Bitcoin Forum

Hi,

I want to build a GPU Setup for mining (majorly LTC) and want to focus on best Hashrate/Watt, possibly through undervolting. (Not overall profitability!)

Phase A: I will start with a 1 GPU Setup and extend (Phase B) to a second/3rd card if components look promising. Next step would then be a 4 card setup in Phase C.
I will not use riser cards!

I think I will put them in a Cooler Master HAF XB.

My approach (open for discussion): use an efficent base setup, and increase efficency through adding cards.


Phase A/B:

• Any suggestions for highly efficient mobo/CPU combinations? (CPU reusable in Phase C as well?)
• Intel/AMD, Socket?
• Boards/Architectures that allow undervolting?
• high efficency under system load

• Choice of GPU: I tend towards 7950s (two PCI-slot width only!), but I don't know which are not voltage locked and can be undervoltet; I would go with a different GPU if through undervolting better Hash/watt is possible.
  
• what about new and upcoming R9 280 (no X) and 290/290x

Phase C

• Choice of MoBo?

e.g.
ASrock Z87 Extreme9/ac (http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z87%20Extreme9ac/index.de.asp)
Asus Maximus V Extreme (http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_V_EXTREME/)


Unfortunately there is lots of information on how to OC and squeeze out more Hashes from many cards, but very little information about increasing system and card efficiency. I also noticed many contradicting about voltage lock on cards.
Also lots of information is scattered through the web.... maybe we can try to gather some of that knowledge in this thread.

Discussions about profitability should be limited to a minimum, since my request is not about overall profitability, but realizability. Managing system in enclosed casing and long term stability.

Any suggestions? Links to undervolting attempts and hashrates and energy measurements?

Wait for the radeon 290 non x and get a couple of those, and a decent x79 extreme 4, pair it with an i7 4820k and get a decent heatsink for it. It mines really well, and the 290x is getting over 850kh/s oced whilst drawing 300w. A 290 non x will probably yield 5-10% less and consume less as well, whilst costing 400-450usd.

Still waiting R9 290 also, cause there is no refund system for my country so I cannot try it out first :(

AMD HD 7950 or HD 7970, until R9 290 and R9 290X come down in price. Core i7 is overkill, unless you plan to CPU mine at the same time. Get a cpu that's at least dual core and power efficient. A good 750 watt 80-plus gold or higher PSU, I suggest a 1000 watt. A motherboard with at least 4 PCI Express slots.

The king of efficiency right now is a 7970/R9-280X which is voltage unlocked. Not sure why Ivan is suggesting that you buy an expensive X79 setup, ignore that. My preferred setup is an old Core2Duo with a 5 PCI-e slot LGA775 P45 chipset motherboard. Pair that with a Seasonic XPower 1250w and you're golden to run a 5x7970 rig. If you want a 6 or 7 card setup, I recommend an MSI Z77A-GD65 plus the cheapest Ivy Bridge CPU you can find.

I'm waiting on 290/290x to continue growing my farm personally.

Edit: Sorry, should've read your post properly before commenting. If risers are out of the question (they shouldn't be, you're going to have lots of fun trying to cool 4 GPUs in a case) then you'll be raising your costs by a few hundred dollars. Look for any quad crossfire/sli board and have at it.

got any real (running longer than 10min) kHash and Watt readings?

6X 7970. 5 reference cards all running 1040/1800 with voltage between 1000mv to 1050mv, averaging 200w to 220w each. 6th card is an Asus 7970DCII which is voltage locked, so I run maxed out 24/7 stable at 800KH/s. That card consumes 300w unfortunately. Wish it's voltage was unlocked.

https://i.imgur.com/rRL5EZd.jpg

6X 7970. All Sapphire 7970 Dual-X and all running 1040/1500 with voltages ranging from 1025mv to 1100mv. Averaging 210-240w per card.

https://i.imgur.com/LPlE1Uc.jpg

6x 7950. All Gigabyte Windforce cards. All but one run at 1140/1250, with the other one dying at anything over 950/1250. Voltages are locked at 1250mv, but lowered with a modded BIOS to 1.09v. Cards consume 300w each.

https://i.imgur.com/Y0lxmw3.jpg

People who say 7950s are the way to go don't know what they're talking about.

