Bitminter client (Windows/Linux/Mac)

[DrHaribo]

Because of the way the OpenCL drivers work you get one core at 100% for each GPU on nvidia and on AMD with more than 1 GPU in the system. If you use only a single AMD GPU, it may be possible without one core getting 100% usage.

Apparently it's possible to avoid the problem on nvidia if using CUDA instead of OpenCL, I believe there you can choose to busy-wait (causing 100% usage on a core) or not. Haven't looked into CUDA yet, though.

Edit: When I say 'core' here I mean CPU core.

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[P4man]

I started to have exactly the same problem: javaw sucking 30-40% of my cpu (AMD64 X2@3Ghz) and puter getting hogged and unresponsive (even lowering the priority of javaw). So now I am mining with Phoenix, which sucks 40% of my cpu too, and is slower than the bitminter client (403Mhs vs 420 from a 5870) but at least keeping it at low priority my puter remains snappy.

Anyone knows if it is normal a so high cpu load when mining, or there is some fix I could try?
I am now using official drivers 11.9 on XP32.

Its the AMD drivers (though nvidia drivers are not better, at least on linux)
Im now running an 5850  on the same old Pentium 4 and my CPU load is pretty much zero with bitminter. Im using (I think) catalyst 11.3. This is on ubuntu, but the problem is the same as on windows, so try grabbing some old ati drivers.

[FalconFour]

I started to have exactly the same problem: javaw sucking 30-40% of my cpu (AMD64 X2@3Ghz) and puter getting hogged and unresponsive (even lowering the priority of javaw). So now I am mining with Phoenix, which sucks 40% of my cpu too, and is slower than the bitminter client (403Mhs vs 420 from a 5870) but at least keeping it at low priority my puter remains snappy.

Anyone knows if it is normal a so high cpu load when mining, or there is some fix I could try?
I am now using official drivers 11.9 on XP32.

Setting it to low priority isn't going to help the fact that you're burning tons of CPU heat with a runaway CPU process performing no work... great way to screw over your power bill is letting your CPU run full speed when the GPU is doing all the work. At the very least, set a power profile with a maximum CPU state of 50% in Windows 7 power options just for mining.

But the proper fix is to untangle the cause of the CPU usage. BitMinter doesn't have aggression options (just a vague "delay period" option that doesn't conceptually tie in well with "Aggression" IMO), but most others do. You can feed any "aggression" setting you want at it, but if you go "over your limit" on what the GPU can actually process, you end up generating CPU usage which is the result of trying to feed too much work to the GPU at once. In Phoenix, try adjusting the "AGGRESSION=" parameter somewhere between 5 (uber low-end card) and 12 (uber high-end card) to see what setting just barely gets phoenix.exe to get you 0-5% CPU.

[P4man]

But the proper fix is to untangle the cause of the CPU usage. BitMinter doesn't have aggression options (just a vague "delay period" option that doesn't conceptually tie in well with "Aggression" IMO), but most others do.

AFAIK, its the exact same thing.  Its just that "aggression" is defined so that higher aggression means higher GPU kernel priority. Break interval is the opposite, as I understand it, its the time between opportunities for the OS to do something else, so higher interval means lower GPU priority.

[DrHaribo]

AFAIK, its the exact same thing.  Its just that "aggression" is defined so that higher aggression means higher GPU kernel priority. Break interval is the opposite, as I understand it, its the time between opportunities for the OS to do something else, so higher interval means lower GPU priority.

Yeah, just two ways of deciding how big each job for the GPU should be. If you give it so much work in one go that it takes more than 5 seconds to process, Windows will think something locked up and it will restart the graphics driver. And even before that the desktop will of course get extremely laggy. On the other hand, there is a little overhead every time you give the GPU new work. So if you give it tiny jobs things get slowed down from the overhead.

[conspirosphere.tk]

The only way I found to fix this problem is to revert back to cataCLYSM 11.5. With them javaw takes only 2-3% of cpu while mining.
So I propose to launch a petition to ATI to fix this bug (maybe they see it as a "feature").

On another miner I am still keeping cataCLYSM 11.9 keeping the cpu underclocked by CrystalCPUID on XP, since I think to add a second card and I know that old drivers need a dummy plug that I don't have and don't want.

