ZTEX USB-FPGA Modules 1.15x and 1.15y: 215 and 860 MH/s FPGA Boards

[P_Shep]

nelisky,

How do the bit streams in CGminer work? are they uploaded on startup? Is the path hard coded?

[nelisky]

nelisky,

How do the bit streams in CGminer work? are they uploaded on startup? Is the path hard coded?

Bitstreams are stored alongside the cgminer binary (directory 'bitstreams'). The path is hard coded but the bitstream selection is defined in each board firmware.

Bitstreams are uploaded at startup, yes.

[BR0KK]

I have one Problem with my setup. Everything runs fine for some hours but the 2 or 3 FPGAs (of 10) get kicked out of BTCminer for "overheating" or "some other reason i can't identify".

The boards are cooled by stock Xilence  or Titan heat sink.

If i restart BTCminer everything works perfect again

Its random and affects all units in the same way.

Does anyone have similar issues?

[Turbor]

I have one Problem with my setup. Everything runs fine for some hours but the 2 or 3 FPGAs (of 10) get kicked out of BTCminer for "overheating" or "some other reason i can't identify".

The boards are cooled by stock Xilence  or Titan heat sink.

If i restart BTCminer everything works perfect again

Its random and affects all units in the same way.

Does anyone have similar issues?

Quad or single boards ? Does this happen after connection issues ? I do have one sick chip that is down 90% of the time. But this seems to be more like a defective FPGA or a board problem than an actual overheating issue. I decided to use the quad as trio. Somehow I got used to the sexy yellow light

Edit: You can try to set -oh to 0.5 or so to see how low the boards frequency will fall down. This way you are able to still use the chip in case something is wrong + it won't hurt because the auto downclock still works. That's why I like this boards so much.

Code:

bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15d4-0001-02-05-1: f=208.00MHz,  errorRate=0.66%,  maxErrorRa
te=2.21%,  hashRate=206.6MH/s,  submitted 20 new nonces,  luckFactor=1.16
bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15d4-0001-02-06-1: f=208.00MHz,  errorRate=0.37%,  maxErrorRa
te=0.95%,  hashRate=207.2MH/s,  submitted 18 new nonces,  luckFactor=1.05
bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15y1-0001-02-07-1: f=212.00MHz,  errorRate=0.39%,  maxErrorRa
te=1.26%,  hashRate=211.2MH/s,  submitted 16 new nonces,  luckFactor=1.12
bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15y1-0001-02-07-2: f=208.00MHz,  errorRate=0.19%,  maxErrorRa
te=1.72%,  hashRate=207.6MH/s,  submitted 20 new nonces,  luckFactor=1.18
bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15y1-0001-02-07-3: f=120.00MHz,  errorRate=0.00%,  maxErrorRa
te=2.99%,  hashRate=120.0MH/s,  submitted 6 new nonces,  luckFactor=0.87
bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15y1-0001-02-07-4: f=200.00MHz,  errorRate=0.37%,  maxErrorRa
te=0.51%,  hashRate=199.3MH/s,  submitted 9 new nonces,  luckFactor=0.94
bus-0-0: poll loop time: 88ms (USB: 5ms network: 84ms)   getwork time: 366ms  su
bmit time: 373ms
Total hash rate: 1151.9 MH/s
Total submitted hash rate: 1226.0 MH/s

[CA Coins]

I have one Problem with my setup. Everything runs fine for some hours but the 2 or 3 FPGAs (of 10) get kicked out of BTCminer for "overheating" or "some other reason i can't identify".

The boards are cooled by stock Xilence  or Titan heat sink.

If i restart BTCminer everything works perfect again

Its random and affects all units in the same way.

Does anyone have similar issues?

Something like this with the quads?

