Building an Rig park from scratch
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[color=red][i]BUILDING THE RIGS[/i][/color]
Since ive had so many accidents with malfunctioning hardware i decided to start from scratch.
New room, mb,cooling,rack.Though i start a thread from start to finish.
From before i have: 15x7950, 3x7970, 2x6870
I decided to go for a wooden shelf which costed me 25$ and have 5 shelfs with an H/W/D of 171cm,77cm,30cm
Then purchased 3x Gigabyte GA-H61M-HD2 Micro-ATX motherboard which costs 50$ apiece. The reason for this is because this board has one 16x, and two 1x slots.
Since i have 1 800w, 2x 850w psus i desided to build 3 rigs with 3 7950 cards each. The beauty of this mb is that they are SMALL, i can fit 3 mb in one shelf no problem.
Then i have the shelf above for shared psu/hdd space shared between two rig shelfs. This way im not filling the “rig shelf” with to much wiring/extra heat objects and get a good circulation.Also are going to move my heat pump from the other room over to my new room (9m^2 storage room), this heat pump are able to diliver cool air using around 600-900w (WORTH IT).
Will use my normal 420mm fans but have not decided how jet. My main purpose is to create a stable rig system/environment which also wont get overcrowded with stuff.Some starter pics: will update with more pics/info as the process goes on.
[img]http://s9.postimg.org/uu4eqh3in/bilde_1_2.jpg[/img] [img]http://s14.postimg.org/l9i2j19zl/bilde_2_2.jpg[/img]Room has been cleaned and the shelf has found its place (put floor protectors under the shelf so i can easily slide the self out om the floor when performing maintenace)
Also everything like powersockets, watt measurer, ethernet switch,fans and so on will be mounted on the shelf, so i can move the entire rig in one operation.
[img]http://s9.postimg.org/6mjtlxfkf/bilde_1.jpg[/img]Workbench ready for action!
Tips. use artic terman removal an purifier for cleaning cpu before mouting! also i recommend Noctua NT-H1 terman paste, got 5-6degrees cooler prosessor compared to artic silver paste
Also found me som hooks for hanging the psu beneth the shelf, and some spacers for mobo (the spacers where plastic protection threaded on those metal holders for my cd rack 8)), additionaly i used strips (high quality that do not get crisp after a while, and some 25mm wooden screws).
[img]http://s13.postimg.org/qw2y09nnb/bilde_2.jpg[/img][img]http://s10.postimg.org/wf1l8fo4p/bilde_3.jpg[/img]So far so good, not much cablemess from the psu. the mobo cable goes straight to the connectors and so will the gpu cables. the spare (not modular psu) will be tied beneth the shelf out of sight.
[img]http://s11.postimg.org/xk5zhmitv/bilde_4.jpg[/img]Started making those powered extenders (two died before i got the hang of it ::), AND got me a better knife!)
For guide check here: http://forum.feathercoin.com/index.php?topic=2193.msg17347#msg17347 THANKS TO NUTNUT for an excellent guide!
Starting to LOVE those gaps in the shelf excellent for just running the molex power plug underneath, have all the connection for them from psu away from the actual rig! will look smooth when im done.
Also those micro-atx boards are heaven to work with compared to normal ATX board! the board is only 22.6cm x 17.4cm which makes all the cables easy to manage around and away from it=)
[img]http://s23.postimg.org/5a8tun9qz/bilde_1.jpg[/img][img]http://s16.postimg.org/6v5om82w5/bilde_2.jpg[/img]Day2
Installed myself an bathroom fan to remove heat from rom. Fan has capability of removing 98m^3 air/ pr hour
Desided to go for an portable aircondition instead of the heat pump (needed it for someplace else in the house), so the outtake tube from the portable aircon will be mounted on this outtake fan.
This way i get “extra” sucking power on the hose leading the hot air out of the room and to the outside.[img]http://s12.postimg.org/nd9jaw62l/bilde_1.jpg[/img]
First rig up:
Have to say im pretty satisfied as to the cable management and how theres room for air circulation.
