cgminer is being funny...

[SNAZ31]

Okay so I just switched over from mining script (fancied a change) and cgminer for some reason keeps playing up... For 1 it is locking up a lot! Just freezing then the display driver crashes... Another issue is that when I try to change the clocks it won't let me do certain things... Like if say I adjusted the mem to 800 or 900 it just won't have it... I can go to 1000 or 1100 but when I go below this it auto adjusts it back to 1345 or something like that...

I must be doing something wrong

I will add that today I flashed one of my cards as it was getting a fairly low hashrate. I have reinstalled drivers today too... It was acting up a little with script too but nowhere near as bad...

Anyway it is hard to know what is going on as I have made so many changes! lol...

Anyone fancy troubleshooting this one with me?

I even started with a fresh cgminer folder thinking that maybe something from my script mining was interferring... But that did nothing... I would normally use bitminter but it seems I can not go above 660 kh/s on that, no matter what I do...

[-ck]

GPU-README

search for --gpu-memdiff

[SNAZ31]

GPU-README

search for --gpu-memdiff

Sorry for the delay just been fiddling and encountering more problems... Something defo isn't right... When I try to delete something out of the folders it goes to the bin but doesn't leave the folder... God knows what I have done...

I will try to read the read me but I find it so confusing, I know it is probably really straight forward for you but for me it is gobbledygook. lol

Oh and another thing... Isn't sha supposed to be easier to mine than scrypt? But so far it seems I can hit 750 kh/s with scrypt but I can't even hit 700 with sha... Strange...

[SNAZ31]

GPU-README

search for --gpu-memdiff

Okay so read that, I don't get it though because I used to use guiminer and could set the clock/mem to whatever I liked within catalyst...

That is really odd... So to get this straight I can not have a difference bigger than 150? Even though people claim to be doing that all the time lol... In fact I have done it myself many times...

Also I am back on litecoin at the mo seeing what is up there and it is doing the exact same thing...

I am confused...

[SNAZ31]

For bitcoin use MSI Afterburner to set memory to 50 MHz and core to whatever you want.  Then start cgminer with those clocks.

For litecoin same thing, but set the memory to 1400++ MHz.  The 150 diff is more for Linux drivers, on Windows you can tweak
memory/code clocks to pretty much whatever you want.

If you try to change clocks in cgminer (AFTER you set them in MSI Afterburner), the clocks might be reset to default values.

After tweaking them with MSI Afterburner, don't change anything from within cgminer.  Just run it.

Hey thanks for your comment, sorry I have only just seen it, really do appreciate the help... I find it strange but I can get 750 kh/s with litecoin no problem, I thought with bitcoin I should get around the same but even easier to achieve... I was up all last night playing with the damn settings lol...

I will try your suggestion right now and report back how I got on...

Btw if I have -g2 the hashrate jumps around a lot, though it does go higher, only thing is I think it is very inaccurate. Sometimes it will jump to 800+ lol...

Edit: Ok so just looked on MSI and I can not set it to 50mhz (I thought that sounded way too low anyway), the minimum is 685... Did you make a mistake there?

[SNAZ31]

For bitcoin use MSI Afterburner to set memory to 50 MHz and core to whatever you want.  Then start cgminer with those clocks.

For litecoin same thing, but set the memory to 1400++ MHz.  The 150 diff is more for Linux drivers, on Windows you can tweak
memory/code clocks to pretty much whatever you want.

If you try to change clocks in cgminer (AFTER you set them in MSI Afterburner), the clocks might be reset to default values.

After tweaking them with MSI Afterburner, don't change anything from within cgminer.  Just run it.

Okay I gave up with bitcoin, just can not get a good hashrate no matter what I try, tried various catalyst/cgminer configerations but max I can get is 660 and even then it is really unstable...

Back to mining scrypt and within 2 mins I have both cards at 712/720, I get some srtifacting but other than that it is stable... I don't understand it but it is what it is...

Thanks for your help anyway.

[SNAZ31]

For bitcoin use MSI Afterburner to set memory to 50 MHz and core to whatever you want.  Then start cgminer with those clocks.

For litecoin same thing, but set the memory to 1400++ MHz.  The 150 diff is more for Linux drivers, on Windows you can tweak
memory/code clocks to pretty much whatever you want.

If you try to change clocks in cgminer (AFTER you set them in MSI Afterburner), the clocks might be reset to default values.