Code:

2012-05-03T15:59:57: 002-2: ztex_ufm1_15y1-2012-L4-A3-1: Error: Hash rate drop of 7.3% detect. This may be caused by overheating. FPGA is shut down to prevent damage.  55.0: Device disabled since 2012-05-01T19:22:53
2012-05-03T15:59:57: 002-2: ztex_ufm1_15y1-2012-L4-A3-2: Error: Hash rate drop of 7.8% detect. This may be caused by overheating. FPGA is shut down to prevent damage.  50.98564515706362: Device disabled since 2012-05-02T07:51:01
2012-05-03T15:59:57: 002-2: ztex_ufm1_15y1-2012-L4-A3-3: f=212.00MHz,  errorRate=0.00%,  maxErrorRate=4.10%,  hashRate=212.0MH/s,  submitted 19 new nonces,  luckFactor=1.00
2012-05-03T15:59:57: 002-2: ztex_ufm1_15y1-2012-L4-A3-4: f=200.00MHz,  errorRate=0.00%,  maxErrorRate=3.45%,  hashRate=200.0MH/s,  submitted 21 new nonces,  luckFactor=0.99
2012-05-03T15:59:57: 002-2: ztex_ufm1_15y1-2012-L4-B3-1: Error: Hash rate drop of 7.7% detect. This may be caused by overheating. FPGA is shut down to prevent damage.  52.0: Device disabled since 2012-05-03T05:35:39

[CA Coins]

Quad or single boards ? Does this happen after connection issues ? I do have one sick chip that is down 90% of the time. But this seems to be more like a defective FPGA or a board problem than an actual overheating issue. I decided to use the quad as trio. Somehow I got used to the sexy yellow light

Edit: You can try to set -oh to 0.5 or so to see how low the boards frequency will fall down. This way you are able to still use the chip in case something is wrong + it won't hurt because the auto downclock still works. That's why I like this boards so much.

Code:

bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15d4-0001-02-05-1: f=208.00MHz,  errorRate=0.66%,  maxErrorRa
te=2.21%,  hashRate=206.6MH/s,  submitted 20 new nonces,  luckFactor=1.16
bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15d4-0001-02-06-1: f=208.00MHz,  errorRate=0.37%,  maxErrorRa
te=0.95%,  hashRate=207.2MH/s,  submitted 18 new nonces,  luckFactor=1.05
bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15y1-0001-02-07-1: f=212.00MHz,  errorRate=0.39%,  maxErrorRa
te=1.26%,  hashRate=211.2MH/s,  submitted 16 new nonces,  luckFactor=1.12
bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15y1-0001-02-07-2: f=208.00MHz,  errorRate=0.19%,  maxErrorRa
te=1.72%,  hashRate=207.6MH/s,  submitted 20 new nonces,  luckFactor=1.18
bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15y1-0001-02-07-3: f=120.00MHz,  errorRate=0.00%,  maxErrorRa
te=2.99%,  hashRate=120.0MH/s,  submitted 6 new nonces,  luckFactor=0.87
bus-0-0: ztex_ufm1_15y1-0001-02-07-4: f=200.00MHz,  errorRate=0.37%,  maxErrorRa
te=0.51%,  hashRate=199.3MH/s,  submitted 9 new nonces,  luckFactor=0.94
bus-0-0: poll loop time: 88ms (USB: 5ms network: 84ms)   getwork time: 366ms  su
bmit time: 373ms
Total hash rate: 1151.9 MH/s
Total submitted hash rate: 1226.0 MH/s

Whoa, 120MH/s?  Are you thinking about sending it to Stefan for repair?

[BR0KK]

Hm now it ran for a night without any problem....
Kind of random ...

i think its my hub ..... Or my mac ....

One of my singles only gets about 199 MH/s. And its getting errors with that speed. But its not the one that gets kicked out of BTCMiner.

[Turbor]

Whoa, 120MH/s?  Are you thinking about sending it to Stefan for repair?

I got the offer but as long as the other chips work fine I keep it this way. It's not worth the hassle.

[ztex]

Hm now it ran for a night without any problem....
Kind of random ...

i think its my hub ..... Or my mac ....

USB errors look different. That are probably power supply instabilities. (PSU cant handle the load/gets to hot, power cables are to thin / to long, ...)

[BR0KK]

i use the standard puss from your shop. The quad has its own psu, 5 singles are on the splitter (with an standard psu)and one single has its own psu.

I'll have to change that in the near future.

[gr0bi42]

I have one Problem with my setup. Everything runs fine for some hours but the 2 or 3 FPGAs (of 10) get kicked out of BTCminer for "overheating" or "some other reason i can't identify".

The boards are cooled by stock Xilence  or Titan heat sink.

