Cryptocurrency Mining Rig-1 Built and Reporting for Duty
I started a journey building my first cryptocurrency mining rig. What a trip! In my previous blog, I outlined what was ahead. https://steemit.com/crytpocurrency/@mrosenquist/time-for-a-cryptocurrency-miner-build
Now, the job is done!
I like to think of myself as somewhat technical, when it comes to computers. The first PC I ever built was well over 20 years ago. But truth be known, I have not been very active building systems lately. Mostly, over the past 2 decades, I have been lazy and just buying PC’s from major retailers that had the specs and components I wanted. But my desire to have a mining rig, to play around with blockchain, cryptocoins, and even Artificial Intelligence algorithms, pushed me to build a custom system.
Frame
Don’t laugh. A 10 GPU (video cards) system does not fit in a regular PC case. In fact, a case is not desirable for mining rigs as it keeps in too much heat. Those video cards produce a tremendous amount of therms which can damage the components and even cause a fire. So, it is crucial to dissipate heat as fast as possible. Most mining rigs are open, to allow maximum airflow.
The frames I saw for sale online mostly only supported space for 6 GPU’s. I am starting with 10 and plan to expand to 18 eventually. A few larger frames were available but priced at over $600. Absurd! So instead, I improvised. $20 worth of wood, screws and a little reliving woodworking class…and viola! An ugly, but functional and adaptable solution.
So don’t laugh! It works really well and is forgiving when I make mistakes. I am looking into someone local to eventually forge a metal case to my final specs.
The Mother (board)
The motherboard is the centerpiece for this rig. It is the ASUS B250 Mining Expert motherboard and can support three independent power supplies and an insane 19 separate graphic cards. It is a design of genius, with the unique needs of miners specifically in mind.
The Build
The parts were all acquired via Amazon. Of note are the 10 XFS Radeon RX 580 (4GB) video cards, two power supplies (1300w and 850w), and of course the awesome motherboard. Everything else are just basic components.
Step 1: Install the CPU and fan, as well as the memory
Step 2: Install both power supplies
Step 3: Video Cards and risers
Step 4: Fans and cable management
Step 5: OS and Software
Step 6: Mining Test and Tuning
Problems
I would love to report everything went off as planned without any problems. But I can’t. This build took almost 3 days, when it should have only taken 1.
There were problems with the memory seating properly (probably my mistake), the motherboard not recognizing bootable USB drives (except for Win10, which I had to use), and various mining software not seeing all the video cards or having OpenCL issues. Overclocking and under-volting, to improve performance with less overall electricity, was a challenge.
In the end, I solved all those issues. The components all proved to work as advertised and nothing had to be shipped back. The OS is stable and I am able to run several different mining engines that cover a wide swath of cryptocurrency algorithms.
“Rig1”, as it has been christened, is up and running. I have been throwing it at a number of different cryptocurrencies over the past week. It is fun to hear the fans spin up and feel the oven-like heat emerge as the video cards crunch numbers in massively parallel ways.
Eventually I may expand the system with more GPU’s, but for now, this is a great tool that will meet my cybersecurity, crypto, and AI research needs.
Interested in more? Follow me on LinkedIn, Twitter (@Matt_Rosenquist), YouTube, Information Security Strategy, and Steemit to hear insights and what is going on in cybersecurity.
It was quite the project, will have to come and witness it running! Thanks for the update.
It looks good! Let us know when you expand the system with more GPU’s.
How fast can you crack a 128bit password with that? LOL
I won't tell... :)
it all seems so complex to me but i guess thats just a matter of perspective
Old with new. Wood with silicon. Nice.
I think your case looks fantastic. We started with milk crates. 😀
Are you using Claymore for the software?
One of many different engines. Really depends on the algorithm. I try lots of different ones.
Good idea. I mostly play with ETH, ETC and ZCash.
I assume you have stumbled upon these sites, but they might be useful for you.
https://whattomine.com/
or
https://www.cryptocompare.com/mining/calculator/eth?HashingPower=20&HashingUnit=MH%2Fs&PowerConsumption=140&CostPerkWh=0.12
Excellent job, thanks for sharing your experience building this rig.
It is never as easy as you make it look! :)
Awesome mining rig, 10 gpu is insane, i hope i can do one someday
Thanks for sharing
Just wait. I have considered pushing it up by another 6 GPU's in the future.
I guess is an addiction, good luck with the project!
You might be right. Is there a mining-rig addiction hotline I should call? :)
That's awesome, it looks just like the old mining rig we had from a few years ago! I only had 3 gpu's in there though, but used wood as well.
