How to Build a 6 GPU Cryptocurrency Mining Rig in 2022

263 Replies

2022 Guide to Building a Crypto Mining Rig

Building a 6 GPU Crypto Mining Rig is a fun project and a great source of passive income. This guide will help you find and assemble the best crypto mining hardware currently available, to build your very own DIY crypto mining rig. Assembly time for your crypto mining hardware is about 3 hours and this mining rig is currently generating right around around $500/mo of digital currency (in February 2022). The exact amount varies depending on the current market price of the coin you are mining (Ethereum, Monero, Zcash, etc).

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. Download the app and trade $100 to get $25 of free Bitcoin. Use code JOSWDN to claim your free BTC.

6 GPU Ethereum Mining Rig Hardware Build List

Listed below are the components along with the amount you will need to assemble your GPU mining rig. Once your components arrive, you will want to come back to this guide for assembly and configuration instructions. I’ve included a YouTube video further with complete assembly instructions as well. If you find the guide helpful, give me a follow on my YouTube channel. I post frequently about crypto mining, trading crypto and other cryptocurrency related topics.

5 Minute 6 GPU Ethereum Mining Rig Assembly Video

1x Power Supply – 1200 Watt Gold Rated Power Supply The key here is to have an efficient power supply that will save you over the long run in electricity costs. Look for Gold or Platinum rated (as opposed to silver or bronze). This is the industry standard for rating the efficiency of a computer’s power supply unit (PSU).

1x Motherboard/CPU Combination – What is the best motherboard for mining Ethereum? I’ve listed below my favorite motherboard and processor combo that is compatible with 6 video cards.

MSI Z390-A PRO LGA1151 | Intel G530 CPU

If the motherboard listed above is out of stock or difficult to find, these motherboards will work equally well for a 6 GPU mining rig.  Just be sure to match the motherboard with the correct processor (under ‘frequently bought together’ in the Amazon listing).

6x Graphics Cards 

First Choice Nvidia GTX 1660–   The very efficient Nvidia GTX 1660 can produce a hash rate of 30Mh/s using only 80 watts of electricity and is the best GPU for mining in 2022. It is much more power efficient than most of the AMD cards available on the market. Get one with twin fan design as they seem to run cooler than some of the other models I’ve tested. I put this card in all the rigs I build currently. 

You can also check eBay or find other recommended mining GPU’s in my mining GPU comparison guide or the GPU Price / Performance Comparison Google Sheet (Updated Daily).

A close second choice for a mining GPU if the previously mentioned GPU is hard to find or out of stock, would be the Nvidia GTX 3060TI, capable of 60MH/s at only 160 watts of power. I’d recommend upgrading to a 1200 watt power supply as you will be doubling the mining capacity of your 6 GPU mining rig.

1x RAM (System Memory) –  16GB RAM – You need a fair amount of system memory to mine Ethereum effectively. 16GB should be enough to also mine other cryptocurrencies like Monero.

6x USB Riser Cables –  USB Riser Cables – These are to connect the 6 graphics cards to the motherboard and allow spacing between cards for heat dissipation and are necessary when building a rig with this many GPU’s. I like the MintCell 6-pack sold on Amazon.

1x Hard Drive (SSD)  –  120GB SSD  for installing the operating system and your mining software. Anything 120GB or larger is plenty of space and will also allow the system to use disk space if needed for swap files.

1x Custom Mining Case –  I’d recommend an Open Air 6 GPU Mining Case. I’ve built several of these 6 GPU rigs for family and friends and any of the popular models available for $80-150 work well.

1x Operating System –   I recommend mining on Windows 10, since it has great driver support for all the best mining graphics cards.

Alternatively, you can download NiceHash OS, HiveOS or RaveOS and flash it to a USB 3.0 thumb drive for a very simple mining set up.

Monitor, Mouse and Keyboard set to configure all the software settings, initially. Once your mining rig is configured and running, you can monitor it and the other dozen you build 😉 with remote monitoring software.

