[SMALL REWARD] Help to setup single and two 6990s mining rig - software choice

[gaglia]

Hi, could some experienced miner help a little n00b?

I'm about to test a new mining rig with a recently found 6990. It is also possible that I'll manage to get a second one in the near future (and my mining rig is sized accordingly), but in the meantime I'm going to start with this one. I'm going to run the whole on a headless linux server.

My n00bish questions:

1) which mining software should I use? I've been using poclbm until now, but it seems that phoenix's performances have been greatly improved for the latest ATI cards, am I correct? I can read up to 835 Mhash/s at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

2) Since I've never used dual-GPU cards, with a single 6990 do I have to launch two different threads, using DEVICE=0 and DEVICE=1 option? But I'm still going to run a single instance of the bitcoin client right?

3) Is it OK to run SDK v2.4 instead of 2.1 with this configuration?

4) Which version of Ubuntu is best suited for the task? Am I going to meet some troubles by using Debian as a distro instead of Ubuntu?

5) What is my best choice for a script/software acting as a proxy for my mining rigs and able to switch pool when my default one is down?

I don't have a lot of bitcoins right now, but I'm willing to pay 0.3 - 0.5 bitcoins to the first users (with good reputation and mining experience) providing good answers, depending on the amount of information given (maximum 1.5 BTC) Thanks in advance!

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[kripz]

1. Use diablominer: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=1721.0
2. Not with above. Yes with others. You dont need the bitcoin client if you mine for a pool, the client is only to send and receive money.
3. 2.4 is recommended as it's faster.
4. I'm running debian, it's fine, ubuntu is based on debian. Ubuntu is easier http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=10608.msg152044;topicseen#msg152044
5. Flexible mining proxy: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=5506.0

[Reikoku]

1) which mining software should I use? I've been using poclbm until now, but it seems that phoenix's performances have been greatly improved for the latest ATI cards, am I correct? I can read up to 835 Mhash/s at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison[/quit]

Try phoenix with phatk, you will need to overclock the card to get 835 though.

2) Since I've never used dual-GPU cards, with a single 6990 do I have to launch two different threads, using DEVICE=0 and DEVICE=1 option? But I'm still going to run a single instance of the bitcoin client right?[/quit]

Yes, you have to run two instances of Phoenix as a 6990 is two GPU cores.

3) Is it OK to run SDK v2.4 instead of 2.1 with this configuration?

I've never seen a performance loss from using 2.4.

4) Which version of Ubuntu is best suited for the task? Am I going to meet some troubles by using Debian as a distro instead of Ubuntu?

The latest Debian or Ubuntu will be fine.

5) What is my best choice for a script/software acting as a proxy for my mining rigs and able to switch pool when my default one is down?

Try Autominer, it's in my sig. Monitors downtimes, allows you to see mining status via screen sessions, monitors temperatures etc.

[gaglia]

Thanks, it seems that questions 2) 3) 4) are answered, I'm still waiting some feedback for 1) and 5) but in the meantime I'm sending you 0.4 BTC each!

I would also add the following:

6) what overclock procedure do you feel to suggest for this GPU? I'm reading here that default values for the 6990 are:

GPU: 830 MHz
GDDR5: 1250 MHz

but here it looks like users tend to heavily downclock RAM and heavily overclock core... I wouldn't feel comfortable to overclock core at 1010 MHz as from one of the 6990x2 rows, but would it be ok to overclock core, let's say, around 900-950 MHz if the temperature doesn't rise too high? Or would it be more advisable to not overclock at all?

[themrhk]

1) which mining software should I use? I've been using poclbm until now, but it seems that phoenix's performances have been greatly improved for the latest ATI cards, am I correct? I can read up to 835 Mhash/s at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

Hello gaglia,

i would highly suggest you to use the new phoenix miner (vers. 1.50) with the phatk kernel as this is the fastest gpu miner for most powerful ati cards atm.

