Help building headless rig (HD 7950) Parts?
-
Hey guys,
It looks like a great community here. I hoping some people can give me some advice.
I want to build a headless rig for as cheap as I can, I mean real cheap.
From what I understand a cheap motherboard and cpu are okay, but get a decent GPU (of course) and a decent PSU.
I’m eying the HD 7950 (one or two at first). I’m happy to get a secondhand / open box motherboard. I understand that PCIe 2.0 x16 is okay for PCIe 3.0 cards.
Any recommendations for a good / cheap motherboard which can work with 2-4 GPUs?
How much system RAM is needed 2GB? speed an issue? (I’ll probably run unix via USB to keep it cheap).
PSU 750W would be okay.
As you can see, many questions, so please feel free to throw in any other tips or advice! Many thanks for your help guys.
Cheers,
Matt -
Give this topic a rundown for someone that’s been down this path already:
https://forum.feathercoin.com/index.php/topic,2323.msg18087.html#msg18087
So that the community doesn’t have to say it over and over -check out their recommendations, how my build changed through their suggestions all the way to the final product. Best of luck; let us know if there’s anything not covered in there that you want to know.
-
Many thanks for the reply HopeStillFlies. I’ve just given it a read through and will go through the whole thing in detail soon.
Just one question, how are you guys running so many GPUs from the mobo? What ports do they work with? Not the PCIe x1 I take it, but you can use this to power the cards?
Cheers!
-
You can get away with using the 1x slot with a 1x-16x riser, but powering is another thing entirely. You’ll either need to make or buy powered risers regardless of what slots you use. NutNut has a great sticky on this including a suggested modification to keep power from going back to the board.
-
Many thanks again HopeStillFlies! I wasn’t aware that you could use the 1x slots with the cards. Is there any performance hit, due to the lower bandwidth?
Many thanks for linking the power hack also, very cool.
-
No performance hit. But if you dont want to burn a hole in your cheap motherboard you should definitely use powered risers for all the slots.
-
Great tips guys, many thanks for the help, really appreciate it.
Seems like a great community. :)
-
I also would like to recommend 7970 over 7950…
7950 gives around 650khash
7970 gives around 750khash7970 imo runs alot cooler, at least gigabyte 7970oc vs sapphire 7950oc (both with triple fan design)
we are talking 10-15degrees difference in temp on card.
I have also killed 3 7950 cards (failed fans ::), thanks for the warrant on new purchases!) -
ah bugger, I just earlier pulled the trigger and bought two SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 (with boost 925MHz) dual x fans for $189 each couldn’t resist the price as doing it on a shoestring.
I’ll keep an eye on those fans and temps! lol.
Now, on to finding the rest of my components!
-
[quote name=“mattmct” post=“34254” timestamp=“1384462058”]
ah bugger, I just earlier pulled the trigger and bought two SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 (with boost 925MHz) dual x fans for $189 each couldn’t resist the price as doing it on a shoestring.I’ll keep an eye on those fans and temps! lol.
Now, on to finding the rest of my components!
[/quote]Cost-performance compared to a 7970 for what you have in those sapphires is probably better at the moment, anyway.where’d you get them for that price, though? I’m wanting more.
-
Yeah that’s my thinking.
Ah I thought someone would ask where I got them lol, it’s a great price right now for sure. It includes a $20 mail in rebate.
I ordered from Newegg [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202026]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202026[/url] , but unfortunately they’re now showing as out of stock. I didn’t think they would last long at that price.
Edit: just noticed it’s one $20 rebate per household :/… So I got one for $189.99, and the other for $209.99 I guess. Still happy with that though.
-
Sorry one more question, and my mobo research.
I can use these cards in PCIe slots (2.0 / 3.0), and even PCIe x1 with an adapter? As long as I do the power hack.
But no PCI slots right? (ie, not the express ones)
Cheers!
-
[quote name=“mattmct” post=“34282” timestamp=“1384471402”]
Sorry one more question, and my mobo research.I can use these cards in PCIe slots (2.0 / 3.0), and even PCIe x1 with an adapter? As long as I do the power hack.
But no PCI slots right? (ie, not the express ones)
Cheers!
[/quote]Whatnow express ones?
You can put it in any pci-e slot youd like. that beeing pci-e 16x,8x,4x,1x and disregarding if its 2.0/3.0 version.
You can not use oldschool pci if thats what your asking.If you are going to put 2+ cards in i suggest powered extenders (ive burned a couple of mobo when not using, havent had a single problem after i modded em all)
-
[quote name=“svennand” post=“34285” timestamp=“1384472041”]
[quote author=mattmct link=topic=4388.msg34282#msg34282 date=1384471402]
Sorry one more question, and my mobo research.I can use these cards in PCIe slots (2.0 / 3.0), and even PCIe x1 with an adapter? As long as I do the power hack.
But no PCI slots right? (ie, not the express ones)
Cheers!
[/quote]Whatnow express ones?
You can put it in any pci-e slot youd like. that beeing pci-e 16x,8x,4x,1x and disregarding if its 2.0/3.0 version.
You can not use oldschool pci if thats what your asking.If you are going to put 2+ cards in i suggest powered extenders (ive burned a couple of mobo when not using, havent had a single problem after i modded em all)
[/quote]Perfect, thanks for the confirmation. I’m still impressed that we can use the 1x slots with the adapter. Cheers
-
You can use 8x to pci-e16x risers also. One of these days I’m going to steal the mobo my rig is using and substitute my old computer with it’s three 8x slots. Get to keep my mining hardware and upgrade my computer without having to spend more than the cost of the risers.