Ethereum mining still profitable?

[cloh76]

What sized power supply will i need for a system with 3x R9 390 Video Cards?  How about 4x - I have the cards just want to make sure i buy the right power supply

If you under volt the R9 390 by -100mV, it will consume about 220-240W each, so for 4x390, 1250W is more than enough.

Will that impact the hashrate?

[CryptoSalad]

What sized power supply will i need for a system with 3x R9 390 Video Cards?  How about 4x - I have the cards just want to make sure i buy the right power supply

If you under volt the R9 390 by -100mV, it will consume about 220-240W each, so for 4x390, 1250W is more than enough.

 How do you go about under volt cards? Can you do this though MSI afterburner, or do you need to use some custom Bios update for cards?

[Tmdz]

You can edit the bios and flash your card with it, there is a forum topic around here that goes through the process, it is quite easy.  They use the atiflash program that you use in msdos and flash your cards with, I used it to flash one of my voltage locked 7950's a while ago.  Anyway they say after the modded bios the card only consumes 187 watts!  I think stock it uses about 240 watts so that is really good.  they still hash at 27 mh also

[Ayers]

What sized power supply will i need for a system with 3x R9 390 Video Cards?  How about 4x - I have the cards just want to make sure i buy the right power supply

wait for new 490 polaris, they will consume 120w, with 1kw psu you run 6, much better

[QuintLeo]

(1) By the time Polaris shows up, ETH could very well have collapsed on price. We're talking MONTHS out before they'll be available for sale.

(2) There is no guarentee the Polaris cards will mine any better or even as well as current cards. Consider what a dud the GTX 1080 is so far on ETH mining.

(3) AMD is notorious for needing quite a bit longer to get drivers optimised for their new cards than NVidia does.

(4) The reports I've seen are all about Polaris initial cards being mid-range - R7 or BOTTOM R9 replacements - NOT mid-upper to high-end. AMD seems to be targeting the "mass sales" nich around where the GTX950/960 are going to have to "hold the fort" for NVidia for the rest of the year more-or-less.

 That last point should be a good thing for AMD's bottom line this year, which they need badly after too many years in a row of losses.

[malekbaba]

You can edit the bios and flash your card with it, there is a forum topic around here that goes through the process, it is quite easy.  They use the atiflash program that you use in msdos and flash your cards with, I used it to flash one of my voltage locked 7950's a while ago.  Anyway they say after the modded bios the card only consumes 187 watts!  I think stock it uses about 240 watts so that is really good.  they still hash at 27 mh also

how come a 7950 does 27mhashes ? What is your ATI driver and what setting do you use ?

[Ayers]

(1) By the time Polaris shows up, ETH could very well have collapsed on price. We're talking MONTHS out before they'll be available for sale.

(2) There is no guarentee the Polaris cards will mine any better or even as well as current cards. Consider what a dud the GTX 1080 is so far on ETH mining.

(3) AMD is notorious for needing quite a bit longer to get drivers optimised for their new cards than NVidia does.

(4) The reports I've seen are all about Polaris initial cards being mid-range - R7 or BOTTOM R9 replacements - NOT mid-upper to high-end. AMD seems to be targeting the "mass sales" nich around where the GTX950/960 are going to have to "hold the fort" for NVidia for the rest of the year more-or-less.

 That last point should be a good thing for AMD's bottom line this year, which they need badly after too many years in a row of losses.

even if they mine with the same hash they consume less, that is enough for me to buy

[fikihafana]

its depend on your electricity price. For me it's still profitable with 15-20 eth every month.

[Ayers]

its depend on your electricity price. For me it's still profitable with 15-20 eth every month.

cheaper consumption is always welcome, whne you have a big farm that counts too much to be ignored, imho

[RoseMann]

You can edit the bios and flash your card with it, there is a forum topic around here that goes through the process, it is quite easy.  They use the atiflash program that you use in msdos and flash your cards with, I used it to flash one of my voltage locked 7950's a while ago.  Anyway they say after the modded bios the card only consumes 187 watts!  I think stock it uses about 240 watts so that is really good.  they still hash at 27 mh also

how come a 7950 does 27mhashes ? What is your ATI driver and what setting do you use ?