Assembling the Custom Ethereum Mining Hardware

  1. Scroll up to watch the assembly video that shows exactly how to assemble all the hardware components.
  2. Un-package everything
  3. Build / assemble the Open Air 6 GPU Mining Case
  4. Install processor and RAM on motherboard
  5. Plug in all riser cables
  6. Place motherboard in custom open air mining rig case and connect motherboard PSU connector (leaving PSU unplugged from the wall of course)
  7. Plug in SATA hard drive (or optional Linux on USB stick)
  8. Connect all GPUs to riser cables and fasten them to custom case. You might need to experiment for optimal spacing to keep the cards cool.
  9. Plug in all power supply connections.
  10. Connect mouse, monitor and keyboard and an internet connection (I use a USB WiFi adapter)
  11. Check all connections once more
  12. Fire it up and install the operating system and mining software (see additional instructions below).
  13. Make sure fans are fully functional. Start the mining software, tweak settings for maximum hash rates and let it run!

Motherboard, Windows and Mining Software Configuration

  1. Update the motherboard to the latest BIOS using a USB thumb drive. You can find the latest BIOS for the Z170 SLI Plus motherboard here.
  2. Configure Motherboard BIOS with the following settings changes:
    • Settings > Advanced > PCI subsystem Setting: PEG 0 and PEG 1 set to Gen1
    • Above 4G Decoding (cryptocurrency mining) should be set to Enabled
    • OS settings: disable Windows 7, enable Windows 10
    • Save and reboot
  3. OS / DRIVERS / MINING Setup:
    1. Boot from Windows 10 USB install media (you can buy it pre-loaded or build your own on the Microsoft website).
    2. Install Windows 10 Pro x64
    3. Install Nvidia Drivers
    4. Install MSI Afterburner and set memory clock to 600, and power to 70. This will give you 30Mh/s per 1070 GPU
    5. Install any system drivers that didn’t auto-install (check device manager)
    6. Rename PC to mining worker name. Something like Minion001, Minion002, etc.
    7. Install Claymore Dual Miner, edit the config file with your Ethereum address and miner name. Drop a shortcut to the mining software .exe file in your system startup folder if you’d like to auto-start mining when Windows boots up. You can find the system startup folder in Windows 10 by going to: Start > Run  and entering ‘shell:startup’.
    8. Disable windows update using this guide.
    9. Set power profile to ‘always on’
    10. Install your favorite remote access software, especially if you plan to have more than one rig to manage.
    11. Fire up the mining rig and rake in those crypto coins!

I’ve received several questions about configuring drivers, adjusting overclocking/undervolting settings and configuring the mining software. Below, you’ll find a very brief 5 min video showing how to implement these 3 important steps in the mining rig configuration process.

Configure GPU Drivers, Overclocking & Claymore Mining Software

Something I’ve done when building out a GPU mining farm, is to do the OS/DRIVERS/MINING setup and then just clone the solid state drive using a 2 bay hard drive dock with offline clone feature built in.

Congratulations! You are now the proud operator of your very own custom built 6 GPU ethereum mining rig. Be sure to also check out our reviews of the best Litecoin mining hardware and Bitcoin mining hardware.

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 FTX Global Crypto Exchange (Use FTX US if a US resident)

263 thoughts on “How to Build a 6 GPU Cryptocurrency Mining Rig in 2022”

  1. Jack

    Hi Josh, if I wish to upgrade this build into a 8x GPU rig in the future, will the motherboard of this build still support it? If not, which motherboard will you recommend me to start out with?

    Thanks.

    Reply ↓
    1. Josh Post author

      Hi Jack, I’d recommend following my and just purchase 6 GPU’s for now. That way, you’ll have the expansion capability down the road. Cost is fairly similar to building this 6 GPU rig with the exception of motherboard, power supply unit and the M.2-to-PCI-e adapter which you won’t need to purchase until you’re ready to add the 2 additional GPU’s.

