How to build a mining rig to mine crypto [GUIDE]

By Roberto D. | CryptoFarm | 12 Nov 2020

We are in a "particular" historical moment: of global crisis, pandemic and in a generally unstable political and social environment, cryptocurrencies have shown considerable solidity.

Furthermore, the pandemic-induced economic recession has actually helped the industry, not only by attracting professional traders but also by reviving the mining business to generate some form of income.

Not surprisingly, then, countries experiencing more difficult political and economic situations have seen a boom in GPU purchases in recent months.

This is the case in the Abkhazia region, where all crypto activities have been illegal since 2018, but citizens have spent more than $ 500,000 on mining equipment in the last six months.

Another factor that has helped to spread mining is the strong price growth of crypto. Bitcoin (BTC) has risen by almost a third, while the hype for DeFi has taken the gas fees of Ether (ETH), the most popular currency for mining, to levels never seen before.

Therefore, this article intends to explain how to design a mining machine and clarify the advantages and risks associated with an initiative of this type.

Components for mining

Generally a mining rig consists of a computer that has many graphics cards but no monitors.

Computer cases are filled with several GPUs, a power supply, a motherboard and a cooling system.

If you decide to connect a monitor, it can become a normal computer, where a user can open a browser, play his favorite video game, and do everything that a normal computer can do.

The entire plant is connected to the Internet (and therefore to the blockchain). The network, once assembled, works on its own and transacts using the power of graphics cards.

To be more precise, a mining rig consists of:

A "normal" motherboard, which has a series of connectors for graphics cards.
A hard disk drive, or HDD, with 100-250 gigabytes of memory to house your crypto wallet: an Ether wallet usually takes up 25 GB, while one for BTC requires 50 GB or more.
Why not an SSD? Quickly said: you don't need more speed in saving this information so spending more for a faster storage drive would simply be useless. However, using an SSD (spending more at the time of purchase) will give advantages on the cost of the current, but we will talk about it specifically later.
Different GPUs, which are the most important components in a machine as they will take care of the extraction of cryptocurrencies, and therefore of our profit.
A unit that generates energy. A machine with four GPUs often requires more than one power generator. Typically, miners use several 750 watt units linked together.
One GPU power adapter. Video cards are connected to the motherboard using special extension cards called "risers". There are many different types and models of risers, but the PCI-E 1x version 006 is the most popular.
A switch.
A cooling system. In the case of cooling it would be preferable to have several coolers to provide additional air flows.

Another important detail is the structure necessary to support the mining rig: it is advisable to use an aluminum one.

The dimensions of the machine will be slightly larger than its frame due to the protruding parts, adapters and the cooling system.

For example, a seven-GPU rig will be approximately 53cm wide, 30cm deep and 30cm high.

Once you have purchased all the necessary components, you have to design the machine - quite an easy task for someone who has experience with computer hardware, but not everyone has this experience. However, there are a lot of guides on YouTube (piece by piece, step by step) and in general you can find a lot online in text form too.

When the machine is ready, just install a software, that is to choose a program that extracts the currency we prefer (I have a computer for mining and I recommend "Minergate" LINK HERE as, unlike many programs, it has a graphical interface on which to select how much power to allocate, and to which cryptocurrencies).

Another way is to find "a mining pool", which has established itself over time as the most popular way to mine crypto: in fact, it is becoming increasingly difficult to mine individually due to its growing complexity.

There are also some tools available like TeamViewer, a simple program to remotely view and control your PC, and WatchDog, which automatically restarts the system if the mining program crashes.

The best GPUs

As a rule, a small installation should include 4 to 7 video cards, although there are exceptions.

Miners can connect 10 to 15 GPU cards to a single motherboard, but 7 is the optimal number because Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system can only detect this number of cards.

But there is a solution: specialized mining software based on the Linux kernel: in this case, the most important thing is to choose the right motherboard, such as an ASRock Pro BTC + series or similar.

Determining which GPUs are best for mining is not that simple, as the answer only depends on the amount of money the user has. (As they say in Italy "without money, no masses are sung")

In general I can tell you that it doesn't make much sense to buy the most expensive and powerful GPUs for the price of two or three slightly less performing, because there is a greater chance that the cheaper ones will bring more benefits, thanks to their low power consumption and cost. reduced initial.

In simple terms: two very performing and expensive video cards allow you to mine a lot of cryptocurrency, however you have to take into account the consumption of the cards themselves. In many cases it is therefore preferable to choose more video cards that consume less, so that the relationship between "crypto mined and cost of electricity" is optimal.