After tweaking them with MSI Afterburner, don't change anything from within cgminer.  Just run it.

Hey thanks for your comment, sorry I have only just seen it, really do appreciate the help... I find it strange but I can get 750 kh/s with litecoin no problem, I thought with bitcoin I should get around the same but even easier to achieve... I was up all last night playing with the damn settings lol...

I will try your suggestion right now and report back how I got on...

Btw if I have -g2 the hashrate jumps around a lot, though it does go higher, only thing is I think it is very inaccurate. Sometimes it will jump to 800+ lol...

Edit: Ok so just looked on MSI and I can not set it to 50mhz (I thought that sounded way too low anyway), the minimum is 685... Did you make a mistake there?

No mistake.  You have to unlock it in the config file.  Search this forum or google it for instructions of how to do it.
You might have to open/close/open/close afterburner several times but eventually you'll be able to set it to 50 or below.
Each time you open/close (after unlocking it), the minimum will be set lower, 685,340,170,85 etc...

I've tried as low as 5 MHz, but anything lower than 50 MHz gave me crashes in openCL.

Hmmmm that is pretty good then but still I was up all night trying to get a good bitcoin hashrate to no avail... Just out of curiosity what hashrate are you getting with bitcoin?

Oh and another thing I flashed one of my cards and it did bump up the hashrate but temps seem to be a lot higher. Even though I have clocks set lower than the non flashed card... And I get lower hashrate too (than the non flashed card which is clocked way higher)...

I was thinking, is there no way to make a custom bios for mining? Surely we can make gains in this area?

[SNAZ31]

Here are some stats for the 2 cards

Flashed powercolor

core 970
mem 1530
fan 75%
temps 81
hashrate 680 (can get higher but temps go way up)

MSI ghz card (not flashed)
core 1040
mem 1740
fan 60%
temps 71
hashrate 731

There is a big difference here, I know the top card (yeah no risers yet) will have higher temps but not that much higher and not when there is such a difference with clock speeds. Before I flashed it it was the easier (quiter) of the cards to keep cool. But then I could only get like 660 tops with high overclocks with scrypt or sha...

[SNAZ31]

Hmmmm that is pretty good then but still I was up all night trying to get a good bitcoin hashrate to no avail... Just out of curiosity what hashrate are you getting with bitcoin?

Oh and another thing I flashed one of my cards and it did bump up the hashrate but temps seem to be a lot higher. Even though I have clocks set lower than the non flashed card... And I get lower hashrate too (than the non flashed card which is clocked way higher)...

I was thinking, is there no way to make a custom bios for mining? Surely we can make gains in this area?

You can unlock shaders on some cards with a bios flush, preset default clocks etc.

Bitcoin rates for the cards I've used:

7970: 700 Mh/s, E: 1180
7950: 635 Mh/s, E: 1250
6950: 420 Mh/s, E: 950

all with memory at 50 MHz.

For bios files, try http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/ (Forum warning: Possible phishing link!)

Wow, okay that is pretty nice, may I ask what your power savings or temp saving were by having those settings?

Oh and what do you normally get out of your 7970 when srcypt mining? I think the MSI card is really great for scrypt, i can push that one to 750! The max I can get out of the powerccolor is abot 730 and that is after I flashed it...


Have you ever flushed your cards? Does it actually work? I will look into it anyway so thanks for putting me on to that.

Oh sorry, one more question... I tried to flasdh the MSI bios to the powercolor, but it didn't work, just got a black screen, is that a no no? Can I only flash other powercolor bios?

And what is with the phishing scam warning? :0

[deadweasel]

Wow, okay that is pretty nice, may I ask what your power savings or temp saving were by having those settings?

Oh and what do you normally get out of your 7970 when srcypt mining? I think the MSI card is really great for scrypt, i can push that one to 750! The max I can get out of the powerccolor is abot 730 and that is after I flashed it...


Have you ever flushed your cards? Does it actually work? I will look into it anyway so thanks for putting me on to that.

Oh sorry, one more question... I tried to flasdh the MSI bios to the powercolor, but it didn't work, just got a black screen, is that a no no? Can I only flash other powercolor bios?

And what is with the phishing scam warning? :0

I had 3x7970 system pulling 525-550W from the wall.  Never run 7970 for scrypt. I wish I had.

