What flags should I use for 5830s?

[P4man]

Yup and it is slow and steady.

It only appears slow and steady if the electromigration is affecting transistors or via's in the critical path; ie, those that affect maximum stable clock speed. That way you can notice it, as the "red line" as you call it decreases. But electromigration may affect any transistor or via on the chip, like caches, PLLs, whatever else outside the critical path. You wouldnt notice, but one day one it will simply no longer function and your card is dead or unstable or whatever - "out of the blue".

The "effective lifespan" of a card may be much shorter than its tecnical lifespan.  As an example FPGA are only going to get more competitive.  That will put downward pressure on the price:difficulty ratio.  Entirely possible that a card bought today will be obsolete in 2-3 years simply because you can't run it without free power due to more efficient FPGA affecting the market.

As long as you dont fry it, GPUs will retain a fair resale value because you can game on them. Or fold If you fry them, well, people tend to pay considerably less for them . As for FPGAs, going to be a lot harder to sell them if they become obsolete for bitcoin mining (due to faster asics or bitcoin value approaching zero or whatever). Will be interesting to see how that pans out.

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[DeathAndTaxes]

As long as you dont fry it, GPUs will retain a fair resale value because you can game on them. Or fold If you fry them, well, people tend to pay considerably less for them . As for FPGAs, going to be a lot harder to sell them if they become obsolete for bitcoin mining (due to faster asics or bitcoin value approaching zero or whatever). Will be interesting to see how that pans out.

True but the resale value isn't much of an issue on a long enough timeline.  In 3 years it will be hard to unload a 5970 for $50.  By Moore's law it will have roughly the same performance as an entry level $129 card BUT it will be using 4x the power with 4x the noise, and 4x the electrical cost.  That makes it a tough sell.   Lower end cards won't even be more powerful than the cheapest entry level card.

So if your Bitcoin outlook is short (i.e. I am not sure about this so I will try mining for a couple months) then yeah GPU provide more capital security before time can catch up.  However if you are in it for the long haul all GPU are going to $0.00.

Real world example: 
HD 4890 once a $500 card can now be grabbed for <$40 on ebay.  Even that I consider a dubious buy since a HD 6770 has about the same performance for $100 new w/ warranty and uses about 1/3 the electricity.

[P4man]

4870s sell for the same price here, sometimes a bit more. Considering I paid my 5850s second hand for about twice that, devaluation isnt a big concern. If I sell in 2 years or so, I will probably have lost ~$50 on each. Morale: dont buy dual GPU

[ragingazn628]

I'm currently using CGminer and it's a HUGE improvement over the GUIminer. I was wondering if I should stick with this miner or try another for more mh/sec?

Currently:
~630 mh/sec with 2 overclocked 24/7 5830s @950mhz top and @1000mhz bottom - ~60C top and ~50C bottom

[P4man]

Ive tried them all I think. On a 5850, but I suspect the results apply equally to a 5830. CGminer is fastest. Bitminter is very close. Close enough that I probably wouldnt care. If you want a nice looking flashy GUI miner that launches from a website,  go bitminter. If you prefer a more powerful CLI app, with pool failover, fan control and everything, cgminer is it. No need to look elsewhere.

[ragingazn628]

Ive tried them all I think. On a 5850, but I suspect the results apply equally to a 5830. CGminer is fastest. Bitminter is very close. Close enough that I probably wouldnt care. If you want a nice looking flashy GUI miner that launches from a website,  go bitminter. If you prefer a more powerful CLI app, with pool failover, fan control and everything, cgminer is it. No need to look elsewhere.

Nice thanks. What about the OS? I'm currently using windows 7 b/c I'm just starting off, will I get more MH/sec if I switch to Linux Ubuntu or Mac?

