X6500 Custom FPGA Miner

[nbtcminer]

@All / Fizzisit:

Could we use something like this to host a bunch of X6500?

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

[1713298893]

1713298893

[1713298893]

1713298893

[1713298893]

1713298893

[shad]

@All / Fizzisit:

Could we use something like this to host a bunch of X6500?

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

i don't think you have one of those
first round of those to public will be out of stock in hours

but i hope it supports opencl

if you want to use an ARM-CPU you can do this, i managed to get MPBM running on openwrt

[TheSeven]

How difficult would be to daisy chain the USB, and power?

USB can't easily be daisy chained (would require a 2-port USB hub on each board, and you may only chain something like 6 hubs total (including hubs that are possibly integrated in the PC).

@TheSeven:

I'm glad you noticed the FPGA 0 / 1 invalid thing too. I didn't think much of it at first but I think it might be more hardware related then anything (I experienced the same issue of FPGA 1 generating more invalids then FPGA 0, which usually had 0% invalids). However having said that I'm at about 0.2% invalids on FPGA 1 and 0 % on FPGA 0 after 4 days of 24/7 mining so I'm not really too concerned about it at the moment.

BTW with regards to the plastic surface on the FPGA; do you think the anodized aluminum will do as good of a job as a full copper heatsink? I think a copper heatsink + good thermal compound (and/or epoxy) + active cooling should do the trick of eliminating overheating as a source of mh/s degradation.

Cheers,
nbtcminer

Hm, very interesting. The results I got from MPBM show a slight bias towards FPGA0, fizzisist's x6500-miner results show a bias towards FPGA1. Might after all be related to how x6500-miner deals with the FPGA alternatingly while MPBM manages them in parallel or something like that.
An aluminum heatsink certainly can't keep up with a copper one, but I don't think it really matters much whether the heatsink is like 2°C cooler if the temperature difference between the die and heatsink is like 20°C because of the FPGA's nasty package. So yes, it might improve things, but it might just not be worth it, some airflow around the ground plane of the PCB might have a bigger effect. (All guesstimations, feel free to prove me wrong )

the x6500 miner software seems to have some trouble with p2pool, after some hours of work with avarage 5% rejected 0 stale shares the miner just pulls blocks but doesnt provide any shares, have to restart the software to make it work again. does someone have this aswell with p2pool ?

The way the X6500 communicates with the controlling PC works well for regular bitcoin mining, but introduces some latency (a couple of milliseconds) that hurt P2Pool a lot at its very high block rate. So you should expect degraded efficiency when using an X6500 with P2Pool. This might be addressed in a future board revision. (The miner software might also have an impact, but it isn't all that big.)

@All / Fizzisit:

Could we use something like this to host a bunch of X6500?

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

Should work with MPBM and possibly also with X6500-miner if libd2xx is available for ARM platforms and the board can handle it performance-wise.
I'd say that with MPBM up to 4 boards should work well, if you have more you might run into performance issues.

[nbtcminer]

Yeah the hardware is pretty sick for the price (the concept is also very very cool) but yeah I'll probably not be able to get my hands on of these ;(

And yes! I would totally love to see how you got MPBM working on OpenWRT!!! I can always get my hands on a TP-Link 1043nd and then run my X6500 off the USB port! Quick question: Have you noticed any mh/s difference between running an X6500 off an ARM platform vs a regular PC?


Cheers,

nbtcminer

@All / Fizzisit:

Could we use something like this to host a bunch of X6500?

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

i don't think you have one of those
first round of those to public will be out of stock in hours

but i hope it supports opencl

if you want to use an ARM-CPU you can do this, i managed to get MPBM running on openwrt

[shad]

Have you noticed any mh/s difference between running an X6500 off an ARM platform vs a regular PC?

no, but i didn't make e long term test

on my wrt54gl i wasn't able to install python because of diskspace, maybe it would be possible to mount an usb stick
on my buffalo wrz-hp-ag300h-eu it runs fine, cpu usage was about 40%

[99Percent]

Maybe instead of daisy chaining USB, the board can come with its own bus, so they can be easily added without having to use more USBs and power cables.

[ZodiacDragon84]

Maybe instead of daisy chaining USB, the board can come with its own bus, so they can be easily added without having to use more USBs and power cables.

or create a 6 card max backplane?

[Pipesnake]

And yes! I would totally love to see how you got MPBM working on OpenWRT!!!

+1

[fizzisist]

Heh you should have come up with all these suggestions a month ago when the new board was being designed.   I for one much prefer power one side, usb the other. The rev3 board, for me is completely optimal.

You're right, too late for this revision! But, they're great ideas and we're always looking to improve. We're collecting all of these ideas and keeping them in mind as we plan for the future.

[fizzisist]

Hi fizzisist,

could a fully passive cooler like this, one per fpga, be enough?

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12775/vid-165/Deep_Cool_Nbridge_8_Northbridge_Chipset_Cooler.html?tl=g40c16s500&id=sLNsfH2v

spiccioli

Actually, someone (mike2kt) has already tested that cooler and shared his results by email. Here's what he says:

I would post a reply, but my stupid account is still locked from posting.
 
The cooler he is linking to is the one I’ve been using full time for the past few weeks.
 
The answer is YES, they will work passively on the 200Mhz bitstream given clearance around and above the board.
 
