Bitcoin Forum

Just wanted to share the results of my new mining rig.  Original plan was a 6990, but TigerDirect FUBAR'd that order.  I ended up getting a 5870 delivered before fixing the 6990 order issue, and I'm amazed at how well its performing.

GPU Overclocked to 950 (stock voltage).
Memory underclocked to 600 (haven't been able to go under that inside linux?).
Fans running at ~50% (2400-2500 RPM out of 5100 according to AMDOverdriveCtrl).
Runs at a steady 65-67C.

That's producing a 362-364 mhash/sec rate of mining (m0mchil's poclbm), which is higher than any of the wiki entries for a 5870.  I'm going to slowly drive up the GPU clock rate every few hours to find the sweet spot for power consumption, temperature, and mining rate.  So far the 950 clock rate is a better mhash/watt ratio than 850, 900, and 925.

Has anyone else been pulling these numbers (or better) on a 5870 with just stock cooling?  I'm curious why the wiki numbers are quite a bit less.

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Update 4/25/11:  I switched over to the Phoenix miner 1.1, and now run at 421-423 mHash/sec on all of my 5870s.  Clock settings are 975/300, using 0.950 voltage.  They're running cooler, sucking less power, and running significantly faster with Phoenix!

I am interested in all the details you care to share. If you can measure actual power consumption that would be interesting to know. Is this a standalone miner/card? What driver/sdk are you using?

How do you manage 1000MHz, my many 5870 in ubuntu wont accept any clock setting over 900MHz, at which they are perfectly stable.

No, and I wish I knew how you did that.  Whenever I underclock my 5870's any lower than 900 it affects the hashrates. I get about 350,000 running @ 940 @ ~70 degrees C.

I'm running Ubuntu, and I have Gigabyte 5870's.


And thanks for mentioning AMDOverdriveCtrl.  That so much better than what I was using before!

Yes, on multiple cards jammed next to each other with stock cooling and stock voltage. My temps average 60 degrees. Core 950 / Memory 300.

I considered adding voltage to the reference boards to go further with the o/c, but that will just increase temperatures and electricity use for what I would guess to be minor gains.

What I really wish I could do is reduce memory voltage with a soft mod. It's possible to play with VTT registers via BIOS but from what I've read that isn't exactly memory voltage.

Possible BIOS limitation.

I am not sure about memory voltage control via  AMD's ADL (http://developer.amd.com/gpu/adlsdk/pages/default.aspx) but core voltage, mem/core clock, fan control is there. I would assume ADL is what AMDOverdriveCtrl is using.

I hacked up a tweak program using ADL (before I ran across AMDOverdriveCtrl) but found BIOS mods somewhat easier.

The whole computer is consuming 272 watts right now with the card at 1000 mhz.  I'll be able to give an "isolated" card power consumption this weekend when I get the 2nd 5870, by taking the total PC consumption less the 272 I already know it consumes.

It's running Ubuntu 10.10 desktop install.  ATI Stream SDK 2.1.  The ATI driver is Catalyst 11.3.

What CPU/MEM are you using? Are you using a desktop hard drive or a USB/SSD drive? Any other power consumers beyond that one 5870?

AMD Sempron 140 with the 2nd core unlocked.
2 solid state drives (1x Kingston 16 gB, 1x OCZ 60 gB)
4x case fans (3 230mm, 1x 140mm)
1000 watt PSU (Cooler Master Silent Pro, got such a massive one in case it ever expanded into dual 6990s)
4x GB RAM (4x 1 gig).

I'm planning on using the rest of the build for a medium sized web server while the GPUs do their mining, thus the double SSDs (boot drive & mysql/storage drive), RAM, and unlocked 2nd core of the processor.

The highest I can push my XFX 5870 is ~372-375Mhash at around 985 Core. Anything higher and it starts freezing and crashing.

Well done :)

Yeah, I really just started the heavier OC'ing today, last night I ran it at 900 and all went well.  When I got home from work I pushed it to 975 just to be risky and saw the temps barely rise and power consumption only go up maybe 8 or 9 watts.  After a few hours at that I've put it at 1000 and will let it run 12-24 hours at that speed before I try going any higher.