Setting it to low priority isn't going to help the fact that you're burning tons of CPU heat with a runaway CPU process performing no work... great way to screw over your power bill is letting your CPU run full speed when the GPU is doing all the work. At the very least, set a power profile with a maximum CPU state of 50% in Windows 7 power options just for mining.

But the proper fix is to untangle the cause of the CPU usage. ...
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[DrHaribo]

Beta version 1.1.0-M1 (milestone 1) now available.



Changes:

• Reduce stales through better handling of stale data and block changes.
• Improved buffer handling. Should fix the performance degradation
    that some users observed with v1.0.1
• Added sound effects
• Log and play sound (if enabled) when submitting a block-generating
    proof of work. Display number of generated blocks on status bar.
• Use larger log buffer - fit more log messages before old ones disappear
• Base "BTC/day" display on up-to-date difficulty. Log changes in difficulty.
• Bugfix: no longer automatically tries wrong password multiple times
• Adjusted power meters for AMD Caicos and Intel i7 2600. Your GPU meter
    not in the middle of the green area at stock clock? Let me know.
• Lowered minimum work interval (formerly break interval) from 10 to 1.
    Lowered default setting from 50 to 20.

What I would still like to add for v1.1 is saving GPU settings, automated mining, and an options window with at least settings for automation and audio. I'm releasing this now though to get it tested - it may take a while to finish the rest.

[Turbor]

  the new version runs my card 2 degrees C cooler than before at the same hashrate. 1600 hashes and zero stales ! Very nice 

[conspirosphere.tk]

It seems a bit slower on my 5870: now i get 395-405 Mhs against 415-420 Mhs with the previous version using the same settings.
Even my card seems a couple of degrees C cooler though.

[P4man]

Also seems a tad slower on my 5850, think I lost around 10  Mh/s

I take that back. its a fresh ubuntu beta install and I seem to have lost performance on the 1.0.1 version too

[DrHaribo]

When you get lower performance, are you sure you are running with the same settings? Remember default intervals changed from 50ms to 20ms.

Automation should be pretty high up on list of priorities, imho.

Yep, it is. Probably going to do merged mining (big job) and signature banners (small job) first, then automation.

[Turbor]

I changed my work intervals from 100 to 500 ms. Perhaps i see no big difference because the card is so slow. At the same intervals, the computer is more responsive than before. Nice for background mining.

[conspirosphere.tk]

Even my 5750 on another pc is slower: from 175 Mhs with the previous version to 163 Mhs now. Same settings, of course.
Even my puters seems more responsive though, so I am happy anyway.

[Turbor]

How much can you bring it up with higher work intervals ?

[DrHaribo]

Damn, performance wasn't supposed to drop. Well, this is what beta testing is for. Thanks for the reports, guys! I will look into this.

How much higher intervals help depends on your hardware and what other programs you got running. Basically you just have to try it out.

[SgtMoth]

im still running last vers, 16days 2 hours 363290 and 418 rejects, im staying with this one till you get the bugs worked out.

[SgtMoth]

btw...i cant find the donation box??

[Fefox]

Beta is working great for me..

K9A2 Platinum MB / dual core CPU forget what it is.
4GB Ram / no HD
2 x 6970's
Ubuntu

getting 428 a card 52121 with 68 rejects

----

890FXA-GD70 / 1090T CPU
8GB ram / HD
3 x 6970's
Windows 7 64 bit

Getting 420 a card.  19898 with 12 rejects


I just want to be able to start it up from the command line

[conspirosphere.tk]

Yes, beta is fine. I just increased the work intervals to 20 (I used to keep it at 10 with previous version) to obtain the same performance I got with the previous version. But in addition my puter is much more snappy and my cards a bit cooler with the beta.

[DrHaribo]

btw...i cant find the donation box??

Voluntary donations most likely coming after merged mining, signature banners and automated mining. So hold that thought!

I just want to be able to start it up from the command line

For regular: javaws https://bitminter.com/client/bitminter.jnlp
For beta: javaws https://bitminter.com/beta/beta.jnlp