Cybenetics Announces New Program to Identify Best PSUs for Mining

[btarunr]

Mining is highly popular lately (again) thanks to Ethereum and besides suitable GPUs you will also need the proper power supply (PSU) for the job. The PSU has to be highly efficient, in order to keep the electricity cost as low as possible, and reliable as well since it will have to operate 24/7 under highly stressful conditions. For mining purposes, the PSU's noise isn't among the top priorities since most crypto-currency farming facilities operate in dedicated spaces where the operators don't have to stay long; even home miners should install their mining systems in isolated rooms, where noise won't be a problem. As a matter of fact, in PSUs used for mining purposes the fan is expected to operate close to its full speed most of the time, given the high load output, effectively cooling down sensitive components. This way the PSU's reliability is dramatically improved.

Our purpose for this program isn't to torture test each and every PSU that a manufacturer sends for certification since we already do this in our 10-110% load tests (part of the ETA Certification) during which we overload the PSU with the ambient temperature exceeding 45°C, but mostly to examine closely its components in order to find out whether it will survive on the (very) long run. For example, a PSU with a bulk cap which is rated at 85°C will have a significantly shorter lifetime compared to a PSU with a 105°C rated bulk cap under hard operating conditions. The same applies to the filtering capacitors on the secondary side. A PSU that uses low quality filtering capacitors with 1-3,000 hours lifetime under 105°C won't last as long as a PSU that uses 6-10,000 hours caps rated at the same temperature. Another important factor is the cooling fan, since if the fan breaks down then the PSU will most likely follow immediately, especially if it doesn't have Over Temperature Protection.

In order to provide a Mining Ready certification, we expect a PSU to meet all of the demands listed below.

• 750W or higher capacity.
• ETA-B and higher efficiency certification.
• Lower than 50mV ripple at +12V under full load at increased operating temperatures (>45°C).
• Quality Fan (sleeve-bearing and rifle-bearing fans are automatically excluded).
• Two EPS connectors.
• At least four 6+2 pin PCIe connectors on dedicated cables. In case a cable hosts two PCIe connectors, it needs to have 16AWG gauges up to the first connector for the six out of the eight pins at least. For PSUs with over 1kW capacity the number of minimum PCIe connectors is eight and for PSUs with over 1.4kW capacity the minimum is ten.
• At least four 4-pin Molex connectors on more than two cables in 1kW and stronger PSUs and six 4-pin Molex connectors in three cables for 1.4kW and higher wattage PSUs.
• All peripheral cables should use 18AWG wires minimum.
• AC power cord with up to 14AWG wires and C19 coupler for 1.4kW and stronger PSUs. For all the rest 16AWG is required.
• The essential protection features (SCP, OPP) including Over Temperature Protection.
• Over 18ms hold-up time and an accurate power ok signal.
• Complete EMI filtering stage (minimum components: 4x Y caps, 2x X caps, two CM chokes, an MOV) along with inrush current protection (thermistor and bypass relay).
• Impeccable build quality including quality MOSFETs, high quality bulk and filtering capacitors (105°C and the majority of filtering caps on the secondary side much have higher than 4,000 hours lifetime). The extended use of polymer caps on the secondary side is preferred.

For more information, please visit this page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Chaitanya]

I remember watching gamers nexus video on mining and those guys mentioned thanks to mining all of a sudden demand for 1000W + PSU has increased(thanks for lack of support of multi GPU and more efficient GPUs atleast in gaming market those higher wattage PSU arent particularly in high demand).

 

[Readlight]

just resolder these 10 year old capacitors in FSP and it will be as new for some other uses.

 

[Ubersonic]

We identified the best ones years ago. Surplus Dell/HP rackmount ones plus a breakout card/cables, ~£25-30 per 1000w of gold or higher rated PSU.

It's only the dreamers/bandwagon jumpers who have no idea what they are doing that are wasting money buying out all the high capacity consumer PSUs, just like they waste money paying GTX1070 prices for used AMD GPUs that don't mine as well as a GTX1070 lol.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Definitely higher standards then what you find in budget oriented PSUs.

 

[RejZoR]

Isn't mining a disposable thing? Buy cheapest capable stuff, abuse it for coins and then sell it just to get rid of it. It would be a bit insane to buy most capable cards with best coolers and stuff because they in the end mine the same amount, but they can cost a lot more in beginning.

For PSU's, buy cheap one, mod it for fan to work at 100% at all times and any will be fine imo.

 

[cdawall]

Isn't mining a disposable thing? Buy cheapest capable stuff, abuse it for coins and then sell it just to get rid of it. It would be a bit insane to buy most capable cards with best coolers and stuff because they in the end mine the same amount, but they can cost a lot more in beginning.

For PSU's, buy cheap one, mod it for fan to work at 100% at all times and any will be fine imo.

Not true at all. One good psu that doesn't fry your shit is the starting point. Mining is typically all 12v so the units have to be capable of crossloads well outside of normal usage not to mention efficiency is money in the bank most use gold or higher rated units for obvious reasons.

I have one platinum and rest are old school bronze units built on a server based enhance platform.

 

[mtcn77]

We identified the best ones years ago. Surplus Dell/HP rackmount ones plus a breakout card/cables, ~£25-30 per 1000w of gold or higher rated PSU.

It's only the dreamers/bandwagon jumpers who have no idea what they are doing that are wasting money buying out all the high capacity consumer PSUs, just like they waste money paying GTX1070 prices for used AMD GPUs that don't mine as well as a GTX1070 lol.

This is gold. I cannot wait to see the salt hit the pavement.

 

[hat]

Isn't mining a disposable thing? Buy cheapest capable stuff, abuse it for coins and then sell it just to get rid of it. It would be a bit insane to buy most capable cards with best coolers and stuff because they in the end mine the same amount, but they can cost a lot more in beginning.

For PSU's, buy cheap one, mod it for fan to work at 100% at all times and any will be fine imo.

No. For one, mining is one of the most power supply intensive applications ever. You don't want a crappy power supply powering all that hardware. Anybody here who knows anything would tell you the power supply is the backbone of your computer, and if you want a quality system to never skimp on the power supply. That can only be stressed even more when it comes to mining, since load on the power supply is going to be quite high. Secondly, when it comes to the cards, you may want to invest a little more in the more capable cards (cooling wise anyway) for the same reasons as you would want a capable power supply. You don't want your stuff to break, you want it to be reliable. Cooler running hardware is going to be more reliable than hardware that runs hot. Lastly, you may skimp on the processor, RAM, and hard drive when building a mining rig because the performance requirements just aren't there. Good processors and RAM don't help mining at all, and neither does a fast hard drive (or SSD). That's why so many mining rigs are armed to the teeth with powerful graphics cards and power supplies but held together by crappy processors and RAM. All the processing happens on the graphics cards, and the power supply needs to be reliable. The processor and memory are only there because you can't build a computer without them.