I have 381M/s with HIS iCooler5 5870 980MHz Core and 900MHz Memory, Core Voltage Stock, Temperatures about 62*C.
m0mchill miner - -v -w 128 -f 1

Man I'm running the same temp & clock settings and getting 368mHash/s but I have 2 massive coolers strapped to my card.  :-\

GPU ran all night hashing away at 1020 core and 600 memory, maintaining the 385 mHash/sec, and only hitting 68C without fail.

I actually tried restoring the memory to the 1200 original clock speed, and it did increase my mHash/sec to 398, but the power consumption increase reduced the mHash/watt ratio.  After work tonight I'll start working on different memory clock speeds to find the sweet spot for mHash/watt.

My second 5870 gets delivered today as well, hopefully I get one that performs like the first!

Where can I find out what all this stuff means:  "-v -w 128 -f 1"?  I'm trying to figure out if I should be using any of those with my 6990.  I'm using poclbm-gui.

So I recently did a reformat and now my card is running 5-6C hotter with 25% faster FAN speed with the Bitcoin GPU client then it did before I reformatted.

Only differences now is that is that I'm using CCC 11.4p and ATI Stream SDK 2.3 along with a new GUI Mining Client (provided here) that seems to give me an extra 30 mhashes/sec but that could be because of the updated drivers? Before I used 11.2 and ATI Stream 2.1.

The confusing part is that my volts this time around are slightly lower than before. I use Asus AI tweaker (Its a bit glitchy I can never get it to give me the volts I tell it too) to modify volts and then monitor it with GPUz. Before I had 2.985 volts and now I have 2.875 with hotter temps.

Are the updated drivers enough for the Mhash/s Boost and increased temps?

I suppose I'll get a better idea once I play some games, but I'm waiting to get my steam account back atm.

Also is 85-86C safe temps for an HD5870?

Also I'm getting 364.6 Mhashes/sec with 977/1250 Clocks is that normal? Using -v -w128 -f 1 (which I have no idea what it means)

That's it!  I get about 360Mh/s using -f @ 930 MHz clock speeds.  This also lessens the effects of lowering the memory below 900.  So now my command looks like -v -w 128 -f.  It makes my system really slow, but if I am only using it for mining, who cares? 

Here's a post by another forumer about -f:


http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5492.0 (http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5492.0)

I have two ASUS 5870 stock in my intel rig running non-crossfire at 975core/900mem fans at 63%.  Temps at 60 for GPU1 and 67 for GPU2.  Getting 368MH/s each. (-v -w 128)  371MH/s (-v -w -f 0)

When I lower the mem down to 600, I loose ~20 MH/s on each card.

And AFAIK, the -f switch has to do with the window allowed for framerate to the desktop.  You can set it to -f 120 and play starcraft while mining.

-EP

I'd recommend checking your power consumption.  I lose about 20 mH/sec underclocking my memory, but it is more profitable (mHash/kWh).

Haven't checked my power consumption, but I increased from 333Mhash/s to ~361Mhash/s which is about 8% increase.

Running 5870. Overclocked with AMD GPU Clock Tool. Core clock=999, Memory Clock=700. Voltage=1.0630.

I'm not really into the technical details here, I just tried until I had something that worked.

Running win7 64bit

Can't be bothered to get the driver versions now. Fan running at 3333 RPM, temp at 71 celsius.

It is left to see if this will run in a stable fashion.

Managed to get it to 375 for short sprints, but system crashed so it was not sustainable.

Edit: Just popping in to tell that I ran at 360Mhash/s all night without a hitch. (970Mhz/Mem clock 700, VDDC 1.0630)

I'm getting 83C temps and 330Mhashes/sec on my Asus matrix 5870 2GB clocks @ 982/1245

Is that normal? Cause from reading here it doesn't seem like it is?

You could try to use Msi afterburner to increase the fan speed. That would lower the temps. running mine at 3500RPM, and temps are at 62 degrees celcius.

Try the following command for mining (These are for connecting to deepbit-pool:

Pay attention to the last part of that string. Setting -f 0 means the desktop will be laggy, but more Mhashes/sec will come your way. If you inted to use the system for work, you could have two different settings (make bat or vbs files), one for full load, and one that you can use while working on the system.

