First LTC rigs - DA BUILD

[Virgule]

Hello,

 

In continuation to my introductory topic http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/85534-first-ltc-rig/ where, thanks to a lot of members of this beautiful community I learned a lot of useful information necessary in building LTC mining rigs, I now present you my build log. I'll update this first post with where I am in building and operating my LTC mining rigs and I hope we'll keep the discussion going down below.

 

12/12/2013

After constructing a few well planned investment and return scenarios, my girlfriend and me finally take the plunge and hit the buy button. We went on a hunt for a few weeks, searching in online outlets (Canadian) for mobos still in stock with matching cpu and ram and psus powerful enough for the multiple gpus that would be mining. We scavenged the local ads of resales of 7970s and 280xs weighing every offer and most of the time being baffled about how much people were asking for them. After a few confirmation clicks and trips around town, we finally placed the orders and have everything we need for two mining rigs.

 

Rig 1 (mine) :

- MSI FM2-A85XA-G43, AMD A4 4000, Gskill RipjawsX 2x4Gb 1333Mhz, 2 Corsair HX850

- Vapor-X 7970, Dual-X 280x, DCUII 280x, DCUII 280x

 

Rig 2 (gf's) :

- MSI FM2-A85XA-G43, AMD A4 4000, Gskill RipjawsX 2x4Gb 1333Mhz, 2 Corsair HX850

- Dual-x 280x, Dual-x 280x, Dual-x 280x, DCUII 280x, DCUII 280x

 

We also found the powered pcie risers and the milk crates.

 

Shipment #1 has arrived

 

The 4 Dual-xs are used (1 week mining 24/7), but are flawless. I bought them at 400$ each. I tested the new psus by shorting the ON signal in the 24pin mobo connector. Fans spin but stop after a few seconds. Seems normal since there's a sticker stating that these are silent psus and that it's normal to have the fans not spin under low load. Risers were hard to find. I only have 1x to 16x ones so far, with extensions. Our 16x to 16x order is on back-order but should ship (express) Tuesday. 

 

We have a few extra ram sticks because of an non cancelled order but we might just end up using them  . We have 2 extra mobos too because we bought the DCUIIs in a bundle with the mobos (great price). This weekend, there's a few more boxes that'll be waiting for me.

[megadarkwood]

Ill have all the extra stuff. (I will pay shipping! )

[Virgule]

Ill have all the extra stuff. (I will pay shipping! )

I have a feeling there won't be any...

[megadarkwood]

I have a feeling there won't be any...

Well you said you had 2 extra motherboards

[Virgule]

Well you said you had 2 extra motherboards

for now

[Tmh85]

Dat cat!

[Virgule]

Dat cat!

Next shipment will showcase the dog.

[megadarkwood]

for now

until you give them to me

[PillowSmoke]

Since you have basically 9 7970 there. And they each produce eh 700 hashes. You would be putting out 6300 hashes which equivalents to about  $61 dollars a day adding in the cost of the power bill which is roughly about $4 dollars. A week $430 at the current difficulty and $1830 a month. Again at the current difficulty.

[PillowSmoke]

It really depends how much money you've invested in those cards and the rig in total.

[EHill]

Keep a eye on those dual x's I had to RMA 5 of them because vrm temps would hover around 100c after 30 min and would pull back the core clocks to cool down. It was not a cooling issue,  I put them in a rig thats been running 7970's sine june with no probs. It seems to be a issue with the rev 2 cards b/c i have 5 day one 280x dual x that run just fine with my 7970 dual x.

[RuecanOnRails]

Very nice. Make sure you visually inspect the PCI extenders, check for solder bridges or other imperfections which may cause a short. Of all the components the pci extenders tend to have the lowest quality checks. If you're really paranoid you can check each individual pin using a multimeter.

[Virgule]

Very nice. Make sure you visually inspect the PCI extenders, check for solder bridges or other imperfections which may cause a short. Of all the components the pci extenders tend to have the lowest quality checks. If you're really paranoid you can check each individual pin using a multimeter.

Visual inspection it is.

[Virgule]

Keep a eye on those dual x's I had to RMA 5 of them because vrm temps would hover around 100c after 30 min and would pull back the core clocks to cool down. It was not a cooling issue, I put them in a rig thats been running 7970's sine june with no probs. It seems to be a issue with the rev 2 cards b/c i have 5 day one 280x dual x that run just fine with my 7970 dual x.

Does hwmonitor show vrm temps?

[FlakeyBanana]

What box did the cat come in ?

[Virgule]

Since you have basically 9 7970 there. And they each produce eh 700 hashes. You would be putting out 6300 hashes which equivalents to about $61 dollars a day adding in the cost of the power bill which is roughly about $4 dollars. A week $430 at the current difficulty and $1830 a month. Again at the current difficulty.

Difficulty should rise by 250 soon but that's approximately how much we will make. Electricity costs practically nothing here.

[Virgule]

What box did the cat come in ?

Ziploc bag.

[PillowSmoke]

Difficulty should rise by 250 soon but that's approximately how much we will make. Electricity costs practically nothing here.

 

really?

[Virgule]

really?

Really

[PillowSmoke]

Really

 

lol kk.

[Virgule]

Keep a eye on those dual x's I had to RMA 5 of them because vrm temps would hover around 100c after 30 min and would pull back the core clocks to cool down. It was not a cooling issue,  I put them in a rig thats been running 7970's sine june with no probs. It seems to be a issue with the rev 2 cards b/c i have 5 day one 280x dual x that run just fine with my 7970 dual x.

Do you think the r9 280x Vapor-x would be affected by that same issue ? I'm looking at offering someone 400$ for one.