That is the performance of R9 390, not a 7950. The bandwidth o f7950 is too narrow to get 27 MH/s.

[antantti]

How do you go about under volt cards? Can you do this though MSI afterburner, or do you need to use some custom Bios update for cards?

Just tick 'unlock voltage control' in AB compatibility properties, after that you can move core voltage slider in the opening screen.

[Amph]

How do you go about under volt cards? Can you do this though MSI afterburner, or do you need to use some custom Bios update for cards?

Just tick 'unlock voltage control' in AB compatibility properties, after that you can move core voltage slider in the opening screen.

not with nvidia

[antantti]

How do you go about under volt cards? Can you do this though MSI afterburner, or do you need to use some custom Bios update for cards?

Just tick 'unlock voltage control' in AB compatibility properties, after that you can move core voltage slider in the opening screen.

not with nvidia

True, with nvidia you can't undervolt. Only way to save power is to lower TDP which actually works quite well on ethereum mining. My 5x970 can do 83MH@600w from the wall.

[Lasvista]

How do you go about under volt cards? Can you do this though MSI afterburner, or do you need to use some custom Bios update for cards?

Just tick 'unlock voltage control' in AB compatibility properties, after that you can move core voltage slider in the opening screen.

not with nvidia

True, with nvidia you can't undervolt. Only way to save power is to lower TDP which actually works quite well on ethereum mining. My 5x970 can do 83MH@600w from the wall.

But that is not as efficient as the AMD cards. I can lower the voltage, and set the frequency work under that voltage.

[Tmdz]

I have some R9 290 refurb cards on the way, I have not worked with the 290 yet so how far can you under volt them for how many watts?

[BitPlace]

I have some R9 290 refurb cards on the way, I have not worked with the 290 yet so how far can you under volt them for how many watts?

The 290 is not as good as the 390. For XFX 390, you can undervolt -200mV with trixx and run at 977 MHz and consume about 160W.

[antantti]

How do you go about under volt cards? Can you do this though MSI afterburner, or do you need to use some custom Bios update for cards?

Just tick 'unlock voltage control' in AB compatibility properties, after that you can move core voltage slider in the opening screen.

not with nvidia

True, with nvidia you can't undervolt. Only way to save power is to lower TDP which actually works quite well on ethereum mining. My 5x970 can do 83MH@600w from the wall.

But that is not as efficient as the AMD cards. I can lower the voltage, and set the frequency work under that voltage.

Yes I know, I have them all. Hash/ watt 290=970, 390 beats them both.

[Amph]

How do you go about under volt cards? Can you do this though MSI afterburner, or do you need to use some custom Bios update for cards?

Just tick 'unlock voltage control' in AB compatibility properties, after that you can move core voltage slider in the opening screen.

not with nvidia

True, with nvidia you can't undervolt. Only way to save power is to lower TDP which actually works quite well on ethereum mining. My 5x970 can do 83MH@600w from the wall.

i'm reading now about an issue coming from the OS for six nvidia 970 or 980, is this true with amd also

and was it solved or still ongoing? what is the problem exactly?

[Stein]

True, with nvidia you can't undervolt. Only way to save power is to lower TDP which actually works quite well on ethereum mining. My 5x970 can do 83MH@600w from the wall.

Excuse the ignorance. I have some 970's
What is TDP and how do I lower it ?

[antantti]

True, with nvidia you can't undervolt. Only way to save power is to lower TDP which actually works quite well on ethereum mining. My 5x970 can do 83MH@600w from the wall.

Excuse the ignorance. I have some 970's
What is TDP and how do I lower it ?

TDP stands for thermal design power (correct me if wrong). If you are on windows install MSI afterburner, there you have power limit slider.

I have never tried to save power with nvidia on linux so I don't know about that.