Cryptocoin Mining?

[wbynum]

Thanks for the tips guys on downclocking the memory. Finally got it to work with the latest AB (2.2.4) and the 12.8 CCC/AMD drivers:

1. Add the overclocking unoffical overclocking stuff the the cfg file (level 2 and the warning note).

2. Copy atipdl64.dll and atipdlxx.dll into the Afterburner install directory. You can get the DLL's from post 33 of the following thread: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=359671&page=2

3. Delete the VEN_* files from the AB profiles directory.

4. Start AB, say no to reboot, drag the mem clock as low as it will go. Hit apply.

5. Close AB and start over at step 3.

The key is the DLL files. AMD no longer is including those in the CCC releases. Without those Afterburner will show 0 for the core and mem clocks if you enable overclocking mode.

I bumped my memory down the 300 mhz. My wattage from the wall has went from bouncing around at 550 - 570 watts to a steady 490 watts. My mega-hash dropped about 10 Mh/s per card. GPU temps went down about 5 c.

 

[wbynum]

Now for the final tweak. I lowered the memory voltage down to 1.5v and saved another ~10 watts. Is there any way to drop the memory voltage lower than that in Afterburner?

 

[An00bis]

I only have about 260-270mh/s with a 7850. Is that normal? I know it most likely isn't profitable since I mined for a couple of days and only have like 0.15 bitcoins, like 1 dollars or something...

 

[Auric]

Yeah, that's normal... as is the unprofitability these days. 🙁

 

[Chiropteran]

BTC was pushing up 10 cents at a time towards $13, but as soon as it reached it it fell back down to $12. Did anything happen to trigger the drop, or was it just a lot of people thinking it was a good time to sell?

 

[wbynum]

I had to ditch the ATI dll's and the 300 mhz memory setting. Worked fine while mining but it had side effects while not mining such as not dropping the voltage and the clock speed down. Kind of sucks because with the memory running at 1375 mhz I eat around 80 more watts while mining (dual 7970's).

 

[Accord99]

I had to ditch the ATI dll's and the 300 mhz memory setting. Worked fine while mining but it had side effects while not mining such as not dropping the voltage and the clock speed down. Kind of sucks because with the memory running at 1375 mhz I eat around 80 more watts while mining (dual 7970's).

You can still set the memory speed to 150 MHz below the CPU clock; combined with using 1.5v that should save close to 40W.

 

[wbynum]

Thanks for the tip. Set the memory to 850 mhz and the memory voltage to 1.5v. Looks like it saved around 40 watts total from the wall like you said.

 

[pm]

I'm running Phoenix on a Core i7 2600K w/ Radeon 6850 running at 920MHz core (up from 750), memory at 850MHz (down from 1000), and I get 240MHash/s with 168W measured from the wall with a Kill-A-Watt and 171W measured from the panel using a Cost Control (networked gizmo that measures house power). All voltages are stock. My card temp seems to level off at 68C overnight. Electricity is cheap here in N. Colorado ($0.082/kWh) and so I think I'm making around $0.50 per day. I'll tweak the memory voltages and frequencies a bit tonight. I never considered going that low.

How do you know if you've overclocked the card too far in bitcoin mining? At 920MHz, I see occassional artifacting playing Guild Wars 2 (that I don't see when the card is stock), but the client that I'm using never seems to complain about anything.

 

[Mir96TA]

I am not sure, its been discuss or not. I am having problem lowering the memory clock.
If I lower the memory clock to 600, but when I turn on the Bitcoin it clocks back to 1300.
Any idea why ?

 

[thilanliyan]

I am not sure, its been discuss or not. I am having problem lowering the memory clock.
If I lower the memory clock to 600, but when I turn on the Bitcoin it clocks back to 1300.
Any idea why ?

Tried lowering clock AFTER starting the mining program?

 

[Mir96TA]

Tried lowering clock AFTER starting the mining program?

I guess I can try that

 

[Mir96TA]

Just tried that
No effect on memory clock! :\

 

[blastingcap]

They changed things in drivers several months ago. Your memclock must be within 150MHz of your core clock now. There is a workaround but it's messy and won't really reduce your wattage that much more, because memory doesn't eat nearly as much wattage as the GPU itself.

 

[thilanliyan]

They changed things in drivers several months ago. Your memclock must be within 150MHz of your core clock now. There is a workaround but it's messy and won't really reduce your wattage that much more, because memory doesn't eat nearly as much wattage as the GPU itself.