I agree on the r9 280x front...the cpu was a suggestion for cpu mining.

Oh, and if you're going for power efficiency you'll obviously want a gold rated power supply. Seasonic is the way to go. If you're like me and you want to squeeze every little bit out of your setup, you will want to run your rig on 240v, not 120v. That alone will add about 3% efficiency to the PSU, especially under heavy mining loads. It's also less stressful on the power supply and should extend it's service life.

i am in europe, so 240 is the way ;-)

i am interested in efficent boards/cpus, any recommendations?

which (cheap) board/cpu will work to start with a 3 card setup (no pcie-risers!)
I want to use it as a setup to tweak and get more experience with the components

Is the sole purpose of this rig GPU mining? Or do you want to do other things with it?

If only GPU mining, CPU and motherboard have no importance at all. I have a preference for Intel CPUs and motherboards as they tend to use a couple watts less than their AMD counterparts, but either brand will give you the same result. AMD is a little cheaper, and the watt difference will likely never make up the difference in price. I still chose Intel, though.

Why are you so against using risers? It's absolutely the best way to mine. Using risers would allow you to use a cheaper motherboard, and would greatly lower each GPU's temperature. This results in less power being used (hotter a GPU is the more watts it consumes), less fan wear and less noise from each GPU, and likely a prolonged service life for each GPU as all components (GPU, RAM, VRMs) will run much cooler.

Like I said earlier, this is my ideal setup:

Seasonic 1250w (Bullet-proof Seasonic quality and can handle 5 properly tuned 7970s)
5x 7970 / R9 280X
Intel socket 775 motherboard with 2 PCI-e 16x slots and 3 PCI-e 1x slots (One card in second 16x slot, 4 cards with risers)
Any 45nm Intel C2D underclocked and undervolted as low as the motherboard will allow, and one core disabled if MB allows (65nm may also be used, but consumes more watts)
4GB DDR2

I regularly see base systems as described above (MB, CPU, RAM) going for $60~$80 on my local classifieds here in Montreal. You won't do better than that in terms of cost.

If you really don't want to use risers (Again, why???) then your best bet will be a used quad SLI X58 motherboard (There may only be tri-SLI X58 boards), a used or new P67,Z67,Z77,Z87 which has a PLX chip on board to add more PCI-e lanes and allow 4 16x slots. If Z77 or above, only use Ivy Bridge or Haswell CPUs else not all PCI-e slots will be enabled. Get a cheap Celeron or Pentium CPU, no need for an i3, i5, or i7. Another easy but expensive route for quad SLI motherboards will be X79 based systems, but there are no cheap CPUs for those. Your best bet will be a used i7 3820 for $200~$250.

Basically, you should use risers if you're goin to expand past 1 or 2 GPUs.

This will get you going if you want to buy new with possibilty for 3 GPUs without risers:

Motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130645 Ivy Bridge
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130727 Haswell

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116889 Ivy Bridge
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116950 Haswell

thanks for the info and recommendations.

no riser, because i want it in a proper case. I won't discuss it, since it is not an option for me... (i see the problems and pros and cons, but it is not open to me)

Hardware prices in europe are way higher, often € = $, so I don't want to buy too many different boards/CPUs to experiment, but land a good choice right away.

which MB/CPUs allow undervolting?

Last CPU that I undervoltet was a Pentium M (Banias)... lol... since then, most CPUs I have seen are voltage locked, or Boards don't allow for it.


Energyconsumption of Board and CPU is important, since in 1-2 card setups it is a factor. Also board quality (components) make some part of the energysupply to the cards.
I don't want the board to burn in 2 months.

unfortunatly the info, whether a GPU is voltaged locked or not is very distributed, also most retailers don't offer conlcusive information that allows to pick the right cards.

last year I was looking at AMD Sempron 145, but I think an Intel C2D is a better choice. Any recommendation for a Board (allowing 3 GPUs)?
(thanks for the recommendations of the updated IB/Haswell Boards)

Sempron is cheaper and more efficient...get a 970 chipset am3+ gigabyte board and r9 280x sapphire toxic cards. Those are unlocked if used with sapphire trixx (comes with the cd).
You can upgrade to an fx8320 if you wish later on and get a nice gaming rig too.
Platinum seasonic or XFX psu is a good idea.

