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Topic: Setting up my first *ghetto* mining rig!! - page 2. (Read 1850 times)

full member
Activity: 281
Merit: 100
December 17, 2017, 05:42:28 AM
#53
I am looking to get the asus b250 mining expert to fill all 19 gpu slots with r9 290s but how many PSU will I need and how much wattage each? can I use this one? https://www.ebay.de/itm/HP-BladeCenter-Netzteil-2450W-High-Efficiency-C7000-500242-001-488603-001/372154727230?hash=item56a6267b3e:g:df0AAOSw0W5aH~Kt
First of all, check if AMD drivers allow to hook up >10 R9 cards. Polaris are supported in Q>10, not sure about older cards.
full member
Activity: 233
Merit: 100
December 17, 2017, 04:55:29 AM
#52
Oh man, it crashed again righg before I closed my eyes. Pretty much the same same time as yesterday! I don't know if time plays any role. I've tried so much now, I'm getting discouraged and tired Sad
I set it up again at stock speeds then and it still stopped an hour after.
Do you have any idea what could be causing it? Cause I'm all out of ideas.
newbie
Activity: 32
Merit: 0
December 17, 2017, 01:44:51 AM
#51
Hi guys, I am looking to get some more gpus for mining.
Currently I have 5x r9 390x, 1x 1080ti , 1x gtx980 and 5x r9 380.
r9 290 4GB caught my attention because is pretty cheap on ebay and powerful,  I read that has about 380 sol/s with overclocking in zec/zen/btg, is this true?
The same hashrate I get also on my overclocked gtx980 so I am in a dilemma what gpu to get because also gtx980 is about the same price used but sucks in ethereum mining,so I'll have to stick with equihash algorithm.

Can I achieve this hashrate with any r9 290 or some brands are voltage locked?

also has anyone measured  how much is exactly the power draw from an overclocked r9 290?
I am looking to get the asus b250 mining expert to fill all 19 gpu slots with r9 290s but how many PSU will I need and how much wattage each? can I use this one? https://www.ebay.de/itm/HP-BladeCenter-Netzteil-2450W-High-Efficiency-C7000-500242-001-488603-001/372154727230?hash=item56a6267b3e:g:df0AAOSw0W5aH~Kt

legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1015
December 16, 2017, 08:55:42 PM
#50
Only had this one available, not a ref 290 but you get the idea.

full member
Activity: 233
Merit: 100
December 16, 2017, 07:53:59 PM
#49
That was just some pic from the web haha!

Just find those right screws...

Ref 290 currently sells somewhere in $100-150 area and does something like $3-4/ day. Who cares about resale value?

Well getting your initial investment back isn't hurting. You cut the cost of your next investment!

Anyway, going for 6:30 hours now with the latest drivers and I'm going to sleep. Will it be on when I wake up? Who knows. Rained today and it's very humid. Afraid of condensation if they shut down during the night.

Seems like effective hashrate is MUCH lower though.
With beta drivers I was getting 146MH/s reported and 150MH/s effective. Now I get 144MH/s reported and 120MH/s effective. That's one r9 card difference!

Pull from wall still fluctuates between ~790w and ~850w. IDK id that's safe.
legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1015
December 16, 2017, 07:07:12 PM
#48
That was just some pic from the web haha!

Just find those right screws...

Ref 290 currently sells somewhere in $100-150 area and does something like $3-4/ day. Who cares about resale value?
full member
Activity: 233
Merit: 100
December 16, 2017, 06:48:21 PM
#47
About the first mod every reference 290(x) owner should do:
After that is done and you still want more you need to start playing with bios.
It will never be a powersaver but still a very profitable card to mine with.

But you just lost half or more its resale value! I think my reference is fine. Honestly if all references are like my Asus then I'm all for them! Cheaper and cooler, noise after a certain volume is irrelevant anyway. Or I got some very bad batch of MSI 290x
legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1015
December 16, 2017, 04:44:10 PM
#46
About the first mod every reference 290(x) owner should do:



After that is done and you still want more you need to start playing with bios.

It will never be a powersaver but still a very profitable card to mine with.
full member
Activity: 233
Merit: 100
December 16, 2017, 04:12:04 PM
#45
Is it worth it to bother with custom BIOSes?

Custom bios only speeds up cryptonight and equihash, if you are only mining dagger gains are so small that it's not worth the hassle.

