The interest in cryptocurrencies has remained steady in the decade or so they have been around, and interest just keeps growing. You can choose to buy cryptocurrency through various exchanges or mine it on your rigs. A mining rig combines multiple mining devices to multiply the output power (hash rate) and increase the amount you can mine per unit of time. If you are serious about mining cryptocurrencies, this guide will provide you with some tips on what to consider and how to do it right.
Key Considerations
There are some factors you need to consider before you build a mining rig. The first is building one versus using an ASIC-based rig. Some cryptocurrencies are mined better on ASIC miners like the bitmain S19 which has a hash rate of 95TH/S and reasonable power consumption, some are mined on GPUs like the Nvidia RTX 3090 or various AMD cards, and a few are mined on the CPU.
Apart from the cryptocurrency you would like to mine, you also have to think about the total power consumption, heating and cooling as well as the amount of space you have. Individual GPU rigs take up more space while machines that use ASIC miners are compact enough, although you will have to think about cooling when you use the latter.
Get the Right Motherboard
If you would like to build your own mining rig, you will have to buy the components and build it yourself. The first part to think about is the motherboard. Here, you want a motherboard that can handle numerous GPUs while also being able to handle all of them when they are all in use. Motherboard manufacturers like ASUS provide guides on how to configure their motherboards depending on how many GPUs you have. Follow these recommendations to ensure everything is set up and works right.
Get Powered PCI-E risers
It is impossible to fit multiple graphics cards on a single motherboard, especially considering that graphics cards have only gotten bigger. PCI-E risers allow you to connect multiple graphics cards to the motherboard indirectly.
You will need a PCI-E riser for each of the graphics cards you want to use, apart from the main one attached directly to the motherboard. It is very important that you go with powered PCI-E risers. These provide power to the graphics cards directly and allow for a smoother and more stable operation.
The GPU
The ROI of a mining rig is largely dependent on the graphics card. You want a graphics card that is stable and performs well without consuming too much power. Some graphics with the best ROI include the RTX 3060 TI, 3080, and 2060 from Nvidia or the RX 5700 XT, 5700, 580 8 GB, and 570 8 GB from AMD.
The CPU and Storage
The CPU and storage do not matter much in a mining rig because the GPU will be doing all the work. You will need a basic CPU that will handle different operations as well as enough storage, about 1 TB, to hold all your data.
If you choose not to go with an ASIC miner, you can build your own. Once you have chosen the parts, things will be easier as you only need basic computer building skills to get everything set up. Setting up the software is also usually straightforward.
