How much wattage per outlet?

[cvicisso]

I finally received all my mining rig parts and put most of it together last night (a few tweaks remain to get it operational apparently), but I was wondering...

I live in the U.S. and most circuits around my parts are either 15A or 20A.  How much insane hashing madness is it safe to plug into one outlet (or actually - one circuit, consisting of many electrical outlets)?  My PSU is 1250W, and I hope to run all three 6950s off of it - but have no idea how much power this will actually draw.  No HDD - I'll be running Ubuntu 11.04 off of a thumbdrive (if I can get it to work).  Haf X case with a bunch of fans - but those shouldn't matter too much. 

So anyway, assuming I get this thing working (please work, please work, please...), can I add another [similar] rig to the circuit?  And another?  Another?  How many?  Will adding a UPS to each do anything useful in mitigating the power draw? 

Thanks in advance!

[1714052815]

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[Swishercutter]

I would check the max AC current draw on the PSU.  But 1250W @ 120V is 10.4A...add a bit just to be safe...I would put it on its own breaker if you only have 15-20A breakers.  I had to run a dedicated 240V line for my rigs...when they were being setup/tested at my friends apartment we were having trouble with crashes when the power surged/browned out...not too sure he lived next to a mill...when we moved them the power issues went away.

BTW, if you run them on 240V...which most PSU's either switch to or auto switch to...then you draw half the current...keep that in mind.

[Bitonetta]

I finally received all my mining rig parts and put most of it together last night (a few tweaks remain to get it operational apparently), but I was wondering...

I live in the U.S. and most circuits around my parts are either 15A or 20A.  How much insane hashing madness is it safe to plug into one outlet (or actually - one circuit, consisting of many electrical outlets)?  My PSU is 1250W, and I hope to run all three 6950s off of it - but have no idea how much power this will actually draw.  No HDD - I'll be running Ubuntu 11.04 off of a thumbdrive (if I can get it to work).  Haf X case with a bunch of fans - but those shouldn't matter too much. 

So anyway, assuming I get this thing working (please work, please work, please...), can I add another [similar] rig to the circuit?  And another?  Another?  How many?  Will adding a UPS to each do anything useful in mitigating the power draw? 

Thanks in advance!

Math it out.  Best if you have a Kill-O-Watt meters.  20*120=2400.  Because of loss, 16*120 is usually recommended.  And there you go.  ~2kw/circuit.  Just because you have 1250w doesn't mean you're pulling the full amount from the wall.  Hence why using Kill-O-Watt is better.  Some UPS tell you the out in real time so I guess it's ok to go by that as well.  You gotta account for some loss from UPS tho and anything else that may be on that circuit.

[sharky112065]

I have the same wattage PS and 2 6970's and I pull 6.5 to 7 Amps per box.

[cvicisso]

Wow - great info everyone!  Thanks!  I'll look into getting a dedicated 240V line set up. 

Now... if I could only get this f&%^ing thing working!!!   

Can't get Ubuntu 11.04 to install/run on the rig from a thumb drive.  I know the iso on the thumb drive is 'working' because I'm using it right now on another machine (intel Atom netbook w/Win 7).  It boots and runs fine.  Is there a different 'flavor' of 11.04 for AMD machines?  Or is it because of the multiple GPUs?  I've heard/read that I need to install different drivers and such - but I can't even get it (the OS) to run at all on the machine, so how can I install drivers?

Sorry to change topic - and sorry that these are probably really basic questions.  I am a complete Linux noob - but couldn't resist the urge to use Ubuntu instead of buying another copy of Windows.

Thanks again.

[gigabytecoin]

Wow - great info everyone!  Thanks!  I'll look into getting a dedicated 240V line set up. 

Now... if I could only get this f&%^ing thing working!!!   

Can't get Ubuntu 11.04 to install/run on the rig from a thumb drive.  I know the iso on the thumb drive is 'working' because I'm using it right now on another machine (intel Atom netbook w/Win 7).  It boots and runs fine.  Is there a different 'flavor' of 11.04 for AMD machines?  Or is it because of the multiple GPUs?  I've heard/read that I need to install different drivers and such - but I can't even get it (the OS) to run at all on the machine, so how can I install drivers?

Sorry to change topic - and sorry that these are probably really basic questions.  I am a complete Linux noob - but couldn't resist the urge to use Ubuntu instead of buying another copy of Windows.

Thanks again.

Check out "linuxcoin".

[lemosax]

Wow - great info everyone!  Thanks!  I'll look into getting a dedicated 240V line set up. 

Or have them wire it as a single 30amp 120v circuit.  It's pretty much the same job for an electrician.  Personally I'd prefer to keep all the equipment running in the 110-120v world so I don't do something stupid like plug a machine intended for 120v into a 240v line.

As for the power draw, personally I suspect it will be a lot lower than you expect.  I have several systems in either the HAF-X or Antec One Hundred cases with 1 7200RPM hard drive, MSI 890FXA-GD70 motherboard, 4 5830 cards, Corsair 950TX power supply and various fans, and each machine draws between 660 and 670 watts.  The 6900 series cards may draw more power but with only three of them, I suspect you'll be in the same ballpark.

Buy a Kill-a-Watt or similar device - it's worth having around to answer these questions.

