Can't break 700Kh/s with 280X Dual-X OC (11221-00-20G)

[mezza550]

Hi everyone,

(TL;DR Stuck at sub 700 with 11221-00-20G. Trying for a solid week with little improvement... Feel like I've tried everything... please help!)

Just a quick note before I start, this is concerning the Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Dual-X OC (11221-00-20G) graphics card. There are many flavors of 280X cards out there, some very similar yet it seems to me that any advice that's not directly tailored to the 11221-00-20G doesn't help (or at least hasn't so far) So if we can please keep discussion here limited to that card (and not 7970's, Asus 280X's... etc. etc.) I would greatly appreciate it.

I've spoken with many people at other sites, and met many people who have had similar issues in the past, but I cannot seem to find anyone who hasn't been able to resolve their initial difficulty getting their 11221-00-20G GPU's running at optimal performance. I've read that some people get them going up to the 740 range. Some people even get 700+ right out the box (say what!!?)

I am running 3 cards right now and the fourth one will be installed in a day or two. Presently they are topping out at 670-680Kh/s each. Not terrible and much better than I had at first, but obviously I'm missing out on at least 60Kh for each card and want to make the most out of the electricity they are consuming.

To begin with, here is my hardware setup: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsTxUyvOU-ZtdFFTcWszR0dBOEFEY2RSYVZxbTVRTnc&usp=sharing

Computer has Windows ultimate x64 installed, no unnecessary software installed in addition (except chrome because ie can suck it!!)

Drivers and SDK:
13.250.18.0 & AMD APP SDK 2.9

Should I try using older drivers? Older SDK?

Miner:
Most all of my tests have involved using cgminer 3.7.2. However I started using sgminer 4.0.0 a few days ago and saw my performance increase about 20Kh/s per card (moving from 660ish to 680ish). Also running CGWatcher to ensure miner stays alive when I'm away.

Am I using the right miner??

Miner .bin and files:
I've downloaded several .bin files but unfortunately I haven't found any yet that made any meaningful difference. And some made my hash rate plummet.

Vbios:
It sounds like this isn't something that I should need to mess with, but I have experimented regardless since I had tried almost all other options. I'm using the bios that the cards come with right now (015.042.000.001.000000) because it has given me the best performance. I installed older versions but saw either no gains or major losses. (Tried 015.041 and 015.039 as well as some customized bios from the_stilt, to no avail)

Settings:
I've tried many, many configurations. Self experimentation as well as input from other members here and on Reddit. To date the best configuration I've found is this one:

--lookup-gap 2 --thread-concurrency 8192,8192,8192 -g 2 -I 13 -w 256 --auto-fan --gpu-fan 30-85,30-85,30-85 --temp-cutoff 90,90,90 --temp-overheat 85,85,85 --temp-target 75,75,75 --gpu-memclock 1500,1500,1500 --gpu-engine 1030,1030,1030 --gpu-powertune -20,-20,-20 --expiry 15 --scan-time 15 --queue 0

I haven't seen any real difference when I mess with these settings. Thread concurrency (8192 vs. 11200), Gpu-engine (anything outside of 1020-1040 seems to reduce hashrate) gpu-memclock (doesn't seem to matter what this is, nothing changes up or down when I adjust)

Power / Cooling:
My rig is powered by two 750watt EVGA psu's, connected with an add2psu device (as listed in my google doc), and each powersupply is providing energy for two cards at the most (currently 2 on one and 1 on the other, until I setup the 4th card anyways). Also my pci riser cables are each powered. I also have a box fan directly on the rig 24/7, and my sgwindow tells me that the cards are staying around 73C. So I'm pretty sure nothing is wrong here, but I'm listing it out just in case.

Voltage & Under volting, etc:
I am not doing this at present.

So that's it... It seems to me like I'm not dealing with faulty hardware since I have three of these cards all more or less performing the same. Whenever I've been stuck like this with computer problems previously, I usually find out that I made some false assumption in the way I did things, or that something obvious was wrong that I just need to fix that one thing before everything goes right. Whether it's building a Hackintosh or troubleshooting a python script- the answer usually slaps me in the face one day and I thinking to myself "Well obviously..." But thus far it hasn't happened and I feel like I'm running out of options to try.

