GPU for 1.65PB farm, 256 filter

Chia Farming & Harvesting
1

Hello all,
I do not use gigahorse, and I am a solo farmer, using Chia 2.1.1 on Ubuntu 23.10. I have ~1.65PB of HDD space, currently filling them up with C7 plots using Bladebit_CUDA. My CPU is a Threadripper 3955WX, 256GB RAM, and an RTX 2080 Super. All the HDDs are connected via SAS HBAs and SAS expanders.

My question is: What should I upgrade my GPU to, so as to be ready for June 2024 when plot filter=256?

I ran the bladebit_cuda simulate -f 256 command, and it tells me that my system can only handle like 740 TB+ of plots. With -f 512 (current filter), I am at the limit, 1.67PB.

This website XCH.farm | Max Compressed Farm Size Estimator does not show enough GPUs on the right side (Bladebit CUDA) to be helpful. It just tells me that 3090/4090 is too much GPU, while the 3070 and A4000 are not enough for June 2024.

eBay options today are:
RTX 3080 10GB $400
RTX 4070 12GB $500
RTX 3080 Ti 12GB $560
RTX 4070 Ti 12GB $740

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Split the drives amount by adding another system? Or get a server/workstation dual CPU/dual GPU and run 2 instances of a farmer/harvester? A 3090/4090 makes sense but what about expansion? Plan on doubling that 1.67PB? Just food for thought .

1 Like
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I would go with a 3080Ti! They are cheaper than 3090 but have almost the same speed only less memory.

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5

It won’t work for the amount of plots you have for a single GPU. If you have the Threadripper and some other system with a 3060,70,80,90 and each has 1/2 the plots what then?

6

Thanks for the replies. Having thought this through with your suggestions, I’m planning on two harvesters:

  • First harvester will be a high-core count CPU, 2080 Super, and 650TB of drives.
  • Second harvester will be the 3955WX, a 3080 or better, 1010TB of drives, and will serve as plotter when needed.
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How that setup compares to a GH C17 3060ti on a lame processor? (From the “Gigahorse 2.0 Compressed Plots” table here: https://github.com/madMAx43v3r/chia-gigahorse.)

  1. electricity: 3080 (or better) + 2080 Super + 2 high end computers vs. 3060ti (maybe 4070 will do) with just one weak computer
  2. compression: C7: 78GB/plot: 125% vs GH: C17: 63GB/plot: 160%

Also, with your current box, your GH plotting times should be around 3 mins or less. For 512 filter, what I mentioned above will hold up to 4PB. You could plot now for C18 and gain another 10% for the current filter. That will give you about 4 months to sit on C18 and spend May replotting to C17. Actually, most likely that 3060ti would be able to sit on about 50% C17 and 50% C18, thus you will need to replot less than a PB in May.

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You don’t have to build another super computer to farm with . A decent gaming rig with a good gpu will do fine once you halve the plots . If you have the dough or are high jacking shipments of high end hardware by all means build another super computer.