HardwareQuestion

[crazyearner]

I would like to know if it would be worth me while evben bothering to get this card

Graphics Processor ATI Radeon HD 6850
Pipeline 1,120 stream processors (775MHz), 32 ROPs
Memory 1GB GDDR5, 4GHz effective
Bandwidth 128GB/sec, 256-bit interface
Compatability DirectX 11, OpenGL 3.1
Outputs/Inputs Single-link DVI, dual-link DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI
Size 235mm long, dual-slot
Power Connectors 1 x 6-pin PCI-E, end-mounted
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Yet my current card from lower model 5870 provides more kick in it on default settings

Current ATI 5870
Bus Standard   PCI Express 2.1
Video Memory   DDR5 1GB
Engine Clock   850 MHz
Memory Clock   4.8 GHz ( 1.2 GHz DDR5 )
Memory Interface   256-bit
Resolution   D-Sub Max Resolution : 2048x1536
DVI Max Resolution : 2560x1600
Interface   D-Sub Output : Yes x 1 (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor x 1)
DVI Output : Yes x 2
HDMI Output : Yes x 1
Display Port : Yes x 1 (Regular DP)
HDCP Support : Yes
Accessories   1 x CrossFire cable
1 x Power cable
1 x DVI to D-Sub adaptor
Power Consumption   up to 300Wadditional 8+8 pin PCIe power required
Software   ASUS Utilities & Driver
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The only 2 things that are diff are the default clocks and also power cables my current card takes 2x 8pins where the ATI Radeon HD 6850 only takes 1 6 pin


Does anyone know what advantages I would have getting the 680 if any for mining.

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[crazyates]

The only advantage you might have with the 6850 is that it might still be covered by a warranty. The 5870 is most likely not covered by any warranty by now. You might also use a little bit less power, but not a lot. That's about it.

The 6850 will mine at about 5830 speeds. The 5870 will mine faster, has better undervolting support, does not have issues underclocking the RAM, and is probably faster in games, too.

[crazyates]

Hey if you've still got a 5870 with a warranty, keep that sucker!

I used CGMiner to undervolt my 5870 and lower the RAM speeds. The benefit of undervolting is much lower power usage, and pretty substantially lower temperatures. It can also help extend the life of the card.

[Soros Shorts]

About the only advantage the 6850 has over the 5870 is DirectX 11 support. Otherwise it is an inferior card.

[crazyates]

About the only advantage the 6850 has over the 5870 is DirectX 11 support. Otherwise it is an inferior card.

5870 has DX11 support.

[crazyates]

Crossfire does nothing for mining. In fact, it's usually better to disable crossfire, and just mine on the cards as they are. It usually just presents more problems.

That said, a 5870 can be crossfired with any other 58xx or 59xx card. At one point, I ran a Franken-Tri-Fire with a 5870, 5850, and a 5830. Mining results were almost the same as with crossfire disabled, and games were a tad faster. Then I switched to a 5870 crossfire with a 5970, and same thing: Mining saw almost no difference, but games were a little faster.

If you are going to add a 2nd card, make sure 3 things: Your motherboard has a free slot, your PSU can power it, and your case has room for the card (some of those longer cards like the 5970s are bigger than you think).

[crazyates]

Crossfire does nothing for mining. In fact, it's usually better to disable crossfire, and just mine on the cards as they are. It usually just presents more problems.

That said, a 5870 can be crossfired with any other 58xx or 59xx card. At one point, I ran a Franken-Tri-Fire with a 5870, 5850, and a 5830. Mining results were almost the same as with crossfire disabled, and games were a tad faster. Then I switched to a 5870 crossfire with a 5970, and same thing: Mining saw almost no difference, but games were a little faster.

If you are going to add a 2nd card, make sure 3 things: Your motherboard has a free slot, your PSU can power it, and your case has room for the card (some of those longer cards like the 5970s are bigger than you think).

What are the cables you can get for the normal slots in it as i only have 1 main pcie slot in it then theirs a few others

I have a Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5, which supports 3 dual slot GPUs, which can be either 3-way SLI or Tri-Fire. For other boards, you can use a PCIe extender.

[Gatorhex]

In terms of mining the 6850 is slower (210Mh/s) than the 5830 (260Mh/s) never mind a 5870!

The 6850 has hardware movie encoding so FRAPS/Afterburner records with less FPS use, that's the only thing better on it.

You don't need crossfire. I could mine on a 5830 while gaming on a 6850 in the same machine or switch them both to mining.

That's not a good motherboard for running dual cards, but I have seen people run a second card on one of those little PCI-E x1 slots by using a PCI-E x1 to x16 riser cable.  

http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/230870426297?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla&crdt=0

 

[crazyates]

In terms of mining the 6850 is slower (210Gh/s) than the 5830 (260Gh/s) never mind a 5870!

I assume you meant MH/s, not GH/s. If not, then BFL has really got to step up their game! 

[crazyearner]

Well after some looking on the net have decided on grabbing me one of these new bad boys.



Room for 6 GPUS am sure that will keep me busy for a while. Going all out on new everything needed new build for a while however going to use the gpus for both btc/ltc and go from their untill the jalas arrive.

Maybe mining until jalas here might of broke even on hardware costs.

Now I need some advise on GPU's to get hands on... Anyone like to give some advise on what ones maybe to get 6x of and are cheap to buy and maintain will be going water cooled on them for less noise. I do not fancy 6 GPU's all cranked up lol

[bcpokey]

That board looks... delicious.

Well I can't really say what recommendation I would have for GPUs, as your requirements are somewhat contradictory. Cheap GPUs will typically suck for both gaming and mining, more expensive GPUs will only pay back like 1/20th their cost before ASICs are likely to arrive.

But, here we go anyway, 7970s are apparently very efficient miners, and great gamers, however they are quite expensive, on the order of $300 USED, and $400+ new. You certainly wouldn't want 6 of them.

For cheapness in mining and gaming, I would say since you already have a 5870, why not go for more or a 5970?  They're about $110 plus or minus 20 depending on seller, and about as efficient as you're going to get outside of the 7xxx series. They're still beast for gaming too, which is crazy since they're like 4+ years old at this point.

My recommendation would be to avoid creating a GPU mining machine of any kind, but if you really want to for fun and giggles, the above is my recommendation.

[crazyates]

I would be kicking myself if I didn't warn you against purchasing GPUs with the sole reason to mine on. Bcpokey is pretty much spot on:  5970s if you want cheap, but 7970s are the better miners. More efficient, newer, less trouble prone, and probably still covered under warranty.

Lets say you get 6 7970s at 400/each. You're going to have to OC them, but you can get to ~4GH/s. Those 6 cards are going to require quite a PSU (or 2), and you're literally talking about $2500-3000 for your rig.

GPUs are already barely profitable as they are, and within 2 months (tops) GPUs will be practically useless. Even if you didn't want to purchase ASICs, at the very least you should check out FPGAs. You can pick up some used BFL Singles for ~600 a piece, and 5 of those would get you the same 4GH/s for the same $3000, but use significantly less power.

[ssateneth]

A 6850 only has 960 shaders. Not 1120. You will get ~86% the performance you think you will get.