hashcat Forum

Hi, I've never built a computer before so please bear with me.

So I'm building a computer with an ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 motherboard, AMD FX-8350 8-Core 4.0GHz ( maybe the FX-6300 6-Core 3.5GHz), 4 Radeon R9 270s (starting with 1 I'm going to add more later), 8gb of ram (m/b supports upto 32gb), and an XFX ATX 550W psu( I know i'll need to upgrade this if I get 4 R9 270s).

This is all of it:
ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard. link "https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5A99FX_PRO_R20/specifications/"
Corsair Carbide Series 200R Compact ATX Case.
AMD FX-8350 8-Core 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W.
Kingston Technology 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM Desktop Memory 8 (PC3 10600).
ASUS R9270.
XFX ATX 550W psu.

Whole thing will cost less than $800 (with only 1 r9 270).

My question is, is this a good setup?

I appreciate any advice, thanks!

(09-27-2014, 10:33 AM)T3$$7InG Wrote: [ -> ]My question is, is this a good setup?

Good setup for what? If you build it for cracking passwords with Hashcat, then no. 4x R9 270 (no X, right?) give a similiar performance like 2x R9 280X, while being more expensive and more difficult to handle (space, heat, power). The R270 is a 2-slot-card, so four of them won't fit on that particular mainboard, which btw. only supports PCI-E 2.0 instead of 3.0 -slots. The CPU and mainboard are together way too expensive, compared to some average Intel-Mainboard and CPU (which should cost 2/3 and offer PCI-E 3.0). The power of that CPU is simply wasted for Hashcat.

My advice: get a decent Intel Mainboard with two fully powered PCI-E 3.0x16 slots, a nice Dualcore and stuff the saved money into a R280X. You'll get 70-80% more performance in Hashcat compared to your original setup.

For every other purpose: I can't tell. Depends on what you wanna do with it. But if it involves gaming, same as above. Too much money into CPU/mainboard and way too less into the graphics compartment.

FX-8350 more than enough for use with GPGPU cracker. About GPU Flomac right.

Thanks Flomac and KT819GM, I'll do more research.

Yes, it is for hash cracking, also running virtual machines.

I thought the R9 270 was a 1-slot-card, my bad

And get a decent PSU from the start, the XFX you've choosen is neither very powerful nor priceworthy. For a few bucks more you get something like a Cooler Master G750M, Corsair Builder Series CX750, LEPA MaxBron 800W or even a XFX P1-850S. In other words don't put money into something with less than 750W and 60A on the 12V-rail if you plan to enter the multi GPU path. You can never have too much power and those PSUs should power two 280X and a normal CPU (hence no overclocking, TDP <90W) without a hassle.

And check out the mainboard having two PCI-E 3.0 slots powering at least x8, i.e. the ASRock Z97 Extreme 3. Good for two GPUs. The more GPUs you're planning to install the more you have to plan in advance.

And the cooling of the GPU is essential, if it gets too hot it'll start throttling. So if you don't want an OEM design check out some tests and reviews and buy the card which runs coolest. Stuff enough fans in your case and install something like a power switch to fire them up to full speed when doing hashcat cracking. Also here too much cooling never hurts (except your ears).