Avalon 8 official specs released

[rifleman74]

Looks good, seems to be that 13-14 TH is the bottleneck right now (at 1200 or so).  Thanks for posting.

[akadamson]

Sheesh, fans set for 100% all the time in the 821 firmware... Anyone played with setting it back to something reasonable like 50% or 20, like I ran the 741's and let the temp circuit moderate the fan speed as needed to keep 90 degrees on the outlet?  I guess I'll see what outlet temps I've got first, but my basement this time of year is pretty dang cold, and I'd just as soon trade off some noise if appropriate.

[HagssFIN]

Sheesh, fans set for 100% all the time in the 821 firmware... Anyone played with setting it back to something reasonable like 50% or 20, like I ran the 741's and let the temp circuit moderate the fan speed as needed to keep 90 degrees on the outlet?  I guess I'll see what outlet temps I've got first, but my basement this time of year is pretty dang cold, and I'd just as soon trade off some noise if appropriate.

What's your 'minimum fan speed' setting in the Cgminer configuration?
I'm guessing it is 100.
Set it to 20 and see how the miner acts in your environment.
Note that 20 is only the minimum value and miner will control the fan speed up or down in relation with the miner temperature.

[akadamson]

Sheesh, fans set for 100% all the time in the 821 firmware... Anyone played with setting it back to something reasonable like 50% or 20, like I ran the 741's and let the temp circuit moderate the fan speed as needed to keep 90 degrees on the outlet?  I guess I'll see what outlet temps I've got first, but my basement this time of year is pretty dang cold, and I'd just as soon trade off some noise if appropriate.

hmm, just looked at the cgminer code.  The normal temp on the 821's is set to 70.  And even in a cold room, the outlet temps at 100% fan are just at 70 so turning the fan min down isn't going to do anything.... curious

[akadamson]

Sheesh, fans set for 100% all the time in the 821 firmware... Anyone played with setting it back to something reasonable like 50% or 20, like I ran the 741's and let the temp circuit moderate the fan speed as needed to keep 90 degrees on the outlet?  I guess I'll see what outlet temps I've got first, but my basement this time of year is pretty dang cold, and I'd just as soon trade off some noise if appropriate.

What's your 'minimum fan speed' setting in the Cgminer configuration?
I'm guessing it is 100.
Set it to 20 and see how the miner acts in your environment.
Note that 20 is only the minimum value and miner will control the fan speed up or down in relation with the miner temperature.

yes, by default the firmware has 100% in that min fan speed and I suspect I know why, the internal temp that they attempt to keep the outlet at is 70 and to do so, it appears to take 100% fan typically.

[tf315]

Sheesh, fans set for 100% all the time in the 821 firmware... Anyone played with setting it back to something reasonable like 50% or 20, like I ran the 741's and let the temp circuit moderate the fan speed as needed to keep 90 degrees on the outlet?  I guess I'll see what outlet temps I've got first, but my basement this time of year is pretty dang cold, and I'd just as soon trade off some noise if appropriate.

What's your 'minimum fan speed' setting in the Cgminer configuration?
I'm guessing it is 100.
Set it to 20 and see how the miner acts in your environment.
Note that 20 is only the minimum value and miner will control the fan speed up or down in relation with the miner temperature.

yes, by default the firmware has 100% in that min fan speed and I suspect I know why, the internal temp that they attempt to keep the outlet at is 70 and to do so, it appears to take 100% fan typically.

You can put something like:

--avalon8-fan 1-80 --avalon8-temp 90

in the 'More Options' box if you want to change the target temperature and fan speeds. Haven't played around with it too much but 80% fan speed still kept mine at a reasonable temperature so far. The difference between 80% and 100% fan was only a couple degrees after a few minutes.

[akadamson]

Sheesh, fans set for 100% all the time in the 821 firmware... Anyone played with setting it back to something reasonable like 50% or 20, like I ran the 741's and let the temp circuit moderate the fan speed as needed to keep 90 degrees on the outlet?  I guess I'll see what outlet temps I've got first, but my basement this time of year is pretty dang cold, and I'd just as soon trade off some noise if appropriate.

What's your 'minimum fan speed' setting in the Cgminer configuration?
I'm guessing it is 100.
Set it to 20 and see how the miner acts in your environment.
Note that 20 is only the minimum value and miner will control the fan speed up or down in relation with the miner temperature.

yes, by default the firmware has 100% in that min fan speed and I suspect I know why, the internal temp that they attempt to keep the outlet at is 70 and to do so, it appears to take 100% fan typically.

