Ethereum 30% hashrate drop for RX400/RX500 incoming soon?

[Vann]

I think it has to do with memory clocks on the cards. AMD RX 580 clocks top out at ~2100 MHz, while Nvidia clocks run at more than 5000 MHz.

so ETH requires more the core clock which is close between the cards, ZEC uses both (core + memory) and there Nvidia comes in advantage because of high memory clock.
wondering if some miners could be optimized for core that AMD cards can raise their S/s.

Actually ETH runs better with a lower core clock speed compared to ZEC. It also must be something about the difference in memory architecture. My MSI 1080 Gaming X will do ~560 H/s on ZEC, but only ~25 MH/s on ETH. The difference is the 1080's use GDDR5X, while the 1070's use GDDR5 like the RX 580. The 1070's also run at a higher core clock compared to the RX 580's.

ZEC is core count and speed dependent so Nvidia does better at it. ETH is memory bandwidth and speed dependent and so AMD's lower core count/speed does not impact it much.  The memory numbers you see reported as 7000 or 8000mhz are just 4x of the actual memory clocks of 1750-2000mhz. Both AMD and NVIDIA use essentially the same GDDR5X memory - similar chips similar clocks.

The RX 4XX/5XX use GDDR5, same as the Nvidia 1060/1070's. The Nvidia 1080/1080ti's use GDDR5X memory, which is different than GDDR5.

In January 2016, JEDEC standardized GDDR5X SGRAM.[2] GDDR5X targets a transfer rate of 10 to 14 Gbit/s per pin, twice that of GDDR5.[3] Essentially, it provides the memory controller the option to use either a double data rate mode that has a prefetch of 8n, or a quad data rate mode that has a prefetch of 16n.[4] GDDR5 only has a double data rate mode that has an 8n prefetch.[5] GDDR5X also uses 190 pins per chip; (190 BGA).[4] By comparison, standard GDDR5 has 170 pins per chip; (170 BGA).[5] It therefore requires a modified PCB.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDDR5_SDRAM

[deadsix]

ZEC is core count and speed dependent so Nvidia does better at it. ETH is memory bandwidth and speed dependent and so AMD's lower core count/speed does not impact it much.  The memory numbers you see reported as 7000 or 8000mhz are just 4x of the actual memory clocks of 1750-2000mhz. Both AMD and NVIDIA use essentially the same GDDR5X memory - similar chips similar clocks.

No, AMD does not use GDDR5X - they're using GDDR5, and will be moving to HBM(2) instead.

My bad, I meant GDDR5, not GDDR5X. Edited it now.

The RX 4XX/5XX use GDDR5, same as the Nvidia 1060/1070's. The Nvidia 1080/1080ti's use GDDR5X memory, which is different than GDDR5.

Thats correct, so what I essentially meant was Rx 470/480/570/580 and GTX 1060/1070 use the same/similar memory.

Which brings us to the question - why is GDDR5X worse than GDDR5 at mining performance? Is it because none of the miner code is written to effectively utilise the faster prefetch?

[jmigdlc99]

Which brings us to the question - why is GDDR5X worse than GDDR5 at mining performance? Is it because none of the miner code is written to effectively utilise the faster prefetch?

Huh what makes makes you say GDDR5X is worse than GDDR5? My 1080TI GDDR5X is hashing faster than any of my GDDR5 GPUs.

[adaseb]

Think about it this way.

You are better off buying AMD RX right now even with these small hashrate drops than you are buying NVIDIA right now which doesn't have this issue.

Because by the time the hashrate drops 30%, most of us won't be mining anymore.

Its better making $6/day NOW but paying half for a GPU than making a similiar amount but paying double for the NVIDIA GPU.

Because by the time you ROI that NVIDIA we all will be making $0.25/day with our GPUs and the hashrate drop won't mean much.

But the AMD people will come out ahead since the GPU was paid for multiple times and not the NVIDIA people.

The 30% drop will happen in 20-30 EPOC, so that is just 5 months. I think ETH can still be mined then.

Yes you can probably still mine ETH then but you won't be making $6/day like you are today.

[ChrisCollins322]

The RX 580 will do ~315 H/s on ZEC. The Claymore epoch benchmark figures are just an estimate and largley overstated. In my own test with a five card RX 480/580 8GB and 570 4GB rig. The benchmark at epoch 129 for the five cards was ~143.3 MH/s, at epoch 130 the benchmark was ~142.5 MH/s. The actual current dual mining hash is ~144.1 MH/s dual mining with DCR. Even a 10% drop in the RX cards ETH hash in 6 months can be offset by addding a single $200 RX 570 4 GB card.

Where does the huge difference on ZEC mining coming from between 1070 and rx580?
At ETH a GTX 1070 has similar MH/s than the RX580 but at ZEC it has 50% more (~ 480 Sol/s). From gaming perspective they are also very similar from performance.

