My Avalon A921 is on the way

[HagssFIN]

Cool to see you buying one and testing it out. Does changing the value for --avalon9-voltage-level-offset make the power efficiency any better?

[1714563869]

1714563869

[1714563869]

1714563869

[1714563869]

1714563869

[NotFuzzyWarm]

And like the 721/841's can also set max freq and fan speed as well. Frankly, I never toyed with the settings when I got my first 2 back in Oct. Just plugged them in and let'em run.

[philipma1957]

so  I did this:

Minimum Fan    40%
More options --avalon9-voltage-level 0 --avalon9-voltage-level-offset -2

I will get back with numbers

so  processes look like this

Code:

cgminer --lowmem --avalon9-fan 40-100 --avalon9-voltage-level-offset 0 -o stratum+tcp://mmpool.org:3334 -O philipma1957.B:x -o stratum+tcp://stratum80.kano.is:80 -O canaan.80:1234 -o stratum+tcp://stratum81.kano.is:81 -O canaan.81:1234 --api-allow W:127.0.0.1 --api-listen --avalon9-voltage-level 0 --avalon9-voltage-level-offset -2 --real-quiet

and watts are worse not better. 1836 watts  will play with it some more

[NotFuzzyWarm]

For fans, in More Options you can use --avalon9-fan <min-max> to set both the minimum and maximum speeds eg. --avalon9-fan 50-75 sets min speed to 50% and max to 75%. That of course also applies to the A7xx and A8xx miners as well.

[philipma1957]

right now  I am getting very good numbers  with this setting



1811 watts and 19600 hash

I know it may say -2 is not included  in the range for voltage level   but it does lower watts more then 0 does.

in the case of the a841  we got some very good results doing this
in the case of the 851 results were shitty doing this.

I will do all 15 in range 0 to 15
I will do 10 out of range -10 to -1

I will keep fan at 40 - 100

Minimum Fan%(Range: 0-100, Default: 10%) 40

More Options --avalon9-voltage-level-offset -2   will not change

--avalon9-voltage-level -2 42 minute result  1850 watts and 18973 hash
--avalon9-voltage-level -7 next up

[NotFuzzyWarm]

You can look at the CGMiner API Log to record exactly what those voltage and voltage offset changes do. Near the top the line for Vi tells you actual PSU voltage at the PCIe connectors and Vo is the core voltage regulator outputs for each board. Vo will change with changes you make in voltage level and voltage offset.

Give things a 10-15min and you also see the miner freq it ends up running at. eg, my oldest one running stock gives

Code:

    Temp[39]
    TMax[95]
    Fan[5910]
    FanR[72%]
    Vi[1195 1195 1188 1188]
    Vo[4068 4100 4129 4118]
    GHSmm[21468.46]
    WU[289826.24]
    Freq[806.36]
    PG[15]

As you change Vo you will see that Freq also changes as the miner automajikly plays with it to produce best speed results for those voltage settings.

[philipma1957]

okay

 --avalon9-voltage-level -7

Code:

    Fan[4710]
    FanR[56%]
    Vi[1200 1200 1197 1197]
    Vo[4021 4038 4010 3999]
    GHSmm[20671.68]
    WU[215012.84]
    Freq[776.43]

watts 1756
hash 14157   after 30 minutes   I will come back to it. and give 1 hour hash
hash 13978   after 52 minutes


--avalon9-voltage-level 1

Code:

    Fan[6330]
    FanR[76%]
    Vi[1199 1199 1196 1196]
    Vo[4134 4152 4123 4111]   so changing  voltage level from -7 to 1  did this
    GHSmm[20711.42]
    WU[289508.49]
    Freq[777.92]

watts are now 1871

[Steamtyme]

... Near the top the line for Vi tells you actual PSU voltage at the PCIe connectors and Vo is the core voltage regulator outputs for each board. Vo will change with changes you make in voltage level and voltage offset.

[...]

That's awesome I never really put that together. I honestly only ever briefly considered it, mostly as a point for troubleshooting.

I'm wondering if they are working on a high-efficiency firmware for the 9 series as well. That is the name of the game ATM, mind you they would likely want to wait that out until after/if they release the mythical 941 - What I expect was the original 9 series numbers released.

I can't recall but with the -voltage-level would it be presumed that no command you are at a 0 essentially, then anything from 1-15 would be an increase? I get that at some point there will probably be a sweetspot for hash and efficiency in there, but in general won't this increase overall power consumption.

