Look... all these GPU miners waste 100% CPU time for nothing... WHY?!

[iopq]

tl;dr use 11.6 with 2.1 SDK
http://developer.amd.com/sdks/AMDAPPSDK/downloads/pages/AMDAPPSDKDownloadArchive.aspx

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[sveetsnelda]

I had 100% cpu problems on Linux before rolling back to the 11.6 driver. So you're saying with this environment variable set I could probably move up to newer drivers without the cpu going bananas?

Correct.

Is there a good reason on Linux for wanting to use newer drivers? I should probably resist the temptation to muck up a system running smoothly now.

Good question.  I'm actually not sure.  I doubt it though.

[-ck]

On Linux, 11.6 driver with ANY sdk is fine. 2.1, 2.4 and 2.5 do not chew up CPU. It's all in the driver. 11.7 and 11.8 drivers use 100% CPU no matter how many cards you use, nor if you set that environment variable or not.

A fix for that would be most appreciated.

[ssateneth]

tl;dr use 11.6 with 2.1 SDK
http://developer.amd.com/sdks/AMDAPPSDK/downloads/pages/AMDAPPSDKDownloadArchive.aspx

I tried 11.6 with 2.1 sdk and phoenix 1.6.2 with diapolo's phatk kernel (phatk 2.2 doesnt support sdk 2.1 for some reason), still had 100% cpu with 1 graphics card. wouldve tried guiminer but it needs 2.4 sdk or higher.

sapphire 5830, win7 x64 ultimate, above stuff.

[FalconFour]

I tried 11.6 with 2.1 sdk and phoenix 1.6.2 with diapolo's phatk kernel (phatk 2.2 doesnt support sdk 2.1 for some reason), still had 100% cpu with 1 graphics card. wouldve tried guiminer but it needs 2.4 sdk or higher.

sapphire 5830, win7 x64 ultimate, above stuff.

"durr, hurr, this is noobie stuff, hurr, you're doing it wrong, hurr hurr read the note on your forehead, hurr."

- quoth the beginning of this topic.
(to: everyone else ITT, not at quoted:)
Guess it's not such an easy problem to solve after all, huh. Maybe if people would look past the low post count and actually read what people (e.g. I) actually wrote in their posts, more stuff like this would come to light and get resolved. Are we done durr-hurring that everyone except the little falcon-brain has their stuff working 100% properly?

BTW, I found that the CPU-usage problem occurs any time the client tries to make the GPU work harder than it wants to work, with the "golden" 11.6 drivers all set up properly. Feed too high an "aggression" setting at it, and it'll slow the desktop responsiveness down, but send CPU usage through the roof. Pretty easy to screw up a setting like that, considering there are no warnings against doing so... doesn't sound so "durr hurr" to me.

[iopq]

tl;dr use 11.6 with 2.1 SDK
http://developer.amd.com/sdks/AMDAPPSDK/downloads/pages/AMDAPPSDKDownloadArchive.aspx

I tried 11.6 with 2.1 sdk and phoenix 1.6.2 with diapolo's phatk kernel (phatk 2.2 doesnt support sdk 2.1 for some reason), still had 100% cpu with 1 graphics card. wouldve tried guiminer but it needs 2.4 sdk or higher.

sapphire 5830, win7 x64 ultimate, above stuff.

what? I've used phatk2.2 with 2.1 SDK

[ssateneth]

phatk 2.2 was saying that it doesn't support my graphics cards when I had 11.6 and 2.1 SDK installed.