Just about every motherboard will allow voltage control, and CPUs don't have a choice in the matter. They get what the motherboard tells it it's getting.

95% of the following boards and generations will allow voltage control and multiplier adjustment:

S775 (Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Pentium Single and Dual):
Chipsets: P35,P45,X38,X48

S1366 (i3, i5, i7, etc)
Chipsets: P58, X58

S1156: Don't know enough about this socket

S1155: (Celeron, Pentium, i3, i5, i7 Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge)
Chipsets: P67, Z68, Z77, Z87

S1150: (Celeron, Pentium, i3, i5, i7 Haswell)
Chipset: Z87

S2011: i7 only, all boards allow control


Buy a MSI Military Class motherboard. They are top notch (better than Asus) and their service is amazing should you ever need it (Asus support is absolute dog shit)

For unlocked 7970s, the info is out there but needs to be gathered. From my first hand experience, I can tell you that any reference card (blower style) is fully unlocked. Sapphire Dual X cards are also fully unlocked. Powercolor are GPU unlocked but memory locked. Everything MSI is unlocked. Everything Asus (Save Top & Matrix) is locked. All new Gigabytes are locked, older revisions are unlocked.

The only cards I've had die are Asus cards. Avoid Asus for everything, they aren't what they used to be. What's hilarious is they make monster cards like DCII series, market them to overclockers, but they lock the voltages on them. Have I mentioned that you should avoid Asus?

Get Dual X over Toxic. Cheaper and easier to hit better hash rates with, unless you flash the Toxic to Dual-X BIOS. XFX is manufactured by Seasonic, so no issues if you go with them. Coolermaster "V" series is also Seasonic. I have 2 V1000s, great units based on Seasonic's KM3 platform.

I don't think the premium for Platinum over Gold is worth it, though. Especially since you're on 240v.

Anybody manage to get Toxic and Vapor flashed and compare it to Dual X? Which one is better?

Dual X is an easy 740KH/s @ 1040/1500

Get the cheapest...yeah, dual x might be good, I wasn't sure it was unlocked.
And r9 280x tends to be cheaper than 7950s these days. unless you buy used gear.

Here is the guide that shows how to flash 7970 bios. I did this to my 2 vapor-x 7970's and hashrate increased from 550 to 750 and could lower voltage to 1.100.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=200777.0

Yep, if buying new 280X is the way to go until we get results from 290/290X.

i am still deciding which board/CPU kombination..

going with AMD, I might go for Asrock 970 Extreme 4

but should I go with Sempron 145 or X2 180/190 ?

Whatever is cheaper. Again, CPU makes zero difference to GPU mining.

i stumbled onto two other things that I was unaware before... slightly off topic, but maybe someone can give a quick answer

* Dummy plugs for GPUs if no display is installed: still needed, or solved with newer AMD Catalyst drivers?  (Win/Linux)
(if required, what is there proper name to look in electronics shop)

* RAM requirement for Litecoin: Does scrypt mining require a certain amount of RAM? (or was that due to bugs in the miner software?) how much?
* if RAM is required, does Speed/CL-timings make a difference?




(PS: Sempron 145 with possible/probable option to unlock 2nd core sounds good; any reasons not to go with ASROCK 970 extreme 4?)

CPU is still good to mine those CPU and not so GPU efficient coins like primecoin....

Eh, cheap CPUs like that won't really get anywhere anymore. Mining with the CPU will just drag the GPUs down IMO.

Mining with the cpu is fine as long as you leave a core free for cgminer.

I mine with 7 threads off my i7 3820 at 4.4ghz and leave one for cgminer...

And btw, r9 290x results are out there: I've seen 880kh/s at 276w and 890-1050kh/s undervolted with intensity 20 and two threads. No hw, and good perf all around.
I think the r9 290 non x will be the winner.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1437876/290x-mining-performance

also speculating on a 290 (no x), but until it is availabe and more results are around, I will wait, or go fot the 7950s
Though too many of them are voltage locked.

