Editorial Confessions of a Crypto Miner: The Setup

[silkstone]

quick lazy question:
What is currently the best coin to mine with an nVidia card? Ex: 1080 gtx

Thank you.

https://whattomine.com

 

[trog100]

My miner doesn't feel like it heats anything at all, honestly. The garage in which it sits is as bone-chilling cold as ever. I don't think I'm even burning 400W.

my 8 x 1070 rig is outside in my caravan.. it pulls about 1000 watts from the wall and does act very similar to a 1000 watt fan heater.. the caravan is quit toasty..

and crypto has moved out of the down phase and back on its way to where it should be.. nvidia cards do quite well on eth or zec..

trog

 

[moproblems99]

This! All day long.

You can talk about the damage/threat to the gaming industry, real or imagined, all day long but it's pathetic compared to the ACTUAL threat to the climate. At a time when we should all be looking to reduce our consumption to help make renewables viable we instead have people out there running rigs of, literally, hundreds of GPUs chewing through electricity. To them the increase in their electricity bill is offset by their potential gains but intentionally, or by ignorance, they are in essence screwing over the environment.

I realise you could transpose this onto many aspects of modern life, for example gas guzzling sports cars and oversized trucks, and I'm not saying Cypto mining is the worst offender, but it's a new trend in an age where we should know better.

Personally, I think humanity is on a downward trend and does not need to worry about the damage climate change will do. We have more pressing matters that will make us wish we were only dealing with climate change.

 

[EatingDirt]

Personally, I think humanity is on a downward trend and does not need to worry about the damage climate change will do. We have more pressing matters that will make us wish we were only dealing with climate change.

You mean the downward trend of burning massive amounts of non-renewable resources to do absolutely nothing? Because that's what mining is.

It's not even about climate change, it's the waste of limited resources that adds absolutely no value to... anything.

If the mining was making calculations furthering science with all the power of these PC's, that's another thing altogether.. but it's not. It's a useless drain on limited resources, that's it.

 

[cdawall]

I actually worked it out the other day and I have more cards than I wish to say. I have a problem. This is a glimpse of what I have running

As of right now I have been doing some pro bono work to get my company up and going to help vets so this pays the bills. People can dislike mining all they want, but the 800 billion USD it is currently evaluated in just currency is not going anywhere. This is here to stay and it is actually doing some good for the tech market. Miners need GPU's that are efficient and fast not to mention long lasting. This is all positive for consumers. When the supply issue is fixed then it is just going to be more cheaper GPU's in the future. Also remember if it was not for mining who really would by AMD cards? Don't want nvidia to get the monopoly.

You mean the downward trend of burning massive amounts of non-renewable resources to do absolutely nothing? Because that's what mining is.

It's not even about climate change, it's the waste of limited resources that adds absolutely no value to... anything.

If the mining was making calculations furthering science with all the power of these PC's, that's another thing altogether.. but it's not. It's a useless drain on limited resources, that's it.

There are already coins working on science calculations and coins like RNDR that are trying to do the same thing as XBOX cloud gaming. Just be patient this take off is still new and has led to a lot of good decentralized computing schemes.

 

[R-T-B]

It's not even about climate change, it's the waste of limited resources that adds absolutely no value to... anything.

People say going to the moon didn't amount to anything useful, but we got a lot of useful tech from it, and that is factual.

Mining is doing the same thing for decentralized projects, as cdawall notes:

There are already coins working on science calculations and coins like RNDR that are trying to do the same thing as XBOX cloud gaming. Just be patient this take off is still new and has led to a lot of good decentralized computing schemes.

I admit, the present tech isn't really that useful and may even be considered wasteful in many ways, but it leads us to interesting roads.

 

[Joker]

People say going to the moon didn't amount to anything useful, but we got a lot of useful tech from it, and that is factual.

Mining is doing the same thing for decentralized projects, as cdawall notes:



I admit, the present tech isn't really that useful and may even be considered wasteful in many ways, but it leads us to interesting roads.

Mining isn't SETI or Folding at home and don't confuse it as such.

 

[Vario]

Why do a lot of these cryptominers just throw the cards and motherboard around loose with a big fan on top? Why not instead mount it to something? I understand that everyone is trying to be cheap as possible but while you are sitting back counting those big fat cryptocoins in your free time, why not mount it to a piece of wood or something so atleast it isn't a pile of loose computer hardware.

 

[R-T-B]

Why do a lot of these cryptominers just throw the cards and motherboard around loose with a big fan on top? Why not instead mount it to something? I understand that everyone is trying to be cheap as possible but while you are sitting back counting those big fat cryptocoins in your free time, why not mount it to a piece of wood or something so atleast it isn't a pile of loose computer hardware.

Cost and time. Time is money. I need to minimize my effort as between everything wage wise I'm already below minimum. Open air is also best for airflow. I'm doing this precisely as most would.

Didn't stop me from correcting that leaning card last night though.

The fan is also mounted to the wall though with a hook, not just floating.

