Crypto-Hobo Builds a Rig

This will be a more technical post than I am accustomed to writing. I aim to be informative. This can give you a starting reference for building a rig you've been thinking about, or give you an idea of what you might be getting yourself into if you do pull the trigger. This is not a guide. More of a benchmark, and a view from someone who knew just enough to get started. @darth-azrael Ask and you shall receive.

Thoughts

• This rig can also game. I set up some of my batch files to exclude one of the graphics cards, which means this is a dual purpose investment: you can game and stream from it (at the same time).

• Be prepared to do stuff on a computer you've never done before. For me, that meant flashing the bios of a graphics card, and mounting it using a riser card and zip ties.

• From the time of ordering parts to writing this article was over 3 weeks, after 1 week of picking out those parts. I spent many hours researching, configuring, building, and troubleshooting. This is an easy investment, but not at first.

Parts

• MOBO: ASUS PRIME Z270-P - Chose this when it was cheap at 100 because I could expand to 6 GPUs. Supports crossfire, but not SLI; consider this when deciding how much game you want out of this thing, and choose a motherboard accordingly.

• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 80+ PLATINUM, 1000W Fully Modular - Excellent efficiency for the long haul. Platinum pays for its own upgrade quickly. I probably wont get a full 6 cards running on 1000w, but I wanted something trusty, stable, and strong.

• GPUs: 2x EVGA GTX 1070 8gb, 1x AMD rx580 ARMOR OC 8g - For now >:). I'll quickly say that, I got decent prices on these considering current market, and I did so by getting up early and going to computer stores, and by stupid luck. Keep at it.
  

• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 2666 DDR4 White LED - I wanted light up RAM for fun. If you find cheaper, go cheaper. Consider going DDR3 instead, but you'll have to switch out the MOBO.

• SSD: Crucial MX300 525GB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive - It does the trick. I can fit some games and its fast.
  Hooked it on the back, out of the way. This case is legit.

• CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 LGA 1151 7th Gen - This is just a solid processor that I've used in multiple rigs and never had a single problem. Most guides will tell you that processor doesn't matter when mining, but I found that isn't entirely true. If you plan on using auto-switching, which maximizes profits by benchmarking your computer and finding the most lucrative coin, spring the extra bit for at least the i-5. This is a major choice as far as game performance goes, too.

• CASE: Thermaltake Core X71 Tempered Glass Edition SPCC ATX Full Tower - Yea, I could have built a wooden frame and all that. But I have asshole cats, and I'm allergic to drills. Sturdy, dependable, well-made.
  

• RISER CARD: PCIe 6-Pin PCI-E 16x to 1x Powered Riser Adapter Card w/ 60cm USB 3.0 Extension Cable & 6-Pin PCI-E to SATA Power Cable - I won't take the time to explain these. Suffice to say that when you need these, this is the kind you need. This is how I connect my AMD-step-child card.

Stats

Full benchmark is at the bottom. For the sake of cleaning up the look of this post, I'll give you the basic rundown.

Check out www. whattomine.com for overclock settings, because I'm using recommended, except on the gtx1070 I game on; that is clocked up only slightly to enable stability. Saving profiles and switching between them on your overclock software is a good way to go between gaming and mining.

• NVIDIA GTX 1070 (per card)
  
  Ethash: 28mh/s
  Equihash: 454mh/s
  Lyra2RE2: 37 mh/s
  Neoscrypt: 1.04 mh/s
  
• AMD RX580 ARMOR OC
  
  Ethash: 30mh/s
  Equihash: 295h/s
  

Riser card stabilizes the GPU against the back, zip-ties hold it steady against the top.

Average profitability at current market values, using auto-switching, counting electricity: 12USD, .001BTC /day.

This has been an awesome project. I'd love to help build a mining satellite in space one day. Read a little about that, sounds crazy. Into it.

Troubleshooting

• The RX 580 took a lot of effort to get up to expectations. Out of the box it got 16mh/s. 30 is doable. Real quick, I will mention this, so that it's out there; to squeeze this out of the 580 requires a modded bios, updated drivers set to "computation" mode instead of "graphical output", and overclocking to the stats listed on whattomine. These 3 things should get you there. Do them one at a time, and test to see results. That way, you know which part isn't right. I had to try 3 different drivers and 7 different BIOS roms before I hit that elusive 30. Overclock last for ease of stability.

• The mining industry is moving faster than it's web editors can keep up. Most mining articles are dated. Check the dates before proceeding.

• The graphics card market is garbage right now. Waiting outside of stores for them to open, and buying second-hand are some of the best ways to score good prices on cards right now. Avoid second-hand cards from other miners because warranties are often voided, and fans are often loose. Aim for gamers selling to upgrade.

Special Note

I will happily offer advice to anyone seeking it. I don't know a lot, but I might know where to look. I also do batch files if you get stumped. Vote and follow if you dig it. Thanks for your time.

Benchmark below, using Multipoolminer.

