My First Mining Rig – Quad 7950 GPU – 2.2GH/s

20 Replies

PLEASE NOTE: the guide below was written back when Litecoin mining was profitable. I recommend my 6 GPU Ethereum Mining Rig Guide as it is more recently updated (2017) and utilizes newer graphics card and build options. Happy Mining!

I’m writing this on April 1st, 2013; April Fools Day! Some folks consider crypto-currencies to be Fool’s Gold. Here’s a story that paints some irony into this thought. Last night, I traded roughly 75% of my bitcoin currency (I feel like it is a peaking bubble, but who knows?) for Litecoin when it was trading at a USD equivalent of 79 cents. As I write this first post, the value of Litecoin in US currency is $1.89 (over a 2x appreciation in value). But, enough on my personal experiences with this new form of currency. Here is the mining hardware I use to mine for bitcoins and litecoins utilizing the latest information on GPU mining available.

Please Note: if you’re looking to build one of these bitcoin/litecoin mining rigs for yourself, please use the Budget Litecoin Mining Rig Guide or 4x 7970/7950 Litecoin Mining Rig Guide instead of this list, since several of these components are now overpriced or no longer available. This was my first rig, so I’ve opted to leave it up for reference and as part of my litecoin mining journey. Thanks!  – Josh

Mining Hardware Build List

  • Case –  $0  –  Who needs a case? The best computer case for coin mining is no case.
  • PSU  –  $209  –  Seasonic X-1250 80PLUS Gold Certified Power Supply Unit
  • Motherboard  –  $180  –  MSI AM3 Motherboard 890FXA-GD70
  • CPU  –  $70  –  AMD Athlon II X4 Socket AM3 Processor (a little overkill, but better for reuse/resale)
  • GPU’s  –  $280/EA  –  4 Radeon 7950 Graphics Cards (these are on sale for only $300 + $20 rebate = $280)
  • RAM  $35  –  4 GB Corsair DDR3 RAM
  • HDD  $0  –  Had an old SATA laptop drive kicking around
  • Extra Cooling  –  $30  –  Box Fan (seriously, this is the best cooling for an open rig mining operation)
  • OS  –  $0  –  Windows 7  (I have a Microsoft annual subscription)
  • Monitor, Mouse and Keyboard (to install the OS and configure the mining software)

TOTAL COST :  $1,765 for a 2.2 GH/s Custom Mining Rig

Putting it all Together

  1. Unbox and Unwrap all components
  2. Install CPU onto motherboard
  3. Insert RAM into slots
  4. Install all GPU cards ensuring enough airflow between cards for heat dissipation
  5. Connect hard drive to motherboard via SATA cable
  6. Plug in all necessary power supply plugs (don’t forget the GPU’s.. those guys need power!)
  7. Connect crossfire cables daisy-chaining the GPU’s together
  8. Connect mouse, monitor and keyboard and an internet connection (I used a USB WiFi adapter)
  9. Check all connections once more
  10. Fire it up! Install the OS if needed. Install Graphics card drivers. Install mining software. Make sure fans are doing their job. Fire up the mining software. Get rich! 🙂  OK, that last part might not happen, but hey, this is a hobby right?

Photo of Quad 7950 GPU Mining Rig

In case you’re curious about that white object above the cards, it is an O2 Cool Portable Fan that forces air between the very crowded cards.

Comments:

Here is some of the reasoning behind the choices I made while building this mining rig:

  • All parts can be sold / reassigned for other uses should mining become unprofitable at anytime in the future.
  • The GPU’s were chosen for their cost-to-hashing ratio. There are definitely faster cards out their, but the premium isn’t worth it IMHO. Also, top end cards tend to depreciate faster (kind of like cars do).

Sidenote: If mining isn’t your thing, and you are just interested in purchasing some cryptocurrency as part of your investment portfolio, I personally use and recommend Voyager.  Trade $100 on the platform, and receive $25 of Bitcoin FREE. 

20 thoughts on “My First Mining Rig – Quad 7950 GPU – 2.2GH/s”

  1. Camille

    Hey,

    Nice rig, I’ll soon do one more or less like yours, but I’ve got few questions : why don’t you use risers ? Cooling would be easier and more efficient.

    And are you not worried of the skyrocketting difficulty ? +10% every 3 days more and less, this can make any installation quickly unprofitable.

