Intel vs AMD

[NINJA--]

1) If it is a dedicated mining rig don't open a browser.  If you are browsing the web then it isn't a dedicated mining rig.

Dont be so anal. This is a dedicated miner. I was watching the CPU usage while doing basic things to troubleshoot.



Im thinking about trying linux. I hear you get 10% increase hash over windows. Plus booting off USB instead of a HD is pretty sweet. And if your telling me it also uses less CPU than windows it sounds like a dream come true. Like I said I did try ubuntu it was amazing to install but installing drivers was a nightmare. How do you install drivers on linux? Is it nice and simple like windows just click exe or is it a pain in the ass?

[bronan]

Is their some kinda energy saving mode being turned on/off since it looks like that is happening
Amd cpu tend to go very low in energy save which can be a pain in the ass, when you turn it off and see what happens.
And yes it happens on intel cpu's as well but since the difference is smaller on intel between the steps it has a less annoying effect

[BCMan]

 There's no difference between energy saving on/off because there's no cpu usage at all and should'nt be, if it's not a cpu bug with AMD APP SDK 2.5. And looks like you have it. Just use SDK 2.4.

[bittenbob]

Check the aggression in the miner. This type of drop is common if my aggression is set to 5. With my aggression set to 13 it stays 99% 100% of the time. If you are mining with the same settings on all this is one possible explanation I can think of. I am not running multiple GPU's but if the aggression is not the case then something is bottlenecking. I suggest you also check your chipset temperature on your motherboard. If it is overheating it might be slowing down the cards to protect itself. I had this issue with my CPU on the 790 chipset. Now I am on the 990FX chipset and have never had it slow anything down. Usually if your chipset goes into autoprotect mode it will slow down your CPU so keep an eye to see if your clock speeds are consistent.

[BCMan]

Usually if your chipset goes into autoprotect mode it will slow down your CPU so keep an eye to see if your clock speeds are consistent.

My cpu is currently working @ 783 mhz - same mhash/s as with 3 ghz and ZERO cpu usage. I'm doing something wrong?

[bittenbob]

Usually if your chipset goes into autoprotect mode it will slow down your CPU so keep an eye to see if your clock speeds are consistent.

My cpu is currently working @ 783 mhz - same mhash/s as with 3 ghz and ZERO cpu usage. I'm doing something wrong?

If your cpu is not needed then cool and quiet should underclock it to reduce power consumption. As long as it speeds up when you go to use it for something else you are not doing anything wrong. With such low clock speeds are you running bulldozer?

[BCMan]

Usually if your chipset goes into autoprotect mode it will slow down your CPU so keep an eye to see if your clock speeds are consistent.

My cpu is currently working @ 783 mhz - same mhash/s as with 3 ghz and ZERO cpu usage. I'm doing something wrong?

If your cpu is not needed then cool and quiet should underclock it to reduce power consumption. As long as it speeds up when you go to use it for something else you are not doing anything wrong. With such low clock speeds are you running bulldozer?

No, it's a Phenom II. I just mean that there's nothing bad in powersaving mode, because it doesn't (and shouldn't) affect gpu performance.

[bittenbob]

Usually if your chipset goes into autoprotect mode it will slow down your CPU so keep an eye to see if your clock speeds are consistent.

My cpu is currently working @ 783 mhz - same mhash/s as with 3 ghz and ZERO cpu usage. I'm doing something wrong?

If your cpu is not needed then cool and quiet should underclock it to reduce power consumption. As long as it speeds up when you go to use it for something else you are not doing anything wrong. With such low clock speeds are you running bulldozer?

No, it's a Phenom II. I just mean that there's nothing bad in powersaving mode, because it doesn't (and shouldn't) affect gpu performance.

Powersaving mode on your cpu is just fine. Your northbridge determines the number of PCIE lanes and by consequence all PCIE traffic (along with cpu) passes through it as far as I understand. If this is bottlenecking it would slow down GPU's simultaneously as was observed along with the CPU. Most people would not run into problems saturating the PCIE lanes on a motherboard but I can see 4x6990 causing some problems on a dated chipset.

[P4man]

Like I said I did try ubuntu it was amazing to install but installing drivers was a nightmare. How do you install drivers on linux? Is it nice and simple like windows just click exe or is it a pain in the ass?

Typically in Linux you do not install drivers; they are part of the kernel, so you already have them. Exceptions include proprietary video drivers; AMD catalyst is  already installed in linuxcoin, and its the version you want for mining. Nothing extra needed. Ubuntu comes with opensource drivers, and for mining you need proprietary ones, which you install with the "Additional Driver" application and it takes like 2 clicks. Do not use the newest versions of ubuntu though, since they come with more recent AMD drivers which are crappy for mining. In fact, do not use ubuntu for mining. You can run ubuntu from a stick, but only with the open drivers. To run ubuntu with the proprietary drivers from a stick is possible, but not so easy to achieve.