Too early to buy GPUs for first rig?

GM fam,
I just started committing to buying accessories for my first GPU rig. I have a 650w PS and a rack.
I haven’t decided what I want to mine, but I’d like to choose GPUs, CPU, and motherboard that will give me the flexibility to mine different chains.

Is it too early to start getting the GPUs? Should I go ahead and get the motherboard and CPU now? I won’t be too picky of which to mine first, I just want to get started so I can get seasoned.

BTW, I started with a Bobcat 300 and MX Pro recently.

Thanks guys,
D in AL

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Right now with the track going for ETH you will see a measurable drop in profitability most likely within a year or less. I am more inclined to say it is too late for the current track and too early for any new track. I would also say if you plan to have multiple GPUs a 650W is underpowered even if the cards are undervolted. The type of cards you want for GPU mining are all easily over $200 and have a PSU recommendation of 500W or greater and the better the card the more power each card will draw over 75W each easily. CPU will need power too along with any other devices ie HDD/SSD, Fans, Peripherals, etc so you have to figure a portion of the PSU wattage is going to all that before the GPUs can be calculated in.

Just to give some added perspective an RX 580 and RX5700 were $170-$200 roughly 2 years ago they are just now getting back into that range and these cards are now several years old. In absence of the mining surge and chip shortages these cards today would be under those 2yr old prices by a sizable margin and both were and still are profitable mining cards.

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IMO do it. Just be realistic to cost. Everything except for the GPU’s , your should buy top grade/exactly what you dream of.

What you can mine with a GPU is dictated by the memory/storage of the GPU. 8Gb is the standard right now to mine ETH (4.18 Gb is minimum) and can pretty much mine most other coins/tokens.

Cost of GPU will be the issue. I’m not a fan of waiting for prices to drop (when has anything you ever wanted got cheaper?). Prices could go up just as easy as they can drop.

Maybe just start with 1 GPU of minimum requirements. (something like Amazon link to a “MSI Computer Video Graphic Cards GeForce GTX 1050 TI GAMING X 4G, 4GB” ) That GPU is nothing great but will open the next doors.
Things like operating system, mining program, pools.

Finding GPU’s at a good price and quality is an uphill battle. And like Pirate said, You will need more PSU power at some point soon. Each GPU runs around 100-350 watts per GPU (depending on brand/type/power inputs).

This is great info guys. I’ll probably buy two cards, cpu, mb, and all the peripherals to get this thing started.
I’ve been hearing that 1660 Super is a decent GPU to start with. I guess I need to start deciding what to mine.

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Don’t get anything less than 8Gb. RX6600XT is a good start. I have 25 of them now. Total power draw on those 25 cards mining Eth&Ton is 2.7KWh. On RVN, that moves up to 3.2KWH. 650W PSU is fine. ETH& TON will just about support 5x RX6600XT’s. I wouldn’t go more than 4 gpus on that PSU on RVN, FIRO, etc.

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A quick look up the RX 6600 and the GTX 1660 are probably the most budget friendly options but quick look for new only they will still run you $250-$350 per card. If you go with used or refurb you can probably find some cheaper cards you might have to drop back to something like the RX 580 which IIRC has a profit of like $0.20 per day in the current conditions but will say you probably about $100 per card.

My research on used cards is that they are typically far better than you expect but there is a risk as you never know just what type of conditions they were run under. I actually find that used mining cards seem to be better taken care of than used gamer cards. I think the frequent undervolting leads to lower operating temps resulting in actually less stress on the devices than a standard gaming setup at full power puts on a card along with more open air for better cooling.

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Well, I just ran across a deal on a used setup with a few GPUs. This is what I’m getting tomorrow:

i7-4790K
ASUS Z-97 Mobo
16GB DDR3 RAM
60GB Sata SSD
1000 watt EVGA PSU
750 watt EVGA PSU (only have some modular cables)
Homemade Frame 36x14x16 room for at least 6 cards
6x PCI-e 1x Risers (GPURisers.com)
ThermalTake 24-pin splitter for using 2 PSU’s.
5x 8-PIN PCIE Power splitters

Dell OEM non LHR 3060ti
Zotac 2070 Super twin fan

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