You can maximise the mHash/s ur getting by 3% more by applying these changes to the kernel file (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=23067.msg291159#msg291159) works great for me and others, gave me a boost of 10 mhash/s.

here the link to the phoenix miner http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=6458.0 you can download it here.

hope i could help u at least a little

if your feeling generous please send a donation to 1KA365T71EyXXjMTS91byR6pLDMzFryCis

[Reikoku]

6) what overclock procedure do you feel to suggest for this GPU? I'm reading here that default values for the 6990 are:

GPU: 830 MHz
GDDR5: 1250 MHz

but here it looks like users tend to heavily downclock RAM and heavily overclock core... I wouldn't feel comfortable to overclock core at 1010 MHz as from one of the 6990x2 rows, but would it be ok to overclock core, let's say, around 900-950 MHz if the temperature doesn't rise too high? Or would it be more advisable to not overclock at all?

First off, thanks for the donation. ^^ Always appreciated.

Second, for overclocking, slow and steady wins the race. Don't be afraid of it, but don't rush it. First try overclocking to 866 core, 300 memory (aticonfig --adapter=all --odsc 866,300). If that's stable, try 900,300. If that's stable, try 933,300. When you find something which has uncomfortable temps (> 80) or freezes, try a few MHz lower on core until you get something stable.

When you've got something you like, do aticonfig --adapter=all --odcc.

[Departure]

you can't underclock the memory more than 100mhz of the core clocks, 910/840 produces good hash rate without flicking the OC switch to second position...

you will also need AMDOverdriveCtrl installed I was on linux with 3 x 6990's moved back to windows now 11.6 drivers support more than GPU's much easier to control the clocks... also running headless on windows by using vnc..

[PcChip]

1) which mining software should I use? I've been using poclbm until now, but it seems that phoenix's performances have been greatly improved for the latest ATI cards, am I correct? I can read up to 835 Mhash/s at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

2) Since I've never used dual-GPU cards, with a single 6990 do I have to launch two different threads, using DEVICE=0 and DEVICE=1 option? But I'm still going to run a single instance of the bitcoin client right?

3) Is it OK to run SDK v2.4 instead of 2.1 with this configuration?

4) Which version of Ubuntu is best suited for the task? Am I going to meet some troubles by using Debian as a distro instead of Ubuntu?

5) What is my best choice for a script/software acting as a proxy for my mining rigs and able to switch pool when my default one is down?

I don't have a lot of bitcoins right now, but I'm willing to pay 0.3 - 0.5 bitcoins to the first users (with good reputation and mining experience) providing good answers, depending on the amount of information given (maximum 1.5 BTC) Thanks in advance!

1.) Phoenix 1.5 with PhatK + bitless's kernel hack (PM me if you need help with this)
2.) Launch two threads, each with a different DEVICE id in the batch file (PM me if you need help with this)
3.) SDK 2.4 is fastest with PhatK / Phoenix
4.) Never used Linux for mining, I love Win7 (400 MH/s on my 5850)
5.) Running multiple mining instances on each GPU will cover it (PM me if you need help with this)

If I helped you like you were needing, a tiny donation would be awesome

[Reikoku]

you can't underclock the memory more than 100mhz of the core clocks, 910/840 produces good hash rate without flicking the OC switch to second position...

you will also need AMDOverdriveCtrl installed I was on linux with 3 x 6990's moved back to windows now 11.6 drivers support more than GPU's much easier to control the clocks... also running headless on windows by using vnc..

If you flick the switch you should be able to set memclocks as low as you want, I have some 5850s running at 180 mem.

[gaglia]

Thanks guys, it seems that my questions have been answered for now ^^ I'll let you know how it goes. I'm sending some other micropayment for your kindness but the sum I was reserving for this has rapidly depleted, sorry if it's less than what you expected!

[shotgun]

Save yourself a lot of hassle and time and install LinuxCoin (debian based), setup SmartCoin for running your pool automation and miner automation. Then use a web-based monitor like the one I'm writing (http://code.google.com/p/minerwatch/) or miningmonitor.com so you can know when your miners are offline and see trends.

You might want to run a script like this to monitor your core temps too:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
#kills phoneix.py process if aticonfig shows temperature > $maxtemp
maxtemp="80"
running=true 
while $running; do 
    if [ "`aticonfig --odgt --adapter=0 | grep -o '[0-9][0-9].[0-9][0-9]' | sed 's/\.[0-9][0-9]//g'`" -gt "$maxtemp" ] ; then 
        echo "TOO HOT"
        pkill -9 phoenix.py
        running=false
    fi
done