X6500 Custom FPGA Miner

[thirdlight]

I've put one board on this version (running 12 hours now)- the rest (around 32 hours run) are on yesterday's git version.

Realy stable! I would have more on the latest version, but, apart from one to test, I only change them over when they stall, and they haven't!

Getting around 340 MH/s & less than 1% rejects.

I think you've cracked it! Thanks fizzisist & shad.

 

[c_k]

Looking at the picture of the X6500 without heatsinks on Cablesaurus.com, it appears there is no mounting holes for a heatsink/fan combo - can we only use adhesive tape to attach them?

[freshzive]

so stable, loving it

325.47 MH/s | 0: 12498/58/68 0.5%/0.5% | 1: 12523/65/76 0.5%/0.6% | 3d21h2m | AH00WOWI

[99Percent]

I am interested in trying out these boards but I noticed the ones with heat sinks are sold out.

Any suggestions on how to get these heatsinks separately?

It would be cool if these boards had the holes for mounting chipset cooling systems like the ones the LX-150 board has (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=45532). That way I might even try a water cooling system chaining the blocks of several X6500 boards to a pump.

[fizzisist]

so stable, loving it

325.47 MH/s | 0: 12498/58/68 0.5%/0.5% | 1: 12523/65/76 0.5%/0.6% | 3d21h2m | AH00WOWI

That is a beautiful status line!

Looking at the picture of the X6500 without heatsinks on Cablesaurus.com, it appears there is no mounting holes for a heatsink/fan combo - can we only use adhesive tape to attach them?

For the stock heatsinks, we are using thermal tape. Mounting holes would have been nice, though. If you really want them, you might be able to build something that could use the existing mount holes. I'm not sure exactly how that would work out.

If you're really wanting the one with installed heatsinks, Cablesaurus will have them in stock again in a few days. Sorry, but we got a little backlogged!

[shad]

running so perfect since the last update

308.98 MH/s | 0: 2785/24/0 0.9%/0.0% | 1: 2794/27/0 1.0%/0.0% | 20h37m | 322.79MH/s <=overall hashrate

big thx to all the hardware & software developer

[c_k]

For the stock heatsinks, we are using thermal tape. Mounting holes would have been nice, though. If you really want them, you might be able to build something that could use the existing mount holes. I'm not sure exactly how that would work out.

If you're really wanting the one with installed heatsinks, Cablesaurus will have them in stock again in a few days. Sorry, but we got a little backlogged!

It's ok for now, I'm just pondering how I'd attach something like http://www.xilence.net/en/products/cpu-cooler/intel-cpu-cooler/product/224802.html

I guess it's too big

[SamHa1n]

Any clue why I get these errors? It's on vista.

[thirdlight]

A few of us have seen that "ZeroDivision" error when pre-processing an unprocessed bitstream. Just run program.py again & it should work fine.

The other errors may be due to running mine.py on an unprogrammed board. Fix the first & you may well fix the second!

[shad]

i looked that division/0 up and i guess you are not on the latest version because it is fixed

[thirdlight]

Maybe time for fizzisist to make a release?

[SamHa1n]

Thank you for the suggestion.

i looked that division/0 up and i guess you are not on the latest version because it is fixed

Latest version of what? bitstream? program script?

[shad]

https://github.com/fizzisist/x6500-miner/zipball/master

works good your me

[SamHa1n]

found it. thanks. maybe a more prominent placement for the github link on fpgaminers.com might help for blind bastards like myself

[shad]

its the development tree

but thirdlight wrote its stable on his board(s) and no one other has a problem, i think it would be worth a release, maybe 0.3

[fizzisist]

its the development tree

but thirdlight wrote its stable on his board(s) and no one other has a problem, i think it would be worth a release, maybe 0.3

You're absolutely right, I should have tagged that as v0.3 as soon as thirdlight confirmed that it fixed his problem. Compared to v0.2, we fixed to two bugs and increased the speed of communication with the FPGA which for most people resulted in an increase in effective hashrate. This upgrade is definitely recommended for everyone, and you can download it now from http://fpgamining.com/software .

And while we're at it, why not release a new bitstream, too? I just posted the 180MHz for download at http://fpgamining.com/bitstreams . This comes along with an even more stern warning about cooling. If you're using a dinky fan, running it at a reduced voltage, and just kinda pointing it at the board, it's probably not enough for this clock rate. After loading the new bitstream, keep a close eye on it for the first few hours. Touch the PCB with your finger to see if it feels hot. Watch the invalid rate and watch the overall hashrate. Either of those can be indicators of an overheating FPGA.

[sadpandatech]

And while we're at it, why not release a new bitstream, too? I just posted the 180MHz for download at http://fpgamining.com/bitstreams .

If I had a daughter, you'd be her husband! 

And read the warning people! Hot = bad. keep em cool!

cheers

[allinvain]

its the development tree

but thirdlight wrote its stable on his board(s) and no one other has a problem, i think it would be worth a release, maybe 0.3

You're absolutely right, I should have tagged that as v0.3 as soon as thirdlight confirmed that it fixed his problem. Compared to v0.2, we fixed to two bugs and increased the speed of communication with the FPGA which for most people resulted in an increase in effective hashrate. This upgrade is definitely recommended for everyone, and you can download it now from http://fpgamining.com/software .

And while we're at it, why not release a new bitstream, too? I just posted the 180MHz for download at http://fpgamining.com/bitstreams . This comes along with an even more stern warning about cooling. If you're using a dinky fan, running it at a reduced voltage, and just kinda pointing it at the board, it's probably not enough for this clock rate. After loading the new bitstream, keep a close eye on it for the first few hours. Touch the PCB with your finger to see if it feels hot. Watch the invalid rate and watch the overall hashrate. Either of those can be indicators of an overheating FPGA.

Well, instead of just stern warnings how about some general recommended guidelines that we can follow when looking for a cooling solution? What do you consider adequate, and what is a "dinky fan" to you? How about making a version of the board with mounting holes so we can attach northbridge coolers (heatsink + fan) or maybe something bigger. Maybe come up with an optional cooling solution for your fpga that customers can purchase - this way they can rest assured that the fpga board will be cooled properly at 180 Mhz.

[coblee]

I have 2 of these pointing at 2 x6500's: http://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Mobile-External-Cooling-AF0007/dp/B002OJN250/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1326912959&sr=8-4

That should make them cool enough, right?

[shad]

188mhz is getting really hot on the down-side

i would love to see someone selling a costum watercooling block, but i guess i have to build a air solution :-(

where do i get the board "feets" with double lenght so that i can screw it from both sides?