[cvicisso]

Check out "linuxcoin".

Thanks - downloading it now (at a whopping ~180KB/sec!!)   2% downloaded so far... 

[Swishercutter]

Wow - great info everyone!  Thanks!  I'll look into getting a dedicated 240V line set up. 

 Personally I'd prefer to keep all the equipment running in the 110-120v world so I don't do something stupid like plug a machine intended for 120v into a 240v line.

All of the mining power supplies that I bought (I suspect anything suitable for mining) auto switches the voltage...I wired specific 240V Plugs so it would be impossible to plug a 120V into it (such as a fan or monitor...that is without making a 120V line from the subpanel...which is no problem).

The more current you draw through your line the more line loss/heat in the wires you have...higher voltage is more efficient...which is why they transmit over long distances at extremely high voltages.  It's all about percentages...a 1V drop is less significant on a 240V line than it is on a 120V line.

[kokojie]

I finally received all my mining rig parts and put most of it together last night (a few tweaks remain to get it operational apparently), but I was wondering...

I live in the U.S. and most circuits around my parts are either 15A or 20A.  How much insane hashing madness is it safe to plug into one outlet (or actually - one circuit, consisting of many electrical outlets)?  My PSU is 1250W, and I hope to run all three 6950s off of it - but have no idea how much power this will actually draw.  No HDD - I'll be running Ubuntu 11.04 off of a thumbdrive (if I can get it to work).  Haf X case with a bunch of fans - but those shouldn't matter too much.  

So anyway, assuming I get this thing working (please work, please work, please...), can I add another [similar] rig to the circuit?  And another?  Another?  How many?  Will adding a UPS to each do anything useful in mitigating the power draw?  

Thanks in advance!

On my rig, three 6950 draws about 700 watts running at full speed mining, and that's the entire system, not just the card, plus my rig is pretty inefficient with 95W CPU and a HDD. If you have 20A, you'd be fine even if you plug three rigs into the same circuit.

[zenthor]

wow i was trying to guess the answer using a formula i learned in film school, its way off from what you guys have.  i was thinking along the lines of volts * watts= amps so v*1250= (substitute wither 15 or 20 for amps) so 83.333*1250=15amps with 120v lines you should be ok right?
thats what 26k in student debt with 1 lighting class and a rip off the bong gets ya.

[Swishercutter]

wow i was trying to guess the answer using a formula i learned in film school, its way off from what you guys have.  i was thinking along the lines of volts * watts= amps so v*1250= (substitute wither 15 or 20 for amps) so 83.333*1250=15amps with 120v lines you should be ok right?
thats what 26k in student debt with 1 lighting class and a rip off the bong gets ya.

Ohm's law...P=IV (Power equals current times voltage).  Where you were going wrong is you should have used watts/volts=amps

[cvicisso]

Thanks again, everyone.  GREAT info.  I think I'm going to get a Kill-A-Watt PS-10 (http://www.p3international.com/products/consumer/p4330.html) and just keeping plugging in rigs until things start to look dicey.

Of course... non of this really matters because I STILL CAN'T GET THE FREAKING THING TO BOOT!!!!  Seriously - I'm at wit's end.  I don't HAVE any BTCs to donate to anyone (Catch-22), but I can either promise you some (if you trust me - and yes, you can), or I can PayPal $$ to anyone who can get this damned thing up and running.  Every day that it's down is BTCs down the drain.  I am sooooo pissed. 

[kokojie]

Thanks again, everyone.  GREAT info.  I think I'm going to get a Kill-A-Watt PS-10 (http://www.p3international.com/products/consumer/p4330.html) and just keeping plugging in rigs until things start to look dicey.

Of course... non of this really matters because I STILL CAN'T GET THE FREAKING THING TO BOOT!!!!  Seriously - I'm at wit's end.  I don't HAVE any BTCs to donate to anyone (Catch-22), but I can either promise you some (if you trust me - and yes, you can), or I can PayPal $$ to anyone who can get this damned thing up and running.  Every day that it's down is BTCs down the drain.  I am sooooo pissed. 

two common mistakes I make that makes the system not booting are:
1. RAM is loose
2. mixing up 12v rails, so that one card isn't getting enough power. Just try booting with 1 video card first.

[cvicisso]

two common mistakes I make that makes the system not booting are:
1. RAM is loose
2. mixing up 12v rails, so that one card isn't getting enough power. Just try booting with 1 video card first.

I am totally trying this as soon as I get home.  Cross your fingers for me!

[cvicisso]

I'm losing it.

I reseated the DDR3 chip, removed two of the three GPUs and still get the same screen.  In fact, I went out and bought a DVD drive and installed it - just to be sure... I threw in an old hard drive on a SATA controller and tried to install Ubuntu from CD/DVD.  EXACT same screen. I'll start another thread for help, but here's what the screen looks like (looks the same whether trying to install from DVD or run from USB):



Help will be rewarded.

[Swishercutter]

I'm losing it.

I reseated the DDR3 chip, removed two of the three GPUs and still get the same screen.  In fact, I went out and bought a DVD drive and installed it - just to be sure... I threw in an old hard drive on a SATA controller and tried to install Ubuntu from CD/DVD.  EXACT same screen. I'll start another thread for help, but here's what the screen looks like (looks the same whether trying to install from DVD or run from USB):



Help will be rewarded.