You have to get the bios for your model and brand.  I flashed many cards, I don't remember any card (that had two bioses) that I could not flash.  Used tools from  http://www.techpowerup.com (Forum warning: Possible phishing link!) site.

Not sure what the "Forum warning: Possible phishing link!" is all about.  Maybe the forum software did not like the form on that link.

 (Forum warning: Possible phishing link!)


Is now on ALL links posted in the forums.  It's Theymos' impeccable plan to reduce people being irresponsible and being robbed.

I think we'd all be better to let them continue their path of doing pretty much nothing with the 4,000 BTC in holding.

[SNAZ31]

Wow, okay that is pretty nice, may I ask what your power savings or temp saving were by having those settings?

Oh and what do you normally get out of your 7970 when srcypt mining? I think the MSI card is really great for scrypt, i can push that one to 750! The max I can get out of the powerccolor is abot 730 and that is after I flashed it...


Have you ever flushed your cards? Does it actually work? I will look into it anyway so thanks for putting me on to that.

Oh sorry, one more question... I tried to flasdh the MSI bios to the powercolor, but it didn't work, just got a black screen, is that a no no? Can I only flash other powercolor bios?

And what is with the phishing scam warning? :0

I had 3x7970 system pulling 525-550W from the wall.  Never run 7970 for scrypt. I wish I had.

You have to get the bios for your model and brand.  I flashed many cards, I don't remember any card (that had two bioses) that I could not flash.  Used tools from  http://www.techpowerup.com (Forum warning: Possible phishing link!) site.

Not sure what the "Forum warning: Possible phishing link!" is all about.  Maybe the forum software did not like the form on that link.

What, including cpu/motherboard etc? And you was getting 700 Mh/s? That is pretty impressive mate, nice one...

So I am restricted to flashing powercolor bios? That sucks then, I don't have many options in that range. Do these manufacturers ever update the bios? is it worth looking out for newer ones?

I have reverted back to the old bios anyway and getting pretty good results considering I had to throttle the other back due to the heat, now it is much better temp and noise wise...

powercolor stock bios

core 964
mem 1500
fan 65%
temp 74
hashrate 680

Not too bad, would still like to hit 700 but if it means I have to listen to a jumbo jet then er no... lol

I paid more for the MSI card and now I know why! At first I thought I was ripped off a little (and still do a bit due to getting no free games ) but really it is a better card.

I have never owned a graphics card before and bought them basically to mine with so that I can effectively have a top notch game machine on the cheap!

So far I have knocked off over a 100 quid so it is getting cheaper everyday!

Plus I have learned so much about PC's and how to put one together and what all the components actually do! It has been really fun! Glad the naysayers didn't put me off lol...

Anyway fella thanks again for all your help, it is great to have helpful people in the community.

[SNAZ31]

Just had a liitle mess around with the MSI card and got

core 1070
mem 1760
fan 65%
temp 68

hashrate 753!

It has been stable so far, I reckon I could push it more but don't want to brake something! lol

Think I just solved the artifacting issue I was getting too, or at least made it 10 times better... I turned hardware accellaration off on firefox, so far the blocks have gone!

I will go check youtube now cos that doesn't like playing at all while I'm mining! No matter what the clockspeeds are! lol

[SNAZ31]

Well youtube plays a little better but it really kills me hashrate, sends it down into the low 400's!

I did see in the cpu bios the option to start up with my onboard graphics and was wondering if cgminer will see my cards if I do... I am guessing it won't though as it doesn't see my onboard graphics... I did see a work around though with the dummy plug idea. How do people come up with this stuff? lol Just start sticking electrical components into the sockets and see what happens? lmao...

Anyway if I'm feeling brave I may give that a go.

[SNAZ31]

Guys, sorry to be a pain but does anyone know how I would go about monitoring memory temps? Just seen that I should be doing that :0 lol...

Which memory were they reffering to? My guess is the gpu ram as they were talking about water cooling...

So I searched and downloaded GPUZ and that didn't tell me memory temp unfortunately, atleast not that I can see, then I tried hwmonitor and that doesn't either...

So does anyone know how I go about doing that? Cheers.

[-ck]

There is no access to the memory temperatures using the ATI Display Library, so cgminer cannot read them off. Other tools have extra carnal knowledge we are not given by AMD to be able to read them off.

[SNAZ31]

Guys, sorry to be a pain but does anyone know how I would go about monitoring memory temps? Just seen that I should be doing that :0 lol...