      Reply ↓
  2. jess

    Very very helpful tutorial! I followed your directions and built my very first rig! I’m typing on it now as my GTX1070 Windforce runs NiceHash2.0 and gathering bitcoin 🙂 455h/s. I’m using the ASUS PRIME Z270-P LGA1151 motherboard and plan to add another GTX soon but had a question about the risers, blue vs green.
    I bought the blue mintcell 6pin 006c 2pack (Amazon – 2-Pack PCIe 6-Pin PCI-E 16x to 1x Powered Riser Adapter Card w/ 60cm USB 3.0 Extension Cable & 6-Pin PCI-E to SATA Power Cable – GPU Riser Adapter)
    but haven’t plug it up yet. Will this work just as well as the green ones you suggested? The only difference it seems is the 4pin (Mintcell 006) vs 8pin (Mintcell 006c) and I like the blue!.

    Also when the motherboard is laying flat on the rig, should I screw the motherboard standoffs into the wood? Or should I just let them float, my motherboard is definitely not flat. Does any part need to contact metal for grounding purposes? Thank you!

    Reply ↓
    1. Josh Post author

      Glad to hear of your success in building a rig, Jess! In answer to your questions:
      – I like the green mintcell risers and have never had an issue. My friend bought a pack of blue’s and had 2 go bad, but that is my only experience with the blue.
      – You can let it float or just zip-tie the motherboard to the frame.

      Reply ↓
    1. Josh Post author

      This rig runs at 180+ Mh/s, but if you’re looking to boost your per rig hash rate, I’d recommend following my 240 Mh/s .

      Reply ↓
  4. Victor

    Thank you for this guide, very useful. Do you think this rig would be a good choice for Monero mining, or is it designed exclusively for Etherum in mind? Do you have a h/s rating for it by any chance?

    Reply ↓
  5. ChaosCrypto

    Thanks for the guide. Just one question if I may?

    Can the above rig be run on Linux (think Ubuntu) with similar hashrate, running temp and stability?

    Thanks!

    Reply ↓
  6. Jon

    Can you use EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FOUNDERS EDITION GAMING, 11GB GDDR5X, LED, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) Graphic Cards 11G-P4-6390-KR instead of the 1070s?

    Reply ↓
  8. Mike

    Josh, seems like ETH will be moving to POS in the near future. Seems like this rig can handle DCR when using a Claymore Dual Miner.. What other crypto currencies would be good for this rig? Perhaps LTC?

    Reply ↓
  9. Ray Denius

    Very well written Guide for the Beginner to read.

    Is there a “minimum” internet connection speed necessary to perform mining operation? Should the connection ‘wired/hardline’ for better processing operation as ‘wireless’ connection is limited?

    Thanks for your reply
    and
    Best Regards

    Reply ↓
  11. Checha

    Hi Josh
    To feed 6 or 7 GPU (RX580) what PSU do you recommend? I have read about 2 sources of 850w and also one of 1600w. What do you recommend? Thnxs!!

    Reply ↓
  12. Josh

    Could you use this rig to mine other currencies if ether becomes unprofitable or unminable? And as for current pools are you getting .05 ether per day with this rig? So 1.5 ether a month, about $555 at current(8/29) prices? Thinking about getting one going with my brother as we think ether will continue to rise. Thanks

    Reply ↓
  13. Rob

    thanks for the guide…just out of curiousity what are your predictions for the future of mining? do you think returns on this investment will continue to decline the more people that enter this space? And have you considered solo mining?

    Reply ↓
    1. Josh Post author

      Yes, Nicehash Miner works great with this build. I prefer to use Claymore’s Dual Miner software, but have tested Nicehash on this mining rig and had no issues.

      Reply ↓
  15. Nudelauflauf

    Hey,

    everything is working fine and I successfully did the BIOS settings. But for some reason not a single card is beeing detected. Any Ideas?

    Reply ↓
    1. Josh Post author

      Try disabling everything you don’t need in the BIOS. On one of my rigs, I had to disable the Ethernet port for some reason and use a USB WiFi adapter.

      Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *