First rig mishap

[jonniedash]

Hey folks, I'm try'n to build my first gpu minning rig. And I belive I had got the wrong psu. What I have, 3 gpu's that are R9 390 8g. Biostar TB85 PCI Express 3.0 MB,I forget what the cpu is but in came with the kit i got from gpushack. I got a psu corsair cx850m, Well I think i got the wrong psu. Can someone please point me in the right direction

 

[DRagor]

Corsair CX is Tier 4. Definitely a bit low quality for rig that power-hungry
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html look for something at Tier 1 or 2

 

[Zerk2012]

You have over 800 watts is just the video cards.
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/27xfrH/seasonic-power-supply-x1250

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Those cards are capable of a lot of wattage

In addition, while the CXM is waaay better than the old CX series, it is still a budget PSU.

I'd pick something a bit beefier ... something along the lines of a Seasonic X Series 1250. Check the reviews ... tier lists rankings are based upon broad inferences whereby units are sometimes placed in tiers based upon results of one review for one size model and stay there even when vendor switches OEMS or even used a different OEM for a different size model from the getgo.

Before deciding ... Id grab one of these ..

http://www.p3international.com/products/P4400.html

See what your PSU pulls with one card when mining ... then with two calculate the difference and add that to the result of the two cards for power load with 3. Then add 100-150 watts minumum.

 

[jonniedash]

If I get one of these 1250 Watts psu can i plug it in a wallscocket 110w? I know it's a n00b question, But I have messed up before with asic psu's . I may have to open my own store to sell all the psu I have and can't use. haha

 

[Zerk2012]

Yes it should have a 20A breaker at least.

 

[jonniedash]

Thanks Grandmaster, The SeaSonic X-1050 ( SS-1050XM2 ) 1050W looks good, Now how to sell it to my wife.
Thank you everyone.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

If I get one of these 1250 Watts psu can i plug it in a wallscocket 110w? I know it's a n00b question, But I have messed up before with asic psu's . I may have to open my own store to sell all the psu I have and can't use. haha

The SeaSonic X-1050 ( SS-1050XM2 ) 1050W looks good,

Mine is plugged into a Kil-o-watt 24/7 which is in turn plugged into a standard wall socket. 1250 watts is about 12 amps assuming 87% efficiency... your breaker will be a 15 or 20.

If you were gaming (280 watts x 3 = 840 watts), no overclocking and a modest CPU, I'd be OK w/ 1050. But with that cards known ability to pull almost 400 watts per card, mining presents a bit more of a challenge ... 3 x 375 watts = 1125 w/o anything else.

It may draw less than that ... hence the suggestion to invest $20 in the kil-o-watt to determine your needs before purchasing . But unless you know what the cards are drawing (this will vary by model), and especially if you want max performance and no throttling, I'd:

a) get the 1250
b) test w/ the kil-o-wat to determine if something smaller is safe

I'd also have this in a large case with 10 or more 140mm 1250 rpm fans running 850 rpm so that the noise doesn't drive ya crazy.

 

[centurion39]

If I get one of these 1250 Watts psu can i plug it in a wallscocket 110w? I know it's a n00b question, But I have messed up before with asic psu's . I may have to open my own store to sell all the psu I have and can't use. haha

Technically yes, although the Seasonic 1250 recommended in one of the above posts says it pulls 15 amps at 100V, so 120V will be slightly less than 15. However, that is at full load. If you are running this at 100% or close or overclocking the cards, you will probably have to be a bit careful. From another post it shows that the max draw is approx 365, so x3 that is 1095 watts (10 amps at 110V, 9.1 at 120V). I don't know what the cpu load is on mining, but say another 100W-300W is another 1-3 amps approx. So you are running near a breaker limit trip in houses that use 15 amp breakers. Many houses will have 20 amp breakers with 15 amp sockets which is technically ok as long as the wiring is 12 gauge. If you have a family member on the same circuit and they turn on a hairdryer though, then POP!. So try to be aware of what other devices are plugged into the same circuit (turn off breakers in your house until you find the one for your room and see what other rooms/outlets are on the same circuit). If you are serious about this and are going to run 24x7, it is better to have a dedicated 20 amp circuit on 12 gauge wire as running a constant 15 amps on 14 gauge makes it a bit toasty. You definitely don't want to be playing xbox on a large flatscreen on the same circuit.

When I wired my house (I did a full gut job) I put two 20Amp circuits in each bedroom, so two walls were on each circuit. Ceiling lights put on separate circuit completely in the house so if I had to do something to an outlet or lights I still have power somewhere in the room (or lights). My theater also has separate circuits between my receiver and subwoofer/amps.