Also you can download AMD GPU Clock Tool to overclock the card. I've had it running at core clock 970 and mem clock 700 for a couple of days, I also changed the voltage to 1.0630.

I had the same number as you, 330Mhash/s before I overclocked the card.

Funny, I ordered a 6950 from tigerdirect and they also FUBAR'd it too.  They held it for a confirmation yet it was paid out of a paypal balance.  I did not know for a week (I should have checked on shipping sooner!) so I lost out of a weeks mining.  I ordered another 5870 from someone else instead. 

For those with win 7 64 bit, I'm now running at 990/700 and it seems to be stable as high as 367-368Mhash/s, so it's not that far off from the performance that the thread starter got.

I was getting 355 MH/s running my HD5870 at 950/300 with the standard poclbm on Win7, but now I'm trying Phoenix 1.1 with AGGRESSION set to 10 and the card at 975/300, I'm getting a reported 410 MH/s. Dropping the Memory Clock speed from 1200 to 300 does help, but you'll need to use MSI Afterburner to do it.

I just switched over to the Phoenix miner 1.1 as well, and now run at 421-423 mHash/sec on all of my 5870s.  Clock settings are 975/300, using the 0.950 voltage.  They're running cooler, sucking less power, and running significantly faster with Phoenix!

1010/300 (stock voltage) here with Phoenix and getting 437MH/s on my 5870.  Still running a tiny bit hot at 77C but that is my crappy case, most likely.

I'm hoping to push my cards back to 1020/300 once I finish reorganizing my house to accommodate the rigs and can spend some time hooked up to a Kill-A-Watt to find the sweet spot for mHash/watt.

Impressive.  Your using windows I assume?

Ubuntu 10.10 x64, SDK 2.1, Phoenix miner

5870 @990/300 getting 414 M hash/sec with Phoenix (-k poclbm DEVICE=0 VECTORS AGGRESSION=13 BFI_INT) .

I´m using:
win 7 64
Catalyst 11.4 prerelease
SDK 2.4

It would be nice if everyone posted their config soft, commands in Phoenix and hard.

Well I guess I have quite a bit of data to contribute here:

Linux: (all these use VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=11)
425.5 Mhash/s - 5870 @ 960/300 (Ubuntu 10.10, driver 11.2, SDK 2.1)
419.0 Mhash/s - 5870 @ 945/300 (Ubuntu 10.10, driver 11.2, SDK 2.1)
412.5 Mhash/s - 5870 @ 930/300 (Ubuntu 10.10, driver 11.2, SDK 2.1)
305.0 Mhash/s - 5830 @ 980/300 (Ubuntu 10.10, driver 11.2, SDK 2.1)

Windows:
436.5 Mhash/s - 5870 @ 1030/300 (Win7 x64, driver 11.2, SDK 2.2) (VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=10)
394.5 Mhash/s - 5870 @ 930/300 (Win7 x64, driver 11.2, SDK 2.2) (VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=10)
393.5 Mhash/s - 5870 @ 930/300 (Win7 x64, driver 11.3, SDK 2.4) (VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=8 FASTLOOP)

hi,
Here is my contribution, just for information:
I've a HD5870 XFX and up to 429-435Mh/s (it varies) with 1000/300 0.950v and phoenix 1.1 with  VECTORS AGGRESSION=7 WORKSIZE=128 BFI_INT (with aggression=12 I loose some mh/s..)
OS windows 7 64 ; 85°C after 1/2h

Did you use msi afterburner to undervolt de gpu? Did you try to get it any lower? How did you test for stability?
Thank you in advance.

I see a lot have happened here!

Ok, I'll fill in my two cents.

I used AMD GPU Clock Tool to tweak the Core Clock and the Memory Clock.

At settings 970 and 300 (0.9500)-voltage I get ~395 to 406Mhash/s.

I'm afraid to drive the clock up too much as this makes the graphic card driver crash.

New version of Phoenix 1.2 is now for download. Give it a try.

