Capped out my 5830 at 352Mh/s

[st4rdust]

After picking up a couple of 5970s from Newegg's recent promotion, I switched my two Sapphire 'Xtreme' 5830s to another case to use as a headless mining rig. While setting up the cards with TRIXX, I steadily ramped the core clock all the way to 1080, with the memory at 360 and voltage at 1.195 using the stock heatsink and fan (although I removed the thermal paste that came with it and replaced it with non-conductive AC MX-2). In the case is a 120mm Scythe 'Ultra Kaze' 133CFM fan directly behind the graphics cards, pointed at the exhaust openings at the back of the case, blowing at max speed over the cards. This keeps the GPU temp at 72C under the full load at 1.195v.

I've always been a fan of Scythe's case fans, especially the high-CFM models, and this reinforces the idea that airflow is key to solid GPU performance. I noticed that they also produce an aftermarket GPU heatsink fan. I'd be interested in installing these on my 5830s in the headless rig to keep them cool over the long term.

[1714834097]

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[1714834097]

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[1714834097]

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[ampirebus]

After picking up a couple of 5970s from Newegg's recent promotion, I switched my two Sapphire 'Xtreme' 5830s to another case to use as a headless mining rig. While setting up the cards with TRIXX, I steadily ramped the core clock all the way to 1080, with the memory at 360 and voltage at 1.195 using the stock heatsink and fan (although I removed the thermal paste that came with it and replaced it with non-conductive AC MX-2). In the case is a 120mm Scythe 'Ultra Kaze' 133CFM fan directly behind the graphics cards, pointed at the exhaust openings at the back of the case, blowing at max speed over the cards. This keeps the GPU temp at 72C under the full load at 1.195v.

I've always been a fan of Scythe's case fans, especially the high-CFM models, and this reinforces the idea that airflow is key to solid GPU performance. I noticed that they also produce an aftermarket GPU heatsink fan. I'd be interested in installing these on my 5830s in the headless rig to keep them cool over the long term.

i envy you so much, i got 4 of those sapphire extremes like 2 months ago and i cant get above 260 mhash without crashing. like theyll get up to 300 or maybe even 310 or something, but itll crash like 5 minutes later or maybe instantly or maybe an unknown time later, tried everything in the book, upgraded psu, lowered system resource intensive things, checked for hdd errors, etc, checked fans, improved airflow, checked for overheating,

like it wont let me undervolt them haklf the time, so i just gave up and mine at stock mhash or the max i can get with ATI CC

(win7x64 antec psu 5 case fans on a semi-naked rig.) the same exact model opnes you have

[DeathAndTaxes]

i envy you so much, i got 4 of those sapphire extremes like 2 months ago and i cant get above 260 mhash without crashing. like theyll get up to 300 or maybe even 310 or something, but itll crash like 5 minutes later or maybe instantly or maybe an unknown time later, tried everything in the book ...

Try raising voltage and lowering memory clock?

[st4rdust]

After picking up a couple of 5970s from Newegg's recent promotion, I switched my two Sapphire 'Xtreme' 5830s to another case to use as a headless mining rig. While setting up the cards with TRIXX, I steadily ramped the core clock all the way to 1080, with the memory at 360 and voltage at 1.195 using the stock heatsink and fan (although I removed the thermal paste that came with it and replaced it with non-conductive AC MX-2). In the case is a 120mm Scythe 'Ultra Kaze' 133CFM fan directly behind the graphics cards, pointed at the exhaust openings at the back of the case, blowing at max speed over the cards. This keeps the GPU temp at 72C under the full load at 1.195v.

I've always been a fan of Scythe's case fans, especially the high-CFM models, and this reinforces the idea that airflow is key to solid GPU performance. I noticed that they also produce an aftermarket GPU heatsink fan. I'd be interested in installing these on my 5830s in the headless rig to keep them cool over the long term.

i envy you so much, i got 4 of those sapphire extremes like 2 months ago and i cant get above 260 mhash without crashing. like theyll get up to 300 or maybe even 310 or something, but itll crash like 5 minutes later or maybe instantly or maybe an unknown time later, tried everything in the book, upgraded psu, lowered system resource intensive things, checked for hdd errors, etc, checked fans, improved airflow, checked for overheating,

like it wont let me undervolt them haklf the time, so i just gave up and mine at stock mhash or the max i can get with ATI CC

(win7x64 antec psu 5 case fans on a semi-naked rig.) the same exact model opnes you have

We both got our Sapphires out of the same batch then, because I ordered mine about two months ago. They're supposed to have pretty consistent OC potential. What temperatures are yours running at when they're crashing?

[iopq]

at $4.7, is it even worth overvolting?

[Mousepotato]

I've done 340+ with my 5830, but it wasn't 24/7 stable.  Can you mine for weeks on end with it at 350 MH/s+?

[st4rdust]

I've done 340+ with my 5830, but it wasn't 24/7 stable.  Can you mine for weeks on end with it at 350 MH/s+?

I got this set up just last night so I'm in the process of finding that out. So far it's held up just fine, but we'll see as time goes by. I credit the Scythe fan that I've got sitting right in front of the GPUs with keeping them stable in a nice steady breeze of 72C airflow.

[DeathAndTaxes]

at $4.7, is it even worth overvolting?

It depends on your electrical cost.

For me it is still worth it.  Everyone should run their own numbers.  At stock voltage calculate gross return,  measure electrical load, calculate net return.  At overvolt do the same. 

Now granted the electrical cost eats into the gross profits but I am still ahead overvolting.
25% gross increase to hash rate.  After electrical cost +13% to revenue.

[d.james]

300mh should be easily achievable for a 5830 with proper setting even on default voltage.

anything above 350 you're talking about 5850 Territory, congrats on getting a kick ass card.

[lowlevel]

300mh should be easily achievable for a 5830 with proper setting even on default voltage.

anything above 350 you're talking about 5850 Territory, congrats on getting a kick ass card.

Yeah I run 320ish for week on end with 0 problems on 5830's... stock voltage, somewhere around 975mhz, I forget exactly.... I've never tried 1000+.
Looking like it's almost time to shut them down though

[d.james]

300mh should be easily achievable for a 5830 with proper setting even on default voltage.

anything above 350 you're talking about 5850 Territory, congrats on getting a kick ass card.

Yeah I run 320ish for week on end with 0 problems on 5830's... stock voltage, somewhere around 975mhz, I forget exactly.... I've never tried 1000+.
Looking like it's almost time to shut them down though

I don't stress my cards that much for peace of mind, my 5830 are running at 300mh and I'm happy with the result, I'm actually thinking about lowering the voltage and run stock on those cards, sure the hashrate goes lower but cost efficiency goes way up.

[st4rdust]

at $4.7, is it even worth overvolting?

To me, it's always worth overvolting. Regardless of the BTC exchange rate, cost of electricity, state of the global economy or anything else, it has nothing to do with money and everything to do with the philosophy behind BTC. I will always have the desire to push the boundaries for the things that interest me and the causes which I consider to be essential.

[likuidxd]

Any idea how many watts your pulling on these cards?

[st4rdust]

Any idea how many watts your pulling on these cards?

Funny you should ask, because I had this system plugged into my kill-a-watt for probably a week and I just removed it earlier tonight to measure another PC, and now I can't remember what it was averaging. I want to say somewhere in the lower 400's, but I'll get a real measurement posted soon.

By the way, as some have mentioned, obviously leaving the card at my capped settings 24/7 would run it into the ground pretty quickly. While I did verify its stability by giving it the BTC miner treatment for several days, I have since tuned it down to a much more tolerable level in favor of the card's longevity.