K, before I comment...I am not an IT guy, I am an electronics tech...so from a hardware troubleshooting standpoint this is what I see:

1)Probably not the vid cards...unless slot 1 is damaged on the mobo.
2)Probably not the RAM...unless its in the incorrect slot.
3)Not the HDD/CD/DVD

so whats left:
1)BIOS...Did u do a full CMOS reset?
2) Processor...Bent pin?
3)Mobo...complete failure or something causing a short (or an open to some power connector)
4) PSU...Check all voltages with a multimeter under load.

Other than that you have switched out everything else, right?

[beeph]

I have the MSI FX890 chipset 70D mobo (i believe this is what u have too)
and guess what, same problem.  I cant get ubuntu to boot off the live CD, or off a thumb drive.  I have it running on 6 other boards perfectly fine.

I tried for hours to get it to work but failed.  I even posted on the MSI forums (same name at MSI)

It's a problem with the mobo itself, if you get it working please let me know, but i dont see it happening.

EXACT same error kernel thread helper after kernel panic

[kokojie]

it does look the mobo is bad, especially if you have swapped all other components already. Get a RMA for the mobo

[cvicisso]

K, before I comment...I am not an IT guy, I am an electronics tech...so from a hardware troubleshooting standpoint this is what I see:

1)Probably not the vid cards...unless slot 1 is damaged on the mobo.
2)Probably not the RAM...unless its in the incorrect slot.
3)Not the HDD/CD/DVD

so whats left:
1)BIOS...Did u do a full CMOS reset?
2) Processor...Bent pin?
3)Mobo...complete failure or something causing a short (or an open to some power connector)
4) PSU...Check all voltages with a multimeter under load.

Other than that you have switched out everything else, right?

Swishercutter - thanks.  In answer to your questions...

1) I did reset the CMOS originally, but haven't try to do it again in a while.  I'll give it a shot.  Then I'll have to reset the boot sequence, set the time, etc, right?
2) I took the CPU out and it looked fine (but I'm obviously no expert)
3) OMG.  Please - not this one!  
4) I'll try this, but this is a pretty high-end PSU (Sparkle 1250W 80+ Gold), and I unplugged all 'extra' cords and just left mobo power and two dedicated PCIe leads connected.

[cvicisso]

Well that is certainly very bad news.  Crap.

beeph - what boards do you have rigs running on successfully?

[Swishercutter]

K, before I comment...I am not an IT guy, I am an electronics tech...so from a hardware troubleshooting standpoint this is what I see:

1)Probably not the vid cards...unless slot 1 is damaged on the mobo.
2)Probably not the RAM...unless its in the incorrect slot.
3)Not the HDD/CD/DVD

so whats left:
1)BIOS...Did u do a full CMOS reset?
2) Processor...Bent pin?
3)Mobo...complete failure or something causing a short (or an open to some power connector)
4) PSU...Check all voltages with a multimeter under load.

Other than that you have switched out everything else, right?

Swishercutter - thanks.  In answer to your questions...

1) I did reset the CMOS originally, but haven't try to do it again in a while.  I'll give it a shot.  Then I'll have to reset the boot sequence, set the time, etc, right?
2) I took the CPU out and it looked fine (but I'm obviously no expert)
3) OMG.  Please - not this one!  
4) I'll try this, but this is a pretty high-end PSU (Sparkle 1250W 80+ Gold), and I unplugged all 'extra' cords and just left mobo power and two dedicated PCIe leads connected.

Be sure to shut off the PSU switch during the CMOS reset...not saying thats the problem...just what I had to do with my MSI boards.  We have had ours "hang" at install and had to do a CMOS reset even after doing one...sometimes there are glitches.

If the CPU had a bent pin you would see it...they stand out...it would have to be bent flat to the bottom of the processor to get the chip in far enough to get the heatsink on (had to fix an older athlon 64 of a friends because he did this, can be tricky...be sure to use a static strap)

I had the PSU last because MOBO failure would probably be it.

On my older MSI board I had to play with some BIOS features to get it stable (especially with the GSkill Ripjaws ram, it requires 1.6-1.65V sometimes)

[jfourmo]

We're running 2 machines per outlet. I used a KilloWatt to measure amps, 5.35. So that's 2 per 20amp circuit to stay below 16 amps We ran 7 additional circuits into the room :p

[Swishercutter]

We're running 2 machines per outlet. I used a KilloWatt to measure amps, 5.35. So that's 2 per 20amp circuit to stay below 16 amps We ran 7 additional circuits into the room :p

Be sure to switch the breakers on and off with something plugged into each outlet to see which ones are on the same breaker...sometimes they switch around which "leg" is feeding it. 

If you are running more than 4 rigs I recommend a 240v line with its own breaker...cuts the current in half...just be sure to either use special 240v plugs so you never accidentally plug in something that should be 120v. (You can also make 120v plugins off the 240v sub-panel if you run the 3 wire with the neutral..be sure to use your grounds...breakers/fuses save equipment...grounds are there to save lives).

[Capitan]

I'm losing it.

