How much it costs to put together a mining farm in 2024

Sizing

For mining cryptocurrencies, different numbers of graphics gas pedals are used. From them depends on how much it will cost to assemble a mining farm, because a large number of GPUs requires a powerful base. In addition, you need to take into account the capabilities of home wiring, since it was not designed with the huge power consumption of miners in mind. Conditionally, farms are divided into 3 groups:

• Small. It includes up to 3-4 video cards. Such a farm consumes about 1.3 kW, does not require an improved ventilation system, and components can be placed on a homemade rig. Taking into account the current NEXA exchange rate and the cost of kW at $0.01, the equipment will bring up to $6-8 daily.
• Medium. This is already a more powerful rig, requiring large investments, because you need to connect at least 8-12 graphics gas pedals. The option is suitable for those who are familiar with mining and selling tokens, because at the start will have to invest $15-20 thousand.
• Large. The farm consists of at least 4 regs with 6-8 GPUs and requires a separate connection to the city power supply system, because the home wiring is not designed for such a load. If we put 24 RTX 4090, the electricity consumption will reach 9.1 kW.

At the stage of planning and assembling the farm, it is necessary to take into account the capabilities of the home wiring. It is necessary to check the maximum power that was allocated to the apartment. It is also worth replacing old wires with new ones (copper) to avoid melting cables.

One should not forget about safety, because miners are responsible for fires, house and neighborhood blackouts. To give you an example: in 2019, a man whose farm went up in flames was convicted. As a result, 7 apartments and the attic burned down. The court estimated the damage at 50 million rubles and obliged the citizen to reimburse the costs of reconstruction.

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Components for assembling a mining farm

To create your own rig and start mining cryptocurrencies, you need to buy 5 basic components and a number of additional components. You can save on some of the components, because they perform a service function and are not directly involved in mining.

When selecting equipment, you need to take into account the payback period – the number of days after which the farm will start working “in the plus”. It does not always make sense to take the best. Cheap components can be more profitable than top ones.

Choosing a video card

Graphics gas pedal – the main part of the farm, which performs calculations to find new blocks. It is impossible to save on them, because the profitability and payback of mining depends on graphics cards.

If your budget is unlimited, you should buy new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. They have a relatively large net profit – about $2.08. For reference, the closest competitors RTX 4080 and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX are inferior by 35% and 40% respectively. To choose the best GPU among them, you need to calculate the approximate payback period in days:

• RTX 4090 – 852.
• RTX 4080 – 880.
• RX 7900 XTX – 949.

The information on yield is taken from the WhatToMine website, taking into account the cost of $0.01 per kW. GPU prices are studied with the help of Yandex.Market.

It is possible to find video cards at lower prices abroad, but then you will have to separately count the cost of delivery, as well as the exchange of rubles for another currency. Some miners buy parts from foreign platforms.

Motherboard

This is a mandatory element of the farm, which is necessary for the exchange of commands and data between all the parts of the computer. Unlike video cards, motherboards have never been in short supply.

Stores sell different variants, including powerful components designed for simultaneous use of more than 10 GPUs. For assembling a farm will be suitable:

• ASRock H81 Pro BTC R2.0 – supports up to 7 graphics cards.
• ASUS STRIX Z270H Gaming – up to 6 graphics gas pedals.
• MSI H310-F PRO – up to 13 devices.

Before buying a part, you need to understand how many GPUs will be connected, what socket the processor has, as well as what kind of RAM is planned to use. “Mothers” do not have backward compatibility. If they are designed for DDR4 and socket LGA1151, others simply will not fit because of the different connectors.

Boards are made for Intel and AMD processors, but they have different sockets. The former company designed the LGA socket, while the latter designed the AM and FM sockets. Of these, it is recommended to choose Intel, since they produce good budget “stones” for GPU-rig.