Ubuntu 10.10 x64, 2.1 SDK, Phoenix 1.2, 11.3 drivers, dedicated rig

ATI 5870
1012 GPU, 300 Mem
Stock Voltages
100% fan

VECTORS AGGRESSION=14 WORKSIZE=128 BFI_INT

440MH/s, 76C

I am completely amazed at how much more power the phoenix miner has been able to unlock in these cards.  My rig has gained over 50 mHash/sec in the past 24 hours as new revisions keep rolling out.  380 was pretty much never mentioned on the forums before my post, and now we're seeing 430-440 being very reachable by most 5870 cards with Phoenix.

Yep it is quite impressive indeed. All thanks to the BFI_INT instruction support! :)

I use AMD GPU Clock Tool to undervolt. I tried 1030/300 @0.950 but got some crashes.

I've gone from 360 mh/s to 405 mh/s.

I've got one of those XFX cards which unfortunately you cannot overvolt :(

Running at 975 core, 300 mem.

Thanks for the info.

You can overvolt if you flash with a different BIOS, but you can't change voltage 'on the fly'.

The ASUS is usually used and is at http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?page=1&architecture=ATI&manufacturer=Asus&model=HD+5870&interface=&memSize=0 (http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?page=1&architecture=ATI&manufacturer=Asus&model=HD+5870&interface=&memSize=0)

Having said this, I couldn't get my XFX stable at 975 with a higher voltage anyway, so I'm running stock volts at 965/300. It uses less power this way, too.

I wouldn't advice anybody to do this. The reason some cards can't change voltage is often that they use a different voltage controller that doesn't support it. Worst case you may end up bricking your card because the BIOS isn't compatible with it.

Hava a look a the Sapphire Trixx utility, it let me overvolt my  non ref xfx 5850. However be carefull most reference coolers tend to skimp on the vrm cooling so overvolting isnt exactly the best idea.

I run stable at 950/700 stock voltage, phoenix + poclbm aggression 6, 386 mh/s, temp at 74 fan 57% very quiet. Sapphire 5870 1gb ddr5

I can score about 340 mhash with my single vtx 5870 on guiminer with
-v -w 128

So do u thinck there is a better miner?

XFX ref (bought at release) with thermalright T-rad 2 + the VRM cooler that goes with it, been running at 1000/300 1.2V giving 440 Mhash/s (catalyst 11.5 with sdk 2.1 poclbm) for about 4 months now, It can do 1100 stable for mining almost breaking the magic 500 Mhash limit but it needs 1.35V for that and i don't trust it to survive for many days/weeks with those settings :p

Wow what model number? I have a ZNFC XFX 5870.  Stock settings I get about 358-360MHash/s.  Overclock to 925 with 1.163 (Highest stable. Can get 930 but locks up after several hours of use) and I get just over 400MHash/s

Artic Cooling Accelero Xtreme Heatink - get 56c displayIO temperature (62 memory and 60 shader).

hi guys,
I was just wondering how you manage to keep your cards this cool?!
I got two xfx 5870  running at 860/300 stock voltage and I can´t get the temperature down.
My temperature after a day of mining is between 83C - 86C the cards fans are working their asses of at 100%
How can that be? This is my current setup:

https://i.imgur.com/JE0kWl.jpg


Maybe you got some tips?

Thank you!

Anyone running 2 x 5870 in crossfire in Windows 7? I can get them to run at 970 but I find that from time to time the system will BSOD, yet the temps are fine. Highest it ever reaches is 74c.

Is it possibly the crossfire setup being the cause? The reason why I'm using a crossfire setup is because it's running on Windows and I haven't got any dummy plugs.

1x5870 + 970/300 on Windows gets me 412 mh/s in phoenix.

I'm currently running the crossfire setup at 950/300 at the moment to see if this prevents the BSOD.

my room is quite cold, and my case has space for a fan right over the gap between the two (looks like its similar spacing). Its not a very good fan and I might buy a better one, but right now, the cards run at about 75-80C on stock volts, but thats because I changed the fan speeds to be at around 60% (its in my bedroom, and I'd rather have it considerably quiter than a few degrees cooler).

the only thing you can do is to either do the same or get spacers.