Any input would be more than appreciated! Thanks

[Gunther]

Interesting topic, will watch.

[kikeda]

I have 2 .42 bios vapor x and they have been doing fine out of the box, also don't downgrade to .41 since people are experiencing issues on vrm throttling on .41 bios.

Whats your CPU? lowend like sempron?

[crazyates]

Change your powertune from -20 to +20. I always run mine at +20.

[mezza550]

I have 2 .42 bios vapor x and they have been doing fine out of the box, also don't downgrade to .41 since people are experiencing issues on vrm throttling on .41 bios.

Whats your CPU? lowend like sempron?

Yup, sempron cpu (should have no impact on gpu performance though... right?)

For bios, to be clear, you're saying to use the bios for the vapor-x card on these sapphire cards right? The 11221-00-20G's.

[uranian]

Change your powertune from -20 to +20. I always run mine at +20.

how does that affect the watts that the cards draw? i'm not sure i understand how undervolting the cards and the powertune settings affect each other.

[uranian]

mezza, read this thread:

https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=12369.0

it helped me (after weeks of frustration) get my 7970 (which is basically the same as your 280x card, i believe) from 550kh/s to 750kh/s. it's crappy BIOS settings in the cards; there's a member there who has written a bunch of new BIOS settings that much improve the cards. as long as you have the ability to boot from USB, you can always reflash the BIOS, so while bricking the card is temporary PITA, it's not hard work to just flash again. just make you save your original working BIOS in case everything goes south and you end up at 0 kh/s

oh, read the OP, eh? sorry, i see you've seen the stilt's BIOS updates. can't help then, sorry.

[mezza550]

oh, read the OP, eh? sorry, i see you've seen the stilt's BIOS updates. can't help then, sorry.

Hey Uranian, Actually what I did in that case was download a Stilt modified bio that was for a different person who said they had the same card. Ended up making that card completely non-functional, until I switched the bios switch to the UEFI setting on the card after which it became recognized again. It's possible that that resulted because I wasn't using bios specifically modified for my card though(?). Also, are you saying that using those modified bios was solely responsible for your +200Kh/s increase?

thanks for your input

[ozkraut]

try 8191 with 1065/1500. Getting +_ 750 stable for days. Just going fom 8192 to 8191 got me +100kh

[Victoo]

mezza, read this thread:

https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=12369.0

it helped me (after weeks of frustration) get my 7970 (which is basically the same as your 280x card, i believe) from 550kh/s to 750kh/s. it's crappy BIOS settings in the cards; there's a member there who has written a bunch of new BIOS settings that much improve the cards. as long as you have the ability to boot from USB, you can always reflash the BIOS, so while bricking the card is temporary PITA, it's not hard work to just flash again. just make you save your original working BIOS in case everything goes south and you end up at 0 kh/s

oh, read the OP, eh? sorry, i see you've seen the stilt's BIOS updates. can't help then, sorry.

It's a helpful thread.

[c275]

copy that config

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=443809.msg5010532#msg5010532

[uranian]

oh, read the OP, eh? sorry, i see you've seen the stilt's BIOS updates. can't help then, sorry.

Hey Uranian, Actually what I did in that case was download a Stilt modified bio that was for a different person who said they had the same card. Ended up making that card completely non-functional, until I switched the bios switch to the UEFI setting on the card after which it became recognized again. It's possible that that resulted because I wasn't using bios specifically modified for my card though(?). Also, are you saying that using those modified bios was solely responsible for your +200Kh/s increase?

thanks for your input

not just the BIOS; I was surprised that the thread concurrency made a massive difference when I'd flashed the BIOS. Even after the BIOS update, if I didn't use exactly the settings recommended by stilt, my hash rate didn't change. I had to use both the BIOS update and the exact settings he recommended to get the 200kh/s extra. Good luck with your card, I understand your frustrations. I'm wondering about buying exactly some of the card you have in a week or 3, so keeping an eye on this thread with interest. Did you try crazyates' suggestion about the powertune settings? He appears to know what he's doing.

[kikeda]

I have 2 .42 bios vapor x and they have been doing fine out of the box, also don't downgrade to .41 since people are experiencing issues on vrm throttling on .41 bios.