    PS : Very well done for the btc : ltc exchange 😉

    Reply ↓
    1. admin Post author

      When I first threw the rig together, risers were hard to find at a reasonable price, so I just used a ‘fan on top’ method of cooling. Supply has finally caught up with demand and risers are available fairly inexpensively on Amazon and eBay if you shop around. I hope to post pictures soon of the current setup as a milk crate mining rig.

      Reply ↓
  2. Merc

    Hi, thanks for your website. I had several questions that I hope you can help me with to answer. Could I replace the 7950s with 7970s in your set up without changing anything else in the config you have? Or perhaps can I go with the setup of the quad 7970s without the box, similar to how you have the quad 7950s? And you just lay them out on a table and blow the fan on them and it’s all good? The rig I want to build will be strictly for litecoin mining, so will getting high performance RAM and up to 8 GB help at all, or will a standard 4GB be sufficient? Thanks again! I’ll send you a couple litecoins!

    Reply ↓
    1. admin Post author

      Yes, you could swap out the 7950s for the 7970s. 4 GB memory is minimum. I would go for 8. RAM is cheap. And the crate is so you can spread out the cards using PCI-e extender cables for better cooling. I could get better hash rates on my quad 7950 if I went this route. You want to keep your temps below 80 C. Also, using a crate lets you use a cheaper motherboard with closely spaced PCI-e slots. The motherboard I used for my 4x 7950 rig was $180 vs the $85 motherboard I listed in my build list for the quad 7970 rig.

      Reply ↓
      1. Merc

        Thanks for your reply. And you don’t keep the monitor plugged in at all, right? Just to set it up or to start up the miner at boot up or to trouble shoot any issues, correct?

        Reply ↓
        1. admin Post author

          Correct. I just use remote access to tweak/configure the rig once I remove the lcd display. The term in the IT community is ‘headless server’, as weird as that sounds. 🙂

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  3. NeonRonin

    Don’t crossfire the cards. Crossfire is for gaming, not mining, and can be detrimental to the hash rate. You should also try for the Sapphire 2L or Sapphire 4L 7950’s since they are voltage unlocked and can be undervolted to consume less power.

    Reply ↓
    1. admin Post author

      NeonRonin, Thanks for this helpful tip! I’m still experimenting with what works for maximum hash rates while keeping those temps down for the longevity of the hardware 🙂

      Reply ↓
  4. Jan

    Hi Josh!

    It looks really awesome. How much watt needs your 2,2 GH/s system? Is it possible to order a rig from you? 😉 I would be interested in one to buy =)

    Thanks for an answer!

    Kind regards from Germany

    Reply ↓
    1. admin Post author

      Hi Jan,

      It uses around 900 watts total. I pay less than $ 0.10 USD per killawatt hour, so less than $2 / day for power. I wish I could build you one, but my day job, small business, and family responsibilities keep me from getting into the custom rig building business right now. If you look around online, there are folks willing to do this for you though. I’d suggest finding someone locally in Germany, since these are heavy and costly to ship.

      Reply ↓
    1. admin Post author

      Mining is moving along. I hope to post details of my next one soon. Obviously I’d love the 12GH/s one I posted about, but that’s not going to happen. 🙂

      Reply ↓
  6. Brendan

    Awesome! As i’m a fair noob in this field, what components in the rig affect the effectiveness of mining apart from the graphics card?

    Reply ↓
    1. admin Post author

      For litecoin mining you need more RAM than bitcoin mining requires. Other than that cheap or free components work great! Oh, and PCI-E 16 slots that are spaced right.

      Reply ↓
  8. Anthony

    Great i would love to see some pictures of the mining ring.

    So you’re just getting one more gpu and will you leave all the other pieces in the configuration the same?

    Reply ↓
    1. admin Post author

      Just posted a pic of the rig. And yes, I added one more card, and updated the article to reflect the quad card setup. I noticed some of the parts I linked to are either no longer available or priced much higher than I paid for. I will be writing another article soon on the best mining rig for your money with updated parts.

      Reply ↓
  9. Anthony

    This seems great,can you post some pictures of how the mining ring looks like?are you still getting 1.8 gh/s?can you add one more gpu?

    Reply ↓
    1. admin Post author

      Hi Anthony! I am planning to add one more gpu. Will post pics soon. 4 gpu’s is the max Windows and the psu/motherboard supports.

      Reply ↓
      1. hippie

        I am running a win7 rig with 6x 7950.
        The key is to find the right driver/sdk combination…

        The one working for me: 13.1 + 2.6

        Reply ↓

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