New Miner Build - Looking for a little guidance

[ZachMonroe]

Hello Everyone, I'm new here and have been playing around with crypto mining for a little while and recently started getting ready for building a dedicated mining rig and have a couple questions about it. I have been doing a lot of reading on many forums and blogs, this has created a little confusion in my head of which way to proceed. Any help/advice appreciated.

Parts I already have ordered (should show up tomorrow):
- ASRock H81 Pro BTC Motherboard
- Intel Celeron G1820 Haswell 2.7GHz
- 4GB DDR3 1600
- 2 X SAPPHIRE Radeon R9 280X Toxic

I can get this part setup pretty easily I think, so my questions come with planning for the future. I would like to eventually have 6 - 280x Toxics in the rig.

Questions:

OS?
I was hoping to use BAMT or SMOS or *buntu on a usb drive, but wondering if I should get a small (32gb) SSD and a copy of Windows 8.1? I know I have seen several times that the drivers are better in Windows and 8.1 seems to do good with a 6 GPU rig. But if possible would like Linux. I have used *buntu variations on many other project of mine and have always liked Linux systems.

PSU?
I am leaning towards Corsair or Thermaltake. I was hoping I could get a Corsair RM1000 and use that to run the System with the initial 2 GPUs and then later add a thrid GPU. As soon as I go to a fourth GPU I would need a second PSU and was hoping a RM850 would work for the last three cards? I am planning on undervolting the cards, so would that be another reason to want Windows? If those PSUs are not sufficient then my second option would be start with two Thermaltake TPG-1200M? I would prefer to use two of the same brand PSU.

Risers?
I am planning on using USB powered Risers. I read somewhere that I do not want to use powered risers with the ASRock H81 Pro BTC, I assume if this is true then I just won't hook up the power to them and they will work as unpowered risers? Or do they need the power still to work over the extended length of the USB cables?


That is it for now, I'm sure I'll have some more questions along the way.

I am planning on building my own chassis before I get a third card, I'll just have everything sitting on a desk until then. I will most likely be building it out of aluminum.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Zach

 

[eaglescouter]

BAMT will do just fine for you. SSD is not necessary for a mining rig and the cost is not going to help your ROI either.
Powered risers are always a good choice.
I'm running 4 280X's on a 1200W PSU, 2 on a 1K should be super easy.

 

[Z YA LTR]

Im running the Asrock h81 with usb powered risers. Doesn't hurt a thing. I currently have 3 270's and 1 280 on it. The ssd isn't necessary but why not when you can get one for http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211717 $50 bucks. The ssd will last longer than a usb thumbdrive.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Win 7 = Win 8.1 in terms of drivers and performance no?
I haven't found anything that says Win 8.1 is better than 7.


But BAMT would be the better choice for mining only rig.
Have they found a way to undervolt in Unix yet or is it still BIOS modding only?

 

[ZachMonroe]

BAMT will do just fine for you. SSD is not necessary for a mining rig and the cost is not going to help your ROI either.
Powered risers are always a good choice.
I'm running 4 280X's on a 1200W PSU, 2 on a 1K should be super easy.

Yeah, I figured the 2 would be no problem with the 1K, but what about 3?
Will an 850 do 3 GPU? No system just the cards, so when the full rig is built I have 3 cards and the system running off a 1k and 3 cards on the 850?

Im running the Asrock h81 with usb powered risers. Doesn't hurt a thing. I currently have 3 270's and 1 280 on it. The ssd isn't necessary but why not when you can get one for http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211717 $50 bucks. The ssd will last longer than a usb thumbdrive.

Yeah that is more or less what I was thinking with the SSD, but I will most likely start with BAMT or SMOS on a USB for now. I was really only thinking the Windows and SSD when I get past 5 cards, if needed.

Win 7 = Win 8.1 in terms of drivers and performance no?
I haven't found anything that says Win 8.1 is better than 7.


But BAMT would be the better choice for mining only rig.
Have they found a way to undervolt in Unix yet or is it still BIOS modding only?

I though I saw something somewhere that said with Win7 they could get 5 cards but not the 6th then they used Win8.1 and no problem.

Yeah, I think the BIOS modding can be done now from *nix, but just easier in Windows.



Thanks for the help.

 

[Luke1978]

I though I saw something somewhere that said with Win7 they could get 5 cards but not the 6th then they used Win8.1 and no problem.

Yeah, I think the BIOS modding can be done now from *nix, but just easier in Windows.



Thanks for the help.

Running 6 cards on Win7 just requires some manipulation of how you install drivers. I posted it in a thread..

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7637364&postcount=19

 

[ZachMonroe]

Running 6 cards on Win7 just requires some manipulation of how you install drivers. I posted it in a thread..

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7637364&postcount=19

Thanks, good to know. With that my question becomes: Is there any advantage to Win7 vs Win8.1? They are the same price so why not just get 8.1?

But my real question is: what are the pros and cons between Windows & ( BAMT or SMOS or *buntu ) ?

 

[Luke1978]

Smos is free, doesn't require compiling.. I advocate SMOS because it's still supported, BAMT itself is no longer in development

 

[Z YA LTR]

Yeah, I figured the 2 would be no problem with the 1K, but what about 3?
Will an 850 do 3 GPU? No system just the cards, so when the full rig is built I have 3 cards and the system running off a 1k and 3 cards on the 850?

Im running an 850w psu with the my system. Asrock H81, Pentium cpu, 4gb ram, ssd, 3x 270x's @1.1v and a 280x stock volts. 750w at the wall checked with my "kill a watt" But im also mining maxcoin which doesn't draw as much power. I have a second 850w psu but its not hooked up yet. Just got 3 more 280x's in. Im going to run 3 of my 280x's on just that psu and have just my 3 270x's and system on the other psu. The last 280x is going into another rig.

 

[ZachMonroe]

I decided on 3 power supplies. All Corsair, 1 RM850 for system and 2 R9 280x and 2 RM750 each powering 2 R9 280x. That should keep my power draw through each power supply low enough that they will operate more efficiently. Peak efficiency is around 50% load:

Plus it is cheaper than two larger units.
With 2:
AX1200 = $300
RM1000 = $200

Total = $500 for 2200 watts

With 3:
RM850 = $145
RM750 = $115 x 2

Total = $375 for 2350 watts

Planning on something similar to this:

My 2 R9 280x Toxics showed up yesterday and my AsRock H81 Pro BTC showed up today and
I ordered the RM850 and it should be here Friday. So I hope to have the first stage of the rig running sometime friday night. Then start tweaking settings.

I also ordered one of these shelving units to start with: Sandusky WS241430

 

[ZachMonroe]

I have the rig running with the two 280x Toxics right now, still need to do some tweaking, getting 720kh/s each. Running 72-74° C at 65-100% fans, I think I need to flash the BIOS's and undervolt, they are at 1.256v.

I have ordered 3 more cards and a RM1000, decided to just do five cards total, If I decide to do more later I'll build a second rig.

I'll get some pics up soon.

 

[ZachMonroe]

When I get the rest of the cards I will make it all a little neater. Just didn't want to do it twice.

One of my risers was bad, that is why the one card is in the motherboard.

 

[ZL1]

the rm1000 is a good psu and esp at its price

id use win7 or bamt, either one is good, win7 is better on old cards, but u dont have that to worry about
do consider flashing the cards to lower vcore on a win7 machine if you have one handy