However, I personally still run a small 80mm, 40 CFM fan (Panaflo H1A) blowing across the board just to keep the other components cool. The fan is silent for all intents and purposes.

[mike2kt]

At last I can post! Thank you fizzisist!

Here is a shot of the "Deep Cool Nbridge 8 Northbridge Chipset Cooler" set. I have a 5 lbs weight to hold them down on the rev 2 board at the moment. The fan in the photo is a Delta screamer and not the Panaflo I use daily. Obviously the Delta puts out a lot more CFM then the 40 CFM Panaflo, but the invalid rate (<0.3 @200Mhz) is the same between the two fans from my testing.



CYA Disclaimer: this is a rev 2 board that I push to the edge. Until the rev 3 boards arrive with proper heatsink mounts, I can’t recommend ANYONE else try the unconventional tests I’ve been running. I have thermal sensors, voltage monitors and additional inline fuses that are not standard to protect the rev 2 board (100% automatic cutoff if anything is out-of-range).

- M2KT

Actually, someone (mike2kt) has already tested that cooler and shared his results by email. Here's what he says:

I would post a reply, but my stupid account is still locked from posting.
 
The cooler he is linking to is the one I’ve been using full time for the past few weeks.
 
The answer is YES, they will work passively on the 200Mhz bitstream given clearance around and above the board.
 
However, I personally still run a small 80mm, 40 CFM fan (Panaflo H1A) blowing across the board just to keep the other components cool. The fan is silent for all intents and purposes.

[cypherdoc]

At last I can post! Thank you fizzisist!

Here is a shot of the "Deep Cool Nbridge 8 Northbridge Chipset Cooler" set. I have a 5 lbs weight to hold them down on the rev 2 board at the moment. The fan in the photo is a Delta screamer and not the Panaflo I use daily. Obviously the Delta puts out a lot more CFM then the 40 CFM Panaflo, but the invalid rate (<0.3 @200Mhz) is the same between the two fans from my testing.



CYA Disclaimer: this is a rev 2 board that I push to the edge. Until the rev 3 boards arrive with proper heatsink mounts, I can’t recommend ANYONE else try the unconventional tests I’ve been running. I have thermal sensors, voltage monitors and additional inline fuses that are not standard to protect the rev 2 board (100% automatic cutoff if anything is out-of-range).

- M2KT

Actually, someone (mike2kt) has already tested that cooler and shared his results by email. Here's what he says:

I would post a reply, but my stupid account is still locked from posting.
 
The cooler he is linking to is the one I’ve been using full time for the past few weeks.
 
The answer is YES, they will work passively on the 200Mhz bitstream given clearance around and above the board.
 
However, I personally still run a small 80mm, 40 CFM fan (Panaflo H1A) blowing across the board just to keep the other components cool. The fan is silent for all intents and purposes.

LOL, that is some crazy sh*t!

[nbtcminer]

@ mike2kt:

Holy! That is one crazy setup! (had to comment on how crazy it was lol)

That aside, why don't you epoxy the heatinks down and the the fan closer to the heatsinks?

At last I can post! Thank you fizzisist!

Here is a shot of the "Deep Cool Nbridge 8 Northbridge Chipset Cooler" set. I have a 5 lbs weight to hold them down on the rev 2 board at the moment. The fan in the photo is a Delta screamer and not the Panaflo I use daily. Obviously the Delta puts out a lot more CFM then the 40 CFM Panaflo, but the invalid rate (<0.3 @200Mhz) is the same between the two fans from my testing.



CYA Disclaimer: this is a rev 2 board that I push to the edge. Until the rev 3 boards arrive with proper heatsink mounts, I can’t recommend ANYONE else try the unconventional tests I’ve been running. I have thermal sensors, voltage monitors and additional inline fuses that are not standard to protect the rev 2 board (100% automatic cutoff if anything is out-of-range).

- M2KT

Actually, someone (mike2kt) has already tested that cooler and shared his results by email. Here's what he says:

I would post a reply, but my stupid account is still locked from posting.
 
The cooler he is linking to is the one I’ve been using full time for the past few weeks.
 
The answer is YES, they will work passively on the 200Mhz bitstream given clearance around and above the board.
 
However, I personally still run a small 80mm, 40 CFM fan (Panaflo H1A) blowing across the board just to keep the other components cool. The fan is silent for all intents and purposes.

[mike2kt]

@ mike2kt:

Holy! That is one crazy setup! (had to comment on how crazy it was lol)

That aside, why don't you epoxy the heatinks down and the the fan closer to the heatsinks?

Let's just say that’s not my first X6500 board. I used to test with a mix of arctic silver epoxy and regular arctic silver. Not a good solution for frequent swaps. As for the fan in that picture, it moves 81.5CFM. Interestingly enough, I get MORE invalids on core 0 (the core closest to the fan) if I put it right next to the board (large magnetic field).

This board is used more like a test mule rather than "just a miner."

-M2KT

[TheHarbinger]

Still waiting to see an oil immersion cooling setup.   

[SamHa1n]

[malavita]

+1 

[Pipesnake]

SamHa1n what enclosure is that?

[cypherdoc]

is that a combined fan/heatsink?  what brand/model?  what do the numbers represent on the readout at the top?

[N.Olmos]

This. I think.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835999020