re: Finch's Guide to Crypto Mining (GPU Mining)...

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how do you spend $1500-2500 on a GPU and not want to take care of it.

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I mean this is all on NVIDIA for producing inadequate cooling on a $1200 video card. You buy something that expensive, you expect that shite to work and not have to spend more on modifications. Plus most people don't want their builds looking ugly as shite like those pics

Just needs moar rgb

added some GPU repair shops that i recently found to OP#2.

You may want to watch Tech Cemetery then. He has excellent walkthroughs. Just slow the video down. He talks way too fast.

Thanks for the thread. Could you possibly throw out some loose scenarios with probable investment vs return

I live in a rural area with very good energy rates and am considering buying the components when Starlink is available for me. Which I anticipate to be fairly soon

Speaking of, is bandwidth much of an issue? As in tons of data transmitted

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you’re going to need a somewhat new PC (no more than 10 years old). Anything older than 2012/2013 risks the chance of not all GPUs being used while mining. This depends on the number of PCIe slots you have and how many PCIe lanes your CPU can handle. I believe the minimum CPU is any FX series AMD CPU (8000/9000 series) and any 3rd gen i Series Intel CPU.

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I am wanting to start mining and recently snagged a good deal on 3060 XC. I do have an old inspirion 15 5000 series laptop that im wondering if I can strip of any CPU/RAM/SSD/mobo for starting a rig?
will any of my laptop be useful or will i need to buy those components? Or can I run the laptop+ GPU externally with a PSU to get started while I learn more starting out?

If not I assume ill need a new motherboard with capacity to add future GPUs what would a good cheap motherboard be for this? maybe Ill need a new CPU anyway if so what would be some to start looking into

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You picked a bad time to start

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not bothered by timing. As I want to learn more about this kind of thing anyway im just kinda lost figuring out the hardware ill need. if i can save on the SSD thats a good start. only need to figure out the CPU and motherboard but reading some online stuff about the 3060 and potentially being able to bypass its LHR has me confused on what motherboard/cpu i should look for

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only need to figure out the CPU and motherboard but reading some online stuff about the 3060 and potentially being able to bypass its LHR has me confused on what motherboard/cpu i should look for

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you probably have a V2 3060 which means you can't bypass the LHR with the 470.05 nvidia developer drivers. so you're going to be stuck in the mid 30s when it comes to hashrate.

as far as timing goes, you may or may not be "late". did you miss out on a full year or two of mining? most definitely. but the ETH developers still haven't committed to a date on it going to proof of stake. they haven't even committed to an ETH block number for proof of stake, yet, like they did with EIP-1559 which was made out to be a bigger deal than it was. proof of stake was supposed to happen this past december-janurary, but they've sense pushed it to summer 2022 (which will probably be pushed again). it's actually been pushed for years now.

as far as a mobo/cpu combo, you can put 4 GPUs on an old Dell Optiplex 3010 or newer. you can get these off ebay for $50. you just need some risers (linked in the OP) and maybe a storage drive. HiveOS can run off a 16gb flash drive.

but i suggest something higher than an RTX 3060. i'd be trying for FE cards from best buy if you have the time to sit and wait diligently like most basement dwellers do. but even 3060 Ti LHR cards aren't that bad. i mined with 1660 supers for almost a year before eventually selling them. sold them for upgrades when i was able to.

but don't leave out AMD cards. i can only suggest reference cards from AMD Direct since they're MSRP. every AIB card is double the price no matter where you get them. 6700xt = $479 @ 46 MH/s and 6800-6900xt (price varies) @ 60 MH/s.

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evga product number it has kr ending which I believe is supposed to indicate the bypassable LHR.

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Not sure if your aware of this or not, but the V1 3060 was intended to be LHR. But an idiot dev released that unlockable drivers for it. Then V2 released. From a product standpoint, evga, or anyone else for that matter (I think), didn’t release new skus for GPUs that were already LHR.

EVGA FHR (-KR):
3060 Ti (discontinued)
3070 (discontinued)
3080 (discontinued)
3090

EVGA LHR (-KR):
3050
3060 v1 (discontinued)
3060 v2
3080 Ti

EVGA LHR (-KL):
3060 Ti
3070
3070 Ti
3080


If you bought the card brand new from EVGA, or another vendor, within the past 6 months, it’s probably a v2. The only way to tell is to install it, open GPU-Z, and look at the device ID.

Left = LHR v2 (2504) / Right = Unlockable-LHR v1 (2503)



YouTube explanation

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If by chance it is bypassable would that optiplex you mentioned support bypassing the LHR?

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You need a full PCI slot. Basically, the card needs to be seated directly to the board without a PCIe riser and the developer drivers (good luck finding it as nvidia took them down from their website). The Optiplex would be good for anything 3060Ti or better for the 30 series. Or anything in the 20/16 series. 2060 supers are pretty prevalent and they get in the low 40s in hashrate (better than your 3060). You’d be better off selling that 3060 and going bigger.

I suggest going to “whattomine.com” and seeing what a 4 card rig looks like in your budget.

Here’s the mobo you need to loom for when looking for a Optiplex.



That area I highlighted has (1) PCI x16 slot and (3) PCIe x4 slots. Each riser will plug into each slot (4 GPUs total).



You could also buy one of those (12) x16 slot boards on eBay. Just search “crypto mining motherboard combo). Comes with a CPU. You might need to add RAM and a storage device to it. But they’re $150-200.