And yes, this is a serious question as i'm interested in technical details due to my work in IT business

For the mining, not the most powerful GPU is the best, cause GTX 1070 for gaming is madness, and for mining its not so good as its price

[Mattthev]

Test your hashrates with benchmark in Claymore
http://cryptomining-blog.com/8822-ethereum-hashrate-drop-for-radeon-rx400rx500-gpus-is-incoming/
Then you can calculate your profit, but it will be inaccurate.

[Vann]

Big news from BBT about the Claymore epoch benchmark issue. He reached out to AMD who confirmed they are aware of the future epoch hashdrop issue and are working with Claymore to resolve the issue which DOES NOT affect other miners, such as SGminer. So, it appears it's an issue related to the Claymore miner and NOT the RX platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3XOtQtFKSQ&feature=youtu.be&t=978

[reb0rn21]

LOL yeah sure...

[ChrisCollins322]

Big news from BBT about the Claymore epoch benchmark issue. He reached out to AMD who confirmed they are aware of the future epoch hashdrop issue and are working with Claymore to resolve the issue which DOES NOT affect other miners, such as SGminer. So, it appears it's an issue related to the Claymore miner and NOT the RX platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3XOtQtFKSQ&feature=youtu.be&t=978

Who even use Claymore now? Isnt it has too much hashdrops?

[chohav]

Big news from BBT about the Claymore epoch benchmark issue. He reached out to AMD who confirmed they are aware of the future epoch hashdrop issue and are working with Claymore to resolve the issue which DOES NOT affect other miners, such as SGminer. So, it appears it's an issue related to the Claymore miner and NOT the RX platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3XOtQtFKSQ&feature=youtu.be&t=978

Who even use Claymore now? Isnt it has too much hashdrops?

Actually most of the miners on Windows are using claymore.
Anyway, don't believe AMD care about hashdrop at all, even less that they work with claymore for resolving this.

[ChrisCollins322]

Big news from BBT about the Claymore epoch benchmark issue. He reached out to AMD who confirmed they are aware of the future epoch hashdrop issue and are working with Claymore to resolve the issue which DOES NOT affect other miners, such as SGminer. So, it appears it's an issue related to the Claymore miner and NOT the RX platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3XOtQtFKSQ&feature=youtu.be&t=978

Who even use Claymore now? Isnt it has too much hashdrops?

Actually most of the miners on Windows are using claymore.
Anyway, don't believe AMD care about hashdrop at all, even less that they work with claymore for resolving this.

So AMD is good enough?

[jmigdlc99]

Big news from BBT about the Claymore epoch benchmark issue. He reached out to AMD who confirmed they are aware of the future epoch hashdrop issue and are working with Claymore to resolve the issue which DOES NOT affect other miners, such as SGminer. So, it appears it's an issue related to the Claymore miner and NOT the RX platform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3XOtQtFKSQ&feature=youtu.be&t=978

Who even use Claymore now? Isnt it has too much hashdrops?

Actually most of the miners on Windows are using claymore.
Anyway, don't believe AMD care about hashdrop at all, even less that they work with claymore for resolving this.

Agree. Why would AMD care? They're making money, and thats all that matters to them.
Claymore will have to setup or AMD cards will suffer very soon.

[kpayney1]

Damn it!, I was just looking at picking up a 6 x 580 8gb rig today as well. Wondered why it was so cheap.

[matmator]

Conclusion?

Should we keep or sell our rx 480/580?

[adaseb]

Conclusion?

Should we keep or sell our rx 480/580?

Since the difficulty is doubling every 5-6 weeks or so, you might as well keep them anyways.

[Mattthev]

Conclusion?

Should we keep or sell our rx 480/580?

You may have big one time profit. I also sold some RX cards with good profit that partially paid me another new Nvidia rig.

[Lipe490]

Just when I bought my rig. It's a bad new every f.. Day!

[kpayney1]

Conclusion?

Should we keep or sell our rx 480/580?

You may have big one time profit. I also sold some RX cards with good profit that partially paid me another new Nvidia rig.

What about purchasing a cheap rig? I have my eyes on a 6x 580 8gb rig for around 3k AUD.

[Lipe490]

Conclusion?

Should we keep or sell our rx 480/580?

You may have big one time profit. I also sold some RX cards with good profit that partially paid me another new Nvidia rig.

What about purchasing a cheap rig? I have my eyes on a 6x 580 8gb rig for around 3k AUD.

Maybe Rx 470 4gb? Almost same hash that 580

[ChrisCollins322]

Conclusion?

Should we keep or sell our rx 480/580?

You may have big one time profit. I also sold some RX cards with good profit that partially paid me another new Nvidia rig.

What about purchasing a cheap rig? I have my eyes on a 6x 580 8gb rig for around 3k AUD.

Maybe Rx 470 4gb? Almost same hash that 580

I aggree that 470 is powerful enough and has okay hashrate. But the whole mining is way too quick updating staff, and if u wanna make some real money u need to upgrade ur hardware