Power supplies, server and regular for Mining farms

When equipping a mining farm with a power supply, there are two options:

server power supplies (as a rule, these are used units with wiring for your desired type of risers and number of video cards);
two conventional power supplies synchronized to work together using a special cable.

It is difficult to say clearly which option is the most optimal. Let's consider their advantages and disadvantages.

Power supplies

To power video cards, it is necessary to correctly select the power of the power supply unit(s). The stability of the system depends on this.

Calculation of farm energy consumption

A farm is like an ordinary computer; its main feature is a large number of video cards.
Read more in the article: How to assemble and set up a mining farm

Depending on the video card model, consumption varies accordingly.

As the number of miners increases, the complexity of the calculations increases, and therefore it is not profitable to do this on all cards. Below is a list of video cards that are effective in mining and their consumption.

Nvidia video cards	Energy consumption, W
NVIDIA TITAN Xp	250
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti	250
GeForce GTX 1080	180
GeForce GTX 1070	150
GeForce GTX 1060	120
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti	75
AMD video cards
RX 470	120
RX 480	150
RX 570	150
RX 580	185

Mostly, users flash and programmatically overclock their video cards, this greatly affects wear and tear, stability of operation, and consumption also increases in direct proportion.

We’ve sorted out the consumption of video cards, now let’s calculate how much the other components of the computer consume.

Component:	Watt consumption
CPU	55- 150
HDD	1 — 9
RAM	2 — 6
Cooling system	0.5 — 6
HDD	0.5 — 8
Motherboard	5 — 20

Let’s say a computer without video cards consumes 94 W + 6 RX470 video cards (720 W), resulting in 814 W.

How powerful should the power supply be?

The power of the power supply must be calculated taking into account the loss of efficiency per year by approximately 20%. If the farm consumes 800 W, then you need to buy a minimum 1 kW unit.

Should I buy one block or several?

Option 1: purchase one power supply. In Russian stores, a 1200 W unit will cost 15,000 rubles - the price in the DNS store;
Option 2: purchase several power supplies. 2 blocks of 700 W would be an excellent option. Prices in all stores are approximately the same, the average cost for two blocks will be 7,000. The cililink.ru store has a very large selection and many products in stock. The advantage of this option: firstly, the cost is two times cheaper, secondly, when one block is released, you will need to buy an additional block for 3500, and not for 15000;
Option 3. Server power supply. The big advantage of this option is its “tailoredness” for this job. Each video card has a separate PCI - E wire.

In conventional power supplies, one cable supplies power to 2 cards, and if you overclock them, as I did, the yellow wires (power) melted and turned black. Server units can be purchased on avito (there is basically no guarantee) or from China.

Conclusion: it is recommended to purchase either a server power supply or 2-3 regular ones (depending on the required power) with a certificate of at least 80+ bronze.

Power calculation

In fact, there is no formula or anything similar for the calculation in question.

To put it simply, you need to calculate the power of the computer components (a farm is also a computer), add to this the power of video cards and take into account the above rule.

As you know, a computer also includes a processor, hard drive, RAM, cooling system, hard drive and motherboard.

You need to find documents for these parts or look at their characteristics on the Internet.

It is important to find accurate data about their power.

Typically, the processor consumes no more than 150 W, hard drive - 9 W, RAM - 6 W, cooling system - 6 W, hard drive - no more than 8 W and motherboard - 20 W. It turns out that the maximum power of such a system will be 199 W. Let's say you use three video cards of 250 W each. It turns out that the total power of all components will be 949 W. Considering the rule described above, it turns out that you need to buy a power supply with a power of at least 1139 W (+20%). Of course, such models do not exist; there are 1200 W models. Take it as it is always better to round up.

Server

Home GPU mining rigs use 4 or more video cards, each of which consumes from 30 to 300 W. To ensure their uninterrupted operation, server power supplies that are reliable and have the necessary power are often used.

The server version is much more powerful than its regular ATX counterparts, but it can heat up to higher temperatures and operate much louder.

Noisy coolers are one of the disadvantages of such devices, however, reliability, which allows them to work around the clock at maximum loads, allows us to neglect this inconvenience. At the same time, the price for them ranges from 8,000 to 60,000 rubles, which is not affordable for every miner.

