The mining rig looks pretty cool. It's quite an investment if all you plan on doing with it is crunching for GIMPS. Its work would certainly not go unnoticed. It all looks pretty good. If any amount of miners say it's good, it's good. Mining won't be different enough from GIMPS work one way or another that there would be any problems. Dual PSU's with that kind of power each is more than plenty.

As was already mentioned, the danger is the high power draw. Putting them on two circuits has the advantage of reducing the strain on that one circuit but you're running the risk of one circuit being shut off while the other is still live.

I've heard some horror stories about the "secondary" PSU (the one powering just GPU's) shutting down while the rest of the system (tries) to keep chugging along. Apparently the GPU tries to draw its power through the PCI-E slot instead (devices can actually do that; I'm not up to date on the specific but the HD 7750 and weaker GPU's could do it) and that more or less blew up a board. I'm sure some boards have current protection but maybe some don't?


All in all, it's a pretty safe thing that a lot of people have done. The unit is probably fine.

[QUOTE=Mini-Geek;390177]It boots Linux off of USB, no hard drive needed.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I saw that... and also I just noticed BAMT is part of it, so I guess you could run mfakto on it.

-Need to Read More

EDIT: Making the driver recognize more than 4 GPU's have been a hit and miss for AMD cards...

[QUOTE=TheMawn;390183]For a guy who has used only Windoze in his time, is Linux hard to figure out? I'm working on a box and I'm not sure if I want to go Windows 7 straight away or wait a bit until it mutates into the computer I want to actually use all the time. I suppose I would be running mprime and MISFIT (for GPU TF'ing)?[/QUOTE]

If you've never used Linux before, it might take a while to get used to it... but if you're only TF'ing with BAMT it's quite easy... assuming the drivers don't give you a hard time.
MISFIT is for windows only. You can use [URL="https://github.com/teknohog/primetools"]this[/URL] on Linux...

That system I linked can also boot from Windows 8.1 through a 60GB Corsair Force LS SSD.

[QUOTE=pinhodecarlos;390207]That system I linked can also boot from Windows 8.1 through a 60GB Corsair Force LS SSD.[/QUOTE]

Are you planning a nice Christmas gift, Carlos? :smile:

Luigi

[QUOTE=ET_;390211]Are you planning a nice Christmas gift, Carlos? :smile:

Luigi[/QUOTE]

Not yet Luigi but looking at different solutions....:tu:

I think GTX 970s would be much better: 30% less power consumption per card at stock clocks for not much more money.

[QUOTE=Mark Rose;390222]I think GTX 970s would be much better: 30% less power consumption per card at stock clocks for not much more money.[/QUOTE]

Hmm, you will have to keep in mind the next version of mfakto is 20% faster on the 280/290's by switch from 15 bit to 32 bit kernels...
So 290x @ 1000ghz vs 970, double the wattage, double the performance, only $100 more..

[QUOTE=NickOfTime;390223]Hmm, you will have to keep in mind the next version of mfakto is 20% faster on the 280/290's by switch from 15 bit to 32 bit kernels...
So 290x @ 1000ghz vs 970, double the wattage, double the performance, only $100 more..[/QUOTE]

That's quite an improvement! That brings the efficiency very close to a 970/980. How overclockable are the 280/290 for trial factoring purposes? I haven't paid much attention to AMD cards, with Nvidia working far better with Linux.

[QUOTE=Mark Rose;390224]That's quite an improvement! That brings the efficiency very close to a 970/980. How overclockable are the 280/290 for trial factoring purposes? I haven't paid much attention to AMD cards, with Nvidia working far better with Linux.[/QUOTE]

Well, I now have 2 models of 290x's
XFX DD with run a bit hotter but overclock a bit better, 1100-1150 @ 850ghz/d/d
and HIS IceQ X2 which run 6c cooler but I only clock to 1100 820ghz

I have all 4 running at 1080 777ghz/d/d

asus z87-ws i4770s 8GB antec HCP 1300w , quad 290x @ pcie 8x,
I tried the cheap pciex16 riser cables and they didn't work, but the 3M cables did...

Not sure what the performance diff would be between pcie 8x and a bitcoin pcie 1x system would be...
but I had a 3% drop in TF benchmarks when I switched from 16x to 8x...

[QUOTE=petrw1;389974]My rhetoric reply: 22 / 1395 = .01577% = 1/63.4
Mostly 70-71; a couple dozen 69-70
Beating the odds.[/QUOTE]

And a few days later; after about 1,700 results I continue to be at about 1/64

AND ...twice now I found 2 factors for the same Exponent. (I guess I have the option that says don't stop after the first factor is found).

[QUOTE=petrw1;390264]And a few days later; after about 1,700 results I continue to be at about 1/64.[/QUOTE]
Beginner's luck... :razz:
(kotgw!)