Suggestions for a Mining Rig - What Motherboard / Card to use
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Hello
I am going to build a FC mining / video editing rig and would like any suggestions on what motherboard to use.
I was considering an ASUS sabertooth or the crossfire V formula.I would like to place in 3 or 4 7950’s or 7970 cards. I am going to start with one card and see what the performance is before I expand. Also how many watt power supply would I need for 4 cards / cpu? I also see many difference versions of the 7950 and 7970 cards - I guess the difference is the ports? What cards are you using? Any other suggestions are welcome.
Thanks
Sean -
Unless there’s a specific feature you like in one board over the other, in terms of performance they’re both great. I had a Sabertooth and have nothing to complain about. I wanted the Crossfire, but at the time, getting a Sabertooth was cheaper so I just went with that.
As for having 4 cards… unless you plan to use risers you won’t be able to fit all 4 on the mobo with its PCI-e slot layout. You can run all 4 on a 1000w, but I’d go with 1200w to be safe, and 1000w for 3. There’s not too much of a difference. The 7970 has about 100kh/s more than the 7950, but people say the 7950 is better in terms of efficiency per kh/s. But that’s relative to how much profit you’re making. For example, if you’re making $20 a day with 3 7970’s, then it’s worth it. But if you’re only making $5 day, then 7950 is more worth it. Good luck with your build!
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My Rigs have 3 cards with one riser cable for the middle one. I suspend the middle one higher and I can get some descent overclocks.
Good luck :)
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I’ll go for GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514It has 4 pci-e x16 slots and 2 pci-e x1 slots… so it give you the best upgradability at a good price.
Could have a total of 6 cards on one system.
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[quote name=“DynamiteSJ” post=“3178” timestamp=“1368511013”]
I’ll go for GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514It has 4 pci-e x16 slots and 2 pci-e x1 slots… so it give you the best upgradability at a good price.
Could have a total of 6 cards on one system.
[/quote]Great board - i use them. BUT whilst is has 4x 16x PCIe [b]SLOTS[/b] only 2 of them are actually x16 [b]ELECTRICALLY[/b], the other 2 are 4x.
As for the PSU, you can’t/shouldn’t run 4 card on 1000w. My rigs with 4 7970’s pull 1250w at the wall with the cpu idle and the fans low. When it ramps up to full load it’s nearly 1400w (the seasonic x1250 seems to handle it well though).
The argument of 7950 vs 7970… I personally went for the 7970’s as they give a higher hash-rate (mine are 750-760KHs each) and i’m more interested in the quantity of coins i can mine in a given time.
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[quote name=“Nutnut” post=“3269” timestamp=“1368521577”]
[quote author=DynamiteSJ link=topic=455.msg3178#msg3178 date=1368511013]
I’ll go for GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 139.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514It has 4 pci-e x16 slots and 2 pci-e x1 slots… so it give you the best upgradability at a good price.
Could have a total of 6 cards on one system.
[/quote]Great board - i use them. BUT whilst is has 4x 16x PCIe [b]SLOTS[/b] only 2 of them are actually x16 [b]ELECTRICALLY[/b], the other 2 are 4x.
As for the PSU, you can’t/shouldn’t run 4 card on 1000w. My rigs with 4 7970’s pull 1250w at the wall with the cpu idle and the fans low. When it ramps up to full load it’s nearly 1400w (the seasonic x1250 seems to handle it well though).
The argument of 7950 vs 7970… I personally went for the 7970’s as they give a higher hash-rate (mine are 750-760KHs each) and i’m more interested in the quantity of coins i can mine in a given time.
[/quote]Does the 2x & 4x really make a difference, Nut?
I only ask as I use a gigabyte board with 2 x 16 (1 is 8x when the first one is occupied AFAIK) It also has 3 of 1x which I use for another same spec card with a 1x -16x ribbon cable and I have no noticeable difference in hash rate across all 3 x 6950 cards? I would like to use up the 2 of 1x’s the same way you see… -
For mining, it doesn’t make a difference, but he also said e wants to use it for videoediting… There it does make a difference.
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[quote name=“ChristianRiesen” post=“3285” timestamp=“1368523747”]
For mining, it doesn’t make a difference, but he also said e wants to use it for videoediting… There it does make a difference.
[/quote]Arrr pays to read the OP :P, thanks for clearing up for me though! 8)
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[quote name=“UKMark” post=“3287” timestamp=“1368523975”]
[quote author=ChristianRiesen link=topic=455.msg3285#msg3285 date=1368523747]
For mining, it doesn’t make a difference, but he also said e wants to use it for videoediting… There it does make a difference.
[/quote]Arrr pays to read the OP :P, thanks for clearing up for me though! 8)
[/quote]
Np, most people coming here would ONLY want to mine anyways ;)