5850 low hashrate

[swaz]

Hi all,
I just installed my new ASUS ATI RADEON 5850 DirectCU, with Catalyst 11.7 and SDK 2.4 .

The problem is that when I start phoenix 1.5 with, for example, these settings

Code:

-k phatk DEVICE=0 VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=7

it works at around 145 mhash/s . On https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison the minimum mhash/s for a 5850 is 240.
Also, surfing on the forum, I've never seen such a low hashrate for a 5850.

What can I do about this? I'm using Windows 7 64bit.

I just tried everything on a new installation of Win7 and it's still the same so that doesn't seem to happen due to other apps.

Thanks.

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[cirz8]

Have you rebooted after drivers installation?

Try this instead:
-k phatk DEVICE=0 VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=9 WORKSIZE=128

and maybe try using Catalyst 11.6 instead of Catalyst 11.7.

[swaz]

Yeah, I rebooted after installation.

I've also tried your settings and installed Catalyst 11.6, but nothing changed. 

[Dargo]

Even at stock clocks that is way low. You might also try a different miner (say poclbm). I can't find the post now, but I recall someone else getting low hash rates with a new 5850 and phoenix, but I don't think it was as low as what you are seeing.

[Cidsor]

I've had the same problem with one of my 6950's. It was caused by the powerplay not working properly. You could try to force voltages with MSI afterburner or something equivalent. If the card works with graphical applications it should work perfectly well for mining too, aslong as it has the right clocks when it does.

Oh, and also. Double check that you are not running two instances of your bitcoin miner. 145Mhash/s sounds like 1/2 of stock performance or there about at least.

[cirz8]

Is the ASUS ATI RADEON 5850 DirectCU the only GPU in your system?
If it's an extra card, you probably need a dummyplug or a monitor connected to it and extend the desktop to get the GPU working at full speed...

[swaz]

Even at stock clocks that is way low. You might also try a different miner (say poclbm). I can't find the post now, but I recall someone else getting low hash rates with a new 5850 and phoenix, but I don't think it was as low as what you are seeing.

I've also tried poclbm, and I get even less.

About the topic, you mean http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5582.0 ? I've readed it but the user who opened it solved the problem closing firefox, while I've also tried running the miner just after installing Win7 + updates + catalyst + Ati SDK 2.4 with no results...

I've had the same problem with one of my 6950's. It was caused by the powerplay not working properly. You could try to force voltages with MSI afterburner or something equivalent. If the card works with graphical applications it should work perfectly well for mining too, aslong as it has the right clocks when it does.

Oh, and also. Double check that you are not running two instances of your bitcoin miner. 145Mhash/s sounds like 1/2 of stock performance or there about at least.

Forcing voltages? Why would I need that to reach a speed other users reach without touching the card?

By the way, when I was using the GTX 260 it was powered by two 6 pin pci-e cables, while the ATI has one 6 pin slot and one 8 pin slot for the auxiliary powering, to which i've connected the same cables, therefore connecting the second 6 pin cable to the 8 pin slot. This could mean less power = less mhash/s ?

I've not tested graphical applications yet..

I'm sure i'm running just one istance of my miner.

Is the ASUS ATI RADEON 5850 DirectCU the only GPU in your system?
If it's an extra card, you probably need a dummyplug or a monitor connected to it and extend the desktop to get the GPU working at full speed...

Yep, it's the only one.

[Dargo]

Strange...my 5850s just have two six pin connectors. But if yours is 6 + 8, I would try using a 6 + 8 pin connector. Did the card come with a set of connectors that you can plug by molex to your PSU? If so, try those.

[cryptomint]

Install MSI Afterburner and overclock it. Also, underclock the memory. Set the fan speed manually to 80% or so.

Maybe try linuxcoin?

I'm getting ~390Mh/s from that exact card in linux @ 960/300. phoenix+phatk

Getting ~370Mh/s @ 910/300 with the one that handles the display.

