Weird issue with litecoin mining on AMD CPUs...

[vvic]

Hey, guys (gals too), I've been reading this forum for a while, now I decided to register and ask a question while I am at it...
So, while I'm doing GPU bitcoin mining, I figured I should utilize my CPUs as well. I have 3 computers with Intel CPUs. Xeon X3430 (windows 2003 x64), i7 (windows XP x64), quadcore Intel (freebsd) these computers mine just fine and I get about 27kHash/sec. Now, I also have 3 AMD machines Athlon II x4 (XP, win7, freebsd all x64) and this is where it gets interesting. After about 5-7 minutes of mining and reaching speeds about 23-24kHash/sec they shutdown. No problems with them otherwise until I start miner... same software, same settings on all of them. I turn them back on and they stay on fine, and no bios warning messages that the computer was shutdown due to thermal event or something like that. And I start miner... and they off again. So... AMD CPUs are no good for mining or something?

[collaghost]

Do you have any logs regarding the issue or something? Try to install some temperature monitoring software, i guess it's still probably overheating problem. I don't get any messages when my PC being turned off due to overheating too.

[Foxpup]

I'd say it's almost certainly an overheating problem. In my experience AMD chips tend to run hotter under load than their Intel brethren (though it's generally not a problem if you've got adequate cooling). What clock speed are you running them at?

[BuhTuglia]

I've been mining for several months on an eight core AMD FX-8120 @ 3.1ghz, using five of the eight cores (the other three seem to be needed for GPU 'affinity', whatever that means, GUI-miner talk), anyway, without a single problem. It doesn't give me much compared to my GPU's, about 3.3Mhash/s, and has only ever shut down once due to overheat when another machine blocked proper airflow due to stupidity on my part. I am running a free app called "Core Temp" which is what shut the machine down, you can set the temp for it to shut down at, of course. I tried mining on a dual core, but 770K just wasn't worth it to me. That machine skipped and lagged a bit when mining, but the eight core shows no sign its even mining, I guess because it's got three CPU's free to do other stuff. AMD's do seem to run a bit hot, but I've never had one burn up, at least. Sorry to ramble.

russell

[vvic]

Damn, you were right, they do overheat... 10 minutes is all they last when I start LTC mining. Intel CPUs keep mining and mining and mining... No issues. I knew that AMD processors run hotter therefore my heat sinks and cooling aren't pathetic. Heck, I even put window box fan next to opened case, when I had excessive heat problems, that usually solves, but not this time... Yet ATI video cards do BTC mining just fine without overheating. So, what should I do? get water cooling?

[Foxpup]

You didn't answer my question. What clock speed are you running them at? If they're overheating at stock speeds, there's something drastically wrong with your cooling. If you're overclocking, you need to remember to test your settings under 100% CPU load - that makes a huge difference to your temps.

[vvic]

I am not overclocking it, but card does run at 85C (always has been)
I will look in details tonight (I'll take that computer apart and see)

[Gator-hex]

Get a can of compressed air off ebay and blast the dust out of your heatsinks.