Help with building a Cryptocurency mining rig 6 gpus

[XCroAssasinX]

Hello...

A friend of mine asked me to build him a minning rig i belive a etherium focused one not sure tho... He wants 6 gpus in it...

So im pretty new at this so i have a couple of questions...

For the gpus im pretty sure i will go With 6 rx 580 becouse he is a bit more consirned about the upfront cost than the power usage diference bettween it and 1070s...

Now for CPU i went G4400 With 4 gb of ram and a random 120 gb ssd and a Biostar tb250-btc

A case i will get some kind of open one for 6 gpus nothing special

But i dont know anything about risers here i need help... can someone shortly explain some of the most important things i need to know about them and which ones should i buy?

And lastly the PSU i see a lot of people reccomending a dual PSU over a one big one which i dont know about i dont know how do i power the reisers what do i need from my PSU/s and will a EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 P2, 80+ PLATINUM be a enought alone?

Thanks and every info is welcome <3

David

 

[AnonymousAndy]

The supernova 1600 is overkill for 6 GPU, and terrible watt per $ value. But yes, it will work.
Dual PSUs is very popular. Just assuming you like the EVGA platinum series, you can get two 850w p2 for less than the 1600w p2. But still overkill, and again not the greatest value. To utilize two power supplies, you just connect them up like normal, nothing special. The only thing is that the 2nd PSU has to "think" its connected to the motherboard. You can accomplish this with a paperclip, or you can buy a little $5 dummy plug board.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-Supply-Adapter-Connector-Dual-Triple-Relay-Adapter-Link-Multiple-add2PSU/232369617322?_trkparms=aid%3D555019%26algo%3DPL.BANDIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D41375%26meid%3D58782b80552f483ca7f0eecb5bc9ca9a%26pid%3D100506%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26&_trksid=p2045573.c100506.m3226


The 580s will work, but as they make about the same money as a 1060, I'd go for the 1060s as they are more efficient. Personal choice mostly, again they perform similarly. The 1060 3gb model can be had for <$200 here in the states. You will need to heavily change the 580 settings or BIOS to get the efficiency that the 1060 has out of the box.

About the risers, there are different versions of risers. Identified by little white numbers on the board such as 004, 005, etc. Do NOT buy anything less than 006. As an example, this is what they look like.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-PCI-E-1X-to-16x-USB-3-0-Extender-GPU-Riser-Cable-Rig-Mining-Ethereum-VER-007/282572100716?hash=item41ca9c146c:g:6joAAOSwY~VZcFvw

 

[XCroAssasinX]

The supernova 1600 is overkill for 6 GPU, and terrible watt per $ value. But yes, it will work.
Dual PSUs is very popular. Just assuming you like the EVGA platinum series, you can get two 850w p2 for less than the 1600w p2. But still overkill, and again not the greatest value. To utilize two power supplies, you just connect them up like normal, nothing special. The only thing is that the 2nd PSU has to "think" its connected to the motherboard. You can accomplish this with a paperclip, or you can buy a little $5 dummy plug board.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Power-Supply-Adapter-Connector-Dual-Triple-Relay-Adapter-Link-Multiple-add2PSU/232369617322?_trkparms=aid%3D555019%26algo%3DPL.BANDIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D41375%26meid%3D58782b80552f483ca7f0eecb5bc9ca9a%26pid%3D100506%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26&_trksid=p2045573.c100506.m3226


The 580s will work, but as they make about the same money as a 1060, I'd go for the 1060s as they are more efficient. Personal choice mostly, again they perform similarly. The 1060 3gb model can be had for <$200 here in the states. You will need to heavily change the 580 settings or BIOS to get the efficiency that the 1060 has out of the box.

About the risers, there are different versions of risers. Identified by little white numbers on the board such as 004, 005, etc. Do NOT buy anything less than 006. As an example, this is what they look like.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-PCI-E-1X-to-16x-USB-3-0-Extender-GPU-Riser-Cable-Rig-Mining-Ethereum-VER-007/282572100716?hash=item41ca9c146c:g:6joAAOSwY~VZcFvw

Thank you for the response...

Now for the risers i will look for something over 006 and now for the power... they are powered by a sata connector how many risers can i conect to a single sata cable and or how many should be on one cable comming froom the psu assiming it has 4 sata power connectors on it...

For the gpus how much does vram matter in minnning is it worth getting a 6 gig next to a 3 gig with around 50 pounds price difference...

The PSU so the RX 580s i was looking at have 8+6 pin power and i was wondering how can i power them from something like a p2 1200w when it comes with 6 8 pin powers and 2 6pin power for the gpus... And what PSU do you reccomend for 6 rx580 and what for 6 1060s,,,

Thank you

David

 

[AnonymousAndy]

1200w is the minimum you'd require, so I'd recommend 1300w total power at least.
The more I think about it, 1600w isn't really overkill... its more than you need for sure, but having headroom is always nice.

Vram benefits depends on the coin you're mining. The 1060 will perform terribly mining eth, compared to the 580. But the 1060 will generate the same $ mining zcash as the 580 would make mining eth. And vice versa, the 580 is terrible at mining zcash. The difference in the 3gb and 6gb mining zcash is less than 5%.

