looking for a bit of a confirmation on a build before I go out and throw down $2000+ on it:
MSI Z87-G45 GAMING ($160)
2*600W power supplies (full 600w on 12V) ($40 each BEFORE a $15 MIR)
cheap celeron processor (about $50-70)
2x2gb ram ($40)
6x Sapphire R9 270X dual-x ($240 each)
6x usb risers ($25 each)
USB w/ BAMT
keyboard
mouse
monitor
Does this look like a good build? Ive read the sapphire cards can be pushed into the 450-480 khash range, so 2.7Mhash/s for about $2250. ($0.80/khash) I plan to use either a milkcrate or a shoerack and a few zipties to hold everything in place.
My biggest concern is of being late to the game. scrypt ASICs are close, and will offer about 1/10th the power draw. I expect these to roll-out on a large scale in the next 2-3 months. The GPU rig would require about 6-9 months to break even - maybe 3-4 months if mining doge, having BTC value rebound, and considering a 50% resale value on the components to gamers.
MSI Z87-G45 GAMING ($160)
2*600W power supplies (full 600w on 12V) ($40 each BEFORE a $15 MIR)
cheap celeron processor (about $50-70)
2x2gb ram ($40)
6x Sapphire R9 270X dual-x ($240 each)
6x usb risers ($25 each)
USB w/ BAMT
keyboard
mouse
monitor
Does this look like a good build? Ive read the sapphire cards can be pushed into the 450-480 khash range, so 2.7Mhash/s for about $2250. ($0.80/khash) I plan to use either a milkcrate or a shoerack and a few zipties to hold everything in place.
My biggest concern is of being late to the game. scrypt ASICs are close, and will offer about 1/10th the power draw. I expect these to roll-out on a large scale in the next 2-3 months. The GPU rig would require about 6-9 months to break even - maybe 3-4 months if mining doge, having BTC value rebound, and considering a 50% resale value on the components to gamers.
Buy quality PSU from companies like corsair/seasonic/OCZ. $40/ea implies generic worthless junk. Probably nil stability on 12v lines or will fail quickly.
For the upper CPU price you list, you could almost get the better http://ark.intel.com/products/77775/
Depending on retail prices, might be cheaper to get non-X card variety, which can be bios modded to run at ~1100 mV to give 430-460 kh/s @ as low as 130 watts per card. Although mods like this could probably also be applied to X cards.
Refer my PM for cheaper risers.
Scrypt ASICs will be inherently limited by RAM - which was the original reason why scrypt was chosen? - which translates to very high purchasing prices for customers. I would say that we're going to see similar final ROI times between GPU and Scrypt ASIC. One is cheap but burns a lot of power, one uses nil power but capital is very high. Also in regards to your estimates, keep in mind that only a month or two ago ROI time for a rig like this would be 40-60 days. If markets rebound quickly and you are willing to wait without cashing out...