What is the way to go for bet Hash/Watt? Lower orignal clockspeed? Lower original Voltage? Any recommendation (with exact hard info)?


if I get the sempron 145, there is "other" core left ;-)
but does CPU mining make sense khas/watt-wise? If so, then maybe a slightly stronger CPU would do the trick.


Anybody have used Low Voltage RAM? pricewise they are the ~same as regular RAM

Low voltage ram is a gimmick...maybe for a server rig with a gazillion sticks it'll make a difference.
If you can find Samsung 1.35v sticks get them though, they are nice and cheap.

As for the gpus, undervolt to 1.1v and oc ram and core slightly. You have to find the sweetspot and the correct settings.
Refer to this guide: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117221.0

cpu mining, yeah, it makes a half decent income...I cpu mine with my i7 3820. Using a lesser cpu makes no sense. Maybe an fx8320.

well, low voltage and regular voltage are about same price, so I might try the low voltage RAM;
is it more likeley to run into problems with that?


CPUs are slow compared to GPUs, but what ist the Hash/Watt (compared to a regular/optimzed 7950 setup)? any numbers?

new questions:

going for a 7950
right now the PC AX7950 3GBD5-2DHPP is a cheap deal. Does anyone know if that one is voltage unlocked? (for undervolting?)

in general, do the "standard" versions or the boost versions get better hash/watt? what type should I get?

I'd reccomend dual x r9 280x for mining, or the new r9 290 cards.
Boost tends to suck but I know how to configure it now (thanks to a guy from mcxnow).

If somebody can varifiy if the said model is voltage unlocked, I might actually give it a shot. it is a buy right now...

can you elaborate, what "sucks" with the boost cards? which one gets better hash/watt now? boost or non-boost 7950?





in another thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=301641.msg3527036#msg3527036) somebody says that the 7990 (dual GPU?) is the most efficient.
not speaking about price and money efficiency, is it more efficent hash/watt-wise than 7950s?

From what I gather the R9 290 is more efficient, for a 270w power draw it pulls 880-1000kh/s.
Boost bioses used to make reaching high hash rate on 7970s a pain, but I think you can reliably get 700kh/s+ (up to 760) on 280X cards like the Dual X now. At least I now know how to configure them for that hash.

my preference is the 290 (non-x) as well, since some report 880 hasrates with good hash/power ration, also gives a good hash-density at the machine.
but since i don't like the reference layout/blower, I will go for a 280x right now. technology has been around, so I expect them to be more reliable for now. (also good deals available)

ordered a sapphire 280x dual-x to see if it is voltage unlocked (40G full retail model, since it was cheaper than the lite retail).
will put it on an old amd64 board to see/check and wait until other components arrive.

for testing i want to go with windows first, should i go with win7 /8 /8.1 or doesn't that matter?

recommendations of drivers/software and versions? installation order?

thanks for any advice, will keep you updated...

dual 280X is nice...win 7 64 bit, driver: 12.8 for optimal hash rate.
Settings see consolidated litecoin mining guide here.

I read somewhere that Windows 7 has trouble seeing more than 3 video cards. Is this still a problem? Was it ever?

I also want to build something to mine scrypt coins. Right now I have some USB asics and a few computers doing some CPU mining. If you were going to build a rig, lets say with 6 video cards R9 280x. Which motherboard would you choose? Has anyone tried that new asrock?

Any motherboard should do, as long as you use powered pci-e risers and good cooling.

And yeah, win 7 doesn't take more than 4 gpus normally, but I think there's a workaround. Linux is better, use litecoin BAMT.

Am I missing something on mining profitability with these new ATI 290 non-x cards?  The card itself is $400 and based on the figures of 880khs and 276watts, my ROI on just 1 card all by itself would be nearly 100 days, assuming a static difficulty.  Am I leaving something out of the calculation or are these figueres simply risks you guys are willing to take?

imagine high electricity prices... then your calc is even more off... ;-)

to me it is not about the money (i buy coins for that). but for operation with european electricity prices i need efficiency; not ROI

also, i guess there is a lot more potential in the new cards waiting to be unleashed with improved software...

just some updates:

I tried 280x, 290 and going for 270 now..