ATI HD5870
Catalyst 11.5
SDK 2.4
975MHz core / 333MHz memory
1.250v (not sure how to change this lower, it automatically bumps up when I change core/memory freq)

Phoenix parameters: -u device=0 VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=14 WORKSIZE=256 -k phatk

430.xx MH/s, stable over the past 24+hrs
69-70C @ 50% fan speed with case-cover on, house A/C thermostat set at 78F

Everybody told me to try 300MHz for the memory and that kicked the MHz up quite a bit.  After a little experimenting I found the sweet spot to be 333MHz (using ATI GPU Tool) which increased the hash rate by about 6-8 MH/s over 300MHz memory clock on my system. YMMV.

what motherboard and psu are you using for 3 5870s

Pretty sure these cards just run hotter than normal even with the jet engine of a fan they have.
I'm currently running one at 427 Mhash/s and have a 2nd on the way for crossfire.  Temp is at 83C in an 29C degree room.  This is with the fan at 100% and the case open with a large window fan pointed at the card.  I'm thinking of taking the card apart and reapplying thermal compound.
Clocks are 990/600 set through the Catalyst Control Center.  I tried using the Asus itracker software but it causes more crashes than it's worth.
11.4 drivers with SDK 2.4 phoenix 1.5 phoenix rising 1.45 with aggression set to 14, VECTORS and WORKSIZE=128 phatk is checked and so is HD5xxx

i'm getting 420MH/s per card - 930MHz core 300MHz memory bfi_int Vectors aggression=11 phatk kernel - phoenix miner
my problems is with the cooling as well. the top card can go as high as 100degrees C while to lower one stays at about 70C
my problem is with the spacing. i think i got 4mm between the cards. that changes today as I'm getting a different motherboard.

Hey,
I'm sitting here with a Gigabyte 1GB 5870 and my temperature goes to 98° after 30 sec of mining. Fan is running 100% at 3600 RPM,

got about 300 mH/s which drops down to 200 after the card gets too hot. I have only one card installed, and no additional fans. stock cooling at all.

Board and CPU are sitting at ~ 41°C, no problems there.

Running Windows 7.

Would I ever get a decent temperature with an additional fan at the front bottom of my case or is my card somewhat damaged?

I have 2x5870s. Running @970MHz, I get about 418MH/s per GPU using hashkill, running at 980MHz, I get about 426MH/s. No memory downclocking involved. Fan speed at 80 keeps them below 65C, anyway that kinda depends on ambient temperature.

You use atiflash to read the bios and use Radeon Bios Editor to modified the clock rates.  Then reflash.  Limits?! We don't need no stinking limits.

My Gigabyte 5870 Super Overclock goes to 1000 easily, probably because it's non-reference, with an extra fan and higher quality bin they pulled it from. It's already factory overclocked to 950.  For everyone using 5870s, don't forget to knock your memory clock down to the sweet spot you find for hashing with your setup, somewhere between 300 and 400. A rule of thumb is GPU clock / 3 + 14, but I've seen it vary from person to person.

where can i finde hashkill?? and wah is it for?  cannot find the thread ! please someone point me there

Yeah..phoenix is definitely the way to go with the 5870's...I get 415Mh/s with settings of 940/305 temps around 65degC...they could probably do more..but I think it would be marginal for the extra juice/time tweaking/reduced lifespan required to achieve it..

My opinion is if you can get over 400-410 with your 5870's lock her in and ride it...it's not worth getting more (with present known methods).

I'm running an Apple 5870 clocked to 1020/300, stock voltage, with MSI Afterburner running in Windows 7 on a MacPro

Temps 57C and fan at 60% - running Phoenix and phatk & getting 448Mhash/s for about 5 days now with no issues.

I'm on a 2006 mac pro running a XFX HD 5870 which I found on pricelover.com for around £110. Flashed the BIOS to make the card work in OS X. Left clock speeds and voltages as stock.

Get really bad speeds in OS X due to Apples crippled OpenCL implementation.. somewhere around 150mhash/sec last time I tried, although I hear its much better running OS X 10.7 (lion).

When booted into Windows 7 I get approx 350mhash/sec when left at stock settings.
If I overclock with MSI afterburner I can achieve 430Mhash/sec when clocking to 969/350.
The card crashes or becomes unstable (although it recovers without a reboot) if I clock GPU over 970.
Running most recent AMD drivers (11.6 I think) and phoenix with the Phatk kernal.

