ATI 4870 Crashes Can't Mine Anything With CGMiner

[mainguy1984]

So I upgraded from a POS card with like the smallest fan on it lol was only getting 32kh/s with DogeCoin hey still better than nothing

I got this 4870 Sapphire Radeon ATI video card and no matter what program I run (CGMiner, GUIMiner, etc) It crashes before mining.

While the POS video card still mines 32kh/s if I put it back in. I tried downloading a new version of cgminer and that didn't work.

According to https://litecoin.info/Mining_Hardware_Comparison the 4870's should get around 120 - 140kh/s which isn't bad for being so cheap, so it'd be great if I can get this to mine!

I hope someone here at can help me out this has been giving me a headache for a couple long nights. Thanks guys!

If it helps I'm using Catalyst 13.1 with CGMiner 3.7.2 it doesn't give off any specific error it just crashes "CGMiner has stopped working" 1 second after I press enter

this is my config

cgminer --scrypt -o stratum+tcp://stratum-us.doge.hashfaster.com:3339 -u myusername.workername -p mypassword

I'm not using any high intensity settings or anything.

I've TRIED uninstalling drivers and re-installing 13.1 13.9 and 14.2 beta all CRASH on CGMiner. Games run fine. I read something about a BIOS Update to these Sapphire cards that might do the trick but all I find are dead links.

I heard that there may be a new bios update for the Sapphire 4870 but all I keep finding is dead links and no good tutorials on how to flash it within windows.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You bought a used card and it overheats and crashes. At least in my experience, hashing is harder (runs hotter, uses more energy) on the cards than just gaming.

So, no surprise really.

Return it. Even better, return it and buy a 7770.

 

[mainguy1984]

You bought a used card and it overheats and crashes. At least in my experience, hashing is harder (runs hotter, uses more energy) on the cards than just gaming.

So, no surprise really.

Return it. Even better, return it and buy a 7770.

Actually, it's not a used card. New from Amazon for $34. Nor does it overheat. 34C in my cold room. So let's try again.

Solutions other than "returning it" That's what any n00b would do.

I'm here on anandtech to get solutions.

Returning is the last thing possible. How about helping me figure out how to update the BIOS, which successfully resolved the issue for many other people running the same card.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Did you try.... google?

http://www.overclock.net/t/640063/how-to-flash-ati-cards

Non-n00bs know when to say "screw it" and let companies earn their customer service points. Read up on the sunk cost fallacy.

Also, that's a six year old card. I don't care what the seller told you, it's used.

Also, idle temps on a 4870 are in the ~70C range. If it's reporting 34C, it's probably got a broken temp sensor in addition to the crashing issue.

Have a wonderful evening.

 

[nwo]

Try using an older version of cgminer like 3.5.0 or earlier.

 

[mainguy1984]

Did you try.... google?

http://www.overclock.net/t/640063/how-to-flash-ati-cards

Non-n00bs know when to say "screw it" and let companies earn their customer service points. Read up on the sunk cost fallacy.

Also, that's a six year old card. I don't care what the seller told you, it's used.

Also, idle temps on a 4870 are in the ~70C range. If it's reporting 34C, it's probably got a broken temp sensor in addition to the crashing issue.

Have a wonderful evening.

Thanks for the link I'll check it out.

Nah it's not broken it was reporting higher until I set the fans on 65%. It sounds like a jet engine but keeps it cool.

Try using an older version of cgminer like 3.5.0 or earlier.

CGMiner 3.5.0 crashes too.

 

[IEC]

Not worth the power cost. Return it and get something newer than 4 generations old.

 

[nwo]

Not worth the power cost. Return it and get something newer than 4 generations old.

Well honestly for $34 brand new I think it's a very good budget gaming card. It's two major flaws are that it is terribly inefficient and it lacks DX11 support.

Unless you have free electricity, I don't think you would be making more than a few dimes per day even if you were able to get 140kH/s out of it.

 

[Stuka87]

That card isn't even worth using for mining. I would be surprised if it mines fast enough to offset its cost of electricity. And since its a legacy card, not only does AMD put little time in drivers, newer applications really do not care about it.

If that is a card that is actually new, its surprising. because they have not been manufactured for years. The 4000 series was released 5.5 years ago. I don't even think i would spend $34 on it.