290s/quad-aircooled
have a quad 290 in a raven rv03 air cooled... it gets hot, but it works (but I would say close to the limit). heat really increased power draw.
in windows (with every card maxed to 895-905kH and reduced voltage as much as stability allows) the rig draws 1350W (1320-1400W) and over 1500 when not undervolted.

so for now I keep that one on windows ;-)



280x
best efficiency so far is with a 280x (sapphire toxic) at 757kH (1089Mhz, rest is standard 280x settings). i undervolted it (kinda tricky, as it comes stock at 1100 clocks and high voltage (power draw monster!!!). undervolted it draws ~220W (card alone), which is around the best kh/watt I have seen on the net!


270s
i am going to try some 270s now, the idea is to squeeze them between 290s to get airflow/temps a little bit more under control, and also running more efficient (also moneywise) maybe on smaller PSUs.
btw. 1500W Enermax Platimax is just great!


anybody running a quad 270/270x setup? or has anybody modded/undervolted 270s for best hash/watt?

Hey I have a question about your 290 non x setup. I'm pulling 943kH/card (aircooled, 2 cards on risers unless I can keep ambient temp to 45deg F, stable for a week w/o reset) out of my setup and am wondering what you used to measure your power draw? Also what kind of PSU setup do you have to run 4 of these? Do you know its efficiency? Also do you use afterburner to undervolt?

how do you pull 943kH?

elpdia cards are around 1005 clocked (few more or less to get the peak), hynix around 1015

i have them right on the board, so air cooling is limited, and close to the max ;-)
pwer draw with kill-a-watt
enermax platimax 1500
i use afterburner to set all undervolts manually, have tried them on a testbench for some time. very individual, not too much to gain) :-(

its on a board/cpu that draws around 60-70W at the wall
=>1350-70W to 1500-65W => 1280 to 1435W divided by 4 GPUs -> 320 to ~360W, minus around 10% for PSU efficiency
so 290 - 325W (of course there may be individual differences between cards...)

Try out 1050/1450 @ 32765, i20 to push it a little bit. I get 923 here

Try out 1075/1470 @ 32765, i20 to push it further than that. I get 943 here.

Like I said before, the higher rate is really only sustainable w/ risers (know you don't like those) if you can't keep ambient around 45F.

Nice PSU, it's nice to know that I might be able to run them all on one PSU. . my goal i also to have 4 cards running inside the case and not on risers. I had been figuring I'd need a 1600w or multiple psu's (cpu is a 4820k for cpu mining pulling ~60-80w itself) at least so it's nice to see i can go lower.

The first rate I could keep going with a little higher ambient but you're losing a bit of hash.

I've been waiting for a few weeks for some kill a watts and havent gotten then yet.

no, I won't push the cards above 1020Mhz, they are hot anyways and will draw another 50-100W if I do that, no way to undervolt them, they might even need overvolting... where is the sense in that?

also i get best results at 1500Mhz memory.

Will post power consumption when kill a watts get here. Should be only a few days now

since my cards are slot by slot on the board without risers, there is no way I can improve cooling (unless I put them outside ;-) )
ambient temperature is nd 16°C right now and the GPUS are all around/below 80°C

This has been an excellent thread, and I'm glad you kept it going. I just recently got a pair of 270x's and have been in love with them so far. I don't know enough about power consumption to really speak to you initial question or thought as to the the most efficient, but this thread is actually helping me to understand a little better so thank you for that. After researching as best I could the price vs the kh/s and took into account how the prices were raised on certain cards I found the 270x to be the best value. I'm curious to see how it performs in your tests. Thanks again for all this and have a great day.

just got my first 270 sapphire dual-x going today, not finetuned yet,
but it draws around 160W and i have it hashing at ~460kH

it could be that in a dedicated setup/rig with good spacing and risers, that 270 is a good choice (but keep in mind the added price for risers)

right now it is slightly more efficient than my 290s

have a look at this rough calc (just a screenshot), euro prices, some in german (sry), and powerdraw is hidden in the formulas, but this is how I am deciding...

http://s1.postimg.org/ed6hzei8f/card_comparison.png (http://postimg.org/image/qrt9zq9qj/full/)

I have the sapphire 280x dual x OC edition (x14 cards)

Does undervolting takes down the noise too ?

