Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 performance (+ 6x GPU in Windows 7 guide)

[prometheianz]

Scroll down the thread for the 6-GPU under Windows 7 guide.

I've got five 6-GPU rigs and am just about to add a sixth.

All of my rigs run Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 motherboards with Sempron 145 CPUs. All run the same RAM, power supplies, etc.

My best performing rigs use the revision 1.0 board, next best use 1.1, and with this new revision 4.0 board the performance has hit an all time low.

I thought it may have been a configuration issue, however swapping the drives around makes no difference.

I'm curious if anyone else is running these boards and is having a similar problem with them?

Pics..

Revision 1.0 board with six Gigabyte R9 280X cards:



Revision 4.0 board with one Gigabyte R9 280X card:

[prometheianz]

Move to alt-coins if that's a more appropriate place for my thread.. thanks.

[Gazza1]

There has to be the same amount of GPUs on both rigs to get an accurate comparison of performance.  especially on windows systems and especially with teamviewer running.

[leannemckim46]

Motherboard shouldn't effect that much..

[leannemckim46]

There has to be the same amount of GPUs on both rigs to get an accurate comparison of performance.  especially on windows systems and especially with teamviewer running.

Nah, it is the same for 1 GPU and teamviewer doesn't effect that much of performance..

[ssateneth]

6x 280x on Windows 7? Do tell how you accomplished that. The most tahiti cores I could squeak out on W7 was 5.

[blade007]

6x 280x on Windows 7? Do tell how you accomplished that. The most tahiti cores I could squeak out on W7 was 5.

Please do. I have revision 4 of the board and i can't get more than 4 running. The other two are detected by windows but is being shut down with error code 43

Thanks

[prometheianz]

6x 280x on Windows 7? Do tell how you accomplished that. The most tahiti cores I could squeak out on W7 was 5.

Sure, let me know if you have any problems following my instructions:

How to run six Radeon 280X cards in Windows 7

STEP 1:

Start with a clean install of Windows 7 (I use Pro), install the ethernet driver, then get it up to date with Windows Update.

DON'T install any other drivers.

STEP 2:

Download the 13.1 driver from TechPowerUp:

13-1_vista_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql.exe

@ http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2196/amd-catalyst-13-1-software-suite-vista-7-64-bit/mirrors

STEP 3:

Run 13-1_vista_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql.exe.

Click 'Install'.

'AMD Catalyst Install Manager' will appear -- DON'T progress with the installation, click 'Cancel' instead.

'Exit Catalyst Install Manager?' -- click 'Yes'.

STEP 4:

Go to Start Menu > Control Panel > System > Device Manager > and expand 'Display adapters'.

Right click the display adapter that corresponds to a Radeon 280X and click 'Update Driver Software...'

Click 'Browse my computer for driver software'.

Click 'Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer'.

Click 'Have Disk...'.

Paste the following path into the 'Copy manufacturer's files from:' box:

C:\AMD\Support\13-1_vista_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql\Packages\Drivers\Display\W86A_INF

Click 'OK'.

Select 'AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series'.

Click 'Next'.

Your screen will flicker while the driver is installed. This may take a while.

Eventually you will see 'Windows has successfully updated your driver software'.

Click 'Close'.

STEP 5:

Go to Start Menu > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services

Locate the following three services:

'AMD External Events Utility'
'Desktop Window Manager Session Manager'
'Themes'

Right-click each of these and click 'Properties'.

Click 'Stop' if it is not already greyed out.

Open the 'Startup' drop-down list and select 'Disabled'.

Click 'Apply', and then 'OK'.

Repeat for each of the three services.

STEP 6:

REBOOT YOUR SYSTEM.

STEP 7:

Go to C:\AMD\Support\13-1_vista_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql\Packages\Apps\OpenCL64

Run 'OpenCL.msi' and click 'Next >', 'Next >', agree to the terms, then 'Install'.

STEP 8:

Run CGMiner 3.7.2 (or Kalroth, SGMiner, etc).

Grab a beer 

[prometheianz]

I think I'm onto something in regards to my original problem.

I noticed that my best performing machines (revision 1.0) both have Sempron 145's that have unlocked to Athlon II X2 4450e's thanks to the default BIOS config. I disabled the extra core (making them Sempron 145's again) and their hashrates dropped from ~755 per card down to ~700 per card.

Unfortunately the Sempron 145's in my revision 4.0 machines won't let me unlock the extra core. Most likely this is because of the CPUs themselves, as it's down to luck whether a Sempron 145 can have the extra core unlocked or not.

I'm going to try swapping the CPUs around when I get a chance to see if this is the cause.

[mazuma]

dude if your method works,when i attempt it sometime next week, il be sure to tip you for that. Txt me ur address .

[jbass350z]

No issues here.

I have the Rev 4.0 board in two machines running six Gigabyte 270s in each. The cards get 480-490khs/s.

I am also using a Sempron 145.

[prometheianz]

dude if your method works,when i attempt it sometime next week, il be sure to tip you for that. Txt me ur address .

We can both have a beer then Let me know if you run into any problems!

1JdAeyeKuWiVfc6yEs2vQjc6ppfuGqWE7Y

[prometheianz]

No issues here.

I have the Rev 4.0 board in two machines running six Gigabyte 270s in each. The cards get 480-490khs/s.

I am also using a Sempron 145.

Out of interest, have you tried unlocking the second core?

[Wipeout2097]

The issue may be the Sempron 145 while you use Teamviewer and CGwatcher. Shutdown both and plug the rig to a monitor.

Get http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx and check CPU usage of System, Interrupts and the rest. Then change the priority of cgminer to "High" or "Realtime"

But of course, a single-core CPU is asking for trouble. The Sempron 190 is preferable, even more when one is using plenty of addon software on the rig

[cozk]

6x 280x on Windows 7? Do tell how you accomplished that. The most tahiti cores I could squeak out on W7 was 5.

Modified drivers.

I run 6x 280x on win 7 too.

[jbass350z]

No issues here.

I have the Rev 4.0 board in two machines running six Gigabyte 270s in each. The cards get 480-490khs/s.

I am also using a Sempron 145.

Out of interest, have you tried unlocking the second core?

No, i have not. No need for that?

[prometheianz]

No issues here.

I have the Rev 4.0 board in two machines running six Gigabyte 270s in each. The cards get 480-490khs/s.

I am also using a Sempron 145.

Out of interest, have you tried unlocking the second core?

No, i have not. No need for that?

You aren't running Windows 7 then?

[TsaktuO]

Does this method really work? I heard Win 7 can run 6x gpu, but its normally drivers and compatibility issues with hardware and such? So Yes to Win 7 6x gpu?

[FoFFiFFe]

Teamviewer is bad to tweak with settings.

I have a Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 Rev.4.0 with Sempron 145 and Gigabyte r9 280x (Rev2.0) too. I managed to get 730kh/s. Unfortunately, I've no Rev1.0 to do the comparison.

[prometheianz]

Teamviewer is bad to tweak with settings.

I have a Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 Rev.4.0 with Sempron 145 and Gigabyte r9 280x (Rev2.0) too. I managed to get 730kh/s. Unfortunately, I've no Rev1.0 to do the comparison.

Is that with 6 cards?

I've been trying BAMT out, unfortunately all my rigs took a performance hit using it regardless of board revision, so i'm back on Windows 7.