X6500 Custom FPGA Miner

[fizzisist]

Hi guys! Ive been away (as you might have noticed) for the past couple of months (learning to fly gyrocopters FWIW) and so since I´ve returned I have finalized my order for the four Dominator FGPA boards. Happy to say they have just arrived and don´t those little munchins look beauuuuuuwtiful? 

I´m on a Mandriva linux box with a 32bit Intel BTW. So far I´ve installed the FTDI drivers. I then downloaded PyUSB-1.6-fizzisist-linux.tar.gz extracted it and attempted to install as per the instructions. Here´s where I have gotten a little stumped:

Code:

[root@localhost PyUSB-1.6-fizzisist-linux]# python setup.py build
running build
running build_py
warning: build_py: byte-compiling is disabled, skipping.

running build_ext
building 'd2xx._d2xx' extension
gcc -pthread -fno-strict-aliasing -O2 -g -frecord-gcc-switches -Wstrict-aliasing=2 -pipe -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -fomit-frame-pointer -mtune=generic -march=i586 -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -DNDEBUG -O2 -g -frecord-gcc-switches -Wstrict-aliasing=2 -pipe -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wp,-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -fomit-frame-pointer -mtune=generic -march=i586 -fasynchronous-unwind-tables -g -fPIC -Iftdi-win32 -I/usr/include/python2.7 -c d2xx/_d2xx.c -o build/temp.linux-i686-2.7/d2xx/_d2xx.o
In file included from d2xx/_d2xx.c:23:0:
d2xx/_d2xx.h:23:20: fatal error: Python.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
error: command 'gcc' failed with exit status 1
[root@localhost PyUSB-1.6-fizzisist-linux]#

I never have any joy when expected to compile code in order to install it... NEVER.  I figured there was something missing between Python and gcc, so I installed a package (gcc-plugin-python), but this had no effect. Any ideas? 

Welcome back!!

I think that's an easy problem to fix, and I saw it when I installed on Linuxcoin a while back. You need the developer version of python:
apt-get install python-dev (or whatever Mandriva uses for packages)

Hopefully that does it.

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[fizzisist]

In addition to cooler mounting holes, I would like to see the power supply come from the 12V pin as opposed to the 5V pin as the standard configuration.  The reason being, most power supplies manufactured now are able to supply far more power down the 12v rail than the 5v rail.  While this may not be a big deal for most end users running just a few of these, I'm debating on buying (If I can get the funding) 20 or more and having to switch them all myself from 5V to 12V doesn't sound like happy fun time.

Yep, this is planned for the next revision as well. But, switching them over isn't as hard as it sounds. I use one adapter modified like so and then a Molex splitter like the one Cablesaurus sells to connect to the stack of 5 boards. Works great for me!

I'm wondering, do you folks have any recommendations for heatsinks we should allow for (in terms of clearance and mounting hole locations)? If you have a heatsink at hand and are willing to measure it, we can try to make the next board compatible with it. Unfortunately, most of these Northbridge heatsinks don't offer CAD drawings...

[TheHarbinger]

In addition to cooler mounting holes, I would like to see the power supply come from the 12V pin as opposed to the 5V pin as the standard configuration.  The reason being, most power supplies manufactured now are able to supply far more power down the 12v rail than the 5v rail.  While this may not be a big deal for most end users running just a few of these, I'm debating on buying (If I can get the funding) 20 or more and having to switch them all myself from 5V to 12V doesn't sound like happy fun time.

Yep, this is planned for the next revision as well. But, switching them over isn't as hard as it sounds. I use one adapter modified like so and then a Molex splitter like the one Cablesaurus sells to connect to the stack of 5 boards. Works great for me!

I'm wondering, do you folks have any recommendations for heatsinks we should allow for (in terms of clearance and mounting hole locations)? If you have a heatsink at hand and are willing to measure it, we can try to make the next board compatible with it. Unfortunately, most of these Northbridge heatsinks don't offer CAD drawings...

This...
"In doing this, you are bringing the 12V wire over to the pin where 5V is usually applied. If you forget and plug this adapter into some other device, you will probably blow it up."   