 BIOS from TheStilt on my Sapphire reference R9 290 cards dropped power draw some (I don't remember the actual figures, and didn't use one of the "deep undervolt" versions), dropped TEMPS a ton, and allowed me to run them at 1100 core vs TEMP LIMITING at 947 stock or less core while running 10 degrees or so COOLER despite the additional overclock.
 It was a night and day difference.

 DEFINITELY a good thing on a reference card, might not be needed on aftermarket cards with better cooling (and likely "upgraded" BIOS" already vs reference).



My Asus reference is not that bad. Running it 1100core and only goes up to 74C max and I only got it for 130euro because it's reference and it hashes the same exactly at the 390 and 290x.. It's my MSI 290X that goes 90-91-92, the one right behind my 390. When I moved the other to another slot it it has a bit more air it dropped 10C. Good thing I changed the thermal paste on these. Shit was hitting literally 99C the first 5 minutes of mining with previous paste.

 
legendary
Activity: 1498
Merit: 1030
December 16, 2017, 04:04:16 PM
#44
Is it worth it to bother with custom BIOSes?

Custom bios only speeds up cryptonight and equihash, if you are only mining dagger gains are so small that it's not worth the hassle.

 BIOS from TheStilt on my Sapphire reference R9 290 cards dropped power draw some (I don't remember the actual figures, and didn't use one of the "deep undervolt" versions), dropped TEMPS a ton, and allowed me to run them at 1100 core vs TEMP LIMITING at 947 stock or less core while running 10 degrees or so COOLER despite the additional overclock.
 It was a night and day difference.

 DEFINITELY a good thing on a reference card, might not be needed on aftermarket cards with better cooling (and likely "upgraded" BIOS" already vs reference).

legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1015
December 16, 2017, 01:47:34 PM
#43
Is it worth it to bother with custom BIOSes?

Custom bios only speeds up cryptonight and equihash, if you are only mining dagger gains are so small that it's not worth the hassle.
Only if you consider 5-10% speedup "so small that it's not worth the hassle".
http://nerdralph.blogspot.ca/2016/09/advanced-tonga-bios-editing.html

Bad quote by me, clipped too much, sorry! OP was asking about 290 bios modding so my comment was meant to be hawaii only.

Like you said, all(?) amd's with lower than 512-bit membus typically do 5-15% more after some bios tweaking, also on dagger.
sr. member
Activity: 588
Merit: 251
December 16, 2017, 01:30:07 PM
#42
Is it worth it to bother with custom BIOSes?

Custom bios only speeds up cryptonight and equihash, if you are only mining dagger gains are so small that it's not worth the hassle.
Only if you consider 5-10% speedup "so small that it's not worth the hassle".
http://nerdralph.blogspot.ca/2016/09/advanced-tonga-bios-editing.html
full member
Activity: 233
Merit: 100
December 16, 2017, 11:33:07 AM
#41
Maybe that's why it was crashing, after a while, it would touch or something.

No, it still crashed.  Angry

I'm testing now with the latest drivers not the blockchain ones. to see what will happen.

EDIT: I got the r9 cards to 30MH/s with the same mild OC with latest drivers. But I'm missing a couple MH/s between the RX cards. But hey if it's stable I can live with that.

Is it safe to leave the rig with 850w pull from the wall from the RM850i PSU? Or should I go back to 28MH/s and ~800W pull?
full member
Activity: 233
Merit: 100
December 16, 2017, 06:35:50 AM
#40
Hmm, I'm having some problems now. After an hour, OCed or stock speeds it keeps crashing. First time it worked for 7 hours straight, then 3, then it won't stay going for over an hour. :/

Maybe the blockchain drivers? Maybe the PSU when it pulls 800w stock 850 OCed from the wall?

I think I found something. Maybe that was causing it. I went to fire it up now again and one card wasn't working. Its riser on the montherboard the usb port was touching the solder of the next one. When I put a piece of paper between it worked. I'm not sure that was why the card wasn't working, I didn't want to test it and let it touch on purpose.
Maybe that's why it was crashing, after a while, it would touch or something.
legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1015
December 15, 2017, 02:54:37 PM
#39
Is it worth it to bother with custom BIOSes?

Custom bios only speeds up cryptonight and equihash, if you are only mining dagger gains are so small that it's not worth the hassle.
full member
Activity: 233
Merit: 100
December 15, 2017, 02:28:14 PM
#38
So I need to put one card on the PCIe3 x16 slot and connect my monitor on it to be able to see temps and OC for all cards?
The primary GPU is the one connected to the 1st PCI-Express X16 slot. You can connect it through a riser - no problems. A HDMI-DVI or HDMI-VGA emulator will also work instead of the monitor.