You can put something like:

--avalon8-fan 1-80 --avalon8-temp 90

in the 'More Options' box if you want to change the target temperature and fan speeds. Haven't played around with it too much but 80% fan speed still kept mine at a reasonable temperature so far. The difference between 80% and 100% fan was only a couple degrees after a few minutes.

Yeah, but I wonder if they are *trying to keep* the outlet temp at 70.  The 741 runs at approx 90 and thats what set value it has in the cgminer code.  So someone must want the 821's to be at 70.  I'd hate to adjust that and burn up an 821.  I suspect the current/voltage changes pretty dramatically as the temps rise on the ASICs.  And from others testing, the -1 undervolt has the opposite effect - hashrate and wattage goes UP, not the other way around...   Be curious of others findings?

[akadamson]

Sheesh, fans set for 100% all the time in the 821 firmware... Anyone played with setting it back to something reasonable like 50% or 20, like I ran the 741's and let the temp circuit moderate the fan speed as needed to keep 90 degrees on the outlet?  I guess I'll see what outlet temps I've got first, but my basement this time of year is pretty dang cold, and I'd just as soon trade off some noise if appropriate.

What's your 'minimum fan speed' setting in the Cgminer configuration?
I'm guessing it is 100.
Set it to 20 and see how the miner acts in your environment.
Note that 20 is only the minimum value and miner will control the fan speed up or down in relation with the miner temperature.

yes, by default the firmware has 100% in that min fan speed and I suspect I know why, the internal temp that they attempt to keep the outlet at is 70 and to do so, it appears to take 100% fan typically.

You can put something like:

--avalon8-fan 1-80 --avalon8-temp 90

in the 'More Options' box if you want to change the target temperature and fan speeds. Haven't played around with it too much but 80% fan speed still kept mine at a reasonable temperature so far. The difference between 80% and 100% fan was only a couple degrees after a few minutes.

Yeah, but I wonder if they are *trying to keep* the outlet temp at 70.  The 741 runs at approx 90 and thats what set value it has in the cgminer code.  So someone must want the 821's to be at 70.  I'd hate to adjust that and burn up an 821.  I suspect the current/voltage changes pretty dramatically as the temps rise on the ASICs.  And from others testing, the -1 undervolt has the opposite effect - hashrate and wattage goes UP, not the other way around...   Be curious of others findings?

Bit more info here after running these for a few days.
a) I would change the "min fan speed" in the configuration to 50, from the 100 as the firmware came
b) I would *NOT* change the max temp from the default of 70.

I went back through all the git merges on the 821 code and that max temp was specifically changed from 90 which the 741's ran at to 70 and my guess is they want to keep the chips *COOL* and not let them get hot.  The 105 number is still in there as the autoshutdown number, but that's a pretty scary temp and I would avoid at all costs letting it get much above 80 or 90 for any length of time.

Because they are trying to keep the ASICS cool, if you shut one down that 50% min fan will still force enough air over them to cool them.  The problem with aluminum is it works both ways, it will dissipate heat when used to cool, but if not cooling it will hold the heat and cook things.

By lowering the min fan to 50, if your environment will allow for an inlet temp that can keep the outlet at 70, with a lower than 100% fan, the fan moderation will kick in and you'll save some noise.

I noticed this today, my room temp was way below 30, and the outlet was 70, but the fan was at 85% which was way better than the default of 100 all the time.

Just remember, you don't want them above 70 for any length of time (or so it would appear that Canaan doesn't) but if your environment will allow you can drop down the min fan.  But leave it at something that would rapid cool the headsinks if the unit drops offline or is stopped.

ps. this is why I pretty much go to an *unplug enet* when I want them to shut down gracefully.  This keeps the rPi controller in the loop and once they run out of hash, they go to the min fan temp while they cool.  Then I can unplug the I2C cable and turn them off.

[rifleman74]

Quick question on setting up these 821's...I've mainly used antminers which are a little "easier" to setup and run but was wanting to make sure I was right.   In a dedicated hosting setup, where static ip's are used, do I need to set up a static IP for each miner AND the raspberri pi, or just the raspberri pi only?   And if the answer would be the same if each avalon was connected singly via it's own auc3 connector vs daisychaining everything together off one.


Thanks

[caxibrema]

Quick question on setting up these 821's...I've mainly used antminers which are a little "easier" to setup and run but was wanting to make sure I was right.   In a dedicated hosting setup, where static ip's are used, do I need to set up a static IP for each miner AND the raspberri pi, or just the raspberri pi only?   And if the answer would be the same if each avalon was connected singly via it's own auc3 connector vs daisychaining everything together off one.


Thanks

The raspberry pi has a ethernet network adapter, not the miner itself. You just set the ip on the controller.

[rifleman74]

Quick question on setting up these 821's...I've mainly used antminers which are a little "easier" to setup and run but was wanting to make sure I was right.   In a dedicated hosting setup, where static ip's are used, do I need to set up a static IP for each miner AND the raspberri pi, or just the raspberri pi only?   And if the answer would be the same if each avalon was connected singly via it's own auc3 connector vs daisychaining everything together off one.


Thanks

The raspberry pi has a ethernet network adapter, not the miner itself. You just set the ip on the controller.

So no matter how it's hooked up, the Avalon's are essentially "one" device combined together through the raspberri pi?  When you change one pool setting, you change it on all of them that are hooked up to this raspberri pi?   That makes more sense and makes it so much easier to manage.


Thanks

[Halminer]

Quick question on setting up these 821's...I've mainly used antminers which are a little "easier" to setup and run but was wanting to make sure I was right.   In a dedicated hosting setup, where static ip's are used, do I need to set up a static IP for each miner AND the raspberri pi, or just the raspberri pi only?   And if the answer would be the same if each avalon was connected singly via it's own auc3 connector vs daisychaining everything together off one.


Thanks

The raspberry pi has a ethernet network adapter, not the miner itself. You just set the ip on the controller.

So no matter how it's hooked up, the Avalon's are essentially "one" device combined together through the raspberri pi?  When you change one pool setting, you change it on all of them that are hooked up to this raspberri pi?   That makes more sense and makes it so much easier to manage.


Thanks

Correct. 1 rasp pi will control up to 20 miners and any settings changes to the controller are applied to all miners connected to it.

[rifleman74]

Quick question on setting up these 821's...I've mainly used antminers which are a little "easier" to setup and run but was wanting to make sure I was right.   In a dedicated hosting setup, where static ip's are used, do I need to set up a static IP for each miner AND the raspberri pi, or just the raspberri pi only?   And if the answer would be the same if each avalon was connected singly via it's own auc3 connector vs daisychaining everything together off one.


Thanks

The raspberry pi has a ethernet network adapter, not the miner itself. You just set the ip on the controller.

So no matter how it's hooked up, the Avalon's are essentially "one" device combined together through the raspberri pi?  When you change one pool setting, you change it on all of them that are hooked up to this raspberri pi?   That makes more sense and makes it so much easier to manage.


Thanks

Correct. 1 rasp pi will control up to 20 miners and any settings changes to the controller are applied to all miners connected to it.

That's what I figured but wanted to make sure.  Rather not get to the data center and find out the miners can't mine because they needed IP addresses as well.  They are essentially mindless dummies that can't do anything without that raspberri pi or equivalent controller, unlike the antminers which operate independently.  This makes is much easier.    

Thank you all for the help.   MINE ON!

[lrowland21093]

After setting up my A821 today, I made some interesting discoveries that I think explain what is going on with the voltage offset tests in HagssFin review and with what others found with the fan % and temp cutoff.  Several values are hard coded into the cgminer startup command and do not have some of the settings that are in the screen.  For example, the voltage offset is always set to 0 and even if you enter -2 in the miner configuration, it will not get passed to the cgminer startup.  The same holds true for the fan range (hard coded to 50-100) and the frequency.

You should be able to see this by going to the Processes screen and looking toward the bottom for the cgminer startup command.  You should be able to see what is hard coded and then entering things like voltage offset doesn't get entered here.

To get around this specifically for voltage offset, I put the following in "More Options" similar to what akadamson suggested:  --avalon8-voltage-level-offset -2

Here is a image of the Process showing te hard coded voltage offset as well as the override on more options - note I also had my offset int he CGMiner Config screen set to -2 but that did not do anything...
https://imgur.com/IhP3kSL

For those who don't know or are new to this, the command line options can be found here (just look for the avalon7 options and maybe the options for avalon8 will be similar):  https://github.com/Canaan-Creative/cgminer/blob/master/README

[DPoS2]

After setting up my A821 today, I made some interesting discoveries that I think explain what is going on with the voltage offset tests in HagssFin review and with what others found with the fan % and temp cutoff.  Several values are hard coded into the cgminer startup command and do not have some of the settings that are in the screen.  For example, the voltage offset is always set to 0 and even if you enter -2 in the miner configuration, it will not get passed to the cgminer startup.  The same holds true for the fan range (hard coded to 50-100) and the frequency.

You should be able to see this by going to the Processes screen and looking toward the bottom for the cgminer startup command.  You should be able to see what is hard coded and then entering things like voltage offset doesn't get entered here.

To get around this specifically for voltage offset, I put the following in "More Options" similar to what akadamson suggested:  --avalon8-voltage-level-offset -2

Here is a image of the Process showing te hard coded voltage offset as well as the override on more options - note I also had my offset int he CGMiner Config screen set to -2 but that did not do anything...
https://imgur.com/IhP3kSL

What results did you get?

[lrowland21093]

What results did you get?

So far it is running around 86% fan speed (it was 100% before) with chip temp at 67 C.  The hash rate is staying between 10.5 -10.8TH - with the offset of 0, it was 11.2-11.5TH.
Overall it is much quieter but I will probably keep working with it tomorrow to see that new fan ramping point can be adjusted and may the shutdown temp set to the standard 99.

Screenshot after one hour with offset of -2  (sorry I don't have a before screenshot - if I have time I'll try to set it back tomorrow and let it run for an hour to directly compare):
https://i.imgur.com/WRCu5Gf.jpg

[DPoS2]

What results did you get?

So far it is running around 86% fan speed (it was 100% before) with chip temp at 67 C.  The hash rate is staying between 10.5 -10.8TH - with the offset of 0, it was 11.2-11.5TH.
Overall it is much quieter but I will probably keep working with it tomorrow to see that new fan ramping point can be adjusted and may the shutdown temp set to the standard 99.

Screenshot after one hour with offset of -2  (sorry I don't have a before screenshot - if I have time I'll try to set it back tomorrow and let it run for an hour to directly compare):
https://i.imgur.com/WRCu5Gf.jpg

Sounds good -  I used to tune the hell out of my Jupiters and looking forward to tuning these since being able to predictably change heat/power/hash/noise comes in handy

[akadamson]

What results did you get?

So far it is running around 86% fan speed (it was 100% before) with chip temp at 67 C.  The hash rate is staying between 10.5 -10.8TH - with the offset of 0, it was 11.2-11.5TH.
Overall it is much quieter but I will probably keep working with it tomorrow to see that new fan ramping point can be adjusted and may the shutdown temp set to the standard 99.

Screenshot after one hour with offset of -2  (sorry I don't have a before screenshot - if I have time I'll try to set it back tomorrow and let it run for an hour to directly compare):
https://i.imgur.com/WRCu5Gf.jpg

to get to the Avalon8 version of cgminer, make sure you select the avalon 8 branch in git.

The shutdown temp on both that 741 and 821 is 105 in their respective versions of cgminer (you can see the 7's version by selecting the avalon7 branch in git)

I found that the min fan value was picked up from the configuration screen, by default it was 100%, but if you changed that to 50%, you would get the 50-100 range in to the process listing of startup options.  I had tried the -x values, but didn't even think to look at those being overriden.

[WBF1]

Are you guys tweaking frequency as well or just voltage?

[lrowland21093]

Tried changing the frequency and so far, it doesn't work well with any setting other than 650.  I tried 600, 625. 636, and 675.  For each one I lt it try to hash for about 30 minutes and each time the overall hash rate barely got above 2TH.  Setting it back to 650 and it went back to about 11TH immediately.

My guess is that the chips on the 821 are pretty much set to only work right at the 650 frequency.  Of course, I could be doing something wrong so maybe someone else will have success.

So it looks like one setting that does work well is the "--avalon8-voltage-level".  I set mine to -1 (range is supposed to be -15 to +15) and it is running cooler by 10 degrees and the fan is staying around 65-70% with a hash rate about 9-10TH. (Plus, it is much quieter now.)  I also changed the target temp to 90 which makes the fan run more like the 741s.  I'll let it run overnight and take a screenshot tomorrow.  It will be interesting to see if there are power use differences when HagssFin retests.

Here is what I put in More Options:  "--avalon8-voltage-level-offset -2 --avalon8-temp 90 --avalon8-voltage-level -1"