Similar results (430mhash/sec) when booted into Ubunutu, although I have to flash the bios to overclock out of the preset ranges as I don't believe there's an MSI Afterburner type app for linux?

Temps anywhere between 65ºC and 75ºC depending upon ambient temp.
I leave the side of the mac off and the fans appear to need to do less work to keep GPU and mac CPU cool, meaning less noise.

So Phönix would work better than diablominer?

I get 1267374/1256143 khash/sec using 3x 5870...

I'm mining at about 382 Mhash/sec with an HD 5870. In the ATI Catalyst Control Center, I've overclocked the GPU to 900 Mhz, and downclocked the memory to 900 Mhz. The fan is set at 75%, and the current temperature is 78 C with the side panel removed (I also have an nVidia GTX 580 running the miner in a slot right below it, so this drives the temperatures up).

Are there any other currently-maintained Windows apps out there for overclocking AMD GPUs, besides ATI Tray Tools? For some reason, ATI Tray Tools doesn't want to run with both AMD and nVidia hardware in one system, with both sets of drivers installed.

Ok I did some further tweaking and got mine stable at 442-443 MH/s. 1000MHz/350Mhz, 68C with fan @ 60% (ambient temp is around 80F), case cover is on.  That's with 11.5.  With 11.6 I lose about 80 MH/s.

Have you tried going down to 335? A lot of people here (including me) have gotten the 5870 to 335 -333 without affecting hashing speed. What about voltage?

Yeah, I've tried 333 and, while it's a noticeable improvement over 300, it falls a few MH/s behind 350 memory clock.  Voltage is automatically set at 1.250 by the ATI GPU Tool, which I'm using to adjust the core/memory clocks.  I don't think there's a way for me to change the voltage with that tool.

If you are using Linux try AMDOverdriveCtrl. I could set the voltage lower at those speeds, so you have less consumption and less heat.

Hai, I got my 5870 running at 425 MH/s with SDK 2.1 and the newest DiabloMiner (includes this tweak (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=23067.0)).

Now I know overclocking (won't be stable past 950 MHz, blame XFX) and I recently learned underclocking (memory is at 300 MHz), but what about undervolting? I am down to 1.15V with the 950/300 setup and it's already saved me 10 W. How far can one go? Should I just trial and error until the system freezes and use the last voltage known to work? Is that safe or can I effectively ruin my card?

I get 430 Mhash/s with 945/300, and this phoenix script:

phoenix -u http://workername:workerpassword@btcguild.com:8332/ -k phatk VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=7 WORKSIZE=128 DEVICE=0 FASTLOOP=false

That's on a Win 7 machine.

If you use that pre-built Linux OS/miner, that you can boot off of a USB stick, it is possible to get 450 - 460 Mhash/s

I killed my USB stick :( so ordering another one :)

2x ASUS Radeon 5870 (EAH5870/2DIS/1GD5/V2)

452 MH/s each

Card Settings
Core: 992MHz
Mem: 350MHz
Voltage: Standard
Temperature: 81c (top) 78c (bottom). Room temperature 20-25c. Fan @ 40-50%.

Miner Configuration
GUIMiner (07-01-2011 (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=3878.0))
Phoenix 1.5 (phatk 07-06-2011 (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=25860.0))
Flags: -k phatk VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=14 WORKSIZE=256

What's your wattage running stock voltage?

I have 260 W for the whole rig, it does about 80 W during POST so I'm guessing 180-200 W for the GPU. Can I get below that if I undervolt? How far can I go?

Nice to see high hashing power. How's the stability of these numbers over a longer time period? I find that if the core clock is 'too' high, instability can occur over time. I should know as I have 4 5870 cards.

So for a card to be running stable, it should at least run 14 days without freezes or crashes in my opinion.