The number of outputs suitable for providing video cards with 12V power limits the application. Purchasing several splitters expands the capabilities of the power supply, but you should not exceed the maximum power of the outputs, as this may lead to equipment failure.

Some craftsmen carry out wiring of additional outputs, but this requires knowledge and skills to perform the operation without damaging the equipment. The price of a soldered server power supply will be slightly higher than the standard configuration, but will avoid unnecessary problems.

It is necessary to carefully calculate the power consumed by video cards, take into account that video cards are partially powered through the PCI-E port, and calculate the additional power supplied. It is necessary to take into account the maximum current strength on the additional power wires; it determines how many video cards the power supply can simultaneously pull without overheating.

The load on the 6 pin or 6 pin+2 outputs is calculated by summing the power consumption of the powered devices and subtracting the power supplied through the PCI-E ports.

Through a PCI-E port, up to 75 W can be supplied to the video card, which must be subtracted from the maximum declared power. A server power supply used for mining is usually capable of powering 4 to 8 video cards.

Criterias of choice

Power supplies must have at least 4 PCI-e (6/8 Pins) connectors.
Power supplies must have minimum protection: OPP, SCP, OVP. As a rule, all modern power supplies come with protection.
The power supply cables must be made according to the AWG18 standard, this is indicated on the power supply cables; anything thinner (AWG20/22) is not suitable! (American wire gauge, the lower the number, the thicker the wire). As a rule, all modern power supplies come with cables of this caliber.
The power supply package includes the required number of all cables.

Regular synchronized

I offer you a short overview of the best synchronized power supplies:

CHIEFTEC A-135 (APS-750CB)

In first place is one of the most cost-effective, if not the most cost-effective model to date. Its efficiency is at least 85%, which is very high today. Power – 750 W, there are connectors for 4 video cards. This equipment is cooled by a 140 mm fan.

It works almost silently, which is also very important. It is also important that the model has built-in temperature and load sensors. Therefore, the equipment is protected from overheating and overload. According to the manufacturer, you are guaranteed 100 hours of operation.

CHIEFTEC A-135 (APS-1000CB)

This is a slightly more powerful sample - 100 W. But its efficiency is the same - 85%, no less. This model has almost the same advantages as the previous one - an excellent cooling system and minimal noise even at the highest load.

There is also protection against unforeseen situations, for example, overvoltage or power surges. This sample will be able to support 4 video cards maximum, but their total power may already be higher than that of the APS-750CB.

As you can see, the advantages and disadvantages of both representatives of CHIEFTEC A-135 are the same. They have excellent efficiency, but low overall power. But for a novice miner, any of these options is perfect.

Seasonic Prime Gold (SSR-1200GD)

This is one of the most powerful regular models that are suitable for mining. It will be able to provide 1200 watts. Seasonic Prime Gold has 8 slots for video cards. But experts recommend connecting less. Accordingly, you will be able to freely use 6 cards. Today this is very good. There is also very little noise during operation.

Seasonic Prime Gold has a significant disadvantage. It has 8 connectors, and 4 PCI-E cables. Therefore, you will have to look for the right wire yourself. You can also connect two cards through one cord, but it will burn out very quickly. The rest is nothing but positives.

Features when choosing a block

Let’s say right away that there are two types of power supplies, which determine the features of the choice.

Here are the types we are talking about:

Regular synchronized. Power 750-1200 W. They are sometimes also called standard. Such a unit will be able to support 3-4 video cards. This is important to consider. At the same time, if you choose such a power supply, you need to understand that it is designed for cards with high hashrate and low energy consumption. Such models are cheaper than server units and this is their main advantage. In addition, a synchronized unit is much easier to buy - they are available in almost every hardware store.

Rice. 1. Regular synchronized power supply

Server. Power 1200-5600 W. The cooling system is more efficient, as are all other characteristics. The likelihood of rapid failure is extremely low. Such power supplies can withstand enormous loads and are ready to work 24/7. Additionally, they can power 6-8 graphics cards. Getting them, of course, is more difficult. And their price is higher. But, believe me, this technique is worth the money!

Rice. 2. Server power supply

Accordingly, there is only one criterion for choosing the type of power supply - money.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the funds for such expensive purchases. Therefore, in most cases we have to make do with synchronized models.