PSU and hdd are mounted beneth the shelf. with only the most necessery cables going up in the “mining area”
[img]http://s23.postimg.org/whcjjd5pn/bilde_2.jpg[/img][img]http://s23.postimg.org/r0yh2q1pn/bilde_3.jpg[/img]Also i have found out that i will skip those 420mm fans since they take to much space and cant be mounted on the rack.
Instead i will have several of these which cost under 10$ including shipping, is usb powered (less socket use) and delivers an surprising high airflow. Also there more then enough room to just fill the backside of the cards with these fans
I was really impressed when i bought one at Dreamhack this summer
[img]http://s9.postimg.org/k5jh8ub73/bilde_4.jpg[/img][img]http://s9.postimg.org/4trr8n19r/bilde_4.jpg[/img][color=red]Update[/color]
Its going to be a looooong night
[img]http://s24.postimg.org/59pj8x2x1/bilde_1.jpg[/img][img]http://s10.postimg.org/apgi08vwp/bilde_2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://s17.postimg.org/56ywnvam7/bilde_3.jpg[/img]Note to self:
7.5x7.5x1mm aluminium square tubing just aint strong enough to hold above 7 cards
Look at that beautiful sway of the top shelf ;D
[img]http://s23.postimg.org/gbr2p2cx7/bilde_6.jpg[/img] -
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[i][color=red]Setting up headless linux rigs with cgminer[/color][/i] -
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[i][color=red]Tweaking out some hash![/color][/i] -
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[i][color=red]Extras[/color][/i] -
I cant wait for updates. I love hardware too much…there are so many good rigs over here on the ftc forums.
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My fingers are itching, just have to wait for the arrival of those 10mm square tube aluminium rods for holding those graphic cards in place.
Been thinking on buying 3x GIGABYTE GIGABYTE MK GA-H61MA-D3V (micro-atx with 1x 16x and 3x 1x), 3x Intel G550 Celeron 2.6ghz, 3x 4GB memory sticks.
for my 4x 7950 card rigs, have 2x seasonic x1250 and 1x Enermax Maxrevo 1500wAllready have complete setup for them, but its different mobo, cpu,chipset (amd/intel), ram, would be great to have the same on all of them.
Those other setups i can repurpose to other things. They have alot better cpus to (i7,i3,amd3500) -
You are turning me into a hardware junkie. :)
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[quote name=“justabitoftime” post=“17666” timestamp=“1372196399”]
You are turning me into a hardware junkie. :)
[/quote]hehe isnt it great 8)
Im starting to realise that just invest in proper “new” equipment is the way for me.
All those wasted hours on those old “bought used” gpu cards, and all those different mb/cpu/mem setups also bought used…I just talked myself into ordering that second batch i talked about above… 6 months ago i though that crypto mining was just for a short run.
But now im gambling on long term, as long as the mining covers the electrisity my rigs will be running 24/7 -
[quote name=“d2” post=“17624” timestamp=“1372183026”]
Love seeing these build threads. Thanks for sharing your process, can’t wait for more!
[/quote][quote author=RIPPEDDRAGON link=topic=2246.msg17630#msg17630 date=1372184498]
I cant wait for updates. I love hardware too much…there are so many good rigs over here on the ftc forums.
[/quote]Will update the first posts continouse, calculate that all the rigs will be up and running within the weekend, should have around 11Mhash power. maybe more since ive ordered watercooling for my gaming rig (2x7970), should be able to get som extra hashes from that.
But now it is time for bed! how the hours fly by when ur having fun.
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Work in progress. Doing a reinstall of the first rig now
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Got damnit, having some issues with the rig cuts power/restarts after around 15 seconds mining.
WTF! trowed a kill-o-watt meter on it and measured power drawn at socket at 650-850w (the psu is 850w, but with 0.8 ratio i should pull over 1000w at socket before maxing psu)
Will do some error searching later :(Edit:
removed all the homemade powered pci-e extenders,
and replaced em with new passive ones. now it seems that the rig works.
strange… will investigate further later. -
I couldn’t run more than two 7850’s (+mobo, HD, etc) with a 1200 watt Thermaltake - it also kept cutting out under load. When I upgraded to a 1600 watt CoolMax I was able to run 4 cards without issue (might be able to do 5 - haven’t tried).
