GPU power consumption calculation
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Howdy!
I’m planning to build an open rig to devote entirely to FTCs and I’m now in the planning stage so I need some info from more experienced people. Fist of all this is what I am planning to use:
1x R9-270 (website declares a 500W requirement)
1x R9-280 (750W requirement)
with these two I can achieve about 1.1 MH/s if LTC data is correct (correct me if I’m wrong).
Now, for the power consumption: I already have a 500W PSU (I got scammed on alibaba for an ASIC miner so I’m not using it) and I was planning to buy a 750W one. Looking around on the net I found that the cards should use 200 and 250 W respctively. Do I really need the 750 W or I can manage to get everyhing running on th 500W PSU (200 + 250 + 50W for the rest) ???
Again, calculating the costs: until now I was mining for free at my uni but I am about to finish so I need to mine with this rig at home. Calculating:
(Power)*(Mining time)*(cost for kwh)=Total cost —> (500/1000)*(24*365)*30=131,400 Y
If this is true I have to prepare to pay 1283 USD per year only for electricity!!
IS this reasonable? Or am I completely wrong? I hope it’s the second option of the two… 1283 USD for mining at 1. MH/s looks highly unprofitable. And the fuc*ing Kepco is going to rise (+2%) the price starting from April… as if 0.3USD/kwh were not expensive enough
Help would be really appreciated, thanks in advance!
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yes, your cost calculation seems to be in the right dimension at least.
regarding the power consumption, you need to use the worst case for your calculation, if you tune the card to maximum hashrates.
If you prefer to go for a smaller power supply, you can reduce the intensity of hashing and reduce the hashrate. this also reduces the power consumption of the card.
If hardware cost is important for you, you also should calculate what it would cost you to run on a 500 W power supply and it burns out.
The result may be a burned GPU in addition to the replacement of the powersupply.
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Wellenreiter,
so at least I calculated good… it is quite a scary number for getting a bare 1.1 Mh/s.
As for the PSU, should I interpret that 500W is too tightly fit for being conservative, right? So, maybe it can be better to but the 750W one, use it for both cards and use the 500W for the mobo and accessories…?
It looks like I can make the rig with 780 USD so the first year is going to be in loss… and if difficulty rises it is going to be even worst.
Maybe I should think about it alittle more.
For the others, please keep going with the suggestions as they are always wellcome!
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Well, you should count the fun and the hope in the equation ;)
The fun to build the rig and the fun to mine and tune the gpu and mine and tune and mine and tune…
The hope, that the exchange rate rises to 10$+ and all invest is payed back within month :D
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Not sure I understand the question fully but…
I think your planning on putting 2 cards in a rig?
1x R9-270
1x R9-280
I’ve not messed with a 270 yet, but the 280x Toxics I have messed with a lot… I’m now running 14 of them and have some more on their way to me when the stock is sorted!
Take a look here https://forum.feathercoin.com/index.php?/topic/6242-280x-toxic-under-volt/ the table is messed up after the forum move, and I really don’t have time to fix it yet but I had a single 280x Toxic undervolted to 1.075v pulling only 302w at the wall pushing 750Kh/s. The at the wall figure includes MoBo, CPU, Fan, etc
When I ran 2 cards, same settings, double the hash rate the wall figure went to 564w
I guess I’m saying don’t read to much into the published figures for these things!
UM
(will get time to write up all the mining notes I have one day)
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uncle_muddy, great thread you have over there! Thx for addressing.
Calculating from your “at the wall” figures in single and double configuration, I may say that the values reported in that file are more or less correct (a little underestimated). Undervolting should lower the power consumption if I’m not mistaken so those numbers are probably “quite” underestimated.
Couple questions:
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Does undervolting also affects the sharerate?
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And the OS?
I ask this as I only have Linux first hand experience and the 6790 I am mining with now only achieves the 70% of what it is reported “in literature”. I know: don’t take for granted the data on the net, but this is way more than a small error. I think Linux drivers are slower than Win drivers. Should I put aside my pride and install windows on the rig?
I will study the undervolting thing, thx for the good info!
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uncle_muddy, great thread you have over there! Thx for addressing.
- Does undervolting also affects the sharerate?
Thanks, like I said one day I will tidy it back up again, and finish it off
I have not noticed any difference in share rate to be honest, I kept pushing as low as possible on the voltage till I got hardware errors then stopped and went back up a little 0.001v at a time till the errors dropped off again. Both hash and share rate didn’t seam to be effected when doing it this way.
- And the OS?
As always BAMT, based on a Linux distro with all the other bits you need/want more info here
Should I put aside my pride and install windows on the rig?
