[Preview] Smelter - GPU miner for WhirlpoolX (Vanillacoin)

[smolen]

Why is the CPU load to 100%? Can be corrected in newer versions GPU miner?

1) Because of some bug, may be on Smelter side, may be in AMD driver
2) Probably

Try to add this in cmd file as the first line
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS 1

[fenomenhaa]

Is there a bug on 15.3 driver?(280x+7950) İ cannot reduce my mem clock ++ and cannot change coreclock of 7950 's . Thst's couse of smelter or driver ?

[z0n0]

smolen will there be versions for other algos too or you'll stick just with whirlpoolx?

[mik_druid]

Any configs for r 290? What speed do you have while mining vanilla?

[smolen]

Don't worry, I do read all the feedback. Right now priorities are:
- Better logging, so user could just send log file to me, without typing all needed details (OS, driver version, GPU model, pool, etc). Unless done, bugs and I have some disagreements about the idea of bughunting
- Pool monitoring, balancing and failover. Must have.
- Better printed statistics, now it's not always clear what Smelter is busy with

smolen will there be versions for other algos too or you'll stick just with whirlpoolx?

I'm stuck not with kernel, but with miner itself. Yes, expect new kernels later, but some will be paid ones, most probably with profit splitting.

Is there a bug on 15.3 driver?(280x+7950) İ cannot reduce my mem clock ++ and cannot change coreclock of 7950 's . Thst's couse of smelter or driver ?

Right now I can only guess. Wait for the next version, then I'll be able to get to it.

Any configs for r 290? What speed do you have while mining vanilla?

I have only one 280x, the best settings for other cards may differ. Right now speed is 542MH/s with 280x, 4 threads, worksize 64, core 1150, mem 500 on Linux. (Linux build will be released when I figure out how to do license-safe static build)

[Bombadil]

Don't forget an API so external tools can play with it too (While you're busy doing logging, failover, etc...)

[uplodex]

I intend to buy a AMD Radeon r9 280x for mining vanilla coin.
I look for a tutorial that explains how to mining vanilla and how optimized the AMD Radeon r9 280x for 400 Mh / s

[fenomenhaa]

Don't worry, I do read all the feedback. Right now priorities are:
- Better logging, so user could just send log file to me, without typing all needed details (OS, driver version, GPU model, pool, etc). Unless done, bugs and I have some disagreements about the idea of bughunting
- Pool monitoring, balancing and failover. Must have.
- Better printed statistics, now it's not always clear what Smelter is busy with

smolen will there be versions for other algos too or you'll stick just with whirlpoolx?

I'm stuck not with kernel, but with miner itself. Yes, expect new kernels later, but some will be paid ones, most probably with profit splitting.

Is there a bug on 15.3 driver?(280x+7950) İ cannot reduce my mem clock ++ and cannot change coreclock of 7950 's . Thst's couse of smelter or driver ?

Right now I can only guess. Wait for the next version, then I'll be able to get to it.

Any configs for r 290? What speed do you have while mining vanilla?

I have only one 280x, the best settings for other cards may differ. Right now speed is 542MH/s with 280x, 4 threads, worksize 64, core 1150, mem 500 on Linux. (Linux build will be released when I figure out how to do license-safe static build)

Tried different drivers, nothing changed. i guess it's cus of smelter ))) .will wait your updates, )) 

[M1ST3R]

Smolen, thanks for sharing but I cannot get both version .6 and .7 to work on 4 GPUs (2 r9 290 + 2 r9 290x) rig. Doesn't matter what setting was used - max hashrate was 5+MHS for the rig. BTW, this is on Windows 8.1 pro x64 with CAT 14.6 RC3

[groggin]

 yes! thank you for sharing   

[Vampire_sumy]

Smolen, thanks for sharing but I cannot get both version .6 and .7 to work on 4 GPUs (2 r9 290 + 2 r9 290x) rig. Doesn't matter what setting was used - max hashrate was 5+MHS for the rig. BTW, this is on Windows 8.1 pro x64 with CAT 14.6 RC3

You must place amd_opencl64.dll , amd_opencl32.dll , amdocl64.dll and amdocl.dll files into smelter miners folder. (This files you can find in amd drivers)

[cinnamon_carter]

Smolen do you have a github with source for anything you 'released' open , maybe others could contribute things and also end up solving other issues you may be running into.... if not , i understand , this is your 'business' and choice to release or not relase the source..... to anyone who complains be glad someone is working on a gpu miner for your algo....  gpu with fee is better than cpu without one.... mining like that is like having a ruber band slingshot while other miners have ak's lol

[smolen]

Don't forget an API so external tools can play with it too (While you're busy doing logging, failover, etc...)

I'm probably aiming too high here - good algo/pool switching code must be able to catch and exploit short spikes in prices and difficulties. For example, when current Vanillacoin block has low difficulty, miner should be able to temporarily switch to solo and then back to the pool. My code is not ready for it yet, not sure about standalone mining managers.