Are you serious? Why would they do that? For what technical purpose?

Glad I haven't updated my drivers then. 😉

 

[Binky]

My 7950 has no problem going to and staying at 625mhz memory and my 7770 has no problem going much lower (I use ~300mhz). I can't remember what my 6950 does but that one is the worst of the bunch for memory underclocking. I think the changes are more with Afterburner and not the actual underclocking ability of the cards themselves.

My 7950 GPU overclocks like a champ while undervolting. It even plays games at 1075/625 with 1.012 core voltage (while mining!). The only glitches I see are due to web browsers - flash is a bitch. How messed up is that? I can play a game without crashing but a damned youtube video makes things blow up?

 

[3DVagabond]

They changed things in drivers several months ago. Your memclock must be within 150MHz of your core clock now. There is a workaround but it's messy and won't really reduce your wattage that much more, because memory doesn't eat nearly as much wattage as the GPU itself.

Are you sure? Seems like a strange thing to control with drivers. And I assume you mean that mem can't be more than 150MHz slower than the core clock?

 

[wbynum]

See my post (#3226) if you need the DLL's to downclock the memory lower than 150 mhz below core clock. Note that they cause some annoying issues with normal running though. I ditched theme and went back to a standard Afterburner install. With the memory downclocked to 850 mhz I am using ~40 more watts in my dual 7970 setup than when the memory was at 300 mhz.

 

[Mir96TA]

These day I don't mind cosy warm rooms without Heater. So I jump back into this BitCoin. Man Man diffculty is already have sky rocket it.
1Ghps seems to be not getting enogh horse power create some BitCoin errrrrrrr :'(

They changed things in drivers several months ago. Your memclock must be within 150MHz of your core clock now. There is a workaround but it's messy and won't really reduce your wattage that much more, because memory doesn't eat nearly as much wattage as the GPU itself.

My goal is unnessary clocking down. There is no reason my GPU clocking getting high for no good reason.

wbynum, thanks I will look into that🙂
However I am using MSI after burner software, for monitor and under clocking; what you all using it
Thanks
Mir

 

[Mir96TA]

I try to copy those dll files in AB Dir and del VN file from Profile
then Start the AB and said to NO restart and sill memory Clock go back to 1375Mhz
Am I missing some thing ?

 

[philipma1957]

I try to copy those dll files in AB Dir and del VN file from Profile
then Start the AB and said to NO restart and sill memory Clock go back to 1375Mhz
Am I missing some thing ?

yeah go to settings and pick all the manual options

 

[Mir96TA]

yeah go to settings and pick all the manual options

You mean in AB slide the button to lower setting >?
Which I am doing it. it shows lower clock 686 Mhz
But as soon I start the GuiMiner It clocks back upto 1375 😕

 

[Mir96TA]

wait GPUz is showing 686 Memory SPeed
so which is true MSI AB display or GPUz ?

 

[blastingcap]

wait GPUz is showing 686 Memory SPeed
so which is true MSI AB display or GPUz ?

Just follow the steps wbynum outlined in http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=34050829&postcount=3226

Follow them exactly, do not deviate from them at all, EXCEPT for step 5 where I think what he meant to say was to go back to step 4, not go back to step 3. At least, I do not have to re-delete those VEN files. But at the end of the day you won't save that much power. I don't know what kind of efficiency PSU wbynum is running but a 20w difference seems VERY high to me for going from 850 to 300MHz memory at 1.5v. I would expect more like 10w difference or so if you're running a high-efficiency PSU like 80+ Gold or something. The vast majority of video card power consumption is due to the GPU.

 

[Mir96TA]

1. Add the overclocking unoffical overclocking stuff the the cfg file (level 2 and the warning note). Check Done

2. Copy atipdl64.dll and atipdlxx.dll into the Afterburner install directory. You can get the DLL's from post 33 of the following thread: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=359671&page=2

Check Done


3. Delete the VEN_* files from the AB profiles directory.
Check Done




4. Start AB, say no to reboot, drag the mem clock as low as it will go. Hit apply.Check Done



5. Close AB and start over at step 3.

The key is the DLL files. AMD no longer is including those in the CCC releases. Without those Afterburner will show 0 for the core and mem clocks if you enable overclocking mode.

I bumped my memory down the 300 mhz. My wattage from the wall has went from bouncing around at 550 - 570 watts to a steady 490 watts. My mega-hash dropped about 10 Mh/s per card. GPU temps went down about 5 c.