Build your own mining rig - the ultimate guide (2022) directly from the expert (part 2/2)

3.1 Assembling the mining rig frame

Now let's move on to the first component, the mining rig frame. Most frames are super easy to set up and you can't really go wrong, almost every frame comes with assembly instructions, so we won't go into too much detail here. But what you should make sure is that you tighten all screws properly so that the frame is nice and sturdy.

When you have finished assembling the frame, you still need to install the small golden screws - the mainboard holders - correctly. There are different mainboard formats, so it's best to briefly hold the mainboard over the rig and see which threads you need to use for your board.

3.2 Assembly of mainboard with CPU, CPU cooler and RAM latch

Next, let's get to the mainboard. The first thing you need to do is install the processor in the CPU socket mount. To do this, you must pull the base bracket (the metal pin) to the side and fold the bracket upwards. When you insert the CPU, be careful not to bend any of the very fine socket pins on the board and that you mount the processor correctly. The CPU holder is then closed again.

Now you need to apply some thermal paste to the processor so that the heat produced can be properly dissipated onto the heatsink. A pea-sized blob is completely sufficient. By the way: the processor runs virtually idle during mining and therefore generates little heat, which is why a normal standard CPU fan is completely sufficient.

Now let's get to the fan. To do this, you must first connect the fan plug to the mainboard, which is ALWAYS plugged into the four pin where it says “CPU_FAN”.

Now you can properly plug the fan onto the board with the brackets. Make sure that all four brackets fit properly. If you have a board with an AMD CPU, you'll need to clamp the fan with the side brackets.

Then you still have to plug the RAM latch onto the board. Here, too, you have to make sure that the RAM snaps properly and sits correctly. By the way, with some boards, it is relevant which of the RAM slots you plug in, so if in doubt, you should check the mainboard's operating instructions to see which space needs to be occupied.

Finally, you can now screw the board onto the mainboard holder. However, be careful not to tighten the screws too tight so that the board is not damaged.

As a little tip from us, make sure (even after assembling the rig) that there are no screws or other parts on or under the board, otherwise the board may not boot.

3.3 Screw the power supply to the mining frame and install the power button/start button

Now let's move on to the power supply. Installing the power supply is super simple, all you have to do is position the power supply on the specified brackets on the frame (see red circles) and screw it tight.

Now you have to connect the power button to the mainboard. On each mainboard, there is only one plug connection (2 pins), which is usually marked with “PWR_SW”. If not, simply check the mainboard operating instructions. If the plug is stuck, you can position the on/off switch anywhere on the rig where you would like to have it.

3.4 Installing the additional LED case fans

It continues with the additional case fans. These must be secured to the frame with the screws provided. The fans can be positioned in both directions: airflow to the graphics cards or airflow (or suction) away from the GPUs. In theory, both directions are okay, but it is usually better to “pull” the warm air away from the cards so that the heat cannot build up there.

When the fans are attached, the fan power cables must now be connected to the plug box. I recommend that you make a lot of effort and bring the cables together properly with cable ties and then put them in the box in an orderly manner. Tangled cables are always annoying when it comes to attaching or removing hardware (e.g. when setting up or cleaning later) - and it simply looks better when the cables are properly laid.

For example, this is what decent wiring looks like, all cables have been brought together into one string with cable ties and then attached to the plug box.

3.5 Install Hive OS on the SSD and screw the hard drive to the frame

Now it's the turn of the hard drive, the SSD. You must now install Hive OS on this. How the installation of Hive OS works is what we have HERE Explained in detail. You can of course also mine with Windows, but we always recommend using Hive OS for various reasons.

Now that you've installed Hive OS on the SSD, you can screw it onto the rig rack. For this purpose, most frames have pre-drilled holes (for all types of hard drives).

3.6 Power cabling for hardware

Now let's move on to power cabling. Just as with fan cabling, we recommend that you give yourself enough time and install and route all cables properly. Proper cable management is essential at Rig-Bau.

First, connect the power supply for the mainboard. The plug connection is relatively large and must (usually) be pushed into the adapter with a little force. Make sure that the cable is facing in the right direction when installing it.

Now you need to power the processor and plug the CPU cable into the CPU plug. Make sure that you use the correct cable, as the CPU cable looks very similar to the PCIe cable (for the graphics cards).

By the way, older mainboards sometimes only have a 4-pin connector for the processor, which is why all CPU cables can be “split” in the middle.

Next, connect the auxiliary fans and SSD with a SATA power cable. In some cases, the fans may have a Molex connection, then connect the fan with the appropriate Molex cable.

You can now connect the SSD to the mainboard using the SATA data cable.

3.7 Connecting the GPU risers

Now you need to attach the GPU risers and connect them to the power supply. ATTENTION: In this example rig, we use a Molex connection for the risers. However, a Molex cable is not suitable in all cases. In the first part, we taught you that a graphics card can draw up to 75 watts of power via the X16 connection (or via the riser). However, a Molex connection is only rated up to a maximum of 75 watts (PCIe up to 288 watts). Many graphics cards (e.g. AMD RX 580) consume a total of only 70-80 watts, with a large part of the power being supplied through the power cabling, where a Molex power supply for the riser is then completely fine. With a power-hungry NVIDIA RTX 3090, however, the graphics card can draw up to 75 watts of power through the riser. Since you shouldn't use 100% of the hardware's possible power in 24/7 continuous operation, you should definitely power the risers with the PCIe connectors.