[P4man]

On ubuntu you wont be able to clock that card so high, unless you play around with a bios editor. i dont think there is a linux program that lets you exceed the hardcoded "safe" catalyst speeds. Not sure what those are for a 5830, but for a 5850 that means 775 MHz tops.
Other than that, there is very little difference.

cgminer windows 7 5850 @900 MHz = 366 MH/s
cgminer ubuntu      5850 @775 MHz = 316.8 MH/s

So on windows I get 0.4066 MH/Mh (heh, megahash per megahertz) on Linux I get 0.40877

Keeping in mind I use the windows machine for browsing and working, Id call that a wash.

[m3sSh3aD]

Im with p4man, Cgminer is simply better.

And maybe i know how to make BTC's into more BTC's that you don't. Trade secrets and all I'm underneth the iceburg

Back to subject, glad that you got a bigh advantage. I use win 7 just for ease of use for this. Using mint on my netbook but dont like it. Going do a debian install with encrypted HDD and bott(kernal etc) on USB. Bit of a novice with linux but i see this as fun/challange Interesting about this lower mem clock idea. Im prbably drawing more like 2.2-.2.4, i aint measured. Guessed figures and got just below breaking even. Thats fine with me. I havnt worked for 4 years, It's a mugs game. Posh word for slavery. Just do what you need to do and look after your nearest and dearest Not offence but fuck the powers that be and what evertyone else says, Only thing you can be sure about is your actions and how you deal with them. I've found mine and im very happy

I'm happy with what im doing and what ive spent on it cause its give me something do these last 3 months tbh. 1 1/2 month im off india so i really couldnt be bothered to worry about £10 here, £10 there. Hell, £100 here and there happens but shit happens. Life a gamble/risk and if you lock yourself in and do what your told its your life thats been lost

Rock on the BTC's

[P4man]

And maybe i know how to make BTC's into more BTC's that you don't. Trade secrets and all I'm underneth the iceburg

I actually do know a way to double your bitcoin income, that you apparently havent discovered yet. Ill even share it with you. For free!

Turn off your miners and spend the money you saved on electricity to buy more bitcoins on exchanges. You will get twice as many! Clever huh?

Best of all, it wont hurt the bitcon cause at all and it even helps save the planet as your hashrate will be replaced by more efficient mining rigs that spend less on electricity.  If you spend those bitcoins in the economy, it will even help bitcoin rather than helping your utility provider.

Guessed figures and got just below breaking even.

LOL. You guessed wrong. Currently no one makes a profit with your electricity rates using those GPU's. Particularly not when overclocked and overvolted. And not even with downclocked memory. Seriously?  Next you will tell me you have overclocked quad core CPUs in there too and 70% efficiency PSUs. Tell me, how long have you been mining bitcoins? Because now you make me wonder, perhaps you havent received your first utility bill yet? Sure would explain why you havent killed any cards yet. Or maybe you will only get your revised bill when you leave for India. Hey, that would explain.

Thats fine with me. I havnt worked for 4 years, It's a mugs game. Posh word for slavery. Just do what you need to do and look after your nearest and dearest Not offence but fuck the powers that be and what evertyone else says, Only thing you can be sure about is your actions and how you deal with them. I've found mine and im very happy

Perhaps you want to explore alternative hobbies like shredding pound bills or making Papier-mâché castles with them

Life a gamble/risk

Perhaps, but mining isnt. Its 1st grade math. All you need is a power meter and a calculator. If you plan on actually paying your bills that is.

[ragingazn628]

Well I built my rig for $320 and I get free electricity, O.o should I stop mining or what

[m3sSh3aD]

P4man, It really doesnt bother/concern me. I got all the bills covered and i enjoy doing it. When the 7800's drop ill be buying, No matter if the BTC drops to 1.50$ cause its about that risk element i was saying. I've only made about 200 BTC over about 3-4 month, prob bit more but i've personally handled (and used) over 5,000 BTC's in this time. So you see, theres more ways to get through life than the system/work/slavery or whatever. Why you think im jetting away end of year, maybe not to come back if all goes well. All i do is help people on here with there crap and they can take it or leave it. My personal preference with what i want to do with my assits is upto me and no one is going tell me otherwise As i say, im not a stastistic