I reseated the DDR3 chip, removed two of the three GPUs and still get the same screen.  In fact, I went out and bought a DVD drive and installed it - just to be sure... I threw in an old hard drive on a SATA controller and tried to install Ubuntu from CD/DVD.  EXACT same screen. I'll start another thread for help, but here's what the screen looks like (looks the same whether trying to install from DVD or run from USB):



Help will be rewarded.

What is generating the output in that screenshot? I've never seen anything like that, but my guess is that it's from some kind of linux trying to boot up? Is it from a boot disk?

What happens if you boot without any hard drives, cdrom/dvd, or USB drives hooked up to the machine. Do you see the POST screen (where the bios lists the CPU and ram amount, or it flashes a BIOS splash screen with some graphics from the motherboard maker). Are you able to enter the BIOS when booting?

[cvicisso]

What is generating the output in that screenshot? I've never seen anything like that, but my guess is that it's from some kind of linux trying to boot up? Is it from a boot disk?

Yep - that's what I get when trying to boot Ubuntu from either a USB or a DVD.

What happens if you boot without any hard drives, cdrom/dvd, or USB drives hooked up to the machine. Do you see the POST screen (where the bios lists the CPU and ram amount, or it flashes a BIOS splash screen with some graphics from the motherboard maker). Are you able to enter the BIOS when booting?

Yes, and yes.  Here's the first screen with the board maker logo...


I can get to the BIOS screen by the normal means of holding delete during startup:


If I don't hit 'delete' and let it proceed with startup, I get this screen next:


If there's no boot device installed, I get this:


And if I have the bootable USB or DVD inserted during boot, I get the standard 'USB Ubuntu' (or whatever) screen I see right before the black/white text screen posted earlier:

[Swishercutter]

What is generating the output in that screenshot? I've never seen anything like that, but my guess is that it's from some kind of linux trying to boot up? Is it from a boot disk?

Yep - that's what I get when trying to boot Ubuntu from either a USB or a DVD.

What happens if you boot without any hard drives, cdrom/dvd, or USB drives hooked up to the machine. Do you see the POST screen (where the bios lists the CPU and ram amount, or it flashes a BIOS splash screen with some graphics from the motherboard maker). Are you able to enter the BIOS when booting?

Yes, and yes.  Here's the first screen with the board maker logo...


I can get to the BIOS screen by the normal means of holding delete during startup:


If I don't hit 'delete' and let it proceed with startup, I get this screen next:


If there's no boot device installed, I get this:


And if I have the bootable USB or DVD inserted during boot, I get the standard 'USB Ubuntu' (or whatever) screen I see right before the black/white text screen posted earlier:

The 2.2tb infinity is so you can run drives over 2.2tb...turn it off in bios...set your primary boot device...if it is getting to bios I doubt the MOBO is bad (I had a bad MSI mobo that I had to rma and it did nothing on boot...just black screen).

I could be wrong but it appears to not be loading from your flash drive.

[cvicisso]

The 2.2tb infinity is so you can run drives over 2.2tb...turn it off in bios...set your primary boot device...if it is getting to bios I doubt the MOBO is bad (I had a bad MSI mobo that I had to rma and it did nothing on boot...just black screen).

I could be wrong but it appears to not be loading from your flash drive.

I had already turned it off and resequenced the boot sequence (USB is first now).  Still get these screens.

[cvicisso]

That last purplish screen tells me that it is trying to boot Ubuntu - so it is seeing the USB.  Something else is going on...

[Swishercutter]

That last purplish screen tells me that it is trying to boot Ubuntu - so it is seeing the USB.  Something else is going on...

Bad/incorrect data on the usb stick/hdd.

[cvicisso]

Maybe, but it works on all of my other computers, and I've tried 4 different USB sticks and about 4 different versions of Linux.

[Swishercutter]

Maybe, but it works on all of my other computers, and I've tried 4 different USB sticks and about 4 different versions of Linux.

Run Memtest?  Honestly, I am out of my element when it gets past hardware...I'm fairly new to OS.  Maybe try switching everything from that MOBO to another MOBO to see if it works...if so then you know it was the MOBO.

[cvicisso]

Desperate times call for desperate measures.   

I ran out to Best Buy before they closed to pick up a mobo... they didn't have any.  I'm reading this as 'fate.' 

I found an old Win XP (SP2) CD laying around.  My wife also has Vista on her laptop, so I'm sure I've got the backup DVD somewhere.  Plus, my netbook runs Win 7 (but it didn't come with a CD since it doesn't have an optical drive).   

This rig only has 1GB of ram (and it was FIFTY friggin' dollars  for 1GB of DDR3 at Best Buy (I'm in the mood to get this thing running tonight rather than waiting even longer for a $15 1GB mem stick to arrive in the mail), so I'm leaning away from Vista (plus, I - like the rest of the world - hate Vista).  The Radeon driver CD says it'll work on XP...

Since I only have one spare monitor currently, I guess I'll have to start out with just one GPU (right?).  I'll figure out the dummy plug and Crossfire stuff later... I just need to get this thing mining...

Anyone disagree with giving XP a try?

[jgraham]

Anyone disagree with giving XP a try?