I would get a decent UPS, although a high powered one is only going to run your pc at full load for < minute and will be expensive. (>$200) I guess you can get a decent surge protector and just deal with outages but that is bad for your pc.

Thanks Grandmaster, The SeaSonic X-1050 ( SS-1050XM2 ) 1050W looks good, Now how to sell it to my wife.
Thank you everyone.

As JackNaylorPE says, get the 1250. the 1050 is not enough. If you try stress testing/burn in, the 1050 will probably go kaputz.

Good luck!

 

[jonniedash]

yes i have a kil-o-watt meter hell a few really. So I look at the 1250. (Seasonic SS-1250XM X-Series ATX PC Power Supply)
Is that one a good one? Thanks for the insite JackNaylorPE. No i don't plan to overclock at lest not yet. I need to learn my way around a bit more before i do something like that.
PS. There is a pic as the solution button. But it's been a collective?

 

[jonniedash]

centurion39, Thank you for the insite as well, I have been thinking on get a electrician and build a small room in my garage close to the main and have him/her setup the mains, I'll build it from STYROFOAM R5 Faced Polystyrene Foam Board , add a wine cooler i found in the trash and fix'd it, was only a resister and fuze that needed replacement this will be my aircooler for all the miners, Plus it should help a lot in cutting down the noice, I'm not sure about the exhaust port. I have 3 rooms all ready in the house use'n asic's. and now soon my first gpu rig. So if I want to keep mining I have to come up with a better idea than what i have use in the past or my wife will kill me. I'd again like to that everyone for all this help so quickly.

 

[Zerk2012]

That 390 watt is over what the card will draw more in the 275 watt area that even comes from MSI.
https://us.msi.com/Graphics-card/R9-390-GAMING-8G.html#hero-specification
Anoutherone showing the 290 area with the R9 390X.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/asus-radeon-r9-390x-strix-8g-review,8.html

Their really no reason to be worried about the breaker till you get into the 1400 actuall watt usage of the PC and your going to be in the 950 area.
The PSU I linked will work just fine and should be fairly efficent.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

as for the UPS, that is jot going to be cheap....

1. VA requirement ~ PSU size x 1.5 or 1875 VA
2. True Sine Wave designs as would be appropriate here are not cheap.

Prolly taking $625 for something this big ... CyberPower PR2200LCDSL 2070 VA 1980W would work

 

[JackNaylorPE]

That 390 watt is over what the card will draw more in the 275 watt area that even comes from MSI.
https://us.msi.com/Graphics-card/R9-390-GAMING-8G.html#hero-specification
Anoutherone showing the 290 area with the R9 390X.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/asus-radeon-r9-390x-strix-8g-review,8.html

What is advertised on the web site and what happens in actual testing are two very different things. Guru3D didn't test the card mining, they tested it in "typical gaming" and I agree with you that in typical gaming, the load is between 275 and 300 watts... the source I used above also agrees with you (and Guru3D)....in fact it's a bit lower than your reference for typical gaming at 277 watts.

When mining however, the card is placed under a significantly higher load than "typical gaming"... the card is being used to its full capacity and being stressed in away that in no way compares with "gaming" loads, not only in size but in % of time at full load. Without an actual test using a meter, one has to make the selection on a worse case scenario from the data available and we can clearly see comparing the 2 images (typical gaming versus maximum) that the card is capable of pulling almost 100 watts more under peak load conditions.

With a 300 watt swing there fir 3 cards, and we are still talking "no overclocking", it makes it well worth finding out what the actual power requirement is, And, as we know, when overclocking, power draw increases exponentially. In summary:

a) The rated load when gaming is between 275 and 300 watts as evidenced by various sources
b) The card is clearly capable of drawing almost 100 watts more under peak loads such as might be expected when mining.
c) Overclocking is a distinct possibility as OP has said "at least not yet"...your Guru3D reference shows a 352 watt draw (22% more) when overclocked .. and that's in gaming.
d) Take that 352 watt gaming load when OC'd and multiply x 365 / 277 and you are over 450 watts.
e) While average loads are suitable for sizing cooling systems, PSUs must have some headroom for peak instantaneous loads to prevent crashes.

Now all that being said, I am not suggesting this will result in an actual 450 watt load per card, I am saying it most definitely will be greater than 289 watts per card, The 100 watt difference between gaming and maximum loads can not be ignored nor can the 63 watt increase from overclocking be ignored as OC'ing the cards has not been ruled out.

 

[Zerk2012]

No your still wrong the card was stressed to 100%

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/asus-radeon-r9-390x-strix-8g-review,8.html