280x dual-x.... what noise?  ;D

the 290s (reference) are noisy... all other cards... not to me

of course may undervolting reduce noise, but only if those cards have good cooling anyways and are not running at their limits.

undervolting may shave of 20-50W (not possible on every card), but imagine 30Wx15 cards --> way less to cool ;-)

mine 280x toxic run at 750 kh/s with 1v vcore

1080/1500 powertune 20

-g2 -td 8192 -i 13


get the 280x toxic, is the best, you need just to flash the bios to undervolt it

agree, my 280x toxic is the best.

Best hash/watt? Hmmm, UTC on a GTX 780.

Since when i that extra few W that much important nowadays? The electricity is too cheap for me even to bother with undervolting.
As for GPUs the 270 or 270x are your best choice.

i pay 0,36 USD / KWh
every watt matters

I pay 0.1 at most.   8)

My Sapphire HD7950 run stable @520Khs and use 136w = 3.82Khs/w

i read someone says: "stay away from 7950" yes, if you dont know how to undervolt, and you dont care about profit, stay away from 7950.

ps: hd 7950 vddc is unlooked.

That card is reaching its EOL, stay away from it.

I don't care! this is not what this thread is about. I am looking for maximum power-efficency and not moving to your undemocratic country!




there is no EOL for mining

the 7950 GPU is still made in 7970s/280x so it is not outdated.

please stop spamming this thread with things that don't belong here!

That guy spams all threads, posts random bullshit to get his post count up.

This is incorrect.
Every piece of hardware has EOL. Try sending back the 7950 for a replacement, you will have fun.
Last time I did it with 4 of them I got fiat, and had to wait for the 270x.

Note: ~2months = ~200-300 posts.

Well, to be fair...you do have a point :p

Warranties are a thing to be considered when building a farm.

Imagine if a set of GPUs fail, and having to wait a month or two for their replacements?
Since my connection to the selling company is very good, they've offered me 2 options either to wait out (around 2 months) or take the cash (they paid me back at the price which I bought them at, even though they are much cheaper now). Obviously I took option B.

hey, could you please get out of my thread with your stupid 7950s EOL problem?

if you are mining on used cards for cheap, then warranty is not the thing you should worry about!
if you are worried, get a newer model 280x is there... quite similar. (i know that it is the 7970 and not the 7950)


so end of story. please leave now!

that is a really nice result. how did you measure the 136W? It seems very low. what voltage does it run on? can you post a screen?
sorry for not believing everything that gets posted...

anyways, if it is true, then that is amazing!

I currently hope that the BIOS optimizations by TheStilt on the 290s will increase performance or drop power draw (which is too high). although the platform (Hawaii) is new, it looses sout to Tahiti and almost to old Pitcairn...

i have a "watt meter" on the wall.
now with browser open and downloading, wattmeter sign a consumption of 203w.
my desktop on idle sign normally 65w
so 203-65=138w.

it must be said that i have a PSU corsair VS650 without any certification. so i think that my new rig i will start to buid tomorrow, whit a PSU 80+ gold, will use a few less power than this, i estimate 4 or 5% less.

here, in Italy, i pay power 0.2443 euro kWh, it's about 0.3322$ per kWh. saving power is my only way to maximize my profit.

GPU Sapphire HD7950 OC (11196-19-20g)

http://imageshack.com/a/img600/3148/6zlw.jpg

my "watt meter"

http://imageshack.com/a/img208/5563/lk6t.jpg

If that's your main concern, head to the yacminer thread and look at thirtybird's improved yacminer, and his R7 240 4GB results...those things make something like 0.00765btc/day whilst not even using a pci-e connector (75w or less, from the slot).

