Mining Rig Build Log - #1

Concept Stage

After a hectic week visiting family in Ireland, preparing for a job interview and catching up with work after coming back from holiday I have decided to keep going with my mining efforts. I currently mine a variety of currencies and am hoping to update my blog with some of the setups as time progresses! However, as I am now embarking on a new journey I thought I would document it from start to finish to let you guys see my thought and build process!

Link to Part 2

Link to Part 3

Link to Part 4

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I am fortunate that I have a previous rig design which has worked out well for me in another system so I will be fabricating a very similar frame for this one. Overall it will be a 6 GPU NVidia build which I will be using for Zen Cash initially and potentially some other cryptos as time progresses - depending on current difficulties market prices.

(Image: The first step was to go and measure my existing 6 GPU rig frame, I had quite a lot of steel kicking about the garage when I built this thing and it turned out good in terms of dimensions. The bottom width of the frame is sized to suit the mobo and the top is sized for best support for the GPU's. I am anticipating that the new rig will follow this design quite closely, unless I make any changes during the build process. )

(Image: I made a list of the lengths of SHS tube required for the build as I now only have a few pieces of steel left in the garage. Luckily I found an extra couple after taking this photo so there will be enough for me to get started tomorrow!)

I have already ordered all my components which will be arriving over the period of the next 4-5 days, but in the meantime I need to get cracking on with the frame build which I anticipate will take a couple of nights in the garage buffing steel, welding, drilling and painting. This kind of manufacturing for a mining rig is a bit overkill I know, but I like making things and find building stuff quite therapeutic :) Also, I have more spare metal lying around than wood, so there's also that to factor in!

Parts list:

• CPU: Intel Pentium G3240, 3.1GHz
• RAM: 8GB Crucial DDR3, 1600Mhz
• Mobo: ASRock H81 Pro BTC
• PSU: 850watt Corsair RM850i
• Disk: 120gb Sandisk SSD
• PCIE Risers: Powered 1x to 16x - Elegiant
• GPU: 3GB Palit Nvidia GTX 1060's

There are some other bits and bobs required too such as the materials for the frame, a simple on-off switch and also the operating system. I will be using W10 on this machine as I am most comfortable with it and also have a spare USB kicking about with the .iso which is handy! I also use TeamViewer in order to monitor all my systems remotely, so this keeps things constant if everything is on windows.

In terms of power draw, I reckon the 850w PSU should in theory have just the right amount of headroom to run the 1060s. Nvidia have them listed at 120w max per card and I will most likely be tweaking some settings to reduce this. If you have checked out my blog in the past you may also know that power at my parents shed is dirt cheap so I'm more doing the undervolting exercise as good practice to keep in the efficiency range of the PSU, rather than to save any money on outgoings for electricity.

Please keep in mind that I am still relatively new to pc building (about 1.25 years experience) and even though I have built a few mining machines now, I do not claim in any way to be an expert. The thing I found most helpful in putting machines together was working through problems methodically, and learning through trial and error sometimes - while also not forgetting any small mistakes made along the way! Experience is the greatest teacher when it comes to these things unfortunately, so as long as you are not breaking stuff at every step, any snags you (most definitely will) hit are all part of the learning curve. :)

That's all for this time folks, I'll be sure to keep documenting my work on the rig as time goes on, starting with the frame build tomorrow! Stay tuned and as always, if you have any questions or feedback do let me know. :)

Link to Part 2

Link to Part 3

Link to Part 4

Cheers!

A.