Don’t do it!! it’s costly and totally unnecessary, just thing how much that HDD is costing to purchase, then some power to run it, oh and the SATA controller on the MoBo, plus the windows license key!!
Well I might be exaggerating a little, but every little helps to maintain the ROI of theses things :)
I will study the undervolting thing, thx for the good info!
No problems, give me a shout if you need anything else
UM
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I ask this as I only have Linux first hand experience and the 6790 I am mining with now only achieves the 70% of what it is reported “in literature”. I know: don’t take for granted the data on the net, but this is way more than a small error. I think Linux drivers are slower than Win drivers. Should I put aside my pride and install windows on the rig?
Stay with Linux,and don’t go for Windows. All mining tools are compiled for Linux and then ported to Windows, so with Linux you are on the right side.
If you are mining at 70% of the rates some people report, you may want to fine tune your setup.
A good guide is in the bfgminer repo in Github. You can apply the procedure also if you use cgminer as the parameter are more or less identical.
Here is a link:
https://github.com/luke-jr/bfgminer/blob/bfgminer/README.scrypt
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As always BAMT, based on a Linux distro with all the other bits you need/want more info here
Perfect, I should give it a try!
And the fact that it comes already brewed with the drivers is really handy. I’m a freak when it comes to compiling and so on so I was always going the hard way!!Don’t do it!! it’s costly and totally unnecessary, just thing how much that HDD is costing to purchase, then some power to run it, oh and the SATA controller on the MoBo, plus the windows license key!!
Well I might be exaggerating a little, but every little helps to maintain the ROI of theses things :)
Good to know! I didn’t have any will to change. The last time I used Windows was back in the days of Win 2k pro… never even had a Win XP.
Here is a link:
https://github.com/luke-jr/bfgminer/blob/bfgminer/README.scrypt
I followed that guide and I found that my card does not support the parameters of other similar cards. I thought it was a driver related issue but it is probably more likely that it is a physical limit of my card. Hence the need of a proper mining rig!
Thx anyway for the info!
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I disagree with going for LInux, especially if you are new to mining. Microsoft has more driver support and more applications available.
Then only if you want to save money with multiple rigs go for Linux, IMHO…
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I disagree with going for LInux, especially if you are new to mining. Microsoft has more driver support and more applications available.
Then only if you want to save money with multiple rigs go for Linux, IMHO…
Thx for the suggestion but, believe me, it is harder for me to move to Windows than the reverse! Hehehe
I’ve been also mining for a while with an old card so I am just looking for info for the proper hw upgrade.
Regarding the drivers and compatibilty I know that windows is ahead… even if it costs me to admit that! ;) That’s basicly the reason why I asked UM if the OS could affect performances. If that’s not the case, then… I’ll go for Linux which I am more familiar with.
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The craziest hash rates I’ve seen are with Linux setups, but I think that’s because all the hardcore miners use Linux. I’m building my 10th rig soon, it’s been more expensive having a HDD and paying for Windows 8.1, but my one attempt at using BAMT didn’t go down well, so I’m sticking with dancing with the devil for now.
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my one attempt at using BAMT didn’t go down well, so I’m sticking with dancing with the devil for now.
I always felt that Linux drivers were a little slow when compared with win drivers but maybe that’s an old issue. However, Linux is a very nasty thing to use, especially with tailor made hardware. The HW compatibility is really increased nowadays but I still have to try the BAMT so I cannot say if that’s the case.
Another issue that came up to my mind:
What’s the difference between the 280X Dual X and the 280x Toxic? On the manufacturer site the specs are exactly the same except that the latter seems to have improved cooling, however, there are 100$ of price difference!!
Any clue?
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Extra 70 kh/s with the Toxic. I’ve heard you can take it to 800 kh/s where the base model Sapphire’s hover around the 730 kh/s mark…
And they look damn sexy…
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What he says… without an undervolt I can get mine stable at just over 800Kh/s but…
They sound like a jet taking off!!!
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Thx all for the info!
I’m starting to plan for a double 280x arrangement but still cannot decide whether to buy the toxic or the dual X… 200USD for a 140 kh/s difference is quite a major issue.
Whith difficulty skyrocketing like the past couple days those shares may be the difference between profitability and loss… Have to think about it a little!
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They sound like a jet taking off!!!
I have a server (rack mount) screaming in my kitchen and my beloved one never loses a chance to make me notice how “nice” its voice is. Put the 280Xs in the same room and she’s going to kill me! :D
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UM I’m cancelling my 280x order based on what you said, gonna stick with the 270x.
I put a crate of 3 x 290x Sapphire’s together today and my ears are still ringing… I cant take any more noise in the warehouse…