[swaz]

Strange...my 5850s just have two six pin connectors. But if yours is 6 + 8, I would try using a 6 + 8 pin connector. Did the card come with a set of connectors that you can plug by molex to your PSU? If so, try those.

No, it just came with an adapter (to 6 pin) for PCs without a second pci-e cable.

Install MSI Afterburner and overclock it. Also, underclock the memory. Set the fan speed manually to 80% or so.

Maybe try linuxcoin?

I'm getting ~390Mh/s from that exact card in linux @ 960/300. phoenix+phatk

Getting ~370Mh/s @ 910/300 with the one that handles the display.

I've finally installed MSI afterburner. The core voltage is blank and untouchable. I've tried reducing the memory too 800 and overclocking the core to 812, just to try, and my mhash/s went around 162 . But I don't think overclocking it would be the point because I'm still starting from an abnormally low hashrate.

Also, I'm a gamer so I can't install a new OS just to mine.

I don't really get why I seem to be the only miner on earth with this problem.
I think I'll try getting a refund from the vendor giving it back.
For sure I won't buy another ASUS next time.

By the way I'll have still some days to keep trying, so if you have an idea, please post it.

Thank you everybody for the past answers.

[wacko]

Download GPU-Z first and check whether it properly shows all processors (1440) and clocks are correct. Start GPU-Z, open the Sensors tab, then start the miner and see whether the card actually works at 850-875 MHz.. If everything's the way it should be (1440 processors and 850-875 MHz), then start Task Manager and make sure there's nothing that consumes all your cpu power, some applications can do that and this could be another reason you're getting low hashrate.

[swaz]

Download GPU-Z first and check whether it properly shows all processors (1440) and clocks are correct. Start GPU-Z, open the Sensors tab, then start the miner and see whether the card actually works at 850-875 MHz.. If everything's the way it should be (1440 processors and 850-875 MHz), then start Task Manager and make sure there's nothing that consumes all your cpu power, some applications can do that and this could be another reason you're getting low hashrate.

With default clock/memory values:

Miner OFF:

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/08/02/ekf.png

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/08/02/4fw.png

Miner ON:

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/08/02/4x5.png

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/08/02/frs.png

Why should the clock become 850-875? Isn't it limited to 725 unless I overclock the card?

[cirz8]

Why should the clock become 850-875? Isn't it limited to 725 unless I overclock the card?

You are correct, should be 725.

I don't see anything odd in those images

Is the hash still low if you reboot and don't start any programs except the miner?

Do games perform like crap as well?

[swaz]

Is the hash still low if you reboot and don't start any programs except the miner?

Do games perform like crap as well?

Yes, it's still low if I start the miner only..

I don't know, I haven't tried games yet but 2-3 times the driver was being continously restored, in particular 1 time there were lot of glitches on the screen. And if I open a program too early after system startup, the entire PC freezes. May these things mean a malfunction of my card?

[Soak]

• Do you have enough power for your computer? What is your power supply?
• Have you a (pre- ?)installed software for enhance the display? Except the drivers and the Control Catalyst Center.
• What is your antivirus software?

[swaz]

• Do you have enough power for your computer? What is your power supply?

CORSAIR ATX 650W 650TXEU 12cm V2.x (80+)

I think that should be enough, a friend of mine is using the same card with a 600W.

• Have you a (pre- ?)installed software for enhance the display? Except the drivers and the Control Catalyst Center.
• What is your antivirus software?

I've also tried running the miner just after installing Win7 + updates + catalyst + Ati SDK 2.4 with no results... (And I'm still in that environment)

[cirz8]

I don't know, I haven't tried games yet but 2-3 times the driver was being continously restored, in particular 1 time there were lot of glitches on the screen. And if I open a program too early after system startup, the entire PC freezes. May these things mean a malfunction of my card?

