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Author Topic: Generating Bitcoins with your video card (OpenCL/CUDA)  (Read 135421 times)
laszlo (OP)
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May 10, 2010, 02:03:57 PM
Merited by EFS (100), ABCbits (2), bones261 (1), nullama (1)
 #1

I have a working prototype of Bitcoin generation with OpenCL.  OpenCL is similar to OpenGL but it's for doing computation, not graphics.  Other similar technologies are CUDA (NVIDIA) and DirectCompute (Microsoft).  OpenCL is Apple's version of it but it is available for Linux and Windows as well.

I posted a Mac OS X binary package in my other thread.  I will create a patch and write up instructions for each platform this week as I have time but I wanted to find out who if anyone is interested in this even.

Please reply if you're interested and what OS/Video card you have.

Supported video cards:
NVIDIA: http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_gpus.html
AMD (ATI): http://developer.amd.com/gpu/ATIStreamSDK/Pages/default.aspx#two

Just to give people an idea of the benefit..
In my development computer I have an Intel E8600 CPU which runs at 3.3ghz normally.. I have it clocked at 4.1ghz
With 2 threads running the normal way I get about 1800k iterations per second in the bitcoin miner.
With an NVIDIA 8800 GTS (G80 GPU) video card I get around 3300-3800k iterations per second (varies with tuning of the code).

I find the best total performance comes from running one CPU thread and one OpenCL thread for the GPU (which does a bunch of work in parallel).  I get about 5000k/sec total that way on my development machine.  If I use 2 CPU threads it slows down the overall results to about 3600k/sec because the CPU is tied up computing and not pumping data to the GPU fast enough.


BC: 157fRrqAKrDyGHr1Bx3yDxeMv8Rh45aUet
fergalish
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May 10, 2010, 07:57:20 PM
 #2

Ubuntu 10.04, nvidia geforce 8300, AMD Athlon II 64 X2.  The GPU has only 8 cores, so it'll not do much.
SmokeTooMuch
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May 10, 2010, 08:52:06 PM
 #3

Win7 Pro 64-Bit
Radeon HD4870 512MB

Date Registered: 2009-12-10 | I'm using GPG, pm me for my public key. | Bitcoin on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/btc
m0mchil
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May 12, 2010, 02:15:56 PM
 #4

Win7 Pro 64-Bit
Radeon HD4350

laszlo (OP)
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May 13, 2010, 11:40:54 PM
 #5

Thanks for the replies.  I have it working somewhat but it's really inefficient at the moment.  I will try to get a windows and linux version built this weekend so other people can play with it.

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allinvain
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May 18, 2010, 01:37:50 AM
 #6

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Nvidia Geforce 7900GS

But I'm soon going to get a ATI Radeon HD 5850

Btw, I think this is an excellent idea!

SmokeTooMuch
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May 25, 2010, 08:31:27 PM
 #7

is the gpu-computing-client compatible with the normal client so the gpu-generated bitcoins will emmit into the same pool as the cpu-generated ones ?

Date Registered: 2009-12-10 | I'm using GPG, pm me for my public key. | Bitcoin on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/btc
Xunie
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May 25, 2010, 08:52:11 PM
 #8

is the gpu-computing-client compatible with the normal client so the gpu-generated bitcoins will emmit into the same pool as the cpu-generated ones ?

Yes, totally.
It's just your GPU doing the work of your CPU.

Ignore this: 734d417914faa443d74e8205f639dfb0f79fdc44988ecae44db31e5636525afe

Caffeinism -- a toxic condition caused by excessive ingestion of coffee and other caffeine-containing beverage.
laszlo (OP)
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May 25, 2010, 11:38:00 PM
 #9

I ran into some technical problems while experimenting with this and didn't get much farther than the Mac OS version.  It seems that the NVIDIA CUDA 3.0 SDK for linux at least is very buggy when it comes to OpenCL.  It never quite worked right on Mac OS either, it just leaks a lot of memory (the OpenCL implementation, not bitcoin).  I will post an update if I come up with some solutions but I think the issues in the CUDA SDK will just have to be addressed by the vendor.. this stuff is all very beta right now, but I will keep my eye open for any new developments with the SDKs.  I do not have an AMD GPU so I have not been able to develop for that at all, but their support is pretty spotty right now too, almost all of the current cards are listed as experimental support.

I think this tech has a lot of potential but I think most people who are using it for anything real are rolling their own vendor specific solutions.  I would rather not pass out something that only partially works and only works for a few people.

BC: 157fRrqAKrDyGHr1Bx3yDxeMv8Rh45aUet
lachesis
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June 06, 2010, 11:02:07 PM
 #10

While this is definitely really cool, it won't benefit anyone if you release it. After two weeks, the difficulty system will adjust and we'll be back to generating bitcoins at the same rate but using much more computer power. Although I suppose this will benefit those with fast video cards instead of just fast CPUs.

I'm one of those people, so full steam ahead! Cheesy

Bitcoin Calculator | Scallion | GPG Key | WoT Rating | 1QGacAtYA7E8V3BAiM7sgvLg7PZHk5WnYc
alystair
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July 12, 2010, 02:41:17 PM
 #11

Windows 7 x64 / Debian VM
GTX 260

Extremely interested to see CUDA work considering I hardly strain this card anymore Smiley
fflaguna
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July 12, 2010, 10:03:20 PM
 #12

Windows 7 x64
nVidia GTX 280M

I'm computer-savvy and ready to try out the CUDA binary. Smiley
asdfman
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July 12, 2010, 11:36:43 PM
 #13

Unfortunately I dont have a compatible GPU on the machine Im running, but I think this is an awesome idea!!
StinkiePhish
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July 13, 2010, 12:32:24 AM
 #14

OS X 10.6.4

Geforce GT 220.

Thank you!
ultrasonicsite
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July 13, 2010, 04:25:00 AM
 #15

Windows XP
Geforce 8400 GS 512MB
Ground Loop
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July 13, 2010, 08:07:56 AM
 #16

Windows XP SP3 32-bit
GeForce GT 240
(96 CUDA cores, 1GB)

Happy to try experimental code.

Bitcoin accepted here: 1HrAmQk9EuH3Ak6ugsw3qi3g23DG6YUNPq
letharion
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July 13, 2010, 01:40:00 PM
 #17

I have a couple of GTX480 and some other nvidia cards I could try this with on Gentoo Linux.
I've also done a bit of Cuda programming previously, so maybe I could lend a hand.
EricJ2190
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July 13, 2010, 07:10:40 PM
Last edit: July 13, 2010, 10:26:50 PM by EricJ2190
 #18

Windows Vista SP2 64-bit
nVidia 8800 GTS (Overclocked)
SmokeTooMuch
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July 13, 2010, 07:41:52 PM
 #19

I think posting all of that data is a bit useless now, afaik the threadstarter has canceled paused his project.

Date Registered: 2009-12-10 | I'm using GPG, pm me for my public key. | Bitcoin on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/btc
sgtstein
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July 13, 2010, 08:03:39 PM
 #20

As far as I am concerned, if I can get the source that he has I can branch off of it and continue working. Otherwise I am starting work on my own CUDA build using C/C++.

Just a heads up...
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