This doesn't look like hardware (it's possible but most serious errors I'd expect a POST failure - this isn't one)
What this does look like is a kernel dying early on in the boot process.
Question.  Are you running the 32 bit or 64 bit Ubuntu?

Oh and I'm around tonight so PM me and we can exchange IM info and I can probably give you some help.

[chungenhung]

my circuit breaker is rated at 25amps.
How many amps will it be safe? I heard someone say 25 amp breaker doesn't mean it will handle 25amps continuously, rather, it means it can handle up to 25amps of instantaneous surge in power usage.

[Swishercutter]

my circuit breaker is rated at 25amps.
How many amps will it be safe? I heard someone say 25 amp breaker doesn't mean it will handle 25amps continuously, rather, it means it can handle up to 25amps of instantaneous surge in power usage.

Don't load more than 80% continuous...if your wiring is old I would go even less, or run new wire to a subpanel...better to spend a bit on safety as opposed to losing it all to fire.

[jgraham]

my circuit breaker is rated at 25amps.
How many amps will it be safe? I heard someone say 25 amp breaker doesn't mean it will handle 25amps continuously, rather, it means it can handle up to 25amps of instantaneous surge in power usage.

If by "safe" you mean "won't get tripped" then generally the I^n rating should be for continuous use.  I'll assume that you've got at least 14awg on that circuit to be "safe" in the "won't burn my house down" sense of the term. ;-)

Edit: To be on the safe side I'd go with #12 or #10 wire

[cvicisso]

This doesn't look like hardware (it's possible but most serious errors I'd expect a POST failure - this isn't one)
What this does look like is a kernel dying early on in the boot process.
Question.  Are you running the 32 bit or 64 bit Ubuntu?

Oh and I'm around tonight so PM me and we can exchange IM info and I can probably give you some help.

Thanks - I've already started the XP install (and it's working fine so far), so let's wait and see how that goes.  I REALLY wish Linux/Ubuntu were easier to use!  I would love a Windows alternative, but Linux is just too damned hard and Mac is too damned 'easy?' (meaning it won't let you do anything for yourself - it does everything for you).  Maybe Win 7 is the answer after all... 

[jgraham]

Thanks - I've already started the XP install (and it's working fine so far), so let's wait and see how that goes.  I REALLY wish Linux/Ubuntu were easier to use!  I would love a Windows alternative, but Linux is just too damned hard and Mac is too damned 'easy?' (meaning it won't let you do anything for yourself - it does everything for you).  Maybe Win 7 is the answer after all... 

Nothing wrong with Win7.  I'm using it right now but all my big-iron is Gentoo Linux (that's for folk who think Ubuntu is too easy ;-) ). I've never done mining with windows but I've heard it loads the CPU which for a dedicated box probably isn't a problem.  I only use OSX for iPhone development and that's only because Apple won't let you do it on anything else.

Anyway the likely case is the Kernel was failing when it was starting up.   Which means something like the kernel was compiled for a different architecture or some kernel option needed to be turned off.

J.

[cvicisso]

Update: almost there...

Win XP installed without a hitch and is running like a champ.     I guess there should be some sort of warning about trying to use MSI mobos with Ubuntu.

Last (I hope) hurdle - GUIminer can't find an OpenCL device.  I ran the Catalyst Control Center and ensured all the latest drivers were installed, rebooted a few times, and sure enough - I can see OpenGL but no OpenCL (BTW - I have no idea what any of that means!).  So, I'm searching for a OpenCL fix - but feel like I'm a LOT closer to opening the mine for operations than I was last night! 

BTW - I have the ball-and-chain... I mean 'boss'  out buying 68 Ohm resistors so that I can build some dummy VGA plugs and get the other two 6950s installed.

Any ideas on the OpenCL fix are very (very!) welcome.  I still don't have any BTCs (obviously) to reward with, but I feel now that it's just a matter of time...

[Swishercutter]

my circuit breaker is rated at 25amps.
How many amps will it be safe? I heard someone say 25 amp breaker doesn't mean it will handle 25amps continuously, rather, it means it can handle up to 25amps of instantaneous surge in power usage.

If by "safe" you mean "won't get tripped" then generally the I^n rating should be for continuous use.  I'll assume that you've got at least 14awg on that circuit to be "safe" in the "won't burn my house down" sense of the term. ;-)

Edit: To be on the safe side I'd go with #12 or #10 wire

I personally ran a 6ga 240v line for my rigs...overkill until I hit 15 rigs but the cost was not much higher.

[cvicisso]

  I guess there should be some sort of warning about trying to use MSI mobos with Ubuntu.

BTW - what mobos are people running Ubuntu on?  This board came HIGHLY recommended (from this site), and it seemed most folks here were using Linux (that could be an incorrect assumption).  Just planning ahead for the next rig...

[jgraham]

Update: almost there...

Win XP installed without a hitch and is running like a champ.     I guess there should be some sort of warning about trying to use MSI mobos with Ubuntu.

Last (I hope) hurdle - GUIminer can't find an OpenCL device.  I ran the Catalyst Control Center and ensured all the latest drivers were installed, rebooted a few times, and sure enough - I can see OpenGL but no OpenCL (BTW - I have no idea what any of that means!).  So, I'm searching for a OpenCL fix - but feel like I'm a LOT closer to opening the mine for operations than I was last night! 