True, in some cases it turns out that a person invests in the purchase of a server unit and powerful video cards, but the purchases pay off very slowly or do not pay off at all.

Based on this, we can advise novice miners to first use a regular type of power supply and generally spend as little money as possible.

A competent calculation of power will help with this.

How to calculate the power of the unit to power the video cards of the farm?

So, we need a power supply with a connector for a video card, and more than one.

I will consider two options for recharging video cards:

Farm with one powerful power supply
Farm with many power supplies

If you decide to build a farm (rig) on video cards from the “green” ones - nvidia 1060, then one 1250 W power supply will be enough for you. These video cards consume an average of 125 W, which means 6 of them will consume 750 W (and no, a 750 W unit will not be enough in this situation). Raisers, 6 pieces, 50W each, 300W. Platform – 150 W.

Let's add up all the values, it turns out that the entire farm will consume 1200 W, so we met the declared power of the power supply. But not all units produce the power declared by the manufacturer, so if you decide to assemble a farm on one unit with “green cards”, do not skimp, buy a high-quality power supply unit that will be able to power all components and ensure stable operation of the farm.

I forgot to say, manufacturers do not recommend loading the power supply completely to 100%; it is necessary to leave a reserve of 20-30%. When calculating the power consumption of components, I used average values; if you assemble a farm on a celeron processor from Intel, use an SSD instead of an HDD, and downvolt the video cards, this will help reduce the power consumption of the entire system, and you will just leave some power reserves for the power supply.

I’ll immediately jump ahead a little and say that using one powerful power supply for one farm is unsafe, due to overload. An average 1250 W power supply may not withstand prolonged load.

From my experience I can give an example: I once assembled a rig from 4 video cards (2 x MSI R9 390, Asus ref RX 480 8gb, Sapphire RX 480 8gb) and a Thermaltake 1200W power supply. Two 390 stoves sat on different additional power cords (2 x 6+2 PIN), RX 480 sat on one cord, in total there were 3 PSI-E cords in the block.

You need separate cords for each video camera.

And the power supply must have the required number of connectors for single cables.

Over time, the farm began to shut down, I understood that this was due to an overload, although I reduced the consumption and core frequency of the R9 390 video cards and downvolted the built-in RX 480. I had to remove the reference 480 with 6-pin power supply from the farm, and this I provided half a year of stable operation of the rig. Soon history repeated itself, and now only two R9 390 are rated at 1200 W.

What happened to the power supply? The capacitors and some other elements have sagged, and no, this is not because their quality is bad, quite the opposite. Because the unit was at full load 24/7, it is now unable to produce the declared power. It’s good that he didn’t burn out, taking a couple of vids with him.

So the safest way for your wallet and video cards is to assemble farms with multiple power supplies.

Since video cards from AMD RX 400 and RX 500 series performed very well in Ethereum mining after flashing the BIOS and overclocking the RAM, I will tell you how to choose the right power supplies for a farm on the AMD RX 580 8 GB and AMD RX 570 4GB. This will also be true for the 400 series, but they have been discontinued.

Many argue which rigs are better to assemble: with 4 video cards or with 6. Based on the cost of components, a rig with 6 video cards will be more profitable than a rig with 4. Because having 12 video cards, you will have to purchase two platforms for two rigs out of 6 vidyakha, and for farms with 4 vidyakha – 3 platforms, and this is an additional expense.

During the hype around Ethereum mining, which took place in the spring of 2017, not only video cards, but also suitable motherboards and power supplies disappeared from store shelves. And here there was no longer much time for “correct” assembly, but just to somehow connect the video cards.

When you are assembling a farm with several power supplies, proceed from the rule: 1 850 W power supply for 2 RX 580 video cards. That turns out to be 3 power supplies per farm with 6 video cards.

If the farm is 470 or 570, then you can hang 3 video cards on an 850 W power supply unit, if the power supplies are not from the budget segment. The same applies to the 1060 from nvidia.

Sometimes on Avito you can find old top units for overclockers, such as OCZ 650 W Fatality, they are capable of supporting 2 video cards - RX 480 and RX 470 overclocked.