Thanks! I was in disbelief of how easy that fix was!

I also set up EthMonitoring. Great tool.

I installed the blockchain drivers (had to disable internet, no matter how many ways I tried to stop automatic updates, it was still installing them on its own). I gained ~6MH/s throughout all 6 cards.
I atried some very mild OC on the 390 which has excellent temps and got 30MHs with it. But it was also OCing the 290 on its own. I don't know why. Just these 2. But they both hash at 30MH/s now. Went from 136MH/s to ~140-42MH/s. Is it worth it to bother with custom BIOSes? Or this is good enough you think? Ethermine reports 150MH/s effective hashrate.

The 390 fluctuates from rarely 20 to 26 to mostly 30MH/s and RX560 from 9 to 12MH/s. 290 gave a 24MH/s once too.

I can't push these anymore because I already pull 850w from the wall with the 850 PSU with 91% efficiency.
I can't OC the 2x 290x at all also since they don't have the best temps, they're at 84-87C

Quick edit: I got the 290x cards to go at 30Mh/s with a mild OC and temps stayed the same.
 
full member
Activity: 281
Merit: 100
December 15, 2017, 08:13:02 AM
#37
So I need to put one card on the PCIe3 x16 slot and connect my monitor on it to be able to see temps and OC for all cards?
The primary GPU is the one connected to the 1st PCI-Express X16 slot. You can connect it through a riser - no problems. A HDMI-DVI or HDMI-VGA emulator will also work instead of the monitor.
full member
Activity: 233
Merit: 100
December 14, 2017, 08:03:42 PM
#36
I get ~130MH/s out of the box, drivers from windows 10 automatic updates. Pretty good if you ask me! What I'd like to know if it is possible to see temps of each GPU. Right now I can't see much info about any of the GPUs except the intel integrated one I run my monitor. Is it not possible? Or did I do something not right? I also can't do touch anything on them on MSI afterburner, no clocks not anything.
1. Turn off automatic updates
2. EthMon - available for Win and Android
3. Connect the monitor to the primary GPU (X16_1 slot)

Thank you!
I run into some electrical problems yesterday and I uninstalled it for a day. I will continue setting it up tomorrow!
EthMonitoring looks like one hell of a tool! Can't wait to try it!

So I need to put one card on the PCIe3 x16 slot and connect my monitor on it to be able to see temps and OC for all cards?

@btcgolong
I'm located in Southern Europe

@nerdralph
Yeah I already have the monitor on the onboard gpu. Smiley
sr. member
Activity: 451
Merit: 269
December 14, 2017, 11:56:42 AM
#35
OP,
For the sake of safety, I would use 1 or max 2 server PSUs, preferably of the same model and condition. 3 different PSUs, even good quality, seem the weak point to me.
With server PSUs, you assemble the cabling by yourself and make sure every contact is strong and stable - very important when dealing with high currents. Additionally, you are not restricted to the configuration of power connectors.
Will the rig be enclosed or there will be free air flow? Low temperatures affect negatively computer hardware - I had a case when the miner started only after the ambient temperature got >15C. Haven't figured what was the problem - either the HDD or the server PSU.

From my calculations, you rig would be running OK with 2x 750-1000W or 1x 1600-2000W server PSU + a DC-DC ATX converter (picoPSU). If you're a skilled DIY enthusiast, I can help you with details in PM.

Yep, I would had bought a couple from www.parallelminer.com but they're in the US and the Custom charges were gonna rape me. I will keep exploring that option to replace the PSUs I have. But next week I have to have the rig online.

It's gonna be open air. Temperatures right now at night are already ~5C. :/



Could not find if you mentioned where you are from in the thread ? What area of the globe do you come from ?
full member
Activity: 281
Merit: 100
December 14, 2017, 11:32:03 AM
#34
I use Linux, so don't have anything good to say about using Windoze.
Instead of connecting a monitor to the primary GPU, I recommend using the on-board video for the display.  You can often overclock cards a bit more when they don't need to do video out.  It's also easier for testing GPUs since you just leave the video cable plugged into the motherboard.
Temperature monitoring and overclocking in AB/ODnT does not work for AMD Polaris cards, unless the primary GPU is connected to a monitor. Can't say if the same applies for Linux.
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