XFX R9 390X overclocking in a weird manner

[JKKGBE]

Hey I've just added R9 390X to my rig and when I am trying to OC it in Afterburner it acts weird to say the least. I don't even know where to start, FYI I've overclocked different cards before but this is new. Mining Ethereum and Decred.

On stock it's 1050/1500, 27MH/s dual mine, but on those settings it never reaches 1050 core, hovers around 950-1000.
If I bump mem clock - the core clock goes even lower. (and hashrate)
If I add mV or % power - the core clock goes lower. (and hashrate)
If I lower mV, the more I take away, the higher the core goes.
I I lower mem clock, core and hashrate goes higher, but up to a point where it's not beneficial anymore and hashrate lowers.

So with this situation I have pin-pointed the balance now at 1100/1100 (different on screenshot, doesnt matter), -100mV, -100 aux = 30.5MH/s ETH, 920H/s DCR
The core hovers from 1020-1080, mostly around 1050, temp 77*C.

I've read others are getting up to 35, and even 37MH/s. Any ideas why it won't ever reach the overclock settings if I go like 1150/1600? The memory sets fine, but core just goes down.

PSU Be Quiet Power Zone 1000W, 850W at wall right now, card in riser, mobo Gigabyte Z68AP-D3, other cards in rig 980 Ti, RX 470, both overclocking in a normal manner.

SS: http://imgur.com/a/Xk9xF

13MH/s vs 30.5MH/s

Anybody had similar situation?

[antantti]

You are hitting power limit. Try eth only mining first, -100mV, 1100/1250.

If you still want to try dual mining raise power limit to +50 and try different core clocks & dcri values until you find your sweet spot. Don't touch that -100mV or setting!

edit: also hawaii is not memory limited on eth mining, 1250 for memory is enough.

[JKKGBE]

What do you mean by hitting power limit? GPU power limit, or PSU?

Setting mem to 1250 lowers my hashrate, because the core lowers along. % power -50 or +50 doesn't do anything, also if I switch between GPUs in Afterburner, the % power for R9 390X resets, while for others it stays. R9 390X is basically downlocking itself, even with -100mV it cannot reach 1100 core, mostly around 1070. Thing is, when it's loading DAG, it easily hits 1150 and stays there, but when it's finished loading we're back to downclocking.

I've tried mining only ETH (with Claymores Dual) and it doesn't do anything either. Same hashrate.

[antantti]

I meant GPU power limit, it is 208 watt by default. Dual mining exceeds that amount even with low dcri values.

I have seen that kind of behaviour with mixed amd/ nvidia rigs, can you try with only 390x? And with lower -dcri values?

Also Be Quiet, maxwell, polaris and hawaii on the same rig is like asking for troubles.

[JKKGBE]

Okay, going down by only 6 with -dcri got me stable 1150/1250 and 32.4MH/s. That is definitely something.

I don't know why when I turned off dual mining with -mode, the additional MH/s haven't appeared and core clock wasn't reached, weird. Still, anything above 1150 hangs, so 35 dream is gone I guess, harder to mod bios on hawaii than rx 4xx/5xx so I'm not touching it.

About your last remark, had no clue about Be Quiet being a bad choice, but mixing GPUs - well I decided to give it a shot, 'cause price, and it worked out of the box really, but by no means it was meant to be a professional rig.

Thank you for your time, if you point me to your ETH wallet, I'll send you something.

Since you're here, do you by any chance have a clue why would the 980 Ti overheat to 85*C and throttle, or even 90*C and shut down, while in a riser, but put it in mobo and all is fine? Mining zcash at 74*C in mobo, 500 Sol/s. Riser instant overheat in 10 seconds.

[antantti]

so 35 dream is gone I guess, harder to mod bios on hawaii than rx 4xx/5xx so I'm not touching it.

34+ speeds require core clocks way beyond 1200, that needs more volts = more heat and noise. Just not worth it imo, fun to play with though.

Modding hawaii straps only speeds up equihash and cryptonight, dagger doesn't get a noticeably boost.

About your last remark, had no clue about Be Quiet being a bad choice, but mixing GPUs - well I decided to give it a shot, 'cause price, and it worked out of the box really, but by no means it was meant to be a professional rig.

Haha, it's not a bad choice, it just the most critical component (well after risers) on a mining rig so it really needs to deliver.

Thank you for your time, if you point me to your ETH wallet, I'll send you something.

Happy to help someone who still fights with these old dinosaurs, if you do some research you will find that hawaii is still very profitable mining gpu, maybe even the most profitable single gpu there is. I am afraid that's going to change soon and we are back to maximum power saving...

do you by any chance have a clue why would the 980 Ti overheat to 85*C and throttle, or even 90*C and shut down, while in a riser, but put it in mobo and all is fine? Mining zcash at 74*C in mobo, 500 Sol/s. Riser instant overheat in 10 seconds.

My guess would be a bad riser.

[JKKGBE]

Happy to help someone who still fights with these old dinosaurs, if you do some research you will find that hawaii is still very profitable mining gpu, maybe even the most profitable single gpu there is. I am afraid that's going to change soon and we are back to maximum power saving...

I had 980 Ti for gaming, bought additional cards because their ROI was more or less halved due to this fact. Got rx 470 but after I read about future DAGs not working out even for 8G Polaris, I got 390X because I read about it's hashrate and in my market it went unnoticed - prices were not pumped because of the hype. My idea was to go all out not caring about electricity (it's only 0.04$/kWh) as long as the price is hyped, sell some for bills, hodl rest. Soon it will be only hodl probably.

My guess would be a bad riser.

I have tested it in SATA, Molex and PCI-E risers, other cards are sitting in them right now and nothing like this is happening to them. Any other trails?

[antantti]

I have tested it in SATA, Molex and PCI-E risers, other cards are sitting in them right now and nothing like this is happening to them. Any other trails?

What exactly happens when temps rise? Fans, voltage and clocks? You tried custom fan settings?

[JKKGBE]

Fans at 100% don't help. In mobo 80% fan 73*C, 1487(1500)/3305, 1.174 V (1.199), in riser all the same just overheat 10-15 sec after launching zcash miner, sometimes throttle kicks in at 85 sometimes shutdown at 90.

[antantti]

Fans at 100% don't help. In mobo 80% fan 73*C, 1487(1500)/3305, 1.174 V (1.199), in riser all the same just overheat 10-15 sec after launching zcash miner, sometimes throttle kicks in at 85 sometimes shutdown at 90.

You really are pushing it. What if you limit tdp? Limited tdp + overclock usually works. I still think it is your riser.

edit: mobo bios updated?

[JKKGBE]

Forgot to mention, I did 60% power (not offset) and same thing. RX470 is 60% fan 57*C in one of the risers I've tried.. I'm pushing as long as power saving is not an issue, which shouldn't take too long.
Mobo bios newest, but it's still 2011. Z68AP-D3 rev 1.0, not even uefi for this mb.

[antantti]

You need to find out what combination works. I have some profitable gpu's doing nothing just because I never found that secret sauce.

[JKKGBE]

Thanks anyways, guess I'll just accept the fact it does not like risers.

Btw, Be Quiet just saved my ass, had water dripping from the ceiling onto PSU and MB - after using isopropyl alc and drying it for some time, everything is fine!