That's another problem with the rx 580s, they draw disgusting amounts of power at default settings, so they have over the top cable connections. The gtx 1060 has low power draw out of the box, so the cheap 3gb model I referenced to only has 1 6pin cable requirement. They make rx 580 cards that only have one 8pin cable connection, but none that only have one 6pin.

 

[XCroAssasinX]

1200w is the minimum you'd require, so I'd recommend 1300w total power at least.
The more I think about it, 1600w isn't really overkill... its more than you need for sure, but having headroom is always nice.

Vram benefits depends on the coin you're mining. The 1060 will perform terribly mining eth, compared to the 580. But the 1060 will generate the same $ mining zcash as the 580 would make mining eth. And vice versa, the 580 is terrible at mining zcash. The difference in the 3gb and 6gb mining zcash is less than 5%.

That's another problem with the rx 580s, they draw disgusting amounts of power at default settings, so they have over the top cable connections. The gtx 1060 has low power draw out of the box, so the cheap 3gb model I referenced to only has 1 6pin cable requirement. They make rx 580 cards that only have one 8pin cable connection, but none that only have one 6pin.

Ok, its mainly focused around etherium so the rx 580s are the deal than and im gonna go with a 1600t2 or p2 not decided yet but doesent matter that much...

I still dont know about how do i power the risers the best way and how many can i power per connector or per cable (3 or 4 connectors on it)...

Thank you

 

[XCroAssasinX]

1200w is the minimum you'd require, so I'd recommend 1300w total power at least.
The more I think about it, 1600w isn't really overkill... its more than you need for sure, but having headroom is always nice.

Vram benefits depends on the coin you're mining. The 1060 will perform terribly mining eth, compared to the 580. But the 1060 will generate the same $ mining zcash as the 580 would make mining eth. And vice versa, the 580 is terrible at mining zcash. The difference in the 3gb and 6gb mining zcash is less than 5%.

That's another problem with the rx 580s, they draw disgusting amounts of power at default settings, so they have over the top cable connections. The gtx 1060 has low power draw out of the box, so the cheap 3gb model I referenced to only has 1 6pin cable requirement. They make rx 580 cards that only have one 8pin cable connection, but none that only have one 6pin.

Ok, its mainly focused around etherium so the rx 580s are the deal than and im gonna go with a 1600t2 or p2 not decided yet but doesent matter that much...

I still dont know about how do i power the risers the best way and how many can i power per connector or per cable (3 or 4 connectors on it)...

Thank you

 

[AnonymousAndy]

1200w is the minimum you'd require, so I'd recommend 1300w total power at least.
The more I think about it, 1600w isn't really overkill... its more than you need for sure, but having headroom is always nice.

Vram benefits depends on the coin you're mining. The 1060 will perform terribly mining eth, compared to the 580. But the 1060 will generate the same $ mining zcash as the 580 would make mining eth. And vice versa, the 580 is terrible at mining zcash. The difference in the 3gb and 6gb mining zcash is less than 5%.

That's another problem with the rx 580s, they draw disgusting amounts of power at default settings, so they have over the top cable connections. The gtx 1060 has low power draw out of the box, so the cheap 3gb model I referenced to only has 1 6pin cable requirement. They make rx 580 cards that only have one 8pin cable connection, but none that only have one 6pin.

Ok, its mainly focused around etherium so the rx 580s are the deal than and im gonna go with a 1600t2 or p2 not decided yet but doesent matter that much...

I still dont know about how do i power the risers the best way and how many can i power per connector or per cable (3 or 4 connectors on it)...

Thank you

Ah, forgot that important detail. Whether its molex or SATA, you cannot connect more than 2 risers per string of cable.

But why limit yourself to ethereum?

 

[XCroAssasinX]

Sorry for the dislike wasnt on purpose...

Ita not so much a limitation its more of a focus becouse its just not worth going for 1060s if the main focus will be etherium he will just mine everything else a bit worse...

And for the power so 1 cable from the psu can power 2 raisers and should iconnect my ssd to the same cable or shoukd i run a new one for the ssd?

 

[AnonymousAndy]

Sorry for the dislike wasnt on purpose...

Ita not so much a limitation its more of a focus becouse its just not worth going for 1060s if the main focus will be etherium he will just mine everything else a bit worse...

And for the power so 1 cable from the psu can power 2 raisers and should iconnect my ssd to the same cable or shoukd i run a new one for the ssd?

It can run on the same SATA that's fine.

 

[XCroAssasinX]

Sorry for the dislike wasnt on purpose...

Ita not so much a limitation its more of a focus becouse its just not worth going for 1060s if the main focus will be etherium he will just mine everything else a bit worse...

And for the power so 1 cable from the psu can power 2 raisers and should iconnect my ssd to the same cable or shoukd i run a new one for the ssd?

It can run on the same SATA that's fine.

Ok, great...

Now he got a hold of some more money (lucky guy...) and is thinking of going for 1070s instead.... Now going back to psu the 1070 im looking at is the 1070 EVGA FTW ACX 3.0 which has 2 8 pin powers ... how do i power that shit hahaha i got 9 ports on the psu for graphic cards how can i eaven get 6 cards with 2 separete connectors connected...?

 

[AnonymousAndy]

Why are you choosing these cards? These choices make little sense lol. They're not good values for mining.
This 1070ti for example would perform better, it's cheaper, can use less power and only requires one 8pin connection per card.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137253&cm_re=gtx_1070-_-14-137-253-_-Product