Bitcoin Forum

I have an Asus 6950 (with the double fan, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121431 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121431)). I'm wondering what anyone else with the card is getting? I'm currently getting around 315Mhash/s, up to 350mhash/s if I overclock to about 850 from 810 - but I get occasional restarts with that kind of overclock.

I don't have the exact same card (looked at it but the triple-wide design wouldn't work for me) but I have two sapphire 6950s. Stock (800 Mhz) I get about 325 MH/s. I was overclocking them to 900 MHz for a while, and I got (I think) around 375-380 MH/s per card. I've recently been running them at stock speeds with a lower voltage. I never had any problems when I was overclocking though. If you do you might have to bump the voltage up a little bit.

How does the cooler on that thing work? I would think if you're not too worried about power efficiency you could overclock/overvolt it pretty well.

I have 1GB version. At 800MHz it generates 325MH/s, downvolted to 0.887V. At stock (810MHz) it's 830MH/s. I can overclock it to 950MHz and then it's 400MH/s at stock voltage but heat and noise are not worth it.

830mhash off a 6950? I will buy that card right now. Name your price.

I'm thinking he meant to type 330MH/s.

Yep, a typo. Should be 330MH/s at stock 810 MHz.

I have the Gigabyte OC 1G cards.  The stock speed is 870.  I've always clocked them up to 880 and gotten about 355 M/hs.

I have one 6950. OC to 925. Does 380 mhash solid for over a year. Probably my most stable card.

Dont mean to hijack this, but it is kinda on topic.

I currently have four 5850s and they are getting about 370 Mhash/s each, but to find them I have to dig on ebay and spend around $150-$180 for each.  

I found a site that offers new Powercolor 6950 for about $140, but the site makes me nervous.  Im almost 100% they are shipped from overseas, but I dont know if this is a "too goo to be true" deal or not.  http://xavier.audiogoshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3272

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

That seems pretty low to me for new cards. I'd be much more comfortable dealing with members here who are selling used equipment, and you can sometimes get deals better than ebay if you watch the marketplace section regularly. Although if you do end up trying that site, I'd be curious to know how the transaction goes.

better off buying some 7970's new for around $400-450. get a warranty and similar mhash and better power usage and no shady deals.

Just to pitch in.Since I do own a HD6950.My max MHash is ~400. My card has unlocked shaders as the early HD6950s had this little bonus where you could unlock shaders (gives an extra 30 MHashs).My clocks are 885MHZ (core clock) and 320MHZ (mem clock) with stock voltage.If that helps you OP.

Of course if you have a card without unlockable shaders,then you'll have to really ramp up with the overclocking (core clock) and underclock the memory clock (seems to boost performace when mining with lower mem clocks and higher core clocks)

Using a more optimised version of GUIMiner (or whatever mining app you use) will certainly help as things improve with new optimisations.
If you can afford it,you could buy HD7970s instead.If you can wait until october you can preorder a BFL jalapeno as this performs with 3.5GHashs with very little power i hear (as there is no mention of a power brick in the package on their site) $149 for one and uses as much as a USB device would.

Anyways,just some things to help the OP.

 
 i have a 1gb xfx XXX edition. At its v1.100 it got crazy high hashes but ran way too warm. i dropped it to 1.000v 950/135 and got 376mh/s for months. The other week I tried the shader unlock and it worked even though the card is a 1gb edition. I was getting easy 430+ mh/s but now run it at 900/150 1.031v 378mh/s until i have time to kill-a-watt check the efficiency when it is in the new ranges.

I can easily get 405. Clock speed of 925, mem speed of 625, stock voltage. This is a shader unlocked 2GB version.

I did a little digging on the site, and there are too many red flags.  Reports of problems, typos on the page, changes in payment.


I think for now, im just going to stick with the 5850s and find 8 more to fill out my other 2 motherboards.  After that I will be working on getting some FPGAs like the Bitforce Single.  If it is able to get 850 hash for $600, and use 1/10 of the power that one rig uses, that will have to be the way to go.

I spend almost 40% on power costs to run these rigs and that is assuming $6.00/Bitcoin.  The Bitforce would be a 6% power cost

Again sorry for the hi-jacking, but thanks for listening.

@ elrodvoss You'd be better off getting a BFL jalapeno if you can wait for it as it's much cheaper for much better hash power with next to no power use (same power as a USB hard drive).If you do need extra power now a BFL single isn't a bad choice.Thing is you can flash the BFLs with higher performing firmware so you could get just under 900MHash/s now.I'll be waiting to get my Jalapeno once I get a chance to pre-order it in time for october.

My orginial plan was to get three rigs working with 5850s and use them to generate income for upgrade.  I saw the info on the jalapeno and have been reading up on ButterFly Labs.

If I remember correctly, the Jalapeno gets 3.5 GigaHash at a cost of $150.  That seems a little out there for me, but I dont firmly grasp how ASIC would obtain this, so I am not going to say they are blowing smoke.  Its more the fact that its a HUGE game changer and im waiting to see how it plays out.

I am interested in the Bitforce singles, but even then 850 M/Hash for $600, 4x the cost for almost 6x less performance. 

All said, I am intrested to see how this all pans out and very interested to see Bitcoin get this attention and continue to grow.

I think that I will be going some direction in the next 2-3 month like everyone else.


Again, thanks for the advice.