Ethereum GPU mining?

[MrTeal]

Sure, I could do that. Might slap my old Gelid cooler on it while I'm at it if it fits. For science, of course.

Heh, I'm tossing a Swiftech H220 on mine. For Science.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Any other questions before I lock these puppies away and let them mine?

You say they fans are running 100%. How loud is that exactly? I ask because a reference 290 around 83% is "hear it through a wall" loud.

 

[codyray10]

Did you order a Sapphire unit?

Nope, Gigabyte. For whatever reason that was the first one to show up as being able to purchase for me, so i pulled the trigger. The others showed availability a few minutes later.

 

[EightySix Four]

You say they fans are running 100%. How loud is that exactly? I ask because a reference 290 around 83% is "hear it through a wall" loud.

Sorry, they kind of get drowned out compared to the rest of the data center. I'm afraid I'm not a good judge of that, I'd guess that at 100% they'd be uncomfortable to be in a room with though.

 

[IEC]

Heh, I'm tossing a Swiftech H220 on mine. For Science.

How are you mounting it? I've got a H220 sitting in my closet as well.

 

[24601]

Hey, when you get your cards can you pop the top off and get the part number on the GDDR5 chips? It's interesting that the Sapphire one is the only available 4GB version listed anywhere yet.

Considering that Sapphire is the usual OEM of the normal reference design AMD Radeon cards it makes perfect sense.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Do you have to run them at 100% to avoid throttling even when downclocked?

How aggressive is the throttling vs fan ramping? The ref 290 wants to go over 90c before it really cranks up the fan. Does the 480 get to 100% on its own?

Thank you very much for answering our questions and being the first to do this. I can't wait to get my hands on my 480.

 

[MrTeal]

How are you mounting it? I've got a H220 sitting in my closet as well.

Well, I'm hoping to just screw it in. If the hole spacing is the same as Hawaii, the four outside screws on the cooler are almost exactly the same as the hole locations on the PCB.

 

[IEC]

Well, I suppose I'll use the Gelid on one, and the H220 on the other.

 

[EightySix Four]

Do you have to run them at 100% to avoid throttling even when downclocked?

How aggressive is the throttling vs fan ramping? The ref 290 wants to go over 90c before it really cranks up the fan. Does the 480 get to 100% on its own?

Thank you very much for answering our questions and being the first to do this. I can't wait to get my hands on my 480.

No, I run them at 100% because the sound doesn't matter here and I prioritize lower temperatures out of habit. I'm also blowing air into a "hot zone" so I prefer to have some push behind it.

The new tools let you set a target temperature and a max temperature. At the target the fan ramps until it holds at the target, or if it can't, the temperature increases until it starts throttling. By default this is set at 80* C and 90* C. The fans actually target 79* C like this and I think I'm seeing throttling start at 85* C.

 

[poofyhairguy]

No, I run them at 100% because the sound doesn't matter here and I prioritize lower temperatures out of habit. I'm also blowing air into a "hot zone" so I prefer to have some push behind it.

The new tools let you set a target temperature and a max temperature. At the target the fan ramps until it holds at the target, or if it can't, the temperature increases until it starts throttling. By default this is set at 80* C and 90* C. The fans actually target 79* C like this and I think I'm seeing throttling start at 85* C.

Awesome! Thank you very much! Please let us know what the 24 hour average is! Already this sounds like a Hawaii killer for mining. Really glad I bought one today, can't wait to get it next week.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Edit: upping memory speeds at 950mhz GPU increases hashing to 25MH/s but no more. Definitely the sweet spot for GPU vs stock memory speeds.


Memory Speed vs MH/s at stock memory voltage and GPU clock
2100MHz - 26.1MH/s
2150MHz - 26.7MH/s
2200MHz - 27.3Mh/s
2250MHz - crash

Reminder - these aren't gospel, my conditions are different from most, and they're getting ~5 minutes at mining at those speeds before I take an average.
.

To tie back to this a blog I found says the memory maxes at 9ghz via the driver.