BTW - I have the ball-and-chain... I mean 'boss'  out buying 68 Ohm resistors so that I can build some dummy VGA plugs and get the other two 6950s installed.

Any ideas on the OpenCL fix are very (very!) welcome.  I still don't have any BTCs (obviously) to reward with, but I feel now that it's just a matter of time...

Have you installed the APP SDK? http://developer.amd.com/sdks/amdappsdk/pages/default.aspx

[cvicisso]

Have you installed the APP SDK? http://developer.amd.com/sdks/amdappsdk/pages/default.aspx

I just tried (after reading your post.  It looks like it only supports Win 7.  I tried it anyway, and install failed on XP.   

[minerX]

Have you installed the APP SDK? http://developer.amd.com/sdks/amdappsdk/pages/default.aspx

I just tried (after reading your post.  It looks like it only supports Win 7.  I tried it anyway, and install failed on XP.   

Did you try without PCI extender risers?   I just a 5 hour headache trying to fix a linux system when it turns out it was just the risers not working with a specific motherboard.  Pretty terrible as it has 7 PCI express slots.

[cvicisso]

UPDATE: I threw in the Linux towel, bit the MS bullet and bought a copy of Win 7 (upgrade).  After quite a few more roadblocks (that I spared you all from reading about!  ), I'm proud to say that I'm up and running with GUIminer at around ~920MH/s.  That's with 3 x 6950s overclocked to max that CCC will allow.  Cooling is an issue - as someone pointed out before.  I have the side of the HAF X case removed and a 'room' fan blowing directly on those 3 little furnaces.  After MUCH playing around with the config, I have the cards spaced so that there is a 'gap' between all (three) of them (I don't have any risers).  The extra breathing room means no Crossfire - but I didn't see a huge difference with that running anyway.  Plus, with no gap/space between the cards temp QUICKLY pegged in the 90C range for the card with the 'blocked' cooler fan.   Currently, they're running around 80-83C (in the garage).  It is supposed to get hot (weather) this week - so we'll see what happens.

My next goal is to learn more about unlocking the shaders(?)... I would love to crack 1GH/s with this rig.  From what I've read, I should be able to, but right now I'm just happy that the thing is working. 

[jgraham]

UPDATE: I threw in the Linux towel, bit the MS bullet and bought a copy of Win 7 (upgrade).  After quite a few more roadblocks (that I spared you all from reading about!  ), I'm proud to say that I'm up and running with GUIminer at around ~920MH/s.  That's with 3 x 6950s overclocked to max that CCC will allow.  Cooling is an issue - as someone pointed out before.  I have the side of the HAF X case removed and a 'room' fan blowing directly on those 3 little furnaces.  After MUCH playing around with the config, I have the cards spaced so that there is a 'gap' between all (three) of them (I don't have any risers).  The extra breathing room means no Crossfire - but I didn't see a huge difference with that running anyway.  Plus, with no gap/space between the cards temp QUICKLY pegged in the 90C range for the card with the 'blocked' cooler fan.   Currently, they're running around 80-83C (in the garage).  It is supposed to get hot (weather) this week - so we'll see what happens.

My next goal is to learn more about unlocking the shaders(?)... I would love to crack 1GH/s with this rig.  From what I've read, I should be able to, but right now I'm just happy that the thing is working. 

Great.  I have mine in the garage as well as it kind of sounds like a jet plane taking off.  Keep an eye on the thermals along with the ambient temp (I bought a cheap USB thermometer and track the ambient temp so I can see how well the internal temp tracks).

[Capitan]

The 2.2tb infinity is so you can run drives over 2.2tb...turn it off in bios...set your primary boot device...if it is getting to bios I doubt the MOBO is bad (I had a bad MSI mobo that I had to rma and it did nothing on boot...just black screen).

I could be wrong but it appears to not be loading from your flash drive.

I had already turned it off and resequenced the boot sequence (USB is first now).  Still get these screens.

I have an MSI board. You can disable 2.2TB Infinity or whatever it's called. You can also disable the splash screen (which I have also done, so I don't see the MSI logo anymore).

How many video cards are hooked up? Does your motherboard have onboard video? Try these two things:

1. Boot up with only minimal amount of hardware plugged in. So remove all unnecessary video cards, and use the onboard video if that is available. Remove any USB devices, hubs, etc, except for the USB stick you are booting from.
2. Have you hooked up the proper power cables to all PCIe devices? And hooked up all the power cables to the motherboard? My MSI board has three different cables going from the PSU to the motherboard.
4. If you have a dvd drive, try burning a bootable OS install disk and boot from that drive (with all USB devices unplugged).
4. Try a different boot disk. One that is known to work on another system.

[Swishercutter]

The 2.2tb infinity is so you can run drives over 2.2tb...turn it off in bios...set your primary boot device...if it is getting to bios I doubt the MOBO is bad (I had a bad MSI mobo that I had to rma and it did nothing on boot...just black screen).

I could be wrong but it appears to not be loading from your flash drive.

I had already turned it off and resequenced the boot sequence (USB is first now).  Still get these screens.

I have an MSI board. You can disable 2.2TB Infinity or whatever it's called. You can also disable the splash screen (which I have also done, so I don't see the MSI logo anymore).

How many video cards are hooked up? Does your motherboard have onboard video? Try these two things:

1. Boot up with only minimal amount of hardware plugged in. So remove all unnecessary video cards, and use the onboard video if that is available. Remove any USB devices, hubs, etc, except for the USB stick you are booting from.
2. Have you hooked up the proper power cables to all PCIe devices? And hooked up all the power cables to the motherboard? My MSI board has three different cables going from the PSU to the motherboard.
4. If you have a dvd drive, try burning a bootable OS install disk and boot from that drive (with all USB devices unplugged).
4. Try a different boot disk. One that is known to work on another system.

On my AMD processor stuff I also disable the spread spectrum, cool and quiet and all power saving options.  Never had luck with any of that stuff running on my MSI mobos...I also had to tweak a few voltages here and there.

[Capitan]

The 2.2tb infinity is so you can run drives over 2.2tb...turn it off in bios...set your primary boot device...if it is getting to bios I doubt the MOBO is bad (I had a bad MSI mobo that I had to rma and it did nothing on boot...just black screen).

I could be wrong but it appears to not be loading from your flash drive.

I had already turned it off and resequenced the boot sequence (USB is first now).  Still get these screens.

I have an MSI board. You can disable 2.2TB Infinity or whatever it's called. You can also disable the splash screen (which I have also done, so I don't see the MSI logo anymore).

How many video cards are hooked up? Does your motherboard have onboard video? Try these two things:

1. Boot up with only minimal amount of hardware plugged in. So remove all unnecessary video cards, and use the onboard video if that is available. Remove any USB devices, hubs, etc, except for the USB stick you are booting from.
2. Have you hooked up the proper power cables to all PCIe devices? And hooked up all the power cables to the motherboard? My MSI board has three different cables going from the PSU to the motherboard.
4. If you have a dvd drive, try burning a bootable OS install disk and boot from that drive (with all USB devices unplugged).
4. Try a different boot disk. One that is known to work on another system.

On my AMD processor stuff I also disable the spread spectrum, cool and quiet and all power saving options.  Never had luck with any of that stuff running on my MSI mobos...I also had to tweak a few voltages here and there.

Sometimes during OS install the power saving features can cause quirks like Windows install running slow as molasses. But I think those features are generally good to enable after the OS is installed. Especially if you want to cut down on power usage for a mining system. No sense in having the CPU do more work than necessary. Undervolting and setting the frequency lower would help here as well.

[jgraham]

The 2.2tb infinity is so you can run drives over 2.2tb...turn it off in bios...set your primary boot device...if it is getting to bios I doubt the MOBO is bad (I had a bad MSI mobo that I had to rma and it did nothing on boot...just black screen).

I could be wrong but it appears to not be loading from your flash drive.

I had already turned it off and resequenced the boot sequence (USB is first now).  Still get these screens.

I have an MSI board. You can disable 2.2TB Infinity or whatever it's called. You can also disable the splash screen (which I have also done, so I don't see the MSI logo anymore).

How many video cards are hooked up? Does your motherboard have onboard video? Try these two things:

1. Boot up with only minimal amount of hardware plugged in. So remove all unnecessary video cards, and use the onboard video if that is available. Remove any USB devices, hubs, etc, except for the USB stick you are booting from.
2. Have you hooked up the proper power cables to all PCIe devices? And hooked up all the power cables to the motherboard? My MSI board has three different cables going from the PSU to the motherboard.
4. If you have a dvd drive, try burning a bootable OS install disk and boot from that drive (with all USB devices unplugged).
4. Try a different boot disk. One that is known to work on another system.

On my AMD processor stuff I also disable the spread spectrum, cool and quiet and all power saving options.  Never had luck with any of that stuff running on my MSI mobos...I also had to tweak a few voltages here and there.

Another vote for disabling spread spectrum.   IIRC this is a feature designed to reduce EMF but it's really not applicable to most environments.

[Swishercutter]

The 2.2tb infinity is so you can run drives over 2.2tb...turn it off in bios...set your primary boot device...if it is getting to bios I doubt the MOBO is bad (I had a bad MSI mobo that I had to rma and it did nothing on boot...just black screen).

I could be wrong but it appears to not be loading from your flash drive.

I had already turned it off and resequenced the boot sequence (USB is first now).  Still get these screens.

I have an MSI board. You can disable 2.2TB Infinity or whatever it's called. You can also disable the splash screen (which I have also done, so I don't see the MSI logo anymore).

How many video cards are hooked up? Does your motherboard have onboard video? Try these two things:

1. Boot up with only minimal amount of hardware plugged in. So remove all unnecessary video cards, and use the onboard video if that is available. Remove any USB devices, hubs, etc, except for the USB stick you are booting from.
2. Have you hooked up the proper power cables to all PCIe devices? And hooked up all the power cables to the motherboard? My MSI board has three different cables going from the PSU to the motherboard.
4. If you have a dvd drive, try burning a bootable OS install disk and boot from that drive (with all USB devices unplugged).
4. Try a different boot disk. One that is known to work on another system.

On my AMD processor stuff I also disable the spread spectrum, cool and quiet and all power saving options.  Never had luck with any of that stuff running on my MSI mobos...I also had to tweak a few voltages here and there.