Few notes: HEAT.. especially during the summer, it will warm up the room/house more than you'd think
Secondly, energy cost? I hope you're living in a place with cheap electricity. It's what made me stop, as well as burning through one of the GPU's within three months, getting it RMA'ed and got a new one, then blew through another GPU a month or two after that. Which is the third point... burning through hardware is a hidden but significant cost of mining. Turns out graphics cards aren't meant to run 24/7 at full load :(
Be mindful of overclocking too much... I noticed the watt usage went up by a lot, whereas the returns were only slightly higher so I'm not sure it will make it more profitable all the time. It may also ruin your hardware faster.
Good luck!
Thanks for the tips. My electricity costs are not low in my area, but this is more for research and knowledge. I doubt I will have it running every hour of every day. The under-volting is helping reduce the electricity consumption. I am worried about heat and will need to plan accordingly. If the costs are too high, I may run it in off-peak hours to compensate. Really will depend on the work I am doing at the time. I am also concerned with burning out the HW. So, I am not overclocking it very much. I want to preserve the components as much as possible.
Right now, it is a lot of trial-and-error. I just don't want the errors to be too big! (ex. like burning down my house)
Any issues with popping circuits?
As it turns out, if I exceed 2400w my 15amp circuit break will pop. Now that I have undervolted, I rarely get above 2000w. :)
Trial-and-error.
That's what I thought too in the beginning, but once you really get started and it takes hold on you, you'll be running it all 24/7 anyway.
The heat is not so much a problem with fires, by the way. Just put it on something that doesn't burn to be safe. And a good reliable fire-alarm. The problem is mostly that the room it is in will get super warm super quick. This is nice in the winter because you'll be turning the heater less hot, but it is super warm during the summer when you'll not only be stressing to keep yourself cool but also cool down the hardware which is now in a steaming hot room.
Also, keep in mind you are now running a race. The difficulty for mining goes up all the time, and went up more this year than all years before it. Every day you do not mine, means that the day after you'll be earning a little less from mining. And so on, and so on. I only mined for about 3-4 months. It took me a full three years to recover my costs for the hardware and electricity and make a profit off my mined Litecoins. Keep that in mind. Mining is generally not profitable until a few years later when the price went up significantly. And even then, looking back, if I had just bought Litecoins worth a few hundred dollars instead of spending it on the rig and electricity, I'd be much richer now.
It is fun though, mining. Get some crypto every day and it feels sort of like a money printing machine :)
These days I am more into holding NEO and other staking coins that reward me. Much less stressful than mining!
I did consider that if I ever got access to 'free' electricity (solar panels, whatever) I'd probably give it another try. But I might actually underclock the gpu's down 25% or so, just to be on the safe side (and like I said, the higher clocked the more energy it uses)
I already feel the hooks sink in. This is kinda cool having a lot of computing power to throw at problems (cryptomining, cybersecurity, AI, whatever...). Definitely fun, but I have not received my first electric bill yet. That will likely put a damper on my elation.
The reduced return over time is part of cryptomining. I like looking at new blockchain/coin opportunities. More risk, but I like investigating what is on the cutting edge.
Yes, it all works out when the prices keep going up. But they won't keep going up forever. Back in 2013/2014 we had the big bubble just as today, followed up by three years or downturn. Switching to other coins doesn't really work if everything is down.
I myself mined Bitcoin for a week, then switched to Litecoin because of the difficulty changes for a couple weeks. Then Litecoin was no longer profitable and I mined a multitude of other coins.. some are still around, but I sold it all for BTC since I didn't want to bother with a couple dozen wallets. Eventually, I had to switch to crappier and crappier coins.. stuff I saw no future in. Nothing was really profitable anymore.. Litecoin was down from $24 to $4 at this time and the entire market stayed there for years.
All in all the mining rig cost about 500$ for me, plus about $300 worth of electricity. The net result was 0.12 btc and 8 Litecoins, which had a net worth of about $240 when I stopped mining. It wasn't until march of this year that Litecoin (which I assumed to be dead.. Charlie Lee too, since he quit the project for years) sprung up to above $30 and I was able to finally be in the profits (immediately sold all for btc.. lost faith in ltc for forever).
I find it is much more profitable to just blog on Steemit for crypto, than to mine.
Glad you eventually went into the green. Took some time with many ups and downs. I suppose my expectations are a little different. This is not just a mining rig. I see it as a tool to learn and explore. Making money would be cool though.
Ah, yes, well, it's a fun hobby and if you approach it like that, all is good because every hobby has it's costs! And if you mine the right stuff, things should work out fine.
One thought to consider: When I mined various altcoins, I eventually sold them all for BTC and held that (as well as my LTC). But looking back, if I had just HELD the coins that I mined.. pretty much all of them have gone up significantly. Even 'crapcoins' like Reddcoin which was a crap coin even back then, is experiencing significant price action these days. I'm not sure what would have made me more money: having it all in BTC or just holding each coin individually. I think both are a viable strategy
I am pretty much a holder. I still have lots of worthless coins scattered in various wallets. Mintcoin for example... :(
Ha Ha I could use that in my place, I live in the North and could use that to heat the house.
It is quite the heater!