Mother Mine - Extreme Mining Setup
- Thread starter wndsr
- Start date
Yes, it is even better than locking your mother-in-law in it
HAHAHAHAHA Well Played.
Soldato
Given all the flooding, hows the cellar looking, still running?
I entered wndsr's cellar on Sunday as I was in the neighbourhood. The heat OMG the heat! We stayed down there for circa ten mins chatting about the rigs, how the mining is going and what else can be done to bring down ambient. After the ten minutes we had to leave the room though as it was just so oppressive!
There are 6 rigs all running 4 280x's. He's had problems with PSU's going pop and whilst the ambient is stupidly hot the GPUs are all running at "sensible" temps.
There are 6 rigs all running 4 280x's. He's had problems with PSU's going pop and whilst the ambient is stupidly hot the GPUs are all running at "sensible" temps.
Block Erupters hash SHA256 only. You'd throw 10k down the drain then lose more money just by plugging them in.
Soldato
How far has he gotten with the ambients, there was talk about enclosing them and then just pumping air through a smaller semi sealed setup rather than cooling a whole room etc.
How close is he to water?
Or more importantly how close is the water to him! Lol 
As the GPU's are sensible temps it's the PSU's which are struggling... Some way to isolate them from the GPU's and pump some cooler air at just the PSU's might be another alternative...
They're (probably) Gold/Platinum rated, but that is purely their 'efficiency under load', the ambient heat being so high will have a massive impact on their efficiency (therefore having a knock on affect of this rating and the life of the capacitors themselves!).
GPU's are made to cope with high temps... PSU's maybe not so much! Once the outside ambient starts to rise (rumour of a heat wave in March!) wndsr may find a huge increase in failures and overheating probs!
As the GPU's are sensible temps it's the PSU's which are struggling... Some way to isolate them from the GPU's and pump some cooler air at just the PSU's might be another alternative...
They're (probably) Gold/Platinum rated, but that is purely their 'efficiency under load', the ambient heat being so high will have a massive impact on their efficiency (therefore having a knock on affect of this rating and the life of the capacitors themselves!).
GPU's are made to cope with high temps... PSU's maybe not so much! Once the outside ambient starts to rise (rumour of a heat wave in March!) wndsr may find a huge increase in failures and overheating probs!
Soldato
The only chances we'll have of a heatwave in march is if he opens a window
funny that sheepy.. thats what we always say to him in ts after hes finished talking
Or more importantly how close is the water to him! Lol
As the GPU's are sensible temps it's the PSU's which are struggling... Some way to isolate them from the GPU's and pump some cooler air at just the PSU's might be another alternative...
They're (probably) Gold/Platinum rated, but that is purely their 'efficiency under load', the ambient heat being so high will have a massive impact on their efficiency (therefore having a knock on affect of this rating and the life of the capacitors themselves!).
GPU's are made to cope with high temps... PSU's maybe not so much! Once the outside ambient starts to rise (rumour of a heat wave in March!) wndsr may find a huge increase in failures and overheating probs!
Sorry for the lack of replies on this thread.
Everything seems to be going rather swimmingly now. I ditched my 4 x 290 rig because I just couldn't seem to get it going on Windows so I am now running all 280X rigs which have been running 24/7 for weeks on end now without any major trouble.
So far I have had three failed PSUs, most probably due to the heat. Ambient temperature in the cellar is between 38 and 42 degrees. As some people have said, come summer this could be a big problem and I'll have to explore either getting a semi-industrial cooling system or moving them out of the house. At the moment they are just about manageable.
I have been looking around at air conditioning units but I don't think any will be powerful enough without spending a fortune. Plus they generate hot air too so I'd need to be able to get rid of that. I've been thinking about knocking an air brick out and replacing it with an extractor fan - but again will it be powerful enough to get all the heat out?
My last idea is to fit tubing on top of each rig to suck all the hot air up and extract it out the back of the house. Another costly option. Even a 3-4 degrees increase in the ambient temperature will start to push some of the GPU's into overheat and therefore reduced speeds.
Each mine now has a 18" fan behind it, but this is only as good as the temperature of the air in the room. Sure it's blowing all the hot air away from the cards but over time all it's doing is spreading the hot air across the room.
I think any plans to buy more mines will be delayed by the need for better cooling. I'm probably going to have to forfeit another mine to pay for cooling.
Soldato
Can you knock some bricks out and install an extractor fan? That would be the cheapest option. Air con would never work, you need to shift the hot air out of the room. Air con would be using energy to create cool air and shift it in.
If you can extract the hot air, that's the way to go IMO.
If you can extract the hot air, that's the way to go IMO.
Soldato
You should funnel the heat into a wooden shack and have a self contained sauna.
On a serious note though, you're going to need an extractor of some kind.
On a serious note though, you're going to need an extractor of some kind.
Associate
Man of Honour
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Knocking out a few bricks and installing a few strong extractor fans will work, at least for now. Come the summer you could be in a spot of bother. Good to hear it is going well though.
Air con would obviously be the best option. Have you ever been in a server room? The only way to keep equipment cool is by actively pumping the heat out. Don't think of air con as "creating" cold air - think of it as pulling heat out of the room and dumping it into the outside air (those big boxes on the outside of buildings).
An extractor is only going to be as good as the ambient temperature of the air that gets sucked in - which will probably be from the house/outdoors - and could get pretty toasty in the Summer.
Man of Honour
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Anything decent would cost a fortune though surely? Plus it will use a lot if electricity - is there even any left when the rigs are mining?
Soldato
Air con is not pumping heat out, that's extraction. Air con is pumping refrigerated air in. Those big boxes on the outside of buildings are refrigeration units, they have refrigerant gas inside them.
Your second paragraph is correct. Extraction will only be as good as the outside ambient, and in the UK that will be suitable for what, 90% of the time?
An air con system will cost big bucks, and considering that the ambient external air temp is 20C or below for the majority of the time in the UK, a total waste of money.
Couldn't you have the rigs near an external wall, then watercool them? The blow the air from a big massive radiator or two outside. That's about the only way I can think of getting rid of air without moving it about the room. I doubt it'd cost that much either.