 

[trog100]

Cost and time. Time is money. I need to minimize my effort as between everything wage wise I'm already below minimum. Open air is also best for airflow. I'm doing this precisely as most would.

Didn't stop me from correcting that leaning card last night though.

The fan is also mounted to the wall though with a hook, not just floating.

if its a hobby you cant count you time as money.. what you are doing is supposed to be fun.. but in all truth none of that ridiculousness cooling equipment you have rigged up is needed.. have you ever heard of heath robinson..

the current breed of Nvidia card runs quite cool.. more so when set at 75% max power.. overclock the memory and lower the core boost.. i am assuming a 1080 behaves similar to 1070..

https://www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/williamheathrobinson

trog

Why do a lot of these cryptominers just throw the cards and motherboard around loose with a big fan on top? Why not instead mount it to something? I understand that everyone is trying to be cheap as possible but while you are sitting back counting those big fat cryptocoins in your free time, why not mount it to a piece of wood or something so atleast it isn't a pile of loose computer hardware.

what they should look like done properly..

that one cost me 4K to build about 4 months back.. three days back it was making 50 dollars per day mining eth on nanopool.. now after the recent price correction its showing 40 dollars per day.. but i expect it to go up again as the price of eth goes up..

trog

ps.. the above rig is showing 60 C temps at 27% fan speed.. its in my caravan.. the temps inside the van are around 20 C.. the rig is the heater..

 

[Vario]

if its a hobby you cant count you time as money.. what you are doing is supposed to be fun.. but in all truth none of that ridiculousness cooling equipment you have rigged up is needed.. have you ever heard of heath robinson..

the current breed of Nvidia card runs quite cool.. more so when set at 75% max power.. overclock the memory and lower the core boost.. i am assuming a 1080 behaves similar to 1070..

https://www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/williamheathrobinson

trog



what they should look like done properly..

that one cost me 4K to build about 4 months back.. three days back it was making 50 dollars per day mining eth on nanopool.. now after the recent price correction its showing 40 dollars per day.. but i expect it to go up again as the price of eth goes up..

trog

Exactly, it seems to me a proper setup is worth the time investment, the whole time is money argument doesn't make sense when you consider that these jumble of PC parts in a box with a fan aimed it does not mitigate possible Murphy's Law, all you need is a fire hazard or for it could fall from a shelf or otherwise suffer some kind of calamity that could set you back much more money. I see what Trog has and that to me looks like it was worth the hour or two to build it up and the money to make it, as you have the ease of interchanging components, everything is adequately spaced for cooling and ease of access, the wiring is easily traceable, and it shouldn't possibly fall over or otherwise suffer accidental damage. If I were doing it I'd probably atleast mount the motherboard to a wood frame and a wood frame to hold the cards up and a fan, that only takes like 1 hour tops to build.

for example

 

[R-T-B]

if its a hobby you cant count you time as money..

This isn't a hobby for me. At least not in the experiment context.

And it's not a fire hazard. I ran 4 rigs with 3x 7970s like this for years back in the litecoin era. They never even rebooted let alone had an issue. Short of an mega earthquake (in which case, our whole house is dead), they aren't going anywhere either.

I also have limited shelf space that would prevent me from installing a rack regardless.

but in all truth none of that ridiculousness cooling equipment you have rigged up is needed

It's a single box fan set to blow on low and only on summer days Trog. It's not even on now. I'm unsure how that qualifies as anything ridiculous. It's mainly there to act as an weighted anchor point for the cards (which it wasn't doing quite so well, hence the leaning card, now fixed).

In the 7970 era I used it a bit more... excessively. Some delta elctronics blower fans may have come to play, too.

It's interesting though you talk about energy efficiency as that's precisely what I am going to play with as soon as my energy watt meter for 240V arrives.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Has anybody out there got an "eco- miner" rigged up to a wind turbine?

 

[R-T-B]

Has anybody out there got an "eco- miner" rigged up to a wind turbine?

I can actually certify that my electric more or less draws from the same grid as the city of Tacoma, which is chiefly powered by the Wynoochee Hydroelectric Project, if I recall, which I used to camp at. My rig is named for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynoochee_Dam

https://www.mytpu.org/tacomapower/a...urces/hydro-power/wynoochee-river-project.htm

EDIT: While my house is probably largely hydro driven, I can't say with honesty the Wynoochee plant is the source, but I like to think it.

 

[yotano211]

if its a hobby you cant count you time as money.. what you are doing is supposed to be fun.. but in all truth none of that ridiculousness cooling equipment you have rigged up is needed.. have you ever heard of heath robinson..

the current breed of Nvidia card runs quite cool.. more so when set at 75% max power.. overclock the memory and lower the core boost.. i am assuming a 1080 behaves similar to 1070..

https://www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/williamheathrobinson

trog



what they should look like done properly..

that one cost me 4K to build about 4 months back.. three days back it was making 50 dollars per day mining eth on nanopool.. now after the recent price correction its showing 40 dollars per day.. but i expect it to go up again as the price of eth goes up..

trog

ps.. the above rig is showing 60 C temps at 27% fan speed.. its in my caravan.. the temps inside the van are around 20 C.. the rig is the heater..

