It’s Been a While – A New Chapter for 1stMiningRig

Hey everyone!

Well, it’s been a while. Actually, it’s been quite a few years since I last posted anything here!

If you’ve been following 1stMiningRig since the early mining days, welcome back! And if you’ve recently stumbled across one of my old guides while trying to fix a GPU or figure out a BIOS issue, welcome too.

It’s good to be back.

A lot has happened since my last post. Work kept me busy, and life got a whole lot busier too. Our family grew by three kids, a dog, and two cats! So, as you can imagine, those late-night GPU testing sessions had to take a back seat for a while. 🙂

But I never really forgot about 1stMiningRig. Or all that hardware still sitting in boxes!

Looking back, 1stMiningRig was a huge part of my life for quite some time. I spent countless nights testing graphics cards, modifying BIOS files, tweaking settings, comparing results, and occasionally wondering why something that worked perfectly yesterday suddenly refused to work today. 🙂

Back then, finding answers wasn’t always easy. Sometimes there were no tutorials, no benchmarks, and nobody who had tested exactly what I was trying to do. It was a lot of trial and error, Google searches, and figuring things out the hard way.

Some experiments worked. Others definitely didn’t. But that was the fun part, and sharing those results with you was what made it all worthwhile.

That hands-on approach is something I’d really like to bring back.

What’s Next for 1stMiningRig?

Mining has changed a lot since those days, and I don’t see much point in trying to recreate the same blog in exactly the same way.

But the hardware? That’s another story.

Believe it or not, I still have quite a collection of graphics cards, motherboards, power supplies, RAM, and other components from my old mining rigs. Some have been sitting around for years, and a few are still out on loan. I haven’t even made a proper inventory yet!

And lately I’ve been thinking: why not put some of that hardware to good use again?

One thing I’d really like to explore is bringing old mining GPUs back to life for everyday use and gaming.

That could mean checking what BIOS is currently installed, restoring the original factory firmware when necessary and safe, troubleshooting problems, running stability tests, or simply finding out whether an old GPU still has some life left in it.

I might also build a few PCs from the components I already have, testing them properly and seeing what makes sense to reuse.

And who knows? Maybe we’ll eventually experiment with a home server or a few other hardware projects.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, I need to find out exactly what’s hiding in all those boxes. 🙂

What about the old 1stMiningRig guides?

They’re staying right where they are.

A lot of work went into those tutorials, benchmarks, and BIOS experiments, and they’re part of the site’s history. I know some of you are still finding them useful today.

When there’s something worth updating, I’ll add clearly marked information or link to a newer guide rather than rewriting the original experiments.

I’m not planning a big relaunch, a new identity, or a strict publishing schedule.

I’d rather take things one GPU at a time, do some actual testing, and share what I discover. Even if a repair doesn’t work out, there might still be something useful to learn from it.

And that’s really what I want 1stMiningRig to be again: a place for real hardware experiments, practical guides, and sharing what works (and what doesn’t).

Now I’m curious about you!

Are any of you still around from the old mining days?

What happened to your mining rigs and GPUs? Did you sell everything, turn them into gaming PCs, reuse the parts for something else, or are they still collecting dust somewhere?

And if there’s a particular old GPU, BIOS issue, or hardware problem you’d like to see me investigate, let me know in the comments.

I’d genuinely love to hear what everyone’s been up to.

Thanks to everyone who’s followed 1stMiningRig over the years, whether you’ve been here since the beginning or just discovered the site.

Let’s see what we can restore, reuse, and build.

Cheers!
1stMiningRig