In this case, we have installed 6 risers for 6 graphics cards in the 8-series GPU frame. Of course, you always have to install as many risers as you want to connect graphics cards to the rig.

Next, the GPU risers must be connected to the mainboard using the USB cables and PCIe x1 connectors.

By the way, you can use the X1 ports as well as the X16 ports on the mainboard for the PCIe x1 connectors. In our example here, we did not have enough ports on the mainboard (X1 & X16), which is why we have a GPU splitter card (see Chapter 2.3) so that all risers (and graphics cards) can be connected to the mainboard.

3.8 Connecting graphics cards

Now you can connect the graphics cards to the risers. All you have to do is plug the GPUs into the riser with the X16 connection. You can then screw the graphics card to the mining frame.

This is what it looks like when all graphics cards are connected to the risers and screwed neatly. By the way, 2 more GPUs could be attached to this, but then you would need a stronger power supply (80% rule).

You can now power the graphics cards with the PCIe 8 pin on 2 x 6+2 pin connectors. For some cards, a PCIe connector is sufficient, and some GPUs require up to three (e.g. RTX 3090).

If you don't have enough cables or PCIe 6+2 ports, you can use splitter cables (pay attention to the maximum power transfer), which turn a 6+2 port into 2 by 6+2 connections.

After you have supplied all graphics cards with power, you should merge all cables properly again and “clean them up”.

3.9 First start of the mining rig

The assembly of your rig is now complete. Now you're ready to start your mining rig for the very first time. All you have to do is press the power button briefly.

Your rig should now start (ideally) and you can move on to Chapter 4, setting up the software. If you have problems starting the rig, you can find here Troubleshooting solutions.

4.1 Hive OS Start Interface — Mining Rig Overview

Welcome to Hive OS. Hive OS is built so that you can see all of your farms on the start page. The farm is the collective of workers (GPU miners as well as ASICs) that you have assigned to the farm. If your mining rig has started correctly, it should now appear in a farm. By the way, you can't set Hive OS to German, but there are other languages, such as Russian and Turkish.

When you go to the farm, you will now find your mining rig - the worker. By the way, you can change the name of the rig in the settings at any time, even from the farm. Clicking on “Rig #123456” will then take you to the worker overview.

This is what the mining rig overview looks like. In the middle, all graphics cards that Hive OS has recognized are listed. By the way, Hive starts counting at 0, don't be surprised. In this interface, you can completely configure and also monitor your worker.

4.2 The settings options in the Hive OS

With graphics cards, you can also set the overclock settings (the performance settings) directly, there are a few more KPIs at the bottom of the bar. At the top bar, you can restart or switch off the rig (power button), update the rig (arrow pointing up), start and stop the miner (the pickaxe) or even adjust the car fan (fan).

Hive OS Worker update: If you click on the icon with the up arrow, you can update and downgrade your rig there at any time. So if there are any problems with the software, simply upgrade the rig, that usually solves all problems.

A very important Hive OS tool is the Auto Fan Controller. The Auto-Fan Tool automatically regulates the fan speeds of the graphics cards, depending on which desired temperature ranges you have selected. You can set the critical temperature at the very top. As soon as the cards have reached this temperature, the miner automatically stops or the rig shuts down. The critical temperature should be around 80 degrees. If the GPUs get warmer, that's really not good for longevity. The Target Core TEMP is also important, which is the general temperature that Hive OS should maintain. Min fan speed is the fan speed at which the fans should rotate at least, max fan speed is the maximum speed. I would definitely set it to 100% here so that the fans can cool with maximum force. After setting, press “Apply.”

4.3 Set up the flight sheet - instruction for coin, wallet, pool and miner

The flight sheet can be found in the middle bar next to the worker. The flight sheet is the instruction to the miner as to which coin to mine, to which wallet the mined cryptos should be transferred, which pool the miner must use and which software miner he should execute. So you now need to create a flight sheet for your mining rig, click on “Add Flight Sheet”.

1. Here you select the coin you want to mine from. Hive OS gives you a huge selection for that.
2. Here, you must deposit the appropriate wallet for each mined coin. For example, if you want to mine Ethereum Classic, you must also deposit an ETC wallet. As a wallet, you can use a software wallet, the wallets with your crypto broker (e.g. Binance) or even a browser wallet such as MetaMask.
3. Here you select the pool that you would like to use. Our favorite pools are Ethermine and 2Miners.
4. Finally, select the mining software. Our tip is TeamRedMiner and T-Rex Miner (if the coin is supported).
5. Finally, give the “instruction” a name and click Save. After that, you have to click on the rocket and the flight sheet is applied to the miner.

4.4 Hive OS GPU Overclock Settings — The graphics card settings

Now we come to the overclock settings, which are (usually) the most complicated for a beginner. The overclocks are the graphics card performance settings with which you optimize the card -> maximum performance with the lowest possible power consumption. To open the overclock settings, you must click on the speedometer of the respective graphics card.

Each card must be optimized for every coin. Sounds like a lot of work, but you can usually find the perfect settings directly on Google or in the “Popular Presets”, which you can find in the top right menu. These are the most popular settings that miners use for the respective graphics card and coin, which you can simply apply directly.

Now that you've set up Hive OS, the rig is now starting to mine. It takes some time until all values are displayed correctly, as Hive OS does not display the stats in real time, but with a slight delay.

Congratulations on your first homemade GPU mining rig! We hope you enjoyed our guide. If we were able to help you, we would be delighted to hear from you! Otherwise, the entire Cryptohall24 team wishes you HAPPY MINING!