7950 LiteCoin mining rig

[Theo]

Hello, for some reason ( monay ) i want to get into litecoins/mining them.

So i though of making a second pc just for that with old parts being that my parents will also use( web browsing, emails, bit of youtube, that sort of stuff )

E8400 with either a stock cooler or an evo212 ( dont have it but i could buy one )
Asus P5Q-E
2GB of Ram ( DDR2 obviously )
A 60GB tiny/cheap SSD since the pc would be on all the time
Win7 

A psu that i need to buy ( any suggestions? )

And now also a 7950 which will do all the mining, it wouldnt get bottlenecked by the old cpu for mining right?

From what ive read, the 7950 does around 700kH/s so after a month or so it would become profitable  i think.

Would this setup work, with the old cpu and stuff

[miyabwah]

Bottlenecks are non-existent while litecoin mining. I get the same KHash as everyone else with this card.

So it would work.

[algoat]

I use a crappy single core sempron 140 in one of my rigs and there is no mining bottleneck. For a PSU, get at least a bronze rated one. 500W is fine for a single card, but if you plan to expand then obviously get a higher powered one.

[LonliestofAll]

You won't have any bottlenecks. For a PSU I would suggest the highest 80+ standard you can afford and as close to the amount of watts needed to run that system, as this will be always on and the more efficient the PSU is the less money you have to put out on your power bill.

[Theo]

1- That won't bottleneck that GPU (I know because I've that CPU mining with a 6770 and also for the lulz tried da GTX 770 on it (well with this one a bit of bottleneck...))

2- If you really get 700 KH/s, then benefit would be very high even if it took 1000 W (which is impossible for that )

Any idea how much the 7950 would make? 

I also live in belgium and power is quite expensive ( not toooo much but more than other places )

[RuecanOnRails]

7950's don't always get to 700K/hash and when they do, more often than not you need something more than the stock cooler. A more likely scenario for 7950 is around 630 K/hash.

 

A 7950 also runs with a very high intensity, which renders the computer completely unusable while mining. You could tell your parents to shut down the miner when they want to use the computer. Then creates a schedule which runs every 10 minutes to check if A) the computer has been idle for 5 - 10 minutes. B)The miner is offline. If it returns a true value for both, have it automatically launch the miner. You don't want it to run accidentally while someone is using the computer so you need to make sure the idle time is set long enough.

 

With the above in mind, you can puck up a 7970/280x which are the same card and can run at 730 K/hash. They run at a much lower intensity allowing the computer to be used such as browsing, emails, simple productivity tasks, and watching youtube videos. (full screen hd youtube will experience slight stutter)

 

You can look up both cards here, https://litecoin.info/Mining_Hardware_Comparison The intensity value is what you should look for, it's represented in the config by -i 13 for 7970/280 and -i 18 - 20 for many other cards.

[Theo]

7950's don't always get to 700K/hash and when they do, more often than not you need something more than the stock cooler. A more likely scenario for 7950 is around 630 K/hash.

 

A 7950 also runs with a very high intensity, which renders the computer completely unusable while mining. You could tell your parents to shut down the miner when they want to use the computer. Then creates a schedule which runs every 10 minutes to check if A) the computer has been idle for 5 - 10 minutes. B)The miner is offline. If it returns a true value for both, have it automatically launch the miner. You don't want it to run accidentally while someone is using the computer so you need to make sure the idle time is set long enough.

 

With the above in mind, you can puck up a 7970/280x which are the same card and can run at 730 K/hash. They run at a much lower intensity allowing the computer to be used such as browsing, emails, simple productivity tasks, and watching youtube videos. (full screen hd youtube will experience slight stutter)

 

You can look up both cards here, https://litecoin.info/Mining_Hardware_Comparison The intensity value is what you should look for, it's represented in the config by -i 13 for 7970/280 and -i 18 - 20 for many other cards.

Yeah i was wondering about that, thanks.

Is it possible to use a GT 450 in the system as well? so that the pc isnt too slow ( i already own it so no extra cost ) 

As for the cooler its the Double D so im guessing itll OC a bit and stuff 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008LTJPKS/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=13B55G8A9J8HG5Q4NKRB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=430153987&pf_rd_i=468294

[RuecanOnRails]

Any idea how much the 7950 would make? 

I also live in belgium and power is quite expensive ( not toooo much but more than other places )

 

https://www.litecoinpool.org/calc?hashrate=630&difficulty=1964.83427079&power=&energycost=0.10&currency=USD

 

Enter your power costs, and estimated power consumption. Keep in mind the difficulty and price constantly change. With the recent interest in mining and GPU's being sold out in many places it's no doubt that the difficulty will continue to rise. I'd also predict a small bump in AMD's stock  

[Theo]

You can... but I don't think GT450's hashrate is high

Nah not to mine, just to have it in the system as video output, so that the 7950 can mine without causing the pc to be slow, just mining in the backround

[RuecanOnRails]

Yeah i was wondering about that, thanks.

Is it possible to use a GT 450 in the system as well? so that the pc isnt too slow ( i already own it so no extra cost ) 

As for the cooler its the Double D so im guessing itll OC a bit and stuff 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008LTJPKS/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=13B55G8A9J8HG5Q4NKRB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=430153987&pf_rd_i=468294

 

Do not get that GPU. The cooler is not good for mining. It has a heatpipe which crosses over a capacitor, so close that while mining and temps stay consistently high, it can cook cause the cap to pop. For general use the cooler works great but I don't recommend for mining. XFX's warranty and RMA is top notch so getting it replaced isn't a problem, just time consuming.

 

Yes you can run a second card that doesn't mine for the primary display. Expect the Nvidia drivers to get mad at you when it sees an AMD card, but it shouldn't cause any issues.

[Theo]

Do not get that GPU. The cooler is not good for mining. It has a heatpipe which crosses over a capacitor, so close that while mining and temps stay consistently high, it can cook cause the cap to pop. For general use the cooler works great but I don't recommend for mining. XFX's warranty and RMA is top notch so getting it replaced isn't a problem, just time consuming.

 

Yes you can run a second card that doesn't mine for the primary display. Expect the Nvidia drivers to get mad at you when it sees an AMD card, but it shouldn't cause any issues.

Thats interesting, however its the cheapest one i could find, dno what the average price for them is ( well i have an idea okay ) but 210euro seems pretty cheap for it 

[Theo]

oh, I suppose then that you don't have iGPU...

But that will take a bit more power

PS: You mean GTS 450?

Yeah itll be higher i know, and yes that card, and no the e8400 doesnt have an integrated gpu, SOCKET 775!

[Theo]

one more question ( since im just thinking of starting )

Is it still profitable? with one 7950?