Hi all I am new to the forum but have referenced posts here for all my curiosities up until I decided to get serious and build a small rig.
I would first of like to thank
epixoip, every question I have had led to a solid answer by you so thank you for your help I am sure many other unregistered users are grateful for your help.
So back to my rig... specs are (currently) as follows
Motherboard: Asrock H81 Pro BTC Intel H81
PSU: Corsair AX1200 Professional Series AX 1200W
CPU: Intel Celeron G1840 Processor 2.8 GHz
RAM: Kingston 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
GPU: None purchased - either 7970 or 290x
SSD: Will order soon - Sandisk SSD Plus 120GB
OS: Not sure but probably a linux build
Accessories;
Add2PSU 24 Pin ATX Cable Adapter Splitter
6x PCI-E 1X to 16X Powered Extension USB 3.0 Risers
Homebuilt wooden frame - built it today
Everything listed above has been ordered this week and should be arriving soon, I am wondering if apart from the GPU's am I missing any important or useful items?
GPU
Now I have looked at the GPU Hashcat benchmark and for WPA/2 and my budget (around £100 each) I believe the Radeon HD 7970 will be the best rated for my money, unless someone can advise me otherwise? I have also tried to get lucky and find a R9 290X within my budget but it seems far from likely - I have watched them go over the last few days and the cheapest was £170. (not including the OEM designs)
PSU
I have managed to get hold of a Corsair 1200w, my plan is to initially use this to power the mobo/cpu/ssd + 2 GPUs
Eventually I will be running a 6 (if possible to multiply the PCI-e slots then 8) GPUs.
Scenario 1: Powering 6x 7970
Scenario 2: Powering 6x R9 290X
Scenario 3: Powering 8x 7970
Scenario 4: Powering 8x R9 290X
What would I need for my second PSU? would a 850w PSU be sufficient in the case of scenario 1?
850w powering 2xGPU + mobo/cpu/ssd - 1200w powering 4xGPU
Also want to know, how GPU's can I safely power using 1200w on this rig before requiring a second PSU?
OS
My aim is to have the rig working in 'headless' mode, ideally I could be at a different location using my laptop and via command line run oclHashcat on my home rig. RDP is an option but is not really what I am looking for.
To be honest I have not done research on this (don't flame), my rig was a spontaneous decision and I have only been reading up on this for around a week.
Summary for those who don't want to read everything;
1) What GPU do you recommend for WPA/2 and a £100 budget (will buy used on ebay)
2) What combination of PSU should I use assuming that I am gradually adding GPUs to it.
3) How many GPUs can I power with the whole rig using a 1200w PSU.
4) OS - I want to use the rig as a remote server that I can use via command line.
Any other recommendations or optional extras - anything at all you might deem useful I would be glad to hear and take it on board as a potential addition to my rig.
Thanks in advanced!!
p.s. for those who are interested my rig frame was based on this how-to video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cscm8blV40c
See photo below