[mgoz]

If you're on the September firmware, fan speed settings might not actually do anything or speed may report incorrectly. The October firmware says it's an update to detect fan speed. Stock, looks like these are 10% less efficient than advertised unless you consider their 0-20% power consumption increase. Should be advertised as 20TH/s @ 2000w.

[philipma1957]

If you're on the September firmware, fan speed settings might not actually do anything or speed may report incorrectly. The October firmware says it's an update to detect fan speed. Stock, looks like these are 10% less efficient than advertised unless you consider their 0-20% power consumption increase. Should be advertised as 20TH/s @ 2000w.

links for october firmware please

[mgoz]

https://canaan.io/downloads/software/avalon921/mm/nexttesting/2018-10-25/

[philipma1957]

https://canaan.io/downloads/software/avalon921/mm/nexttesting/2018-10-25/

thanks

I have

Controller Firmware
Version 20180926

MM Firmware
Version 9211809-b150820

so to upgrade  MM firmware

I need to load

MM921.mcs  

or

MM921.bit

okay  MM921.mcs it is

I now have

Controller Firmware
Version 20180926

MM Firmware
9211809-b4b3d00

so up to date I think

watts meter burnt at 1880 watt levels

so we will use the Vo

below instead of watts.


doing

--avalon9-voltage-level 1

api reads

Code:

    Fan[6150]
    FanR[73%]
    Vi[1199 1199 1196 1196]
    Vo[4134 4153 4123 4110] Note still high due to that level 1 setting
    GHSmm[20527.05]
    WU[279617.92]
    Freq[771.00]

hash is 21143   will give 1 hour number
watts 1875 new meter
so I won't push it  and test at level 0 next  (no 2-15)


doing

--avalon9-voltage-level 0  note this is frodocooper's recommendation

Code:

    Fan[5700]
    FanR[69%]
    Vi[1199 1199 1196 1196]
    Vo[4120 4138 4109 4096] Note drop due to 0 setting
    GHSmm[20496.36]
    WU[266040.52]
    Freq[769.85]

watts 1848
hash 20498    this is good  about 90 watts a th.  so far frodocoopers setting's seem to be more efficient then any number I can find.

Voltage Offset(Default: 0)  -2

Minimum Fan%(Range: 0-100, Default: 10%)  40

More Options  --avalon9-voltage-level 0 --avalon9-voltage-level-offset -2

onto

 --avalon9-voltage-level -1    in theory should not work but I did get some watts improvement with it earlier

api

Code:

    Fan[6720]
    FanR[100%]
    Vi[1199 1199 1196 1196]
    Vo[4106 4125 4095 4082]  this dropped 
    GHSmm[5814.17]
    WU[270523.35]
    Freq[218.38] this is auto tune

api again

Code:

    Fan[6420]
    FanR[77%]
    Vi[1198 1198 1195 1195]
    Vo[4103 4121 4092 4078] this does go lower due to -1 setting
    GHSmm[20363.37]
    WU[251734.38]
    Freq[764.85] auto tune settles at 764 vs 770

    Fan[4950]
    FanR[59%]
    Vi[1198 1198 1195 1195]
    Vo[4103 4121 4090 4079]
    GHSmm[20574.96]
    WU[274505.25]
    Freq[772.80]  third api shows  higher freq of 772 this is promising!
 
    Fan[4800]
    FanR[57%]
    Vi[1199 1199 1196 1196]
    Vo[4107 4125 4093 4081]
    GHSmm[20726.50]
    WU[265918.54]
    Freq[778.49] 4th api show even higher freq  I am guessing  it will boot again

    Fan[7980]
    FanR[99%]
    Vi[1199 1199 1196 1196]
    Vo[4107 4125 4095 4083]
    GHSmm[14188.97]
    WU[254481.80]
    Freq[532.94]  she booted on the 5th

    FanR[77%]
    Vi[1198 1198 1195 1195]
    Vo[4103 4121 4092 4079]
    GHSmm[20366.56]
    WU[287139.79]
    Freq[764.97] the 6th goes up

    Fan[5670]
    FanR[69%]
    Vi[1200 1200 1196 1196]
    Vo[4103 4121 4091 4078]
    GHSmm[20359.37]
    WU[251484.82]
    Freq[764.70]  may become stable 

    FanR[64%]
    Vi[1199 1199 1196 1196]
    Vo[4106 4125 4095 4080]
    GHSmm[20424.57]
    WU[260692.44]
    Freq[767.15]