Regardless, I tried diapalo's phatk and the cpu bug was there anyways. Too much of a headache so i went back to 11.8 2.5

[ArtForz]

Just tested, cgminer happily mining at 1% CPU on a win7 box on dual 6970s, cat 11.6 (driver only) + sdk 2.4

[PcChip]

All five of my Win7 boxes have always had Phoenix1.5 and CGminer eat up 100% of the CPUs with various catalyst versions and always SDK2.4+


To the OP - For changing ram clocks, try MSI Afterburner Beta, TriXX, and BarelyClocked.  I use combinations of those utilities throughout my Win7 boxes on my LAN with TightVNC and have every card at 300 MHz RAM (except the one my 3 year old uses to play Starcraft2, obviously)

[iopq]

All five of my Win7 boxes have always had Phoenix1.5 and CGminer eat up 100% of the CPUs with various catalyst versions and always SDK2.4+


To the OP - For changing ram clocks, try MSI Afterburner Beta, TriXX, and BarelyClocked.  I use combinations of those utilities throughout my Win7 boxes on my LAN with TightVNC and have every card at 300 MHz RAM (except the one my 3 year old uses to play Starcraft2, obviously)

sc2 runs fine for me, even while mining
even while underclocking ram

[PrEzi]

New leaked version of Catalyst drivers 11.9

Build Info:
 DriverVer=08/10/2011, 8.890.0.0000
 8.89-110810a2-124125C

Is 100% CPU Usage free during OpenCL computations!
You can get it from Guru3D forums
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=350638

[CosicMiner]

Trying out 11.9 and still experiencing 100% CPU.
Win7 X64 Dual 6990 rig.

[Grinder]

Just tested, cgminer happily mining at 1% CPU on a win7 box on dual 6970s, cat 11.6 (driver only) + sdk 2.4

Can you specify what you mean by "driver only"? I have W7 64 bit, 2x6950, cat 11.6, sdk 2.4 and cgminer, and it still uses 100% cpu.

[Starcraftman]

New leaked version of Catalyst drivers 11.9

Build Info:
 DriverVer=08/10/2011, 8.890.0.0000
 8.89-110810a2-124125C

Is 100% CPU Usage free during OpenCL computations!
You can get it from Guru3D forums
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=350638

This mostly worked, cpu usage reduced to 2-3 percent with phoenix 1.6.2. , WORKSIZE=128 AGGRESSION=8. Oddly, cpu usage goes up with any aggression level that's higher or lower than 8 for me.

[gogusrl]

https://i.imgur.com/hXPNWl.jpg

Sempron 140 with 3 x 6950 modded to 6970. Cata 11.6. Hashing speed drops when I connect with teamviewer on the computer and ~10% cpu is teamviewer alone.

[flower1024]

Hell, maybe I'll throw a 0.02bcn donation to the first guy that can actually reply in a civilized manner, like the experienced tech I am, not some kind of computer-newbie...

did you try cgminer and did it have the same issue?

if yes: driver fault, if no: you're right and it could be phonenix.

sorry cant't help further

did i qualify for the 0.02btc

[Grinder]

Perhaps it's because my Windows machine has an Intel CPU? Anyone with Intel able to avoid 100% CPU usage with more than one AMD 69xx GPU?

[Xenomorph]

The first time I experienced the 100% CPU bug was with an NVidia card (GeForce GT 330M). When I started mining I tried that and other NVidia cards (including a 9800 GX2 and 8800 GT).
Things were mostly fine when I switched to ATI cards. Two 5830s and a 5750. Catalyst 11.6 drivers, 0% CPU.

When I finally upgraded to Catalyst 11.8, then every single system hit 100% CPU. Setting the priority to "Below Normal" prevents it from slowing things down, but my CPUs still generates heat when at 100% load, 24/7.

I use GUIMiner, and it doesn't recognize my ATI cards when I use older drivers and SDK.

[ssateneth]

Sempron 140 with 3 x 6950 modded to 6970. Cata 11.6. Hashing speed drops when I connect with teamviewer on the computer and ~10% cpu is teamviewer alone.

which sdk? 2.1, 2.4, or 2.5?

[Grinder]

which sdk? 2.1, 2.4, or 2.5?

2.1 never gives 100% cpu, but unfortunately that doesn't support AMD 6xxx GPUs.