I had major cooling problems with my 3 x 5870s due to the proximity of the cards to eachother's fans, meaning that I couldn't really overclock them significantly without hitting 90c and above. Fixed with clothes pegs...
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4290/201106251714402.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/89/201106251714402.jpg/)

I then got into flashing the BIOS for faster speeds so needed more cooling. Fixed with some dryer ducting with a 92mm fan jammed inside...
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/8355/201107042308203.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/41/201107042308203.jpg/)

Running at the following settings:
Adapter0: 860/300 clock, 382MHash/s @ 69.5c
Adapter1: 920/307 clock, 411MHash/s @ 68.0c
Adapter2: 940/313 clock, 422MHash/s @ 62.0c

All voltages & fans are at stock setting, though I'm tempted to manually set the fans a bit faster for the higher temps. All cards are running Phoenix with Phatk configured with: AGGRESSION=10 WORKSIZE=256 VECTORS BFI_INT FASTLOOP=false -q 2

I can't really go above 960 core clock without the cards crashing, due to voltages probably - has anyone had any luck changing this on XFX 5870 under Linux? The setting is locked in RBE and I can't find any software option.

I been testing my 5870 and 5970 alot iv managed to get my 5870 to 1060/600 on 1.225 and my 5970 to 960/500 on 1.149.  Im running windows 7 and i found my cards can be undervolted and still run great at high clocks with pretty low stales.  Im still gonna see how far i can push them also my cards are under water so temps not a issue just they heat up my room bad when its really hot out thats when i down clock them.  I think i might get 1100 out of the 5870 but the 5970 is pretty close to topped out.

https://i.imgur.com/e8nR2.jpg

You guys are making me drool.

Can't wait for my 6950 to get here...

Hey Gang,

I've been looking things over and I am aiming to build a light mining rig with hopes for future expansion. I am a self-professed newb and so I am hoping to get a little help from the community with my choices of hardware. As far as I know, the hardware I have chosen should work together, but if anything sticks out, constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.

What I have here is a combination of what I found on these two well-known pages:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_rig (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_rig) and:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison#See_Also (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison#See_Also)

Also, I am in Europe and some of the hardware is either unavailable to me or prohibitively expensive.  Links provided go to a Czech website, but I think the specs should still be intelligible even without translation.  Here is the list:

-Mobo: ASUS M4A87TD
    http://www.alza.cz/asus-m4a87td-d198797.htm#popis (http://www.alza.cz/asus-m4a87td-d198797.htm#popis)

-CPU: AMD Sempron 140

-GPU: ASUS MATRIX 5870/2DIS/2GD5
    http://www.alza.cz/asus-matrix-5870-2dis-2gd5-d164659.htm (http://www.alza.cz/asus-matrix-5870-2dis-2gd5-d164659.htm)

-RAM: 2x 1024MB DDR3 1333MHz CL9 CORSAIR
    http://www.mironet.cz/2048mb-ddr3-1333mhz-cl9-corsair--xms3-kit-2x1024mb+dp80617/ (http://www.mironet.cz/2048mb-ddr3-1333mhz-cl9-corsair--xms3-kit-2x1024mb+dp80617/)

-PSU: CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W , 80 PLUS Certified
    http://www.alza.cz/corsair-cx600-v2-d237950.htmhttp://www.alza.cz/corsair-cx600-v2-d237950.htm (http://www.alza.cz/corsair-cx600-v2-d237950.htmhttp://www.alza.cz/corsair-cx600-v2-d237950.htm)

-Chassis: CoolerMaster HAF 912 PLUS black
    http://www.alza.cz/coolermaster-haf-912-plus-cerna-d189911.htm#foto (http://www.alza.cz/coolermaster-haf-912-plus-cerna-d189911.htm#foto)

-Hard Disk: WESTERN DIGITAL Caviar Green 750GB 64MB cache w/ Advanced Format
    http://www.alza.cz/western-digital-caviar-green-750gb-64mb-cache-s-advanced-format-d245784.htm#popis (http://www.alza.cz/western-digital-caviar-green-750gb-64mb-cache-s-advanced-format-d245784.htm#popis)

I know the HDD is quite an overkill on space, but it was one of the cheapest they had that appeared worth anything. My goal is to firstly have a machine that has high Mhash/J, which is more important to me in the long run considering the costs of electricity, and then secondly, to have an initial investment that gives me a high Mhash/$ invested. I figure with the HDD,  I can simply remote access it and use the extra space as storage.