[shad]

anyone tried to make the miner-software tor-useable?
why? my pool has an .onion adress which should be avaible in case of ddos-attacks
i know tsocks should run on linux, but i am on windows, a open-source or freeware alternative would be nice but i didn't find something yet
as far as i get it i have to rewrite rpcclient.py

[JimRogers]

Hey guys,

Been following bitcoin for a year or so, speculating in it for a few months, considering mining for a few weeks and following the thread a few days. I'm pretty caught up on where everythings at and I'm looking to join the project.

Consider this my introduction and sincere thanks to Fizzisist and the other project leaders.

Looking to make a purchase on a board in the next week or so once my wall wort arrives.

Plan on running the board from my mac mini initially.

This is my first dive into mining but I think FPGA boards and the x6500 are an opportune entry point.

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing what we can build.

JR

[fizzisist]

Hey guys,

Been following bitcoin for a year or so, speculating in it for a few months, considering mining for a few weeks and following the thread a few days. I'm pretty caught up on where everythings at and I'm looking to join the project.

Consider this my introduction and sincere thanks to Fizzisist and the other project leaders.

Looking to make a purchase on a board in the next week or so once my wall wort arrives.

Plan on running the board from my mac mini initially.

This is my first dive into mining but I think FPGA boards and the x6500 are an opportune entry point.

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing what we can build.

JR

Welcome and thanks for the positive support!

anyone tried to make the miner-software tor-useable?
why? my pool has an .onion adress which should be avaible in case of ddos-attacks
i know tsocks should run on linux, but i am on windows, a open-source or freeware alternative would be nice but i didn't find something yet
as far as i get it i have to rewrite rpcclient.py

What exactly do you need to change? I'm not really familiar with the inner workings of tor. Do other miners work with it properly? If so, I'd be happy to incorporate whatever changes are needed.

[shad]

tor works over a proxy (socks5)

poclbm supports it since this commit
https://github.com/m0mchil/poclbm/commit/5e994e7af4ae3f5fba364b29ca6c49ef7f9f18b5

socks.py seams like a nice way for implementation

every connection must use the proxy

[fizzisist]

Anyone (besides fizzisist) successfully running the 180Mhz bitstream? Care to comment on your speed and what cooling you're using?

Given how stable the 166Mhz bitstream has been for me, not sure if the upgrade is worth it.

A quick update on my experiences with cooling. I was trying out 200 MHz on a few boards and saw one of them giving a lot of invalids (~8%) so I decided to make that the subject of an experiment with thermal epoxy. Without changing anything else in my setup (see this post), I popped those heatsinks off and glued them down with some Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive. After letting that cure with some weight clamping it down, I loaded up the 200 MHz bitstream and ran it for about a day and got this:

Code:

Running time: 21h43m
Getwork interval: 20 secs
FPGA 0:
  Accepted: 3586
  Rejected: 53 (1.46%)
  Invalid: 0 (0.00%)
  Hashrate (all nonces): 199.87 MH/s
  Hashrate (valid nonces): 199.87 MH/s
  Hashrate (accepted shares): 196.96 MH/s
FPGA 1:
  Accepted: 3545
  Rejected: 61 (1.69%)
  Invalid: 1 (0.03%)
  Hashrate (all nonces): 198.12 MH/s
  Hashrate (valid nonces): 198.06 MH/s
  Hashrate (accepted shares): 194.71 MH/s
Total hashrate for device: 397.99 MH/s / 397.94 MH/s / 391.68 MH/s

If anyone is having trouble with cooling, I suggest they give that a try! I have no idea how to remove a heatsink that's glued on, so only do this if you think you're satisfied with the stock heatsink. In fact, I'll try this out on a few more boards and see if the gains are consistent across the board.

[fizzisist]

Also, I removed the thermal tape on the heatsink by first peeling it off with my fingernail, then soaking the heatsinks for some time in alcohol. The adhesive residue came off completely. I wiped the tops of the FPGAs down with alcohol before gluing, as well.

[O_Shovah]

@ Fizzisist

Would you mind pointing me to that 200mhz bitstream or to the source ?
I would like to give it a try.

Ps:
I will post some thermal images of the board as i did it for icarus tonight.

[fizzisist]

@ Fizzisist

Would you mind pointing me to that 200mhz bitstream or to the source ?
I would like to give it a try.

Ps:
I will post some thermic images of the board as i did it for icarus tonight.