So I've read about building rigs and such but there is a thing that I don't understand. I got a p5kr asus mobo this one http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5KR/#specifications , with 2 x PCIe x16 (blue @ x16 mode, black @ x4 or x1 mode) supports 1 x PCIe x1 and 3 x PCI. I have a quad q6600, 2 GB DDR2. Can I use this computer that I'm working and writing now from, to put let's say 3 R9 R270, don't they require pci 3.0? And what about the risers. How to use them? Must I buy a mobo that has 4 slots pcie x16 to build a mining rig? A mobo with 4 slots is a lot of money.

Can I use this mobo Gigabyte 990FX AM3? If yes, please make a detail explanation of how? A raiser from x1 to x16 can deliver the same amount of hashpower or not, it is the same with 4x to 16 and 8x to 16?

Thank you for your time.

I could answer your questions, but they really don't belong in this thread.

you could search a little bit more, make your self knowledable first! then open a newbee thread and ask those questions.


only one thing
GPUs for mining require ANY PCIe slot (old slow ones, or 1x will work too), you only need to find a way to plug them in (like with a riser from 1x -> 16x)
you only need better pcie if you want to game, or do other stuff..
hashpower comes from the GPU not the connection to the Mobo. that is only to RUN the gpu at all.

now leave this thread please!

Here's some yacoin figures for you, figured they'd interest you since power is so expensive there:

Model: Sapphire R7 240
Stream Processors: 320   
Memory: 4GB
Clock (MHz)   : 1100
Memory Clock (MHz): 1000   
TDP: 25w
kH/s: 2.78
Software: YACMiner 3.4.0      
Flags: --worksize 128 -g 2 --lookup-gap 2 -R 640 --thread-concurrency 24576   
Nfactor: 14
Power usage measured at wall
Estimated profitability: 186,5 Yac per day (0,005 BTC)

HI,

Can you post the setting for the 280x?

Thank you

might have to look into that (in a couple weeks/months), right now scrypt still works ;-)


I kinda like LTC so it is hard for me to even mine something like dogecoin (for profit), but then there is a huge community thats not nerdy behind it... it can be a success...
still having a hard time to tinker with other coins xD


I am still surprised by the results form the 7950... how come that it is "so much better" than a 7970/280x it is the same thing after all...

also wondering (read it in another post) what the 280 (non-x) will be, and if it come to see live...
same with dual-hawaii.

Your thread is bad and your knowledge is limited.
The EOL problem is everyone's problem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-of-life_(product)

the 280x settings?

they are in the the post you quoted...

just plain default 280x settings... just chainged engine for best ratio at my low voltage...

yes, you are absolutely right. i wish my thread was not so bad and my knowledge was not so limited... if only I could find someone like you to enlighten me..

is it slapstick time already?

@carly200

i made accurate counts.
results for R9 280x are very different from the results of 7950.

in my counts, 7950 is preferable to run undervolt like my own, if day profit is under 11.09$ per Mhs
instead, for R9 280x is preferable to run undervolt only if profit day is below 6.69$ per Mhs

for this counts i use this data:
hd 7950  (mine) undervolted @ 520 khs per 135w, overclocked @620khs per 275w
R9 280x (the one of a friend rig) overclocked @760khs per 308w, undervolted @575khs per 153w (take data from the "save money 7970 thread" here)
costs of power: 0.2443 euro kWh. (i pay this in Italy)

A 7950 draws 160w undervolted at 0.962v...and pulling 660-700kh/s with an optimized bin file and sgminer.
You should read this thread: https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=12369.0
It debunks various myths regarding scrypt mining...
And try this: http://www.reddit.com/r/litecoinmining/comments/1va8g2/ann_sgminer_400_release/

i know "theStilt" thread. i have optimized CL file for sgminer 4.0.0
i not use for now special bios whit mem optimized by theStilt because i just use memclock @800 which is a right optimized step.
i will try to run my 7950 at 660/700 (my max was 630) and i will try those bios, if really consumption is 160w, that is wery better than my actual setup. i will see and report. :)

I've tried it and 620kh/s was at 160w with 0.962v. 660-700 would make it draw slightly more, but it will still be around 180w max.
I'm in the process of switching to R7 240 4GB cards, and some nvidia stuff for yacoin, ultracoin and variable N factor coin mining (scrypt asics will make the old school radeons useless...they are not so good at scrypt-jane and draw 10x the power the r7 240 draws...)