General

The certificate is what you need to pay attention to first when choosing a block. It is clear that initially you must select a power supply that will satisfy all your needs. Namely:

Power - number of watts

When choosing a power supply for a farm, you should immediately consider how many watts will be needed to power the video cards and the system.

Do not forget that the farm can be powered by two power supplies. Then one of them won't waste about 120 watts on the system.

Also, if you have a farm of only 1-2 video cards, but in the future you plan to buy additional cards, you should immediately buy a unit with a reserve, otherwise problems may arise - you will need to buy a second power supply.

Approximately how many video cards with different power consumption and connected system (processor, motherboard, hard drive) can be powered by different power supplies:

700-750 Watt:
Cards with power up to 200 Watt ~ 3 cards
800-850 Watt
Cards with power up to 200 Watt ~ 4 cards
1000-1050 Watt
Cards with power up to 200 Watt ~ 5 cards
1500-1600 Watt
Cards with power up to 200 Watt ~ 7 cards

It’s worth noting right away that this is a very rough calculation, and first of all it depends on the number of PCI-e wires, as well as Molex and Sat, which will power the video cards themselves and the riser for them.

Let's now look at the wires.

Contents - number of wires

After you have decided on the power you need, select the power supply that has the most PCI-e wires.

Also pay attention to the number of Molex and Sat, because if you have a lot of PCI-e wires in the block and only 1-2 Molex and a couple of Sat, there is a chance that you will not be able to power all the cards. Since there will be enough PCI-e wires, but there are no wires to power the risers. Thus, the cards will not be able to start.

Always look for a power supply that has an equal or greater total number of Molex + Sata to the total number of PCI-e wires.

Power consumption of video cards

When calculating which cryptocurrency is most profitable to mine at the moment, it is worth considering not only the hashrate that you will get from your video cards, but also their energy consumption with certain mining algorithms.

When it comes to Nvidia graphics cards, the most popular ones for mining are the GTX 750 Ti and GTX 970, as they offer good price-performance ratio when used in multi-GPU mining rigs.

Of course, you can always buy a GTX 980 Ti or even a GTX Titan X graphics card for mining, which, although more powerful, are much more expensive and do not provide as good a price-performance ratio.

We decided to do a quick check of the Gigabyte Geforce GTX 970 and reference Geforce GTX 980 Ti video cards and see the ratio of power consumption to the performance of these video cards when mining in popular and profitable algorithms.

The results you see in the table below were obtained using the latest versions of ccMiner 1.7.4 fork from Tpruvot and ethminer with CUDA support from Genoil.

All graphics cards were tested at stock frequencies (Gigabyte GTX 970 comes with factory overclock) and were configured to run the CUDA application in the P0 (maximum power consumption) state to obtain maximum performance when mining Ethereum.

As you can see from the mining results for all algorithms except Ethereum, the GTX 980 Ti is faster and consumes slightly more power. However, the price of GTX 980 Ti video cards is approximately 2 times higher than the GTX 970.

By purchasing two GTX 970s for the price of one GTX 980 Ti, you can get much higher hashrate when mining Ethereum. It's interesting to see that when mining Ethereum, the GTX 980 Ti (reference design) can be slower than the GTX 970 (Gigabyte) on which you can get 20-21 MHS/sec due to higher clocks. Therefore, the GTX 980 Ti video card is least suitable for mining Ethereum using the Dagger-Hashimoto algorithm.

If you are interested in Ethereum mining, then the best choice would be to buy Nvidia GTX 970 video cards, even taking into account the fact that the GTX 980 Ti usually has a higher hashrate with other mining algorithms.

Cryptocurrency	GTX 970 Hashrate	GTX 970 Power Consumption	GTX 980 Ti Hashrate	GTX 980 Ti Power Consumption
Ethereum	20 MHS/sec	153W	18.5 MHS/sec	181W
Decred	1303 MHS/sec	174 W	1917 MHS/sec	237W
Quark	12.5 MHS/sec	169W	17.6 MHS/sec	223W
Dash	7.2 MHS/sec	159 W	10.4 MHS/sec	221 W
Vanillacoin	2490 MHS/sec	164 W	3390 MHS/sec	211W

Connectors

It is important to check how many and what connectors are present on the power supply, examples for different units.

