How to Build an Ethereum Mining Rig

DIY computer building for the masses.

July 28, 2017, 12:00pm

Update: It is no longer worth it to build an Ethereum mining rig

Two years ago this month, a 21-year old Russian-Canadian programmer named Vitalik Buterin released the genesis block for ethereum, a decentralized computing platform based on blockchain technology. At the core of the ethereum network are miners, people who use their computing hardware to solve complicated math problems in exchange for ether, the cryptocurrency native to the ethereum network.

Ether is kind of like bitcoin, but rather than existing solely as a peer-to-peer payment system, it can also be used to fuel decentralized applications, or dapps, that run on the ethereum network. Ether has garnered a lot of attention this year after its value rose to a peak of $400, an increase of 4000 percent since January.

The meteoric rise of the crypto asset has also fueled something of a gold rush for people looking to get in on the action by becoming miners. This requires building a custom computer from scratch, which isn't quite as hard as it sounds—if you can find the graphics cards that are at the heart of the computer, that is.

In this how-to video, I'll be walking you through the step-by-step instructions for building an ethereum mining rig from the ground up. By the end of the tutorial you'll be well on your way to mining ether and contributing to the maintenance of the ethereum network with your computing power.

Happy hashing!

Materials list:

(1) MSI Z-170a motherboard

(2) 470rx Gigabyte graphics processing units

(2) powered risers

(8) ½ in. aluminum angles cut to 14 inches

(5) ½ in. aluminum angles cut to 24 inches

(3) 1x2 wooden blocks cut to

(1) 1000 watt Corsair power supply unit

(1) Intel Celeron G3900 central processing unit

(1) 4 GB stick of RAM

(1) power switch