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Help me build a rig.

akmalu21akmalu21 Member Posts: 6 ✭
edited July 2015 in Mining
Hello,
I'm building myself a rig and I found a few articles on the topic. I looked up and found all the necessary hardware, I'd appreciate if you checked if I'm doing this right and getting the right things since they're not that cheap.

1x Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 3 LGA 1150 Z97 Gaming Audio and Networking ATX Motherboard
1x Intel Pentium Processor G3258 4 BX80646G3258
1x Kingston HyperX FURY 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM - Blue (HX316C10F/8)
1x XFX Double D Radeon R9 290X 1000MHz 8GB DDR5 DP HDMI 2 x DVI Graphics Card R9-290X-8DFD
1x Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-75E250B/AM)
1x Corsair Professional Series 760 Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Platinum Power Supply AX760

Am I doing this right?
I'm also wandering if I'll be able to add additional GPUs or will I have to build another rig to add extra GPUs?

What alternative options do I have with 1500$ budget? How would I setup multi GPU rig? any suggestions and help are welcome.
Thanks!
Post edited by akmalu21 on
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Comments

  • linageelinagee Member Posts: 31 ✭✭
    If you're thinking of adding a second GPU, I'd increase the spec on that PSU a bit.
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  • skithunoskithuno Member Posts: 74 ✭
    Microcenter.com, go to the open box items and get two year insurance. Boost up your CPU. 4 cores minimum. I run an 8 core. Some parts of block importing can be run on multiple threads so you want to have those available.
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  • arasaras Member Posts: 2 ✭
    edited July 2015
    I'm trying to build a rig myself and this thread looks useful. I found a lot of discussion on GPUs but hardly any on the accompanying hardware that is necessary to set up the whole rig.

    Based on skithuno's comment above, I guess I'll have to get a 4 core CPU. Add to that a 250GB HDD and 8GB DDR3 RAM plus the obvious R9 290x GPU.

    What is the least expensive motherboard that I'll have to buy? Is the "Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 3 LGA 1150 Z97 Gaming Audio and Networking ATX Motherboard" that the OP plans to buy necessary?

    Thanks a lot for the help!


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  • akmalu21akmalu21 Member Posts: 6 ✭
    Thanks for replying guys. I agree with aras - lots of info on GPUs, but not much on compatible hardware.
    I decided to buy following:
    CPU - Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition Quad-core I7-975 3.33GHz Processor BX80601975 Intel Processors
    PSU - Corsair Professional Series AX1200
    And I also decided to buy XFX R9 295 x2 8GB DDR5 instead of Radeon R9 290x.
    I'm also buying 2 RAMs instead of just 1.

    I'd appreciate your opinion on this and I think it'll be useful info for a lot of people trying to build their own rigs.
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  • hangabershangabers Member Posts: 63 ✭
    Is having multiple cores that necessary though? More cores usually translated to more power consumption, and more cost. If you can find a 4 core 45w CPU for $50 then awesome, but they aren't always available. I had found a few, but in the end it was too limiting when came time to purchase as they had already been sold out.
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  • skithunoskithuno Member Posts: 74 ✭
    I ended up getting an 8 core AMD @ 95W for $110 or so. Plus you want to pay attention to the level 1, 2 and 3 cash. More cash = more memory close to the processor = faster processing.
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  • o0ragman0oo0ragman0o Member, Moderator Posts: 1,291 mod
    @hangabers, my experience of being left behind on the testnet with a Core 2 Quad tells me not to risk anything less. The rig I've build is using a AMD Phenom II X4 925, a 95W TPD which is much higher than I wanted, but was bought in desperation after my misguided purchase of a 25W Athlon II X2 170U failed to ship in time from a dodgy Chinese ebay seller.

    Having said that, I think it unlikely that we'll see the same transaction levels as the spamming we had on testnet and so a much lower powered CPU might likely work fine. I intend to look for a 45W Quad when things proof themself out a bit more. But for now still buying up a few more 750 TI's
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  • skithunoskithuno Member Posts: 74 ✭
    @o0ragman0o , yeah I got hammered with a low power dual core CPU during test net as well. Had to trade up CPU and MB for an 8 core AMD.
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  • hangabershangabers Member Posts: 63 ✭
    Hmmm, makes me wonder if I will have to trade up.. Anyone know if AM2+ works on AM3?
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  • hangabershangabers Member Posts: 63 ✭
    Thanks for the heads up though
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  • o0ragman0oo0ragman0o Member, Moderator Posts: 1,291 mod
    @hangabers, don't know. I've always been Intel and this rig is my first AMD build. Your mobo is AM3?
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  • bcolbbcolb Seattle, WAMember Posts: 9 ✭
    There is a board purpose built for GPU mining from asrock:

    http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81 Pro BTC/

    If you think you might want to expand out to more GPUs in the future this is probably the way to go. You can run 6 GPUs off of it, and I believe you could use different power supplies for different GPUs as well.

    This board is pretty much for dedicated miners though, so if you want something more general purpose you might want to go with something else.
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  • hangabershangabers Member Posts: 63 ✭
    @o0ragman0o ya AM3.
    I pretty sure AM3 chips work in AM2+ sockets.

    I tried to pick up an am3 athlon x4 45w but they were gone... i'll keep my eye out though.

    Transaction and spam requests make sense, but I guess we'll have to see.

    Either way, I saw a few people banking on running geth mining on the cpu for a boost to the hash, so they were thinking of a beefy cpu. like beefier than 95w.

    For those thinking of getting a beefy cpu to also have running the cpu miner... I really don't see it as a smart thing unless you have free power. The extra hashrate is not going to be profitable enough.

    Without doing annnny research, (so this is a real rough rough ball park)...

    Lets look at my (hopeful) hashrate of 50MH from my GPUs.. Now say I had the scratch to run 2 8 core cpu with each core having a clock of 3GHz. You could reach around 1 or more extra MHs, but also gain like 250+ extra watts of power needs without increasing your average daily % of wining block rewards by much at all.

    Of course if you built a server, with 2X 8core CPU and 6 beefy GPU per mobo, could write off the cost and get cheap or free electricity. Then ya adding that extra 1+ MHs per mobo makes sense. suddenly 150MH becomes 153. 150MH per mobo x4 = 600MH, 153MH per mobo x4 612MH.

    For little guys like me, I just can't justify a beefy cpu.

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  • o0ragman0oo0ragman0o Member, Moderator Posts: 1,291 mod
    @hangabers, You could do additional CPU mining on ultra expensive cores and mobos but I think it's definitely in the realm of diminishing returns if not outright loss over the POW period. I have an option of 9kW of private hydro, there's still an energy budget on such an arrangement even if it doesn't cost me anything. I'd still be far better off putting that energy into GPU's than CPU's.

    So much is dependent on ether value at the markets......which looks pretty damn good according to the buy books that are open.
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  • o0ragman0oo0ragman0o Member, Moderator Posts: 1,291 mod
    @bcolb, Yeah I've had my eye on one for a while. But when I can pick up an Gigabyte Ultradurable AM3 board with 5 PCIe ports for half that price and a Phenom/Athelon to match, it's a no brainer.


    I do love the parallel and serial ports though!! ...Party likes it's 1999.... As a tech, the loss of RS232 ports has been the biggest pain the the ass to much of the work I've done...
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  • hangabershangabers Member Posts: 63 ✭
    Ya my mobo was $15 at a flee market... guys had no idea what they were selling... here's hoping she boots
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