CPU, RAM, fans

Without a CPU, the computer simply will not turn on, because it is engaged in running the operating system and programs for mining. However, you definitely don’t need to spend $6k on an AMD Threadripper 3990X. In the mining of most cryptocurrencies, the CPU does not participate, so miners buy cheap models.

They perform basic operations, because of which the load on the “stone” rarely exceeds 40-50%. Therefore, it is worth buying one of the following processors.

The first two models can be found only on the secondary market, so you should check the condition of the socket before buying. The textolite should be intact and all the teeth should be even, otherwise the CPU will not work for a long time or will not turn on at all.

RAM is needed to run BIOS and temporary program files. It is worth noting that the DAG file does not go into RAM, but to the VRAM of video cards. For mining tokens with a perspective for the future, it is recommended to put 8 GB. This is the optimal value, which is enough to work even on “heavy” Windows.

In stores, you can mostly find DRAM of the DDR4 generation, and all new motherboards support only it. Therefore, it makes no sense to buy DDR3, although technically they are not much inferior. To create a home farm you should use:

• AMD Radeon R5 Entertainment Series for $15.84.
• Apacer [EL.08G21.GSH] for $19.5.

For cooling video cards use a fan. However, the choice is not as unambiguous as it seems. Mainers use two kinds of fans:

• Additional coolers (for example, AeroCool Verkho 2 for $13). They are connected to the farm.
• Office fans.

Both options can be used. The main thing is not to allow the temperature to rise above 80°C, otherwise GPU wear will accelerate, and at 90°C metal parts on chips will start to melt.

Mass storage

It is needed only for storing programs and OS, so you should not buy an expensive and bulky hard disk or SSD. For a farm, you can use:

• Netac N535S for $11.
• AMD Radeon R5 Series [R5SL120G] for $11.57.

Power Supply

It determines the number of GPUs that can be powered simultaneously. You should definitely not skimp on the PSU, as low power efficiency will make the farm more expensive due to increased utility costs. The power supply unit should have Silver or Gold standard (more than 85% efficiency).

Additional Costs

To determine exactly how much it costs to put together a mining farm, you need to take into account the auxiliary components. Among them:

• Risers. Sold for an average of $5-6 per unit.
• Enclosure. A ready-made rack can be found for $11-20.
• Power Synchronizer. If the rig consists of 2 PSUs, you need to supply this part. It sells for $2-4.

What you can save money on

To reduce the payback period, you should not invest a lot of money in the processor, storage, RAM. They are not involved in mining, so the devices should be powerful enough only for the launch and stable operation of the OS. Because of this, CPUs are often bought on the secondary market to save money.

If we talk about the case, it can be assembled independently from boards and wooden blocks. The main thing is that video cards should be securely fastened.

To save on cooling, miners move the farms to the balcony, to the garage. Cold street air will replace several fans. So that the devices are not damaged because of the environment, you need to glaze the loggia. Then precipitation will not be the cause of short-circuiting.

How much it costs to assemble a farm for mining

To determine the price of a rig for four video cards, you need to consider the actual prices for the main components. For convenience, the data are collected in the table.

How to build a mining farm in 2024

To build a mining farm, first you need to choose the right equipment. After buying all the components, the assembly takes place: all the parts are installed on the motherboard, the power supply is connected and everything is connected by wires. Then the operating system, drivers for video cards and mining software are installed. When the software is ready, the mining program is set up, the farm is connected to the pool and cryptocurrency mining begins.

Payback period of the farm

If we take the configuration above and the electricity price at $0.01 per kW as a basis, the equipment will start working “in the plus” in 914 days. The term is calculated at the current price of NEXA – $2.13 per token.

Conclusions

Although cryptozyme is not over yet, it is possible to make money on mining in 2023. However, the long payback period makes this business unprofitable for now. In 3 years of daily mining, the devices can break down, due to which there is a risk of making losses. However, now the top devices are sold relatively cheap, so it is easier to enter the industry. And if the rates of ETHW, ETC, NEXA, ALPH go up following BTC, such a farm will be extremely profitable.

Frequently Asked Questions