Also, as I am just getting my feet wet, I do not want to immediately invest too much until I get a feel for the practical side of this operation. To that end, I have been planning on building my own PC anyway and so if I decide to bow out of mining, most of the components I plan to buy can be used for my home office/gaming rig. I calculate my bitcoin mining investment portion of this machine to be only about USD 200.

Based on the motherboard I have chosen, would it be possible to add another 1 or 2 of the same GPU if I decide to take this further? I would like to get close to the ~420Mhash/GPU that I have been reading in this thread and so I plan to have the appropriate software and configuration there.


Thanks for any pointers!

Crispin

Have you tried calculating, when this would pay off for you? -__-

PSU: "2x PCI Express 6 pinů"

This will only allow for one Graphics card. I made the same mistake on my rig, starting with a HD 5870 and planning to expand, because I thought "oh, I have 2 PCIe power connectors, that would suffice for two cards". Nope, one card needs two connectors already!

Also, I would not buy that much RAM from the start. You can surely save some Korunas when you buy one slower 1 GB bar. Apart from that, it doesn't look too bad, but it will probably take 6-12 months to pay it off completely. Although if you only plan on recuperating the cost of the GPU (that's the 200 USD, I guess) it will be quicker.

AMD Sempron 140 with the 2nd core unlocked.
2 solid state drives (1x Kingston 16 gB, 1x OCZ 60 gB)
4x case fans (3 230mm, 1x 140mm)
1000 watt PSU (Cooler Master Silent Pro, got such a massive one in case it ever expanded into dual 6990s)
4x GB RAM (4x 1 gig).

Thanks for the feedback. I am still trying to get my head around all the mining info.  I posted my first comment after doing a lot of reading and researching. Then, this morning, I did some more reading and turned some of my conclusions on their heads. Ugh. Actually, the 200USD refers to the CPU, Mobo and RAM. I wanted them to be low cost and energy efficient for mining. Don't we all? The GPU can be a toy for later if I stop mining. Even though, I am just dabbling right now, I also want the GPU to be the best bang for my buck in case I decide to take it further.

To reply to both you and Being, yes, I am hoping to recuperate my costs after about a year. I would love to find a way to do it sooner.

It's been hard finding the sweet spot of high Mhash/s/W with a reasonable investment amount. There are so many variables.  I think I find a GPU I like, then other hardware is more expensive or unavailable. And why don't most people write their results in Mhash/s/W? Who really cares if they are getting 2Ghash/s if its costing them 1Mwatt in electricity?

EDIT: Also, I wanted to get opinions on  the GPU I listed in my earlier post.  ASUS MATRIX 5870/2DIS/2GD5 (http://www.alza.cz/asus-matrix-5870-2dis-2gd5-d164659.htm)

This looks quite a bit different and definitely more expensive than other 5870s I've seen on this forum. For example:  XFX ATI Radeon HD 5850 1 GB DDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card HD585XZAFC (http://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-HD585XZAFC/dp/B0037YOIMC/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1312117289&sr=1-3)

I haven't been able to find any mining results on the ASUS card. Any opinions here?

I'm also a fan of the 5870.

But I'm still curious how people are going above 900 mhz core under Linux.  Has to be a BIOS reflash, no?

I have a noobish question.

When you peeps overclock, how do you see if the card is hitting the limit? I am using Win7 32bit with AOCLBF, monitoring load/temps with Afterburner, OC'ing with Trixx. Should I keep an eye on the GPU load graphs/AOCLBF for restarts? Or will the cards simply hang/reboot the system? (even if it's a multi-gpu setup, and I'm OC'ing one of the cards not hooked up to the monitor?)
Sorry if these questions are noobish, just trying to get the most out of my 5850's and 5870 on stock voltage.

Thanks in advance.

my new record on non-ref xfx 5870 1.6 = 980/341 = 443mh/s

Yes but for how long?   I can push my saph vapor x 5870 to 975 for a while, but then drop out...  I run them at 950/300  get a constant 423-425 Mh out of them

That doesn't seem too unrealistic. For non reference that's definitely pushing the limit though. I believe the record for a reference is like 502 but that wasn't held for a long period of time. I'm sure you can easily get 460 stable in some cases when you use a reference card.