Which you didn't even get to before crashing right?

Kinda sad that the 4GB version has 7ghz memory. That means unless you get some that can OC well the 8GB one will be the better mining card.

Edit: removed broken link

 

[EightySix Four]

Just out of curiosity I let the fan algorithm do its thing for a little bit:

In order of case placement:
1405 RPM and 79* C
1590 RPM and 79* C
1266 RPM and 79* C

I have no idea how well that correlates to sound, so take it for what you will.

To tie back to this a blog I found says the memory maxes at 9ghz via the driver:

http://cryptomining-*********/8033-testing-the-amd-radeon-rx-480-for-ethereum-mining/

Which you didn't even get to before crashing right?

Correct, 2250mhz (x4 = 9000mhz) crashed when I tried it.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Just out of curiosity I let the fan algorithm do its thing for a little bit:

In order of case placement:
1405 RPM and 79* C
1590 RPM and 79* C
1266 RPM and 79* C

I have no idea how well that correlates to sound, so take it for what you will.

Thank you! Seems reasonable if you only have one card running.

Correct, 2250mhz (x4 = 9000mhz) crashed when I tried it.

So the 9ghz limit might not matter very much anyway. Thank you for the confirmation.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Ok I looked at the specs for the 4GB Sapphire Newegg was selling today and it clearly says 8ghz memory:

So either the listing is wrong, or these cards have the same speed memory as the 8GB models.

 

[EightySix Four]

Thank you! Seems reasonable if you only have one card running.

Nope, that's all three mining for the last few hours.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Nope, that's all three mining for the last few hours.

Woah then that is really good!

I am officially excited, thank you. This thread is such a better source of information than either the Ethereum forum or the Ethereum Mining sub on Reddit.

 

[codyray10]

Well, I'm hoping to just screw it in. If the hole spacing is the same as Hawaii, the four outside screws on the cooler are almost exactly the same as the hole locations on the PCB.

Nice! I'm interested to hear temps with one of those fan mods. I wonder if I can make my accelero extreme III fit on mine. Squeeze out all the extra Mh/s I can get

 

[DownTheSky]

nvm.

 

[MrTeal]

Nice! I'm interested to hear temps with one of those fan mods. I wonder if I can make my accelero extreme III fit on mine. Squeeze out all the extra Mh/s I can get

It'll be really low. The H220 is a great cooler, and it ran my overvolted and overclocked Hawaii cards under 60C.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Any other questions before I lock these puppies away and let them mine?

Might be too late to ask, but does GPU-z currently let you dump the card BIOS to file?

 

[EightySix Four]

Might be too late to ask, but does GPU-z currently let you dump the card BIOS to file?

Was just about to head out for the day and lose access. Good timing. Here's a dump from GPU-Z.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqniqrcgThMVr6Io8ncCCsExJ67YZQ

Side note: GPU-Z lists ASIC quality as 70%, 77%, and 83%

 

[Madpacket]

Ok I looked at the specs for the 4GB Sapphire Newegg was selling today and it clearly says 8ghz memory:

So either the listing is wrong, or these cards have the same speed memory as the 8GB models.

Probably just a mistake in the listing but whoever gets their hands on a 4GB card please report back the actual memory speeds ASAP!

A difference of $60 CAD basically means four 8GB 480's purchased you would get five 4GB 480's for the same price. Or approx 125Mh for the price of 100Mh. Adds up pretty quick when building a farm.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Probably just a mistake in the listing but whoever gets their hands on a 4GB card please report back the actual memory speeds ASAP!

Just an observation, the XFX 4GB Newegg page says 8000MHz, but XFX webpage says 7000MHz. One thing we can hope for is that its not throwaway 8GHz parts, so we can clock "back it up" plus overclock it for close to 9GHz.

 

[codyray10]

What would be the best way to go about mining with a 290 and 480? Assuming I've got the juice, can I run them both in 1 rig at the same time? Or would I be better off with separate systems?