What attracted me to BTC was the fact that there was a reason to buy hardware and push it. THe reason, the sussess of bitcoins, NOT PERSONAL PROFIT, obviously unlike yourself ANd i love playing with haerdware. I've invested in tan FPGA company and will be looking into building my own cluster. THen get back to me about the price of my electricity bill

[ragingazn628]

P4man, It really doesnt bother/concern me. I got all the bills covered and i enjoy doing it. When the 7800's drop ill be buying, No matter if the BTC drops to 1.50$ cause its about that risk element i was saying. I've only made about 200 BTC over about 3-4 month, prob bit more but i've personally handled (and used) over 5,000 BTC's in this time. So you see, theres more ways to get through life than the system/work/slavery or whatever. Why you think im jetting away end of year, maybe not to come back if all goes well. All i do is help people on here with there crap and they can take it or leave it. My personal preference with what i want to do with my assits is upto me and no one is going tell me otherwise As i say, im not a stastistic

What attracted me to BTC was the fact that there was a reason to buy hardware and push it. THe reason, the sussess of bitcoins, NOT PERSONAL PROFIT, obviously unlike yourself ANd i love playing with haerdware. I've invested in tan FPGA company and will be looking into building my own cluster. THen get back to me about the price of my electricity bill

I get free electricity, O.o should I stop mining or what

[P4man]

There is no such thing as free electricity; someone pays for it. If you want to make money off whoever for pays it, obviously you have to keep mining.

[ragingazn628]

There is no such thing as free electricity; someone pays for it. If you want to make money off whoever for pays it, obviously you have to keep mining.

it's free to me

[m3sSh3aD]

Well if we listened to tesla and used ac current we could have been using the ionsphere for all our needs, or thermoelectric thats had little to no research put into it yet is natural from the earth and abundant for our needs. Edision was business wise, Unfortunatly thats the way of the world and with the likes of roseveilts and rothchilds, What chance did tesla have. Hell, Teasla told edison all his reseach, cause he was open minded and wanted to help.

Theres no new 'genious' of my generation. Nor does there look like there will be in the next. Tim e for people to take things into there own hands and stop handing there rights over to the powers that be

RRRRAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR lol

[P4man]

You are correct. I was under the impression this was a "linux wide" limitation as I was unable to overclock beyond 775 on 5850s on ubuntu and couldnt find any app that would let me.

Silly me. I had already switched to LinuxCoin a while ago and assumed the same limits. But nope, I just bumped my 5870 to 1 GHz and my 5850 to 900 Mhz (speeds I know to be stable in windows) and it seems to work fine.

[m3sSh3aD]

You are correct. I was under the impression this was a "linux wide" limitation as I was unable to overclock beyond 775 on 5850s on ubuntu and couldnt find any app that would let me.

Silly me. I had already switched to LinuxCoin a while ago and assumed the same limits. But nope, I just bumped my 5870 to 1 GHz and my 5850 to 900 Mhz (speeds I know to be stable in windows) and it seems to work fine.

Learn something new everyday

I tried linux coin, Really sucked. But it is beta. I'd be VERY interested in catfishes build of lubuntu though, Specially if its fully geared towards mining, I would make the switch from Win7 then i a blink of an eye

[Turbor]

I just bumped my 5870 to 1 GHz and my 5850 to 900 Mhz (speeds I know to be stable in windows) and it seems to work fine.

What MH/s do you see at 900 MHz with cgminer ? I have one 5850 running at 840 MHz with 340MH/s and the other one at 855 MHz with 350MH/s. I won't go that high just curious.

[P4man]

Hashrate is perfectly linear with clockspeed, so its not hard to guess what 900 MHz would net you. Around 365 MH using linuxcoin+cgminer. I dont intend to keep that speed though, it seems stable and my temps are still great, but Im just testing this for 24h, and if its stable then I should have no worries at 850.

[Turbor]

Tnx for the info.