    Fan[5130]
    FanR[60%]
    Vi[1198 1198 1196 1196]
    Vo[4103 4123 4092 4079]
    GHSmm[20475.54]
    WU[259674.50]
    Freq[769.06]

    Fan[4860]
    FanR[58%]
    Vi[1199 1199 1196 1196]
    Vo[4106 4125 4095 4082]
    GHSmm[20552.25]
    WU[253437.01]
    Freq[771.94]

    Fan[4770]
    FanR[57%]
    Vi[1199 1199 1195 1195]
    Vo[4105 4125 4093 4081]
    GHSmm[20614.52]
    WU[263749.80]
    Freq[774.28]

    Fan[4950]
    FanR[59%]
    Vi[1199 1199 1196 1196]
    Vo[4106 4125 4096 4082]
    GHSmm[20683.68]
    WU[268638.03]
    Freq[776.88]

    Fan[4860]
    FanR[58%]
    Vi[1198 1198 1196 1196]
    Vo[4105 4123 4096 4080]
    GHSmm[20706.50]
    WU[268868.81]
    Freq[777.74]

    Fan[4860]
    FanR[58%]
    Vi[1198 1198 1195 1195]
    Vo[4103 4123 4092 4080]
    GHSmm[20740.38]
    WU[267768.33]
    Freq[779.01]  and she boots at the next jump

    Fan[6720]
    FanR[80%]
    Vi[1198 1198 1196 1196]
    Vo[4105 4124 4095 4081]
    GHSmm[20442.42]
    WU[231051.69]
    Freq[767.82]

so if you use api you can follow auto tuning and the -1 setting I used does not like to go past freq 780
It does get power down to 1816 watts question is  will it settle over an hour or so giving good numbers and not lots of boots.

The auto tune is not working that well  as least as I see it.

I set to

Voltage Offset(Default:0)       -2

Minimum Fan%(Range: 0-100, Default: 10%) 40

More Options --avalon9-voltage-level -3 --avalon9-voltage-level-offset -2

so that number gets good power in terms of watts 1782

Code:

    Temp[31]
    TMax[94]
    Fan[4710]
    FanR[56%]
    Vi[1200 1200 1197 1197]
    Vo[4078 4097 4066 4054] note lowest api number
    GHSmm[20444.68]
    WU[257729.67]
    Freq[767.90] and freq is 767   and it always try to go higher .

I would love to see if it gets stable using the -1 or -2 or -3
rather then it always trying to reach for a higher freq

Also it I do 1760 watts at freq 767

or do 1871 watts at freq 782  the eff is better with   the lower freq so I would save power.

but it wants to keep pushing.  I will leave it be at -3 for now.

power = 1779 watts

freq = 768 and it just booted

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Well, along with voltages you can always try playing with the Frequency and/or turn off Smartspeed (Canaan's constant Autouning?) as well. Ref the available commands for More Options that look appropriate. Snippet of them from Canaan's A921 Github that Frodo found for us:

Code:

#ifdef USE_AVALON9
	OPT_WITH_CBARG("--avalon9-voltage-level",
		     set_avalon9_voltage_level, NULL, &opt_set_avalon9_voltage_level,
		     "Set Avalon9 default level of core voltage,range:[-15 to 15], step: 1"),
	OPT_WITH_CBARG("--avalon9-voltage-level-offset",
		     set_avalon9_voltage_level_offset, NULL, &opt_set_avalon9_voltage_level_offset,
		     "Set Avalon9 default offset of core voltage level, range:[-2, 1], step: 1"),
	OPT_WITH_CBARG("--avalon9-freq",
		     set_avalon9_freq, NULL, &opt_set_avalon9_freq,
		     "Set Avalon9 default frequency, range:[25, 1200], step: 25, example: 800"),
	OPT_WITH_ARG("--avalon9-freq-sel",
		     set_int_0_to_7, opt_show_intval, &opt_avalon9_freq_sel,
		     "Set Avalon9 default frequency select, range:[0, 7], step: 1, example: 7"),
	OPT_WITH_CBARG("--avalon9-fan",
		     set_avalon9_fan, NULL, &opt_set_avalon9_fan,
		     "Set Avalon9 target fan speed, range:[0, 100], step: 1, example: 0-100"),
	OPT_WITH_ARG("--avalon9-temp",
		     set_int_0_to_100, opt_show_intval, &opt_avalon9_temp_target,
		     "Set Avalon9 target temperature, range:[0, 100]"),

        [...]