PM'd the bitstream. Thermal images would be amazing!

[li_gangyi]

O_shovah: you sure you use the thermal imager just for PCBs? xD hehehe

But yeah it'd be interesting to see.

Fizzi: told ya thermal epoxy makes a world of difference. I've been successful taking mine off by popping it off with a wide plastic spatula between the FPGA and the heatsink when it's warm. This way you don't put stress on the balls. You might crush the FPGA itself with too much force though. So it's still not a 100% solution especially if the epoxy is strong.

I was using this

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_thermal_adhesive.htm

I mixed up a small amount on a disposable spoon. Applied it to the center of my heatsink and put a 1KG weight on top of the heatsink overnight.

[Karmicads]

What version of python are you running? Try installing 2.6.7 and using that directly i.e.: python2.6 setup.py build

Thanks freshzive, I got the bug with the dev upgrade though.

[Karmicads]

I never have any joy when expected to compile code in order to install it... NEVER.  I figured there was something missing between Python and gcc, so I installed a package (gcc-plugin-python), but this had no effect. Any ideas? 

Welcome back!!

I think that's an easy problem to fix, and I saw it when I installed on Linuxcoin a while back. You need the developer version of python:
apt-get install python-dev (or whatever Mandriva uses for packages)

Hopefully that does it.

Yeah! Thanks fizz. That did it. Just have the one board mining @ 100 Mhz ATM. Iĺl have to buy some more cables and rig up a power supply to run all four boards but it does seem to be working.  Iḿ thinking of investing in another ten or so boards, then building up the farm as they generate bitcoin.

[coblee]

@ Fizzisist

Would you mind pointing me to that 200mhz bitstream or to the source ?
I would like to give it a try.

Ps:
I will post some thermic images of the board as i did it for icarus tonight.

PM'd the bitstream. Thermal images would be amazing!

Any reason why this bitstream isn't posted on http://fpgamining.com/bitstreams/ ?
I've ordered the thermal adhesive and would like to give it a try.

[O_Shovah]

As promised thermal pictures of the board.

Backside

From connector side

Loocking towards the fan

Roomtemperature 21°C
80mm Fan @ 10V
@180mhz
Camera: NEC IR Thermoshot F30

These pictures ist subject to the :
Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike (CC BY-SA) 3.0 Licence
please contact me if you need it.

I also did some measurements on the power consumption:

Measured at the barrel connector excluding power supply losses.
So just the power consumption of the board alone

1233mA @ 12,00V +  (1/3)* 256mA @ 10,00V [Fan] = 15,64 W

(under the asumption that one 80mm fan is sufficient for 3 boards)

Using Hameg laboratory power supply

For comparison Icarus :

1580 mA @ 12,00V = 18,96 W

[fizzisist]

@ Fizzisist

Would you mind pointing me to that 200mhz bitstream or to the source ?
I would like to give it a try.

Ps:
I will post some thermic images of the board as i did it for icarus tonight.

PM'd the bitstream. Thermal images would be amazing!

Any reason why this bitstream isn't posted on http://fpgamining.com/bitstreams/ ?
I've ordered the thermal adhesive and would like to give it a try.

Uploaded 200 MHz to the website.

[fizzisist]

As promised thermal pictures of the board.

Awesome! So, in the second image, is the heatsink on the right so much cooler because the fan is that much closer to it? Interesting.

And very nice work with the power measurement! Happy to see it so low, even when including 1/3 of a fan.

Thanks, O_Shovah!

[O_Shovah]

As promised thermal pictures of the board.

Awesome! So, in the second image, is the heatsink on the right so much cooler because the fan is that much closer to it? Interesting.

And very nice work with the power measurement! Happy to see it so low, even when including 1/3 of a fan.

Thanks, O_Shovah!

Well its my pleasure
Yes the right heatsink in the second and the one in the backround of the third picture.
The fan was ~ 50mm apart from the board.So the cooling effekt should be even better if its fixated closer.

Even if i may not be abled to bring my own FPGA project to frutition as it seems, adding some scientific measurements
to the projects around should be a profit for all participants

[Karmicads]

Any reason why this bitstream isn't posted on http://fpgamining.com/bitstreams/ ?
I've ordered the thermal adhesive and would like to give it a try.

                                 ^^ This ^^