At the wall I get 20% more cause of the psu btw.

We got a batch of GB 280x with nice ASIC quality, and we were able to undervolt to 1.01V @ 1040/1500 for 720kh/s. Each card was pulling ~205W from the PSU. Total draw for the whole 5 card rig was 1250W on two 80Plus Gold PSUs.

Since then we've slacked off our undervolt, overclocked a bit more, and with The Stilts BIOS we're getting 745kh/s @ 1.05V.

Hi. I am about to drop some cash on a small setup. I was going to get the Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC which is about £448 in the UK. Since I am relatively poor I need something that is going to get me a good hash rate with lowest power use. Enough to still be profitable on stuff like Doge etc.

Should I go for this card or a 280x/290 (brands and models please)? 2 perhaps if cheap enough? I am also getting a 1000w brand name PSU so that needs to be taken into account too.

I will probably be buying tomorrow so need an answer ASAP.

Thanks.

I'd reccomend a yacoin mining setup, using 4-6 Radeon R7 240 4GB cards in a Z87 G45 board paired with 8gb of ram, a 500w good quality psu and a celeron g1820.

Said setup draws 200w from the psu and pulls off 16kh/s mining yac: http://explorer.yacoin.org/static/calc.htm

280x can be the best efficiency wise.
my own experience:
280x toxic: 755kH@220W
280x dual-x: 710kH@230W
270: 478kH@170W
290: 895@330W (hash goes from 892-905 and power draw from 280-330)

(those values are calculated/measured "at the wall", so PSU requirements may be slightly below)

if you need blower style cooling, then 290 is the way to go.
if you are using risers and have ample cooling/space, then 290s give great power density.

if you want to go "small", maybe try a 4 card 270 setup. it is easier to handle (price, cards, PSU requirements, heat, noise)
a 270s setup may be a perfect compromise...

actually I am going to try a 4x270+1x280x setup soon. but since I only have a spare 1000W PSU (multirail), it may not work...

here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlhSF602y9DSdHRneWVZcjJLWmhjaVBMTHVCR3l4eHc&usp=sharing#gid=0
it shows
the 290 do 850kh/s at 250Watt is it right ?
It seems high Kh/Watt.

my 290s make 890-900kH@320-340W (at the wall)

so if you downvolt you will not get 850@250W ?

At what voltage are they running?

toxic at 1.068 (driver)
280 dual-x 1.188 (had too many crashes with lower voltage) default

270 dual-x back to default (don't know 1.188?)
290s with original bios and undervolt in AB (1.109-1.117, 1.086, 1.086, 1.094)

those are all I can check right now...

My own R9 290s eat about 275w each and produces 870KH/s (stable 800wu).

well, take of 10% PSU efficency, and keep in mind that mine are air cooled on board, so they run at 80-90°C that adds a lot of draw!

So between
290 tri-x and 280x toxic

you prefer toxic for temperature and less hw errors ?

no card should give HW errors, if it does your settings are wrong...

I like the 280x toxic, because 280 is a great architecture, and the toxic is the best 280x card (in my opinion).

it is a powerdrawer though if not properly undervolted!

If you have to decide between 280x toxic or 290 tri x and 290 cost just 50 dollars more, which you choose?

290... 50$ for 100 KH/s is a no brainer.

that depends on the base price! lets look at kH per Dollar

280x toxic gives me 760kH ->  760/$400=1.9, 760/$450=1.68, 760/$500=1.52

add 50 dollars
290 tri-x might give 900kH -> 900/$450=2, 900/$500=1.8, 900/$550=1.63

290 wins.
my opinions
it depends on the setup, I run many 290 cards, but the 280x is the best, so if it is a single/dual card setup, I might go for the toxic. cooler more efficient and less noisy.
the 280x toxic (might even go with the tri-x, is cheaper) is a great (maybe the best card), the 290 tri-x is almost reference with better cooling, but some people report problems...