the radiator within the case though.
I am in the same boat, have had trouble finding a case with 12 or more slots in the back to space out the cards. And if I did, some of the slots still wouldn't be able to hold a card with the mobo / risers getting in the way of where it would need to sit to fit into the backpane. If you do get it set up right I would love to see it, or at least know which case you used to make it happen! I am just using the crate rig method right now but would limit it to 2 or 3 cards if I needed it to hide in a regular case.
...to get it quiet on air almost impossible.
It does not have to be quiet. It can be loud as hell. I just need it to have a stable cool temp in the closed case.
Jump to: