GridSeed 5-chip USB miner voltage mod

[wolfey2014]

will also be doing this mod once I am free... Also wondering if the resistor have good clearance from the heatsink?

Yes, if placed like I did, it will be fine. 1 or 2mm clearance at least.

Zor, you're gonna have to find a soldering iron with a fine tip.
I can't help you find one. You're on your own, I'm afraid.
Unless someone else on here cares to guide you.
Good luck with your mod!

[Ferris419]

I sure wish you had a more high rez picture there Wolfey so I could see exactly what you've done.  I blowed it up in Photoshop but it's blotchy.  Nice work nonetheless.

I wish I could see exactly where you soldered the axial resistor.  Any guide for this particular volt mod?  I've been all over this thread ... if I need to re-read, what, 26 pages or so, tell me to.  lol

It looks like you soldered from which point I'm not sure, to one of those 3 pads.

Well, lookee here! Your prayers have been answered!
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I'm sure this zoom in, along with the fan mod pic on page 14 and resistor placement on page 25 of this thread will help you.

Thanks for posting that pic Jamieb81

Thanks for the complement Zor!  

Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!

And remember folks, I do over-volt mods - enabling stable overclocking - for you, if you can't do it yourself.
PM me for further details.

Wolfey2014

Can I do this mod by itself or does it need more mods to go along with it? I already ordered the resistors to do this mod and I will probably do the 5v fan mod as well

[wolfey2014]

I sure wish you had a more high rez picture there Wolfey so I could see exactly what you've done.  I blowed it up in Photoshop but it's blotchy.  Nice work nonetheless.

I wish I could see exactly where you soldered the axial resistor.  Any guide for this particular volt mod?  I've been all over this thread ... if I need to re-read, what, 26 pages or so, tell me to.  lol

It looks like you soldered from which point I'm not sure, to one of those 3 pads.

Well, lookee here! Your prayers have been answered!
*****************************************

*****************************************
I'm sure this zoom in, along with the fan mod pic on page 14 and resistor placement on page 25 of this thread will help you.

Thanks for posting that pic Jamieb81

Thanks for the complement Zor!  

Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!

And remember folks, I do over-volt mods - enabling stable overclocking - for you, if you can't do it yourself.
PM me for further details.

Wolfey2014

Can I do this mod by itself or does it need more mods to go along with it? I already ordered the resistors to do this mod and I will probably do the 5v fan mod as well

Yes, do this single resistor mod by itself. It's all that is required.
Good luck!

[simon66]

I got my 49.9k %1 resistors today in the mail (Bought them at digi-key)

So far, I modded 1 unit. I'm running it at 1175Mhz. It's hashing at ~425kh/s (Client side) and ~400kh/s server side. Not sure how Wolfey got +500kh/s but so far, I'm getting no where near it. I guess its a pool thing? What pool are you using Wolfey?

Thanks!

[wolfey2014]

I got my 49.9k %1 resistors today in the mail (Bought them at digi-key)

So far, I modded 1 unit. I'm running it at 1175Mhz. It's hashing at ~425kh/s (Client side) and ~400kh/s server side. Not sure how Wolfey got +500kh/s but so far, I'm getting no where near it. I guess its a pool thing? What pool are you using Wolfey?

Thanks!

Unfortunately, not everyone is going to achieve the same results.
Also, I'm using cpuminer.
Here's a couple pics of recent stats taken today at various times.
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I'm using doge.wannamine.com
Hope your hash rates improve!
Good luck!

[simon66]

Here are some pics of a modded unit. (Modded 2 now. This being the second one)




Not 100% amazing (I left it this way to show that you don't need to have a perfect solder) but it works 100%

I'm running this one at 1225Mhz and its minning at ~450Kh/s (client side) and ~500Kh/s (server side). This is still better than stock hash levels. I'll try to find the sweet spot on these units.

[RowanX]

*bump* So much talk of thermal paste and still no one here can recommend one? (??)

p.s. sorry to bump.

[wolfey2014]

Here are some pics of a modded unit. (Modded 2 now. This being the second one)




Not 100% amazing (I left it this way to show that you don't need to have a perfect solder) but it works 100%

I'm running this one at 1225Mhz and its minning at ~450Kh/s (client side) and ~500Kh/s (server side). This is still better than stock hash levels. I'll try to find the sweet spot on these units.

Nice work there Simon!
I see our work and pics have helped you determine you could do the mod yourself.
Enjoy your overclocking profits!
We've already determined the 'sweet spot'. But please let us know what you come up with too.

[Kergekoin]

Well done guys!
Also i would recomend some hot clue on top of that soldered spots. To make sure that resistor doesnt move and break the soldered spots and possibly damage the lines on PCB.

[Blueman666]

Profit and Loss

Looking at my Gridseeds and wondering if I should mod the hardware, and if so by how much, it seemed to me that the alarming increase in power usage as clock speed increases might have undesirable effects on the profitability. So I decided to get out my calculator. The results below are based on some tests performed by myself on the latest version of the Gridseed 5 chip module (the one with surface mount LED's). I modified one by changing R52 to 39k and another by changing R52 to 47K. The modules all had the 5V fan mod and were clocked at 850MHz, 1000MHz and 1200MHz, these values were chosen as the maximum which gave zero (or close to it) errors. The power cost is calculated from what I pay at about $0.20/KWHour and the modules using 4W, 15W and 25W. All figures relate to one Gridseed module running for one day and based on a bitcoin value of $460. Earnings figures are based upon a return of 0.004386 BTC/MHash/day.

R52	Power Cost	Earns Today	Profit Today	Earns Month 2	Profit Month 2	Earns Month 3	Profit Month 3
33k(standard)	$0.019	$0.72	$0.701	$0.36	$0.341	$0.18	$0.161
39k	$0.072	$0.857	$0.785	$0.4285	$0.3565	$0.21425	$0.14225
47k	$0.12	$1.029	$0.909	$0.5145	$0.3945	$0.25725	$0.13725

So assuming that the income from mining halves each month (seems likely it will) we can see that in just 2 or 3 months time it will be best to have unmodified Gridseeds.
I must emphasise that these figures are far from definitive and should only be viewed as a rough estimate. Your modules might give different results and your power cost is probably different from mine.
Overall I think my best bet is to leave mine standard with no fans at all rather than go to all the trouble of modding them only to have to put them back in a month or two.

[Kergekoin]

This can be realistic cenario indeed. IF that happens, ill just undo the mod in 3 months from now.

[RowanX]

*bump* So much talk of thermal paste and still no one here can recommend one? (??)

p.s. sorry to bump.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

Arctic MX4.

Thanks but we have been advised not to use Arctic Silver @ https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=519112.msg6027770#msg6027770 or is the one you are inking to different somehow?

[bon4ire]

Profit and Loss

Looking at my Gridseeds and wondering if I should mod the hardware, and if so by how much, it seemed to me that the alarming increase in power usage as clock speed increases might have undesirable effects on the profitability. So I decided to get out my calculator. The results below are based on some tests performed by myself on the latest version of the Gridseed 5 chip module (the one with surface mount LED's). I modified one by changing R52 to 39k and another by changing R52 to 47K. The modules all had the 5V fan mod and were clocked at 850MHz, 1000MHz and 1200MHz, these values were chosen as the maximum which gave zero (or close to it) errors. The power cost is calculated from what I pay at about $0.20/KWHour and the modules using 4W, 15W and 25W. All figures relate to one Gridseed module running for one day and based on a bitcoin value of $460. Earnings figures are based upon a return of 0.004386 BTC/MHash/day.

R52	Power Cost	Earns Today	Profit Today	Earns Month 2	Profit Month 2	Earns Month 3	Profit Month 3
33k(standard)	$0.019	$0.72	$0.701	$0.36	$0.341	$0.18	$0.161
39k	$0.072	$0.857	$0.785	$0.4285	$0.3565	$0.21425	$0.14225
47k	$0.12	$1.029	$0.909	$0.5145	$0.3945	$0.25725	$0.13725

So assuming that the income from mining halves each month (seems likely it will) we can see that in just 2 or 3 months time it will be best to have unmodified Gridseeds.
I must emphasise that these figures are far from definitive and should only be viewed as a rough estimate. Your modules might give different results and your power cost is probably different from mine.
Overall I think my best bet is to leave mine standard with no fans at all rather than go to all the trouble of modding them only to have to put them back in a month or two.

Almost precisely the reason why I reverted my mods back to default without fans (except for a single 120mm fan running at 5v cooling 14 GS).

My simple reasoning was this. Why would I make the mod to double the hashrate when it quadruples the power consumption? Which produces more heat requiring the need for more cooling?

I admit, the mod is a great endeavor if the cost of power is factored out of the equation, ie gamers with their graphics cards.  Those gamers push for more gpu cycles irregardless of power costs.

[jamieb81]

*bump* So much talk of thermal paste and still no one here can recommend one? (??)

p.s. sorry to bump.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

Arctic MX4.

Thanks but we have been advised not to use Arctic Silver @ https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=519112.msg6027770#msg6027770 or is the one you are inking to different somehow?

Any paste will do, as long as it is non conductive. So nothing with "silver" "metal" etc..

[RowanX]

*bump* So much talk of thermal paste and still no one here can recommend one? (??)

p.s. sorry to bump.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

Arctic MX4.

Thanks but we have been advised not to use Arctic Silver @ https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=519112.msg6027770#msg6027770 or is the one you are inking to different somehow?

Any paste will do, as long as it is non conductive. So nothing with "silver" "metal" etc..

Yes well that brings us full circle back to my original problem: every paste I see says that it is "conductive" - so I'm asking if someone can show me a non-conductive paste that is suitable to use in the gridseeds.

[jamieb81]

*bump* So much talk of thermal paste and still no one here can recommend one? (??)

p.s. sorry to bump.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

Arctic MX4.

Thanks but we have been advised not to use Arctic Silver @ https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=519112.msg6027770#msg6027770 or is the one you are inking to different somehow?

Any paste will do, as long as it is non conductive. So nothing with "silver" "metal" etc..

Yes well that brings us full circle back to my original problem: every paste I see says that it is "conductive" - so I'm asking if someone can show me a non-conductive paste that is suitable to use in the gridseeds.

google

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020

https://www.google.com/search?q=non+conductive+thermal+paste&oq=non+conductive+ther&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.6387j1j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=non+conductive++capacitive+thermal+paste&safe=off

[gbyg]

*bump* So much talk of thermal paste and still no one here can recommend one? (??)

p.s. sorry to bump.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

Arctic MX4.

Thanks but we have been advised not to use Arctic Silver @ https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=519112.msg6027770#msg6027770 or is the one you are inking to different somehow?

Any paste will do, as long as it is non conductive. So nothing with "silver" "metal" etc..

Yes well that brings us full circle back to my original problem: every paste I see says that it is "conductive" - so I'm asking if someone can show me a non-conductive paste that is suitable to use in the gridseeds.

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186038

If you check the description, its says non-electricity conductive.

[jamieb81]

That one works too, but no need for any expensive one, first price non conductive/capacitive will do. It's not like its a monster GPU that gets to 90 degrees 

[gbyg]

That one works too, but no need for any expensive one, first price non conductive/capacitive will do. It's not like its a monster GPU that gets to 90 degrees 

You are right indeed! I was looking for something for OP and first thing came in to my head was MX-4 

[Cablez]

Here are some pics of a modded unit. (Modded 2 now. This being the second one)

[imghttp://s11.postimg.org/6pdjc3n2r/image.jpg[/img]http://[imghttp://s11.postimg.org/n1s6fkqs3/image.jpg[/img]

Not 100% amazing (I left it this way to show that you don't need to have a perfect solder) but it works 100%

I'm running this one at 1225Mhz and its minning at ~450Kh/s (client side) and ~500Kh/s (server side). This is still better than stock hash levels. I'll try to find the sweet spot on these units.

That is interesting. I have the original 3 mods on a pair of my units which allows them to clock to 1075Mhz stable.  This is yielding 454Kh/s pretty much both client and pool side.  How are you clocked 150Mhz more and not really getting any better performance?  I would expect at that clock 500+Kh/s easy client side.

I will be reverting one unit and trying this mod tomorrow after the resistors come in. We will see what changes.