TN
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[quote name=“ThirtyNiner” post=“17850” timestamp=“1372274608”]
I couldn’t run more than two 7850’s (+mobo, HD, etc) with a 1200 watt Thermaltake - it also kept cutting out under load. When I upgraded to a 1600 watt CoolMax I was able to run 4 cards without issue (might be able to do 5 - haven’t tried).TN
[/quote]hmm, i have no problem running 3 cards with 850w, and 4 cards with 1250w (seasonic x1250 HIGH quality), and 7 cards with Enermax Maxrevo 1500w (however the mainboard caugh fire, but this was not the psu’s fault=P)
Keep in mind i run em at stock speed, when you start that overclock tweaking the wattusage skyrockets… according to my killowatt reader i now lay between 800-1000w on my 3card rig. which mean either i keep em at stock speed, or i take one card out and only run two card pr psu (silverstone 850w)EDIT:
Btw i think i located the problem earlier, it seems that one of the pci-e 1x mods was faulty as some of the insulation on the single cable had been cut. Been running over an hour dead stable at 530khash pr card and 77degrees. Only powered the 16x - 16x extender -
[quote name=“ThirtyNiner” post=“17850” timestamp=“1372274608”]
I couldn’t run more than two 7850’s (+mobo, HD, etc) with a 1200 watt Thermaltake - it also kept cutting out under load. When I upgraded to a 1600 watt CoolMax I was able to run 4 cards without issue (might be able to do 5 - haven’t tried).TN
[/quote]Sounds like your thermaltake has some real issues=), 1200w dc power is alot and should be NO problem for 4x 7950, or 3x 7970
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Yah, I thought so too. But I’ve read that they can draw upwards of 300 watts/each at high intensities so three cards plus the mobo, HD, etc could Potentially max it at full draw. My 1600’s do the trick quite nicely - but they’re not cheap.
TN
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Keep an eye on the rails. Just cos a psu says 850, 1200, 1500w etc doesn’t mean it will deliver all of that on a single out put. The seasonic x1250 is single rail so should be ok.
Svennand, you may find that powering all risers meant you were pulling too much power on one of the rails and so tripping the ocp.
If the riser was faulty/shorting you wouldn’t even boot much less get 15 seconds.
What’s the make/model of the psu that’s tripping!
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[quote name=“Nutnut” post=“17881” timestamp=“1372280785”]
Keep an eye on the rails. Just cos a psu says 850, 1200, 1500w etc doesn’t mean it will deliver all of that on a single out put. The seasonic x1250 is single rail so should be ok.Svennand, you may find that powering all risers meant you were pulling too much power on one of the rails and so tripping the ocp.
If the riser was faulty/shorting you wouldn’t even boot much less get 15 seconds.
What’s the make/model of the psu that’s tripping!
[/quote]thisone:
http://www.raidsonic.de/en/products/silverpower.php?we_objectID=8546Might be ur right about, they doesnt say anything about it being single rail.
Works like a charm now, at least i have one powered riser, so i should be fine. -
Hmmm. Website seems to imply single rail but this review shows it as quad +12v rail.
http://www.bjorn3d.com/2008/10/silverpower-sp-s850-power-supply/#.Ucv0p_nvuM4 ???
If so, that’s the problem.
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seems to be a “outsourced to china” product delux. everywhere i look
either the packaging/design/psu spec variates. the closest to “my version” is the one
on bjorn3d so most likely its quad rail which would explain it.
also since it only have 4xpcie i need to use some of the molex for adapters.
if its split rails it could be hit or miss scenario…however it works super now. 550khash stock spec, stable and at 77degrees with room temp of 30 degrees (havent gotten aircon jet). will not tweak tough since the psu
are at its watt limit -
Long night ahead
If anyone has set up this: https://forum.litecoin.net/index.php/topic,4092.0.html on a website, pleeeease feel free to pm me=P, been struggling for days now. but only get miner offline.