	OPT_WITH_ARG("--avalon9-smart-speed",
		     opt_set_intval, opt_show_intval, &opt_avalon9_smart_speed,
                     "Set Avalon9 smart speed, range 0-1. 0 means Disable"),

In all cases, 'step' means increments of. eg for Freq. it shows 'step: 25' meaning 575, 600, 625, 650, etc.
Interesting thing is the built-in  SmartSpeed tuning does not seem to follow that and as you've seen produces values not divisible by 25...

Also wonder what   --avalon9-freq-sel <0-7> does? Pre-defined freq /performance settings?
So far that 20+THs @ 1,871w looks rather good and better than the A841 using -1 Voltage level (13.5+THs @ 1,300w)

edit: Corrected range for --avalon9-voltage-level to read as -15 to 15 per Frodo's findings.

[philipma1957]

Tired will play more tomorrow.

So far frodocooper setting of 0 and -2 is best.  1870watts 20500hash.

Would love to set freq at 775 and  watts at 1800

[frodocooper]

The most recent OpenWrt firmware for the A921 is version 20181011. Canaan did not update their GitHub documentation to include this release.

There is no published changelog for version 20181011 at the time of writing.


It appears that the documentation for --avalon9-voltage-level in lines 1643 to 1645 of the avalon9 branch's version of cgminer.c may be erroneous.

Lines 25 to 26 of driver-avalon9.h from the avalon9 branch specify -15 to 15 as the accepted range of integer values for --avalon9-voltage-level:

Code:

#define AVA9_DEFAULT_VOLTAGE_LEVEL_MIN	-15
#define AVA9_DEFAULT_VOLTAGE_LEVEL_MAX	15

The accepted range of integer values for --avalon9-voltage-level-offset remains at -2 to 1, with 0 being the default value, according to lines 29 to 31 of driver-avalon9.h:

Code:

#define AVA9_DEFAULT_VOLTAGE_LEVEL_OFFSET_MIN	-2
#define AVA9_DEFAULT_VOLTAGE_LEVEL_OFFSET	0
#define AVA9_DEFAULT_VOLTAGE_LEVEL_OFFSET_MAX	1

The parameters in driver-avalon9.h are the ones that driver-avalon9.c refers to and uses during runtime. The above values are therefore the correct ones.

[philipma1957]

@ frodocooper  

so it is why those - numbers I used did  get lower watts

Busy for holidays will play with  the avalon another day

just downloaded the firmware you gave above

 I will burn a microcard asap.

card burned

Voltage Level Offset(Default: 0)     -2

Minimum Fan%(Range: 0-100, Default: 10%) 20

More Options  --avalon9-freq-sel 0 --avalon9-voltage-level -3 --avalon9-voltage-level-offset -2

lets see what the above does

very promising it set freq to 0!

Code:

    TMax[44]
    Fan[1110]
    FanR[10%]
    Vi[1215 1215 1211 1211]
    Vo[4075 4095 4065 4053]
    GHSmm[0.00]
    WU[0.00]
    Freq[0.00]

miner is very quiet fans at 10% of course 0 hash with a freq of 0

trying this next

--avalon9-freq-sel 1 --avalon9-voltage-level -3 --avalon9-voltage-level-offset -2

%@!^%@^@%&^@%^&@

this firmware is a mess
can not do a lot of stuff with it

I am done for the night.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

this firmware is a mess
can not do a lot of stuff with it

Perhaps, but unlike BM at least Canaan lets us play with it to see what happens

[philipma1957]

Some luck today

Code:

    Temp[31]
    TMax[88]
    Fan[4800]
    FanR[58%]
    Vi[1200 1200 1197 1197]
    Vo[3991 4008 3982 3970] -------------- very low power use
    GHSmm[21302.50]
    WU[13594.97]
    Freq[800.12] ----------------------------- seems stable here

More Options                --avalon9-voltage-level -9 --avalon9-voltage-level-offset -2

it is hashing and boot cycle has stopped. will need to wait to see hash rate on this setting.

the big change was new rasp pi image

[TheYankeesWin!]

So what did you do with the newer firmware?

[philipma1957]

@ yankees

I will do a video on it soon

I ran these settings for 17 hours>

More Options  --avalon9-voltage-level -2 --avalon9-voltage-level-offset -2

all other settings are stock

It uses 1700 watts
and hashes at 18700

that is 90 watts a th