Sometimes during OS install the power saving features can cause quirks like Windows install running slow as molasses. But I think those features are generally good to enable after the OS is installed. Especially if you want to cut down on power usage for a mining system. No sense in having the CPU do more work than necessary. Undervolting and setting the frequency lower would help here as well.

We use affinity to run only one of the cores during mining...for some reason when the power saving stuff was on we were having crashes...if you are stable with it on that is great...more power saved...if you are having crashes disable it before trying anything else.

[cvicisso]

Oh God.  Just when I thought I had things finally working...

I've had two 'payments' from Slush's pool, but nothing has shown up in my Bitcoin application.  Yes - I restarted it.  What's going on?

[AngelusWebDesign]

my circuit breaker is rated at 25amps.
How many amps will it be safe? I heard someone say 25 amp breaker doesn't mean it will handle 25amps continuously, rather, it means it can handle up to 25amps of instantaneous surge in power usage.

If by "safe" you mean "won't get tripped" then generally the I^n rating should be for continuous use.  I'll assume that you've got at least 14awg on that circuit to be "safe" in the "won't burn my house down" sense of the term. ;-)

Edit: To be on the safe side I'd go with #12 or #10 wire

I personally ran a 6ga 240v line for my rigs...overkill until I hit 15 rigs but the cost was not much higher.

Divide the wattage by 120 to see how many amps a given device is drawing. You want to keep it well under 15A -- especially for 24/7 use. You don't want your wires to get hot enough to start a fire...

[Jazkal]

I personally ran a 6ga 240v line for my rigs...overkill until I hit 15 rigs but the cost was not much higher.

This is what I'm looking at having to get done.

Could you give me a little more details?

1) What kind of rigs are you running on this? Wattage draw?
2) How much did it cost to get the 6ga 240v run?
3) Do you have any pictures of this posted anywhere?
4) If no pics, can you describe the setup, hardware wise?

Thanks

[jgraham]

Oh God.  Just when I thought I had things finally working...

I've had two 'payments' from Slush's pool, but nothing has shown up in my Bitcoin application.  Yes - I restarted it.  What's going on?

Good question.  If this hasn't resolved itself (and of course your machine is hooked up to the internet and you've tested receiving bitcoins using the bitcoin faucet ).   Then perhaps you should contact the pool owner.

[cvicisso]

Oh God.  Just when I thought I had things finally working...

I've had two 'payments' from Slush's pool, but nothing has shown up in my Bitcoin application.  Yes - I restarted it.  What's going on?

Good question.  If this hasn't resolved itself (and of course your machine is hooked up to the internet and you've tested receiving bitcoins using the bitcoin faucet ).   Then perhaps you should contact the pool owner.

His reply:

"Hello, payouts were processed, so it is problem on client side. try to start bitcoin with 'bitcoin.exe -rescan'

slush"

[cvicisso]

BTW (God I feel dumb on this forum) - what does he mean by "try to start bitcoin with 'bitcoin.exe -rescan'"    I'm a GUI guy.  Please help.

[Jazkal]

BTW (God I feel dumb on this forum) - what does he mean by "try to start bitcoin with 'bitcoin.exe -rescan'"    I'm a GUI guy.  Please help.

Bring up a run command (Start -> Run)

and type in this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Bitcoin\bitcoin.exe -rescan

if that doesn't work, try:

C:\Program Files\Bitcoin\bitcoin.exe -rescan

[cvicisso]

Thanks!

[Swishercutter]

I personally ran a 6ga 240v line for my rigs...overkill until I hit 15 rigs but the cost was not much higher.

This is what I'm looking at having to get done.

Could you give me a little more details?

1) What kind of rigs are you running on this? Wattage draw?
2) How much did it cost to get the 6ga 240v run?
3) Do you have any pictures of this posted anywhere?
4) If no pics, can you describe the setup, hardware wise?

Thanks

I bought the parts and did it myself so that saved a lot...not for the untrained, but really it wasn't that hard.  I bought 20' of the wire at the local hardware store, a subpanel breaker box, breakers, 240v and 120v outlets for under $200.  I have a shop with industrial grade 3 phase which already had an extra 70A 240v breaker which was unused (office next door used to be on my power box before I moved in)...so it was just a matter of hooking it up...little scary working near live 3phase (408v) but I wore leather gloves to protect in case of  that accidental bumping.
I didn't have to run it very far.  All the plugins in my shop only added up to like 40A (and I run RepRap's, soldering irons, etc etc at random) so I just wanted to be sure.  The 6ga wire claims to be safe up to 75A so @240v that is like 150A @120V...so figuring conservatively 15 1kw rigs would be the max before I have to add another panel.

I didn't use actual metal conduit as this is to be removed when I move.  I secured the subpanel box and 240v plugs to a piece of plywood then just wired up the psu's to the 240v line (all mine autoswitch).

We currently have 3 rigs connected to the panel, all of which have 4 gpu's in each...I estimate 1kw draw each (which could be high), then I have another rig with 2 gpu's also.  We hit like ~4gh/s.

We do not have pics anywhere...there has been some taken I just have not got around to it...and I didn't like my pics.