I throttle my 1080s all the way down to 50% on MSI afterburner and still get the same mining speed with minining ETH. I have 7 1080s that draw 760w at the wall, all at 51%. I know 1080s are not the best to mine ETH but it was all I could get at that time.

 

[trog100]

I throttle my 1080s all the way down to 50% on MSI afterburner and still get the same mining speed with minining ETH. I have 7 1080s that draw 760w at the wall, all at 51%. I know 1080s are not the best to mine ETH but it was all I could get at that time.

it would seem a high boost core speed aint needed with these cards.. a 1080 and a 1070tI can both be throttled down more than the 1070.. if i go down more then %75 on my 1070 cards i start to see a hash rate drop off..

trog

 

[dirtyferret]

Thanks for the post, I have no interest in mining but I did enjoy reading about your set up.

 

[yotano211]

it would seem a high boost core speed aint needed with these cards.. a 1080 and a 1070tI can both be throttled down more than the 1070.. if i go down more then %75 on my 1070 cards i start to see a hash rate drop off..

trog

I think the lowest I can get my own 1070ti's is around 62%, any lower results in lower hashing speed. I love the 1070ti's more but hard to find them.

 

[trog100]

Exactly, it seems to me a proper setup is worth the time investment, the whole time is money argument doesn't make sense when you consider that these jumble of PC parts in a box with a fan aimed it does not mitigate possible Murphy's Law, all you need is a fire hazard or for it could fall from a shelf or otherwise suffer some kind of calamity that could set you back much more money. I see what Trog has and that to me looks like it was worth the hour or two to build it up and the money to make it, as you have the ease of interchanging components, everything is adequately spaced for cooling and ease of access, the wiring is easily traceable, and it shouldn't possibly fall over or otherwise suffer accidental damage. If I were doing it I'd probably atleast mount the motherboard to a wood frame and a wood frame to hold the cards up and a fan, that only takes like 1 hour tops to build.

for example
View attachment 96126

it took me ages to fiddle my fancy aluminium one together.. it looks nice though..

but i aint after a quick cheap as chips return on investment.. its more long term for me.. i hold what i mine and get more long term gain from doing that.. or i did during the last quarter of 1017.. until it all got nicked during the nicehash hack.. he he

trog

 

[purecain]

i think this is brilliant... i might even join you.... I'm going to have a look into it and shall follow your progress with much interest.

 

[verycharbroiled]

@trog100

that rig pic.. 5 fans, 4 channel speed controller? hows it all hooked up?

how much power do the fans draw?

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

i just got an old case , a big one (thermaltake Lcs original, but battered not my main rig one) and mounted a peice of skirting board overhanging the top i just screw cards to it , i can fit 8 i think but 5 on it atm, a pic lurks here somewhere , took maybe an hour but ill give the Op a break ,I have got two, four card rigs elsewhere(to manage(build and run) not own) that are scratchbuilt stlye using mostly double sided tape ,which IS amazeballs carpet type just placed on mobo boxes side by side in the middle shelf of a glass stereo stand , its a furball nightmare but ive a top tip for such shit.

need a prop for a leany gpu use empty but closed thick 5mm+ cable ties to make a loop, squish it to a perfect brace hieght and slide it between mobo and card , might take two with shit cable ties but sooo quick

 

[cdawall]

what they should look like done properly..

that one cost me 4K to build about 4 months back.. three days back it was making 50 dollars per day mining eth on nanopool.. now after the recent price correction its showing 40 dollars per day.. but i expect it to go up again as the price of eth goes up..

trog

ps.. the above rig is showing 60 C temps at 27% fan speed.. its in my caravan.. the temps inside the van are around 20 C.. the rig is the heater..

I use these cases. Walked into them for $55 a pop, they have changed in setup a bit as to which cards are where. Both have 12 cards in them now.

 

[trog100]

@trog100

that rig pic.. 5 fans, 4 channel speed controller? hows it all hooked up?

how much power do the fans draw?

the fans draw very little.. four run from a molex the fifth one just plugs into a motherboard socket.. they are all running very slowly.. near silent.. they are corsair case fans.. i got them quite cheaply off ebay about 20 quid for the lot..

they basically help move the heat from between the cards and help stop one cards fans from picking up hot air from the next one to it and so on down the line.. plus they look "cool"..

pascal cards really dont generate much heat compared to amd or earlier generation nvidia cards..

trog

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I can actually certify that my electric more or less draws from the same grid as the city of Tacoma, which is chiefly powered by the Wynoochee Hydroelectric Project, if I recall, which I used to camp at. My rig is named for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wynoochee_Dam

https://www.mytpu.org/tacomapower/a...urces/hydro-power/wynoochee-river-project.htm

10,800 kilowatt generator

That's pretty small. It could only power ~1000 homes like mine and I don't do anything extraordinary except being all electric.