Whats your CPU? lowend like sempron?

Yup, sempron cpu (should have no impact on gpu performance though... right?)

For bios, to be clear, you're saying to use the bios for the vapor-x card on these sapphire cards right? The 11221-00-20G's.

does your hashrate drop when you use your desktop? like opening a browser or setting trixx and etc?

[mezza550]

Change your powertune from -20 to +20. I always run mine at +20.

Thanks for this, but unfortunately adjusting it in to the positive didn't have any real impact. 

[mezza550]

try 8191 with 1065/1500. Getting +_ 750 stable for days. Just going fom 8192 to 8191 got me +100kh

Hey Ozkraut, I'm using your settings now and am sitting pretty stable around 675ish. I'll let it run a few hours and see if it gradually moves up or stabilizes. If anything, your post confuses me more than ever- 8191? But whatever, if it works, I don't care!

[mezza550]

It's a helpful thread.

As it happens, I posted in that thread yesterday and Stilt responded today telling me that my bios do not need adjustment. I followed up with a question about my settings but so far no response from him. I was surprised that there was no room for improvement, because my performance profile matches his OP description of underperforming 280X cards almost exactly. The quest continues... I just hope I'm not at retirement age by the time I get this &!%@!! rig working at full performance.

[ozkraut]

try 8191 with 1065/1500. Getting +_ 750 stable for days. Just going fom 8192 to 8191 got me +100kh

Hey Ozkraut, I'm using your settings now and am sitting pretty stable around 675ish. I'll let it run a few hours and see if it gradually moves up or stabilizes. If anything, your post confuses me more than ever- 8191? But whatever, if it works, I don't care!

Yeah it's funny. 8192 gets me high 500's early 6's. Just that one less gets it going. Same problem for even higher for higher values in the 11000 / 16000 bracket. Anything from 380 to 485. Maybe something doesn't flush properly and leaving a little scratch space free to go at all times might be it. Bute really I have no idea. 675 is still a bit low though. Windoze or linux ? I'm talking sgminer / cgminer under bamt 1.3 here. With G2 btw, I 13

[mezza550]

copy that config

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=443809.msg5010532#msg5010532

I wish! I copied those settings and my hash rate plummeted down to 400Kh/s :-/

[mezza550]

Yeah it's funny. 8192 gets me high 500's early 6's. Just that one less gets it going. Same problem for even higher for higher values in the 11000 / 16000 bracket. Anything from 380 to 485. Maybe something doesn't flush properly and leaving a little scratch space free to go at all times might be it. Bute really I have no idea. 675 is still a bit low though. Windoze or linux ? I'm talking sgminer / cgminer under bamt 1.3 here. With G2 btw, I 13

I'm running Win7x64 Ultimate, using SGMiner 4.0.0. Also just so we're on the same page, you're using the same card as me, the 11221-00-20G right?

BAMT might be something I'll look in to next if I run out of options completely (headed there fast...) I'm a total linux noob though and won't know what to do if I run in to configuration issues. When you install BAMT, it's not actually overwriting anything on the hard drive right? So in theory I could just run bamt on a usb stick and then if I needed to switch back to Microsoft land I could simply reboot and remove the usb drive?

[mezza550]

not just the BIOS; I was surprised that the thread concurrency made a massive difference when I'd flashed the BIOS. Even after the BIOS update, if I didn't use exactly the settings recommended by stilt, my hash rate didn't change. I had to use both the BIOS update and the exact settings he recommended to get the 200kh/s extra. Good luck with your card, I understand your frustrations. I'm wondering about buying exactly some of the card you have in a week or 3, so keeping an eye on this thread with interest. Did you try crazyates' suggestion about the powertune settings? He appears to know what he's doing.

Thanks for the sympathy, at this point I'll take anything I can get, lol. 650-675 isn't terrible and I'll still see a ROI with this setup in ~4 months, but it just bugs me that there are potential K-hashes left on the table. I guess we can categorize this one under 'first world problems' eh?

I did try crazyates suggestion, but it didn't make any difference as far as I'm aware. Not sure exactly what powertune does still- it's like wiggle room for the miner to increase or decrease the gpu-engine setting right?