Water Cooled GPU Crypto Mining

[tolagarf]

I'm jumping the bandwagon and going into crypto mining since I have a server and I have 2 x 1080 Ti FE cards incoming.

Now that EK is doing aluminium water blocks for these cards, I thought about why not water cool those beasts and avoid the noise that normally would come with it. I can't imagine it would be nice listering to two of those running 24/7 on air

I'm just wondering what the best option here is... I have room for a 360mm rad in the top of my server which is enough for this kind of TDP, and I'm not even going to water cool the CPU. That one will stay air simply to make it less complicated for maintenance purposes.

Should I go with EK's Fluid Gaming series, or does anyone here believe Alphacool's Eiswolf would be cut out for such a job? I'm a bit skeptical on that part concerning the pumps. An EK representative said themselves that you can use a D5 or DDC pump with their alu parts, since there are no metals in those pumps that will mix with the water.

Any ideas or pitfalls to consider?

 

[Korreborg]

Is there really money in it? We live in Denmark, the electricity price is really high. And as i understand it, the 1080ti is not that good for mining.

 

[tolagarf]

Is there really money in it? We live in Denmark, the electricity price is really high. And as i understand it, the 1080ti is not that good for mining.

It's fine actually. There are many different way to mine these days, of course if you compare price vs performance AMD always wins (currently at least), but then again AMD cards are hardly huge performers anyway. It all depends on how many slots you got free for graphics card, might as well get the most out of each slot.

True electricity prices are high in Denmark, but from what I understood it can still be profitabel in the long run. But a dedicated mining farm is not going to happen for sure.

 

[Korreborg]

But due the math before you start to hammer your cards. I don't think it's good for them
Isn't it like in the bitcoin days? It gets harder and harder to calculate?

 

[Warchild]

I'm jumping the bandwagon and going into crypto mining since I have a server and I have 2 x 1080 Ti FE cards incoming.

Now that EK is doing aluminium water blocks for these cards, I thought about why not water cool those beasts and avoid the noise that normally would come with it. I can't imagine it would be nice listering to two of those running 24/7 on air

I'm just wondering what the best option here is... I have room for a 360mm rad in the top of my server which is enough for this kind of TDP, and I'm not even going to water cool the CPU. That one will stay air simply to make it less complicated for maintenance purposes.

Should I go with EK's Fluid Gaming series, or does anyone here believe Alphacool's Eiswolf would be cut out for such a job? I'm a bit skeptical on that part concerning the pumps. An EK representative said themselves that you can use a D5 or DDC pump with their alu parts, since there are no metals in those pumps that will mix with the water.

Any ideas or pitfalls to consider?

considering my colleague in Norway does crypto mining. I can assure you that it is a total waste of time investing in 2 GPU let alone 2x1080ti for mining. He is running 9 GPUs on a rack and even then he doesnt gain much at all, except for a ridiculously noise and warm apartment.

1. mining coins has now become vastly harder than before. (I think on bitcoin there are not many left in the block chain and will be exhausted in the near future)
2. electric prices will rocket.

On a plus side, analysts claim that once all bitcoins are mined the value can increase into the "millions" per bitcoin. slight increase to the $3000 they are valued at right now!

Most mining farms you see pop up will be in countries like Hong Kong where electric is so cheap. Or nearest farms for us I think is in Iceland. I don't want to crush your hopes, but it really is pointless using 2x 1080ti for mining. Especially when they aren't very good for it.

 

[tolagarf]

considering my colleague in Norway does crypto mining. I can assure you that it is a total waste of time investing in 2 GPU let alone 2x1080ti for mining. He is running 9 GPUs on a rack and even then he doesnt gain much at all, except for a ridiculously noise and warm apartment.

1. mining coins has now become vastly harder than before. (I think on bitcoin there are not many left in the block chain and will be exhausted in the near future)
2. electric prices will rocket.

On a plus side, analysts claim that once all bitcoins are mined the value can increase into the "millions" per bitcoin. slight increase to the $3000 they are valued at right now!

Most mining farms you see pop up will be in countries like Hong Kong where electric is so cheap. Or nearest farms for us I think is in Iceland. I don't want to crush your hopes, but it really is pointless using 2x 1080ti for mining. Especially when they aren't very good for it.

I already adjusted my plans down for a single 1080 Ti water cooled, and I'll see what that brings. But keep in mind there are many different ways to mine now, including algorithms that perform well with nVidia cards.

You can see the return of investment here which would apply to me. Put in GTX 1080 Ti in the drop down menu, and put in 0.35 USD/kWh in Electricity cost at the bottom. My ROI would be roughly 170 days (yesterday it said 160 though) and that's including the electricity cost.

But nevertheless this wasn't really what I wanted to discuss, more so about the water cooling parts

 

[Korreborg]

But in 170days you will have had a card running 10years worth of heavy gaming = There is a risk of a very bad investment = Dead card :/

 

[tolagarf]

But in 170days you will have had a card running 10years worth of heavy gaming = There is a risk of a very bad investment = Dead card :/

Not if you water cool it dude. As long you can keep the temps of the GPU and VRM well below normal operating temps, you will prolounge the life of the card. You do realise the only reason gaming cards tolerate 85-95C is because they aren't expected to run 24/7.

 

[Warchild]

Not if you water cool it dude. As long you can keep the temps of the GPU and VRM well below normal operating temps, you will prolounge the life of the card. You do realise the only reason gaming cards tolerate 85-95C is because they aren't expected to run 24/7.

Volts fed into a GPU for 24/7 will also drastically degrade life

but anyway if you plan to run this 24/7 I'm not sure I would even use the watercooling option. Pumps can fail and very little warning would be given since they can run so silently these days it is sometimes hard to tell. With Air cooling you at least see fans no longer spinning

 

[tolagarf]

Volts fed into a GPU for 24/7 will also drastically degrade life

but anyway if you plan to run this 24/7 I'm not sure I would even use the watercooling option. Pumps can fail and very little warning would be given since they can run so silently these days it is sometimes hard to tell. With Air cooling you at least see fans no longer spinning

It's not a problem if I put the PWM header of the pump on CPU_Fan. A D5/DDC/Swiftech pump will auto shutdown the PC if it detects an error. And running on air is just a big no! I don't need that noise in my apartment lol

Edit: R.I.P. the dream! Seems this might not be worth it indeed with the latest developments. Good thing I didn't really invest in anything just yet.

Edit2: Seems it's not that bad, but GTX 1080 Ti would be a complete waste of power and money. AMD 480 or GTX 1070 are the top cards to use compared to cost and performance

https://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?p=952586#post952586