The biggest takings are currently achieved with Nvidia cards, specifically GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and AMD Radeon VII, but it is more profitable to build a mining farm with AMD Radeon RX 580 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super cards, as they will pay for themselves much faster. . (Again for the reasoning made earlier that less powerful cards consume less, allowing you to make more profit.)

It should also be noted that the AMD RX series cards can be "boosted" by changing the timing of the VRAM, or by downvolting or overclocking the core. Programs like MSI Afterburner and Sapphire TriXX can help make these changes, which will help GPUs reach peak performance.

The problem of electricity

Over the past 10 years, mining has transformed from a simple rather inexpensive hobby to a high-tech professional enterprise that implies high barriers to entry, not only for equipment but also for maintenance, and above all, for the cost itself of the equipment.

After the purchase of equipment, the cost of electricity becomes the main expense, which directly affects profitability.

The energy consumption of a mining rig consists of the following components:

The GPUs, depending on the algorithm, consume between 360 and 1500 watts for a 6 to 7 card system.
The motherboard, power supply unit, HDD and RAM consume up to 100 watts.
The cooling system uses 20 watts to several kilowatts when using air conditioning systems.

So how does a miner reduce the cost of electricity?
The main source of electricity consumption is GPUs, and with the right settings, this cost can be significantly reduced.

For example, when mining Ether, the main thing is to overclock the video memory. The optimal mode of operation for GPUs is to set the core voltage to around 830/850 millivolts for AMD cards and 650/850 millivolts for Nvidia cards.

Lowering the voltage on the card core, in addition to reducing power consumption, also decreases the amount of heat. Win-win.

Power supplies with “80 Plus Gold” or higher certification allow you to consume less energy, which means they save about 15% of electricity compared to equipment without this certification.

Another way is to swap HDDs with SSDs, which will increase the loading speed of the operating system and reduce the power consumption of each system by 5/15 watts. Also, modern RAM (DDR4 or DDR3L instead of DDR3) and newer processors can reduce power consumption by another 10-20 watts.

A miner can also reduce consumption by slightly more complicated methods, such as finding cheaper electricity rates: for example, by installing plants where there are reduced rates for consumers with electric stoves or electric heating and lower night prices.

If possible, miners can also contact a power plant to find out if it has excess capacity. Also, you can create your own solar or wind farms and use them for mining, but not everyone can afford such an investment. And this is not the time to explain how to save on your bill.

Cloud mining

With the unstable economy in mind, some may want to join the mining community but be stuck due to the high initial costs.

This is where so-called "hosted mining" can come into play, in which cryptocurrencies are mined via a remote connection to leased equipment.

Hosted mining begins with the user's choice of a computational capability provider.

Then you have to make agreements with the company to connect to its equipment. After paying for the computing capacity, miners are given access to remote crypto mining through the rented equipment. Hence, users only need a computer and an Internet connection to operate. Fees are charged according to the agreements established between the parties.

This type of mining has a number of advantages: the initial capital required is low (even just $5/ $10), you don't have to connect the equipment yourself or incur costs for maintenance and electricity, you can terminate the operation at any time and there is no need to have special knowledge and technical skills.

However, there are also risks in cloud mining, especially since, like any young sector, many dishonest subjects try to steal the funds of "novice" users.

So, when choosing a platform, users should take the time to carefully study its history and reviews.

Furthermore, hosted mining has lower returns than what can be achieved using your own equipment. However, this is a viable option: why give up on a passive income opportunity, even if not too significant?

Personally I use "Dualmine" for cloud mining, I found many reviews around, some enthusiastic and some disappointed, so I decided to invest some money with the idea of having already lost them at the start.

To date, I can tell you that after 6 months I returned my shopping and I requested the payment that was made to me after about a week. As of today, I still have 18 months of cloud mining remaining and it's pretty much all profit.

In short, if you have not understood I recommend Dualmine.

In summary, it can be said that mining seems to be an attractive way to make some money today. If for some reason hosted mining is inconvenient for you, setting up a personal rig shouldn't be too difficult. However, this requires an initial investment and some time to understand how the system works.

Notice: My goal is to provide you with all relevant information regarding mining and cloud mining, however readers should do research before taking any action and take full responsibility for their decisions. This article cannot be considered investment advice.

I'm really curious about yours: do you usually mine? Are you going to do it? Do you prefer cloud mining? Do you think I just said nonsense? Well let me know yours in the comments.

As always, thank you if you have come this far, and see you next time!

Useful/Stonks link ALL TRUSTED:

Telegram Channel: