So did I mistakenly purchase the worst 6950's ever made? [XFX 6950 1GB]

[jmw]

I've spent the last week setting up my rig and doing research on this forum.

Here are the brief specs on my rig: 2 x XFX 6950 1GB / Windows Vista 32 bit

Let me start by saying these cards can not be unlocked -- at least the revision I have. Not only is there no BIOS switch, but I can't even flash the single BIOS. Trust me, I've tried everything.

So I'm stuck with stock 6950's, not bad, right?

Well check this out:

https://i.imgur.com/QNMuk.jpg

This is a COMPLETELY STOCK setup. New OEM windows, newest ATI drivers and SDK.

I've tried Diablo's miner, poclbm and phoenix. Same exact scenario for each one.

I start the miner and within minutes the GPU 1 temp is up over 100 C and the clock speed starts cycling up and down (to prevent overheat damage)?

Notice my CPU is also pegged at 100% with each miner as well. Doesn't matter if Crossfire is enabled or disabled -- same story no matter what.

I tried underclocking to 700 Mhz but the temp still gets up to 103 C and the same clock/usage cycling happens on GPU 1.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Again, everything is brand new out of the box? I want to take these god damn cards out and smash them on the ground! What junk!

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[JoeLF]

None of the 1GB 6950s can be unlocked.

Heatwise, I actually have a small desk fan blowing into my GPU area and that helps cool it, but they're still pretty warm at 91-92C 24/7. I leave the GPU fan at 50% and without the desk fan the temps go through the roof.

Try going into CCC and adjusting the 'power' load (I don't recall the exact name), but I had that same issue of throttling clockspeeds and GPU load when it was at 0%. I just left it at 20% and that solved the issue.

[JoeLF]

I forgot to add, my temps may be higher cause I bumped up the voltage to 1.25vcore and OCd to 925mhz. I think running at a more modest overclock at stock voltages, it was around the mid 80s temp wise.

[jmw]

Thanks for the quick reply! Aren't these temperatures ridicules though? Most people seem to be mining, even with over clocked GPUs, at around 80 C max. For these cards to reach over 100 C at stock settings seems really bad.

I'm going to try your suggestion about raising the power to 20% and will let you know if it works. Thanks for the suggestion!

[TripHammer]

610Mh? I've got a brand new xfx 6970 and can't get above 350! running on Linuxcoin 0.2b1

Adapter 0 - AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
                            Core (MHz)    Memory (MHz)
           Current Clocks :    990           1375
             Current Peak :    990           500
  Configurable Peak Range : [500-950]     [1375-1450]
                 GPU load :    99%


python phoenix.py -u http://xxx@yyy/ -k phatk VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=11 WORKSIZE=256 DEVICE=0

any suggestions?

[dmcurser]

i got 2 6970 running side by side and got a nice little utility fan  blowing on them from walmart and its quieter then the video cards are immo

[Pengboo]

Now let's calculate how much real money you spent to set up a computer to mine Bitcoins I'm sure it was worth it.

[wolf902]

Thoes cards will work for gaming to xD

[Reacon]

You may want to open it up and replace the thermal paste. If that doesn't work, if the the card itself is reference design, you can slip a better aftermarket cooler on there. You may also want to consider lowering the voltage.

Make sure your fans are running as fast as they can go.

[tac]

Are the shown 610 MHash/s for each of your cards or both?

[John (John K.)]

Both of em of coz  . Else he'll have a 6990 LOL

[tac]

Both of em of coz  . Else he'll have a 6990 LOL

I already thought that, but what did "mhash: 610/642" (from his screenshot) really mean? avg/max?

[Nicolai Larsen]

I would strongly suggest using a program like MSI Afterburner to control your fan speed, clock etc..

When using CCC my GPU's (2x HD5850) hits over 85 celcius, but when using MSI it only hits 64 celcius max.

MSI Afterburner works with all brands. XFX, Asus, Gigabyte etc.

[superweb]

Use MSI afterburner and underclock the memory to something between 300 and 350MHz(find the best value for your card - each piece is different). I use the math GPUclock/3+14=MEMclock(found somewhere on this forum and for my card it is the best value)
To do so, you need to install afterburner, edit the file MSIafterburner.cfg by changing these lines to this:

Code:

[ATIADLHAL]
EnableUnofficialOverclocking   = 1
UnofficialOverclockingEULA   = I confirm that I am aware of unofficial overclocking limitations and fully understand that MSI will not provide me any support on it
UnofficialOverclockingMode   = 2
AccessibilityCheckingPeriod   = 0

Then run afterburner and underclock your memory to minimum possible(should be about 500MHz), shut down the afterburner and run it again. Now you should be able to underclock memory to desired 300 to 350MHz.

Memory underclock gave me about 15 degrees down, so I was able to overclock my 6870 to 1000MHz with stock cooler at 50% having GPU at 70'C

[KKAtan]

From my experience, these bitcoin miners are generally very stressful for the graphics card. Furmark level of stress.

I'm suspecting that your two pci-e slots are positioned with only a single slot distance between each other. Is this the case?
When you sandwich two video cards this closely to each other, it shouldn't come to anyone's surprise that the upper card gets 10-20 degrees hotter than it should. If this is the case, then you have chosen a bad motherboard.

[goxed]

Check this youtube video, looks like this guys had removed the outer shroud of his 6950 card and just keeps the heatsink on. Maybe that could help you a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJjDuPbHfNU

[RandyFolds]

From my experience, these bitcoin miners are generally very stressful for the graphics card. Furmark level of stress.

I'm suspecting that your two pci-e slots are positioned with only a single slot distance between each other. Is this the case?
When you sandwich two video cards this closely to each other, it shouldn't come to anyone's surprise that the upper card gets 10-20 degrees hotter than it should. If this is the case, then you have chosen a bad motherboard.

Yeah, it sounds like the OP just doesn't have enough flow through in the case. Time to get a box o' fans.

105c is raging hot...like, burn your skin hot. I can only imagine that it'd be bursting into flames as soon as it accumulated some dust...assuming it lives long enough to accumulate dust.

+1 on setting your own fanspeed curves with afterburner. Stock speeds are not conducive to mining or hard gaming. Also, make sure that the settings are applied across all similar cards, which is some box on the general tab in the settings. One of your fans is at 100 and the other is at 55...that ain't right.

[streblo]

Also be aware hot temperatures can reduce the lifetime and accuracy ("stale rate") of your card and hashes!

[nrp]

None of the 1GB 6950s can be unlocked.

Heatwise, I actually have a small desk fan blowing into my GPU area and that helps cool it, but they're still pretty warm at 91-92C 24/7. I leave the GPU fan at 50% and without the desk fan the temps go through the roof.

Try going into CCC and adjusting the 'power' load (I don't recall the exact name), but I had that same issue of throttling clockspeeds and GPU load when it was at 0%. I just left it at 20% and that solved the issue.

That's not quite accurate.  I've unlocked the shaders on my 1 GB XFX 6950 by making the BIOS writable.  As far as I know, all 6950s, reference or not, can have their BIOS edited either stock or by pulling up the write protect pin.

Whether or not the shaders can actually be unlocked is a matter of luck though.  On some cards, like mine, it is possible.  On others, the additional shaders are laser cut to be permanently disabled.

[bmgjet]

Defiantly do something to get the temps down. 100C isnt good for a card. Id start by having a 120mm fan blowing on them or a desk fan.
If that doesnt cool them then look at removing the coolers and re-applying thermal compound.