If i restart BTCminer everything works perfect again

Its random and affects all units in the same way.

Does anyone have similar issues?

Something like this with the quads?

Code:

2012-05-03T15:59:57: 002-2: ztex_ufm1_15y1-2012-L4-A3-1: Error: Hash rate drop of 7.3% detect. This may be caused by overheating. FPGA is shut down to prevent damage.  55.0: Device disabled since 2012-05-01T19:22:53
2012-05-03T15:59:57: 002-2: ztex_ufm1_15y1-2012-L4-A3-2: Error: Hash rate drop of 7.8% detect. This may be caused by overheating. FPGA is shut down to prevent damage.  50.98564515706362: Device disabled since 2012-05-02T07:51:01
2012-05-03T15:59:57: 002-2: ztex_ufm1_15y1-2012-L4-A3-3: f=212.00MHz,  errorRate=0.00%,  maxErrorRate=4.10%,  hashRate=212.0MH/s,  submitted 19 new nonces,  luckFactor=1.00
2012-05-03T15:59:57: 002-2: ztex_ufm1_15y1-2012-L4-A3-4: f=200.00MHz,  errorRate=0.00%,  maxErrorRate=3.45%,  hashRate=200.0MH/s,  submitted 21 new nonces,  luckFactor=0.99
2012-05-03T15:59:57: 002-2: ztex_ufm1_15y1-2012-L4-B3-1: Error: Hash rate drop of 7.7% detect. This may be caused by overheating. FPGA is shut down to prevent damage.  52.0: Device disabled since 2012-05-03T05:35:39

I also experience these "hashrate drop errors", but only with BTCMiner. With cgminer 2.4.1 I've never got such an error. The hashrate drop code is present in cgminer. So what does it mean? The hashrate drop errors are present, but cgminer fails to detect them. Or, something is wrong within BTCMiner. One observation I've made... I get the hashrate drop errors in BTCMiner always around "new block" announcments.

[BR0KK]

Its not only hash rate drops also libusb errors occur. i try to find some logs for this.

[CA Coins]

Its not only hash rate drops also libusb errors occur. i try to find some logs for this.

I assume you're only seeing the errors on the quads (I had only seen them on the quads). Are you driving them (1 or 2) on 1 psu? How are you wiring your +12V and GND wires? I had these errors initially where over half of my quads eventually were disabled over the course of a week. I rewired the power cables and haven't seen them for 2 weeks now.

[BR0KK]

I assume you're only seeing the errors on the quads (I had only seen them on the quads). Are you driving them (1 or 2) on 1 psu? How are you wiring your +12V and GND wires? I had these errors initially where over half of my quads eventually were disabled over the course of a week. I rewired the power cables and haven't seen them for 2 weeks now.

One quad with its own PSU. Five singles on the splitter thingie and one Single on its separate wall plug.

No its not only the quad. Today for example i came home, three of the five on the splitter and the one on the separate wall plug singles had an LED on (indication that they weren't programmed or stopped working). This kinda happened when emc pool did go offline today (i assume!)


since then its working great....


It cold be my somewhat complicated setup (Mac OSX --> Parallels --> Win7 + Cheap powered "Trust" 7Port USB HUB). But theres no miner for OSX .... I'm Trying out cgminer (with help from a user here) or btcminer (with that java file that has to be copied into the java/extensions folder to work!).

Would love to see default support for mac from Ztex (i might even pay a little for it like for faster bitstreams)

[Turbor]

Are you using the -oh option?  This should prevent you from unwanted kick-outs. Make sure you set the value high enough. Try 0.2 or so. I'm using 0.7 at the moment. If you don't set it, the boards get kicked out after 3 to 4 frequency drops.

[BR0KK]

I have that option enabled  with "-oh 0"  Thats the default value i think.

[Turbor]

Set it to 0.2 or 0.1 if you are afraid . A lower hashrate is better than a dead board.

[rupy]

ztex can we please, with sugar on top, get a -f XXX commandline flag that hardcodes the frequency so that we can underclock the chips this summer?

[BR0KK]

that would be good

[CA Coins]

ztex can we please, with sugar on top, get a -f XXX commandline flag that hardcodes the frequency so that we can underclock the chips this summer?

And hopefully negate the need for AC