Cryptocoin Mining?

[Chiropteran]

if you are mining on one you should disable XFIRE anyways to game i beleive

Crossfire is only needed if you want to use them both together to game. You can mine on multiple non-crossfired cards fine.

 

[Tencntraze]

I'm able to mine on all 3 cards while having crossfire enabled. I haven't tried gaming and mining at the same time, though, but naturally I can't see how that would work with crossfire enabled.

 

[Zargon]

Crossfire is only needed if you want to use them both together to game. You can mine on multiple non-crossfired cards fine.

yeah

I'm able to mine on all 3 cards while having crossfire enabled. I haven't tried gaming and mining at the same time, though, but naturally I can't see how that would work with crossfire enabled.

exactly. XFIRE would try and use all 3 to game(or in smartazz's case, both) which would likely hurt game performance AND mining performance

 

[Sunny129]

I'm able to mine on all 3 cards while having crossfire enabled. I haven't tried gaming and mining at the same time, though, but naturally I can't see how that would work with crossfire enabled.

of course its possible to mine for bitcoins w/ X-fire enabled. it just doesn't make any sense if your objective is to maximize bitcoin mining production. as Chiropteran pointed out, X-fire only benefits games. recall that neither X-fire nor SLI scales perfectly, i.e. the performance of 2 AMD/nVidia GPUs in X-fire/SLI is less than the sum of the performance of its parts...whereas the performance of 2 AMD/nVidia GPUs not in X-fire/SLI is equal to the sum of the performance of its parts. and DC projects (including bitcoin mining) can take full advantage of this fact.

 

[Smartazz]

So in short, I should disable Xfire when mining and enable it when gaming?

 

[Tencntraze]

of course its possible to mine for bitcoins w/ X-fire enabled. it just doesn't make any sense if your objective is to maximize bitcoin mining production. as Chiropteran pointed out, X-fire only benefits games. recall that neither X-fire nor SLI scales perfectly, i.e. the performance of 2 AMD/nVidia GPUs in X-fire/SLI is less than the sum of the performance of its parts...whereas the performance of 2 AMD/nVidia GPUs not in X-fire/SLI is equal to the sum of the performance of its parts. and DC projects (including bitcoin mining) can take full advantage of this fact.

I'm not home so I can't test the mining performance of my trifire 6970s, comparing xfire disabled/enabled, but I'm not certain that your point is applicable. I would think that since mining isn't using the xfire aspect of the cards, instead sending a different workload to each card, it shouldn't really make a difference whether xfire is enabled or not. I will definitely test this tonight or tomorrow, but as of now I'm getting about 1000MH/s average, up to about 1100.

 

[suklee]

I'm going on trip for a couple weeks and wanted to leave the computer on for mining. I've got my 7970 clocked at 1200/1050 @1.12v as measured in AB, and while mining it measures 85C at load (53% fan). So it'll basically be at this temp 24/7 for 2.5 weeks. If I increase the fan to 60% it goes down to 78C.

I'll have Teamviewer activated so I can log in to the PC periodically to check on things.. Also, someone will be home so physical access is possible if needed.

any tips or suggestions from those who have done the same?

 

[Vesku]

I'd set the memory clock lower if you can, many miners have their memory at 300-400MHz. I run dual monitors actively while bitcoining so I leave mine around 700MHz.

 

[suklee]

I've tried setting it lower, but the lowest I can set in Afterburner is 685. And, strangely - anything below 1050, AB sets it to 1375.

 

[ensign_lee]

So in short, I should disable Xfire when mining and enable it when gaming?

Sure. That's what I did with my 5870s

 

[Chiropteran]

Up to estimated 2,357mhash/s. This is earning me 1.6 BTC/day

Based on the http://bitcoinx.com/profit/index.php calculator, my power costs are about $80/month due to mining. Net profit around $200 at today's bitcoin value. Then there is an extra bonus, haven't had to run the heat in my condo at all this winter thanks to my mining. That "free" heat may kill the project when summertime rolls around, but I should be good to mine hard for the next 3-4 months.

 

[MrTeal]

Wow, what kind of rigs are you running?

 

[Vesku]

I've tried setting it lower, but the lowest I can set in Afterburner is 685. And, strangely - anything below 1050, AB sets it to 1375.

Try Sapphire TRIXX, have had no problem clocking memory at ~650-700MHz

 

[Chiropteran]

Wow, what kind of rigs are you running?

Main gaming machine, single 6970.

Dedicated miner, 2X 5850

Miner/bedroom PC, 2X 5830

Dedicated miner #2, 2X5830 & 1X5850

Testing PC (old P4 dell), 1X5850

Sometimes an extra 40mhash from my llano laptop, but it's such a small contribution I don't bother to start it all the time.

Try Sapphire TRIXX, have had no problem clocking memory at ~650-700MHz

I've started using clocktweak. It's not free, it costs .2 BTC (little more than $1), but it's very easy to use and straightforward. No DRM so buy it once and use it on all your machines. Command line utility, I just create a batch file to run it after each reboot (or more often if I want to test various settings). I've used it to set most of my dedicated miner's mem speeds down to 300mhz.

http://bitcoinx.com/clocktweak/

 

[suklee]

Try Sapphire TRIXX, have had no problem clocking memory at ~650-700MHz

The slider does allow me to move it lower, but AB reports it as 1375 if I set it to say 650 in Trixx. If I turn AB off, how can I verify the memory clock?

 

[MrTeal]

GPU-Z

I've found weird things happen if you try to run Trixx and AB at the same time.

 

[Smartazz]

Suklee, if you can't manage to get those temps lower, then I would suggest not leaving it at 85C for several weeks.

 

[MrTeal]

Will there be other people in the room that you don't want to force the fan to 80 or 100%?

 

[Smartazz]

Correct me if im wrong but forcing the fan too high will probably make the fan motor noisy. Granted id much rather burn out the fan a bit over the card.

 

[IGemini]

Correct me if im wrong but forcing the fan too high will probably make the fan motor noisy. Granted id much rather burn out the fan a bit over the card.

Definitely, but for each setup you would need to find your happy medium. I'm less sensitive to fan noise compared to some, and some cases have better airflow than others. For me, the fan doesn't seem to be more noticeable over the five other fans in the case until above 55%. It gets annoying at 70%, and sounds like a turboprop above 80%. My 6870 hums along @49% <74C while gaming or bitcoining.

ATI Tray Tools also works for memory underclocking.

(Post 1K)

 

[MrTeal]

Correct me if im wrong but forcing the fan too high will probably make the fan motor noisy. Granted id much rather burn out the fan a bit over the card.

Yeah, some GPU fans howl like banshees at 100% but they do move a lot of air. If no one's around though, who cares?

 

[Despoiler]

Yeah, some GPU fans howl like banshees at 100% but they do move a lot of air. If no one's around though, who cares?

You don't want to run your fans at 100%. You will burn them out quite quickly. They are not designed to handle that. You shouldn't have to run your fans greater than 70% to stay in safe operating ranges. 60-65% should be more than enough. If you do have to run them that fast you are pushing your cards too hard or your ambient temp is too high.

 

[Tencntraze]

I meant to do this sooner, but I compared mining performance of my trifire 6970s with and without crossfire enabled and saw no difference in performance.

 

[brycejones]

GPU-Z

I've found weird things happen if you try to run Trixx and AB at the same time.

This is very true they almost seem to fight each other.

 

[thilanliyan]

Yep I saw no difference with XFire enabled/disabled with 2 6950s.