I intend to buy a AMD Radeon r9 280x for mining vanilla coin.
I look for a tutorial that explains how to mining vanilla and how optimized the AMD Radeon r9 280x for 400 Mh / s

Oh, no, you'd better to try water with more mature software like sgminer.

yes! thank you for sharing   

My profit here is user feedback - never know what way to break the software will find in the wild

[smolen]

Smolen do you have a github with source for anything you 'released' open , maybe others could contribute things and also end up solving other issues you may be running into.... if not , i understand , this is your 'business' and choice to release or not relase the source..... to anyone who complains be glad someone is working on a gpu miner for your algo....  gpu with fee is better than cpu without one.... mining like that is like having a ruber band slingshot while other miners have ak's lol

Actually my second post on this forum was about releasing Copperlark miner - with sources on github. I've sent almost all OpenCL sources (except Groestl) to someone who just asked via PM. Then all the OpenCL code from Quark kernel was published right here, in this thread - and Skein implementation found new home in sp_'s Ccminer. All but one nuances about WhirlpoolX kernel were talked about openly, everybody is welcome to use this tricks. You see, I'm reasonably open about ideas, share old code, but greedy with hot new toys

I'm working on my own closed GPU miner that I plan to release, as well - from his standpoint, I don't see why he would. Should be far more flexible than the current miners and have a sane structure, as well; currently mines successfully at pools! :3

Good miner under BSD/X11 license will raise the share of all mining kernel developers. But working miner for PoS coins would be even better

[BogdanEraser]

With worksize 256 and 4 threads  R9 270x on 1100/1400 gives 267Mh/s. Many thanx. Waiting for clocks and temp control within Smelter.

[malickie]

So, not sure why people are getting low rates but my R9 290x is sitting comfortably at 600+ MH/s.  I did notice trying to use anything other than the most up to date driver for AMD does seem to drop the Hash rate down dramatically.  Also this is on Windows 8.1 at Stock speeds, no OC.  OC seems to heat the Card up way too much for my tastes.  This is a HIS R9 290x base speed is 1040/1350 for this card 87c is what the temp is at and the voltage draw looks to max out at 1080ish according to MSI Afterburner.

Edit:  Forgot to add, this is my settings in the .cmd file,
smelter -o stratum+tcp://stratum.westhash.com:3343 -u user.name -p password -g 4 -W 64
Going up in Worksize seems to bring the hash rate down just an FYI

This software does desperately need control over Fan Speed.  Auto-Fan, Gpu Over Heat/Target Temp/Temp Cutoff.

I have an old 6850 that I would like to get to work with this software.  Any possibilities of seeing that card added?

[bitspill]

Heads up to any miners who may be watching this thread but not the official vanilla coin thread, PoW mining is going to be paused for 20,000 blocks starting at block 117,833

https://talk.vanillacoin.net/topic/143/temporary-proof-of-work-pause-at-block-117833/3

The pause is to allow testing of mobile staking and fpga development without only a few developers raping the coin.

[smolen]

Heads up to any miners who may be watching this thread but not the official vanilla coin thread, PoW mining is going to be paused for 20,000 blocks starting at block 117,833

Thank you for warning. Not sure I will release new version before this pause

Waiting for clocks and temp control within Smelter.

Yes, it's in work.

This software does desperately need control over Fan Speed.  Auto-Fan, Gpu Over Heat/Target Temp/Temp Cutoff.

Oops, sorry, not going to be implemented in the nearest releases. I cannot just copy control algorithm from cgminer and friends, getting it done from scratch will take time.

I have an old 6850 that I would like to get to work with this software.  Any possibilities of seeing that card added?

Yes, still possible while my code is OpenCL.

[malickie]

Why not release new Versions, you can still use it to mine say WestHash/NiceHash Pools and whatever other pools offer WhirlPoolx Algo.

Edit: Found a trick with Smelter at least on my R9 290x.  IT by default does GPU Clock Dynamic so it doesn't fully utilize the Overclock there.  What I did was open Sgminer so it would pin GPU Clock to max and instead of using q to quit just click x on the window so your GPU Clock stays locked into whatever OC it is.  Than open Smelter.  Mining at 700.59 MH/s.  Granted at this speed and OC 1100/1500 My card is pretty darn toasty so I wouldn't recommend it unless you have Liquid or really good Fans and Airflow for the GPU 90c with fans at 100% and 67f with fan blowing into PC.

Edit: I also just noticed that it seems the speed has way more to do with GPU Clock than Mem Clock.  Sweetspot on my GPU Clock seems to be 1125, 1150 gave artifacting, so it would be 1125/1350, speed seems to be around 715 MH/s I think, although it is still climbing slowly. Still runs very toasty though at 90c. 

[bitspill]

Why not release new Versions, you can still use it to mine say WestHash/NiceHash Pools and whatever other pools offer WhirlPoolx Algo.

Pointing your miner at a pool won't do anything if the coins network won't accept the blocks.