Upgrading server for Litecoin mining

[MikkoP]

We have a server machine built a few years back, which M4A89TD Pro motherboard by Asus, AMD Phenom II 955 processor and 12 gigs of DDR3 memory. I'm not 100 % sure now, but I think the is a 450 watt power supply by Nexus.

 

The machine is running Windows Server 2012. Am I able to add one (or two with a better PSU) R9 290 from XFX into the system and use cgminer to mine Litecoins?

[kizoku_95]

If the motherboard supports it then you should be good to go! You may have to change the PSU for sure.

And just load in Linux and go on from there.

[MikkoP]

Well, my motherboard has 2 16x PCIe 2.0 and one 4x and one 1x slot. I'd be able to put four in there. If I understood correctly, mining doesn't require high bandwidth because the work is done on the GPU and results are only sent to the CPU? So, when an algorithm is got, it processes it, let's say 5 minutes and the gives information back to the CPU -> little bandwidth needed.

 

When it comes to the OS, no, I'm not changing that. Like I said, it's a server and I use the features it has. Changing that would be a pain in the ass.

 

And the PSU. For a single GPU solution too?

[Giggitygoebbels]

Well, my motherboard has 2 16x PCIe 2.0 and one 4x and one 1x slot. I'd be able to put four in there. If I understood correctly, mining doesn't require high bandwidth because the work is done on the GPU and results are only sent to the CPU? So, when an algorithm is got, it processes it, let's say 5 minutes and the gives information back to the CPU -> little bandwidth needed.

 

When it comes to the OS, no, I'm not changing that. Like I said, it's a server and I use the features it has. Changing that would be a pain in the ass.

 

And the PSU. For a single GPU solution too?

The psu can only power a single card.

[Freaky_spider]

get 7950 280x if you can, they are the best price/performance for mining

[RuecanOnRails]

The machine is running Windows Server 2012. Am I able to add one (or two with a better PSU) R9 290 from XFX into the system and use cgminer to mine Litecoins?

 

You can certainly mine on a server. Using risers you can populate all* the PCI slots, they don't need to be 16x to mine. 1x works the same.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xpci+1x+to+16x&_nkw=pci+1x+to+16x&_sacat=0&_from=R40

 

*Some motherboards automatically disable one or more pci slots of an adjacent one is used. Read the manual to see which pci slots can be used at the same time.