EVGA Supernova

Cooler Master V1200

As can be seen from the example above, for different power supplies, the number of connectors, as well as the connectors themselves, can differ significantly.

Example of a server power supply

I have made a short review of the best server power supplies:

GPU DELL D1200E-S0-LITEON PS-2142-2L 80PLUS PLATINUM 1400W

Perfect for a farm with 6 video cards. Main characteristics:

Input voltage: 200-240V AC 50-60Hz
Output power: 1400W (12V DC 114.6A)
Efficiency: 80PLUS PLATINUM 94%
Power supply size: 8.50 x 21.00 x 4.00 cm
Weight of the power supply itself: 1.12 kg

Wires for powering additional connectors of video cards of the 6pin or 6+2pin type are used in loop-type heat-resistant 80°C tinned wires of the American standard 18AWG. And also the 220V power cord has a sealed EURO plug.

Original Manufacturer (OEM)

Suppose you have chosen several power supplies with suitable power, a sufficient number of wires and a good certificate.

Next, you need to find out who the real manufacturer of the power supply is. Since the block is most often assembled by other intermediary companies, the quality of their assembly and soldering leaves much to be desired.

Why is it most often another company that assembles the block?

Everything is very simple. For example, the Corsair company designs a new power supply, creates its drawings and sends it to another company for assembly. Since it will be much more profitable and cheaper for Corsair.

The company can also do this from a marketing point of view, since there are large manufacturing companies that enjoy great confidence among consumers in terms of assembly.

Which true manufacturers are the best?

There are not many real manufacturers of power supplies that have proven themselves well on the market. Here is a list of the best of them:

C.W.T.
Seasonic
Evga
Flextronics

You can find out who the true manufacturer of the power supply is on our website.

Example of two synchronized power supplies

ATX Chieftec A-135 750W

Power - 750 Watt, will handle mining on 4 GTX 1080 Ti cards connected through any risers. Semi-modular design - only cables for the motherboard and processor are soldered. SATA, 6pin and MOLEX cables are connected to special sockets, which allows you to connect the desired set of cables.

ATX Chieftec A-135 1000W

Power - 1000 Watts, will power 5-6 top video cards. Like the 750 Watt “little brother”, this unit can be connected to cables with the connectors you need to power the risers. It is cooled by a 140 mm fan, the transformer circuit has protection against overload and voltage surges, and the stabilizers have protection against overheating and short circuits at the outputs.

ATX RAIDMAX Scorpio 1000W

Despite the high power, it only has 4 6pin connectors for video cards. Additional cables are removable, each 5 Volt line is supplied with a current of 20 A. The manufacturer has installed good cooling and protection systems against overload, overheating and short circuit.

ATX RAIDMAX Cobra 1200W

The output power and efficiency of 90% are comparable to the average server power supply for mining; the current on the mains is enough to power 6 video cards. Includes detachable 6pin, SATA, MOLEX and 4pin Floppy cables. The block uses reliable elements that will normally withstand the continuous load during mining.

Voltage regulation

After you have weeded out a mountain of blocks and selected reliable manufacturers, you should pay attention to their efficiency and voltage stabilization.

We figured out efficiency at the very beginning. As for voltage stabilization, the situation is as follows.

For power supplies with Titanium certification, the approximate numbers should be:

0.18% for 3.3 V
0.40% at 5V
0.17% at 12V.

For the Platinum approximately:

3.3V – 0.33%
5V – 0.2%
12V – 0.2%

For a Gold approximately:

3.3V – 0.85%
5V – 0.60%
12V – 0.58%

For a Bronze approximately:

1.3% for 3.3 V
0.8% at 5V
1.83% at 12V.

These are approximate numbers that blocks should aim for. The higher the number, the worse. These indicators are responsible for the stability of your entire farm - for the supply of electricity.

When choosing blocks, pay careful attention to efficiency and voltage stabilization indicators.

You can find out about stabilizing the voltage of power supplies in our reviews of different units.

TOP power supplies for mining

Today's review is dedicated to power supplies whose characteristics allow them to be used in mining assemblies.

All models selected for review have the optimal combination of power, endurance and safety, and in our opinion, are the best mining solutions in their category.

So, let's take a closer look at all the features of each of them.

