bitcoin mining while gaming

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dinlee23

Gawd
Joined
Aug 28, 2008
Messages
835
is it possible to mine while gaming

for example i mine on a 7950 while i game on my 670

is this thing possible?
 
dinlee23 said:
dammit i only have one pci-e slot coulda sworn i had 2... well any advice on what i should get for bit coing mining with a budget of $800? should i get 3 7950s or 2 7970s?

oh and will this power

http://www.pcpower.com/products/description/Silencer_Mk_II_950W/index.html

a GTX 670 and 2 7950s/70s
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Get three 7950's since they are getting relatively cheap (~$300). You'll get more hash rate with three of them versus two 7970's.

As for the PSU question, you can power a GTX 670 and two 7950's or 7970's. I have two 7970's and one 7950 with my main rig and it barely breaks 600w at the wall. Mind you I also undervolt which saves quite a bit on electricity and also heat. ;)
 
SolidBladez said:
Get three 7950's since they are getting relatively cheap (~$300). You'll get more hash rate with three of them versus two 7970's.

As for the PSU question, you can power a GTX 670 and two 7950's or 7970's. I have two 7970's and one 7950 with my main rig and it barely breaks 600w at the wall. Mind you I also undervolt which saves quite a bit on electricity and also heat. ;)
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do you just run games on all of them or do you mine on those 7970s? also you dont need drivers to mine right? wouldnt it cause a problem if i have CCC and nvidia control panel on the same pc?
 
dinlee23 said:
do you just run games on all of them or do you mine on those 7970s? also you dont need drivers to mine right? wouldnt it cause a problem if i have CCC and nvidia control panel on the same pc?
Click to expand...

You probably should delete the old driver with your current video card and then install the new drivers with ur new card.
 
dinlee23 said:
wouldnt it cause a problem if i have CCC and nvidia control panel on the same pc?
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Not with Windows 7/8. You can specify which card to mine on using the appropriate software. I personally have a separate rig for gaming and other misc things.
 
OP. i have six video cards and i will say im a bitcoin miner first and a gamer second. This means i only play games on computers that are unable to mine or mine at profit.

You can certainly play games while mining but your hashrate will suffer and sometimes your framerate too. For awhile i was mining while i played rift or world of warcraft. it was playable.... but not butter smooth.

Cgminer will let you chose which cards are mining... so its easy to disable the card that is plugged into your monitor and mine on the others. Also, 3 big video cards will run mega hot inside an enclosed case. ive had best luck but making sure all my video cards have at least a cm of gap between them so the fans reach fresh air. A lot of motherboards that have 3 or 4 pci-e slots have them so close to each other it causes the cards to run really hot and unstable. Because of this and the price of 1000w+ PSU ive decided to keep two cards per machine. bitcoin mining puts the video card on 100% utilization, where most of my games are only 30-50% ive had good success undervolting to keep temps and kwh down.
 
Has bitcoin rates come back up to profitable levels? I remember looking at it awhile back and so many people had flooded in that it dropped the value WAY down. I'd love to be able to drop coin on a 4-5 card 6950 and leave it bitcoining in the basement 24/7 if it would generate useful levels of passive income.
 
Bitcoin being profitable depends on your electricity costs mostly. Powering you're equipment, and air conditioning if needed.
 
USMCGrunt said:
Has bitcoin rates come back up to profitable levels? I remember looking at it awhile back and so many people had flooded in that it dropped the value WAY down. I'd love to be able to drop coin on a 4-5 card 6950 and leave it bitcoining in the basement 24/7 if it would generate useful levels of passive income.
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I'm a casual miner - and yeah prices spiked up quite well the past month or two.

I'm only running the crossfire rig in my system.. I'm a gamer first and a miner 2nd. And living in hot ass texas means I'd not only be paying for the electricity, but also a lot of AC to keep my apartment livable.

I'm contemplating selling my XFX 6950 2GB and putting it towards a 7970. What are these things going for these days?
 
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