Type: NVIDIA

Miner Algorithm Speed BTC/Day Accuracy BTC/GH/Day Pool

---

Dstm Equihash 910.06 H/s 0.00076 91% 836.76170 MiningPoolHub-Zclassic
Ewbf Equihash 833.03 H/s 0.00070 91% 836.76170 MiningPoolHub-Zclassic
ExcavatorNvidia1 Equihash 825.12 H/s 0.00069 91% 836.76170 MiningPoolHub-Zclassic
ExcavatorNvidia2 Equihash 821.46 H/s 0.00069 91% 836.76170 MiningPoolHub-Zclassic
ClaymoreNvidiaSia40 {Ethash, SiaClaymore} {56.36 MH/s, 751.48 MH/s} {0.00056, 0.00005} {99%, 96%} {0.00989, 0.00006} {MiningPoolHub-Ethereum, MiningPoolHub-Siacoin}
ClaymoreNvidiaSia30 {Ethash, SiaClaymore} {56.81 MH/s, 568.13 MH/s} {0.00056, 0.00004} {99%, 96%} {0.00989, 0.00006} {MiningPoolHub-Ethereum, MiningPoolHub-Siacoin}
CcminerKlaust NeoScrypt 2.10 MH/s 0.00060 74% 0.28424 MiningPoolHub-Feathercoin
ExcavatorNvidia2 Lyra2RE2 75.63 MH/s 0.00060 83% 0.00787 MiningPoolHub-Vertcoin
ClaymoreNvidiaSia20 {Ethash, SiaClaymore} {56.87 MH/s, 379.16 MH/s} {0.00056, 0.00002} {99%, 96%} {0.00989, 0.00006} {MiningPoolHub-Ethereum, MiningPoolHub-Siacoin}
EthminerNvidia Ethash 57.39 MH/s 0.00057 99% 0.00989 MiningPoolHub-Ethereum
ClaymoreNvidia Ethash 57.29 MH/s 0.00057 99% 0.00989 MiningPoolHub-Ethereum
ExcavatorNvidia1 Lyra2RE2 70.92 MH/s 0.00056 83% 0.00787 MiningPoolHub-Vertcoin
CcminerLyra2RE2 Lyra2RE2 69.28 MH/s 0.00055 83% 0.00787 MiningPoolHub-Vertcoin
ExcavatorNvidia1 Ethash 53.31 MH/s 0.00053 99% 0.00989 MiningPoolHub-Ethereum
ExcavatorNvidia2 Ethash 51.22 MH/s 0.00051 99% 0.00989 MiningPoolHub-Ethereum
ExcavatorNvidia1 NeoScrypt 1.72 MH/s 0.00049 74% 0.28424 MiningPoolHub-Feathercoin
CcminerKlaust Groestl 72.31 MH/s 0.00022 80% 0.00306 MiningPoolHub-Groestlcoin

Type: {AMD, NVIDIA}

Miner Algorithm Speed BTC/Day Accuracy BTC/GH/Day Pool

---

Prospector Ethash 78.89 MH/s 0.00078 99% 0.00989 MiningPoolHub-Ethereum
Excavator2 Equihash 842.00 H/s 0.00070 91% 836.76170 MiningPoolHub-Zclassic
Excavator1 Equihash 839.00 H/s 0.00070 91% 836.76170 MiningPoolHub-Zclassic
Excavator1 Ethash 53.50 MH/s 0.00053 99% 0.00989 MiningPoolHub-Ethereum
Excavator2 Ethash 51.03 MH/s 0.00050 99% 0.00989 MiningPoolHub-Ethereum

Type: AMD

Miner Algorithm Speed BTC/Day Accuracy BTC/GH/Day Pool

---

ClaymoreAmd Ethash 29.88 MH/s 0.00030 99% 0.00989 MiningPoolHub-Ethereum
ClaymoreAmdSia20 {Ethash, SiaClaymore} {23.45 MH/s, 469.00 MH/s} {0.00023, 0.00003} {99%, 96%} {0.00989, 0.00006} {MiningPoolHub-Ethereum, MiningPoolHub-Siacoin}
EthminerAmd Ethash 25.39 MH/s 0.00025 99% 0.00989 MiningPoolHub-Ethereum
ClaymoreAmd Equihash 295.00 H/s 0.00025 91% 836.76170 MiningPoolHub-Zclassic
ClaymoreAmdSia30 {Ethash, SiaClaymore} {18.88 MH/s, 566.35 MH/s} {0.00019, 0.00004} {99%, 96%} {0.00989, 0.00006} {MiningPoolHub-Ethereum, MiningPoolHub-Siacoin}
ClaymoreAmdSia40 {Ethash, SiaClaymore} {15.90 MH/s, 636.14 MH/s} {0.00016, 0.00004} {99%, 96%} {0.00989, 0.00006} {MiningPoolHub-Ethereum, MiningPoolHub-Siacoin}
Sgminer Lyra2RE2 11.44 MH/s 0.00009 83% 0.00787 MiningPoolHub-Vertcoin
Sgminer Groestl 20.18 MH/s 0.00006 80% 0.00306 MiningPoolHub-Groestlcoin