By the way, when I was using the GTX 260 it was powered by two 6 pin pci-e cables, while the ATI has one 6 pin slot and one 8 pin slot for the auxiliary powering, to which i've connected the same cables, therefore connecting the second 6 pin cable to the 8 pin slot.

Doesn't sound too promising...
Two 6-pin(2x75W) should be enough for default(1.1688V), one 6-pin(75W) and one 8-pin(150W) would come in handy with some extreme voltages though...

You could try and undervoltage to 1.088V and see if that helps...
Might need EULA-tweak(http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=338906) for MSI Afterburner since voltage-controls are grayed out...

Or try ASUS GPU Tweak http://ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/vga/app/GPUTweak110.zip

Or try getting an adapter to get an 8-pin...

[wacko]

Why should the clock become 850-875? Isn't it limited to 725 unless I overclock the card?

My bad, it's 5870s that work @ 850-875 and most of 5850s work @ 725-765 MHz. Anyway, it seems that you card is running fine, 99% gpu load, all the processors are in place, the clocks are correct... Uninstall AMD drivers (Control Panel => Programs and Features => right click on Ati Catalyst Install Manager, select Change and then Express Uninstall All Ati software). After that install Driver Sweeper, boot in safe mode (press F8 before Windows starts booting and select Safe Mode), run Driver Sweeper and clean everything relating to Ati/AMD, reboot and install drivers again (try 11.7 this time).

And make sure there are no processes eating your cpu resources (check this with Windows Task Manager).

[bitminers]

Hi all,
I just installed my new ASUS ATI RADEON 5850 DirectCU, with Catalyst 11.7 and SDK 2.4 .

The problem is that when I start phoenix 1.5 with, for example, these settings

Code:

-k phatk DEVICE=0 VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=7

it works at around 145 mhash/s . On https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison the minimum mhash/s for a 5850 is 240.
Also, surfing on the forum, I've never seen such a low hashrate for a 5850.

What can I do about this? I'm using Windows 7 64bit.

I just tried everything on a new installation of Win7 and it's still the same so that doesn't seem to happen due to other apps.

Thanks.

Hi Swaz,

If you have a USB Thumb Drive 2GB or more spare, my recommendation for a fast simple test is try out BAMT 0.4b, I Run 4 x 5850's on one board, its the Asus Crosshair IV Extreme, The most I managed to get with all 4 cards was around 1.3Ghash with Windows 7. With BAMT, im now running 1450Mhash, 1.45Ghash huge improvement, it only take literally 10 Minutes to configure, everything is so straight forward, download the BMAT img File - http://aaronwolfe.com/bamt/bamt_v0.4b.torrent Then grab the image file writer - http://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/trunk/0.3/+download/win32diskimager-RELEASE-0.3-r27-binary.zip

The Main BAMT page is http://aaronwolfe.com/bamt/

Everything is set with optimal drivers the lot. All you need to do is simply edit the file that opens upon first boot. For the 5850, set Core GPU to 800 at first, then memory to 300, Fan to 100 . Just read through the file its really simple. Once you've configured that one file then open the pool configuration file, add your miner / pool details, then save both files reboot and the machine will start mining. Under GPUMON at start in that first file be sure to set it to 1, this shows the Mhash and connection, shares, speed everything in the terminal window.

This is the fastest and easiest way to test your 5850. If it locks up or plays up, just lower the GPU to 700 and try that. You can always edit the config file to play with the Overclocking settings.

BAMT is one serious but so simple to use OS/Miner if your using the machine for other things then it wont suit to use BAMT permanently but for testing your hardware, a quick 10 Minutes and a Thumb Drive, this is the safest easiest way to see if you've got a hardware issue.

Let me know the results. If you need help just PM me.

[Dargo]

Is your voltage regulation out of wack? Stock voltage on my 5850s is 1.088 VDC, and you can only change it in multiples of 0.0125. I would definitely try setting the voltage to 1.088 and see if that helps.