CHIEFTEC A-135 1000W (APS-1000CB)

CHIEFTEC A-135 1000W (APS-1000CB) is a powerful power supply that is ready to fully realize its potential in gaming and mining systems, because the component can simultaneously power up to 6 discrete video cards.

This unit has received 80 PLUS Bronze certification, thanks to its high efficiency value of about 85%, it has an excellent low-noise cooling system with a 140 mm fan, the rotation speed of which is regulated by a special intelligent system.

The design of the CHIEFTEC A-135 1000W (APS-1000CB) power supply is semi-modular, which means that the main power cables supplying voltage to the 24PIN ATX motherboard, 8PIN processor (4+4) and two 8PIN PCIe connectors (6+2 ) are output directly from the case, and additional SATAx9, MOLEXx2, Floppy and PCIex4 can be disabled if desired.

The power of the +12 V lines of the CHIEFTEC A-135 1000W (APS-1000CB) power supply is 996 W, and the power of the +3.3 V and +5 V lines is about 140 W. This component is protected from low and high voltage in the network, short circuits, overheating and, which is very important, when assembling a mining system that is constantly working under load, from overload.

CHIEFTEC A-135 750W (APS-750CB)

CHIEFTEC A-135 750W (APS-750CB) is a reliable power supply for powerful gaming systems, which is also great for assembling mining rigs with four discrete video cards.

The CHIEFTEC A-135 750W (APS-750CB) power supply has a semi-modular design and has only two soldered wires - for supplying power to the 24PIN ATX motherboard and for powering the 8PIN (4+4) processor, the rest can be easily disconnected if necessary . There are 9 SATA cables, two with a MOLEX connector, a separate Floppy cable and four for supplying additional power to 8PIN (6+2) PCIe video cards.

This component has two +12 V output lines, and each of them received a current of 35 A, in addition, there are +3.3 V and +5 V lines of 25 A each.

The CHIEFTEC A-135 750W power supply (APS-750CB) operates with an efficiency of more than 85%, due to which it received an 80 PLUS Bronze certificate, it has a virtually silent cooling system with a 140 mm fan, the rotation speed of which is automatically controlled.

The reliability of this unit is ensured by protection systems against low and high voltage in the network, from overloads, short circuits, overheating and high currents; in addition, the average failure-free operation of the CHIEFTEC A-135 750W (APS-750CB) power supply is 100 thousand hours. , so we can say with confidence that this component is completely ready for serious loads and is perfect for mining systems.

RAIDMAX Cobra 1200W (RX-1200AE-B)

RAIDMAX Cobra 1200W (RX-1200AE-B) is an ideal power supply for mining, capable of supporting up to 6 discrete video cards, while the high level of efficiency, thanks to which the component received an 80 PLUS Gold certificate, makes it quite energy efficient.

The RAIDMAX Cobra 1200W (RX-1200AE-B) power supply is available in a case with an original print, and the ventilation grilles are made in the form of a honeycomb, which only emphasizes the individual style of the component.

Almost all cables for supplying power to devices are removable and have a high-quality plastic braid; only the 20+4 pin cable connecting to the motherboard and two 4+4 pin power supply cables to the processor are not disconnected. Among the removable cables you can find 6 pieces with a 6+2-pin interface for PCI-E connectors, 9 pieces SATA, 6 MOLEX and another Floppy.

The maximum power of the RAIDMAX Cobra 1200W (RX-1200AE-B) power supply along the +12 V line at a current of 100 A is as much as 1200 W, while it also has +3.3 V and 5 V lines with a current of 20 A. It remains to be noted that This power supply has received all the necessary protection systems, including overload protection, so it is ready for long-term operation under constantly high loads, becoming the right choice when assembling a mining system.

Rating of the best

In 2022, it is most profitable to use 5 models of power supplies.
Table 1. Comparative characteristics

Model	CHIEFTEC A-135 (APS-750CB)	CHIEFTEC A-135 (APS-1000CB)	Seasonic Prime Gold (SSR-1200GD)	DELL DPS-1200MB A	IBM DPS-2500BB
Price, dollars	100	220	320	140	240
Power, W	750	1000	1200	1400	2320
Number of connected devices, pieces	4	6	8	6	8