Which memory were they reffering to? My guess is the gpu ram as they were talking about water cooling...

So I searched and downloaded GPUZ and that didn't tell me memory temp unfortunately, atleast not that I can see, then I tried hwmonitor and that doesn't either...

So does anyone know how I go about doing that? Cheers.

I don't know if memory temperature is being reported by the driver.  At least, I did not see it in the ADL library, so it might not be available.
But I did not look hard, maybe it is there, not sure.  Check AMD ADL library documentation.

If GPU-Z and afterburner are not reporting it, chances are good that no applications can provide it.  

Not sure how true this is but I have read that most cards don't have the thermometer diode on the vram anymore, they just have like a safety cut off so that they will never get to dagerous temps. They said only high end cards like the toxic has them...

That is why they can not be read... Sounds reasonable to me.

[SNAZ31]

There is no access to the memory temperatures using the ATI Display Library, so cgminer cannot read them off. Other tools have extra carnal knowledge we are not given by AMD to be able to read them off.

Hey there, didn't realize at first but you are the creator of cgminer aren't you? Good work there btw. Are you involved in any similar projects? Also have you ever thought of writing a custom bios for amd cards? Is that even possible?

I am just thinking the bios we have right now is designed for gaming in mind so I would guess there is some bloatware in there (talking from a mining perspective) that we don't need? Maybe there are some gains to be made there?

I am a pc newb as you can no doubt tell but just an idea.

[-ck]

There is no access to the memory temperatures using the ATI Display Library, so cgminer cannot read them off. Other tools have extra carnal knowledge we are not given by AMD to be able to read them off.

Hey there, didn't realize at first but you are the creator of cgminer aren't you? Good work there btw. Are you involved in any similar projects? Also have you ever thought of writing a custom bios for amd cards? Is that even possible?

I am just thinking the bios we have right now is designed for gaming in mind so I would guess there is some bloatware in there (talking from a mining perspective) that we don't need? Maybe there are some gains to be made there?

I am a pc newb as you can no doubt tell but just an idea.

GPU mining is dead so I'm not remotely interested in more GPU code unless it's for paid work 

Cheers.

[SNAZ31]

There is no access to the memory temperatures using the ATI Display Library, so cgminer cannot read them off. Other tools have extra carnal knowledge we are not given by AMD to be able to read them off.

Hey there, didn't realize at first but you are the creator of cgminer aren't you? Good work there btw. Are you involved in any similar projects? Also have you ever thought of writing a custom bios for amd cards? Is that even possible?

I am just thinking the bios we have right now is designed for gaming in mind so I would guess there is some bloatware in there (talking from a mining perspective) that we don't need? Maybe there are some gains to be made there?

I am a pc newb as you can no doubt tell but just an idea.

GPU mining is dead so I'm not remotely interested in more GPU code unless it's for paid work 

Cheers.

Oh, so have they got asics for scrypt already then? When did those come out? Aren't thousands of people still waiting on their sha asics?

I think there is a fair bit of millage left, I always see people talking about buying new gpu rigs so I guess they didn't get the memo either :0 lol...

When I become rich (2099?) then I will defo hire you.

[SNAZ31]

There is no access to the memory temperatures using the ATI Display Library, so cgminer cannot read them off. Other tools have extra carnal knowledge we are not given by AMD to be able to read them off.

Hey there, didn't realize at first but you are the creator of cgminer aren't you? Good work there btw. Are you involved in any similar projects? Also have you ever thought of writing a custom bios for amd cards? Is that even possible?

I am just thinking the bios we have right now is designed for gaming in mind so I would guess there is some bloatware in there (talking from a mining perspective) that we don't need? Maybe there are some gains to be made there?

I am a pc newb as you can no doubt tell but just an idea.

GPU mining is dead so I'm not remotely interested in more GPU code unless it's for paid work 

Cheers.

Case in point, just read this on btc-e

"I was going to buy a ton of bfl but after reading and crunching numbers, I bought a ton of GPU gear instead. I'll mine on it until its unprofitable or replaced by REAL asics in a few months, then re-sell them for about 80% purchase cost"

I see a LOT of comments like this... Untill there is a reliable supplier of asics gpu's will still be used. And even then you still have scrypt (for now)... Of course eventually gpu mining will die off but not yet or for a long while is my bet.

People were saying a couple years ago that it was dead and not to bother, but here we are...