GekkoScience has a new pod miner, just in time for Christmas

[RKG456]

Is there a general thread for Gekkoscience miners?  Not just for the  R909?

I will mention this here since there is an R909 in the mix, but It may be better suited for a different thread. Let me know.  I tried mining the nicehash pool this morning via cgminer, and though it works, the difficulty seems to be a little much. it is very slow and the R909 seems to hang at around 89% but still hashes at around 2.5TH/s.  The Compac-Fs see to be the ones that struggle the most as a few of them will reset the frequency down to 200mhz and ramp back up.   I am running 1 R9-9, 4 Compac-Fs and 2 New Pacs with an over all hash rate of 3.1TH to as high as 4.2TH/s.  The pool settles on a difficulty of 40k and and overall it does get excepted shares, just really slow to handle them.  That being said, I was curious if anyone else had tried to mine nicehash with usb miners.  Is it worth it or is there an increased risk of damage to the miners?  Anyone have suggested difficulty for nicehash pool?

Here is what I used: NiceHash External Mining:
sudo ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://sha256.auto.nicehash.com:9200 -u WALLET-ADDRESS.Workername -p x --gekko-newpac-freq 350 --gekko-compacf-freq 400 --gekko-r909-freq 550

I was thinking of trying it again with the --suggest-diff 20000  flag and then with --suggest-diff 10000 flag to see how those work.  I have been mining ckpool with --suggest-diff 10000 flag  to see how that went.  it seems stable just getting about half the shares than if I let it auto set the difficulty.  When I do let it auto set on ckpool it usually sets it somewhere between 2400 and 3400. 

Here is what I used to mine ckpool: 
sudo ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -u WALLET-ADDRESS.Workername  -p x --gekko-newpac-freq 375 --gekko-compacf-freq 450 --gekko-r909-freq 575 --suggest-diff 10000

Earlier today ckpool reported these stats for my worker. These are the frequency same settings I normally run only difference is the suggested difficulty.

Code:

{
 "hashrate1m": "6.14T",
 "hashrate5m": "4.81T",
 "hashrate1hr": "3.68T",
 "hashrate1d": "3.17T",
 "hashrate7d": "1.14T",
 "lastshare": 1672677213,
 "workers": 1,
 "shares": 196345749,
 "bestshare": 283475270.1970135,
 "bestever": 283475270,
 "worker": [
  {

Code:

 cgminer version 4.12.1 - Started: [2023-01-02 11:04:46.777]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (5s):3.477T (1m):3.632T (5m):3.624T (15m):3.608T (avg):3.589Th/s
 A:9450000  R:10000  HW:4260  WU:50140.9/m
 Connected to solo.ckpool.org diff 10K with stratum as user bc1qwgc4p4gf6qlpv0m.NPandT
 Block: 3df2368c...  Diff:35.4T  Started: [14:08:11.563]  Best share: 21M
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [U]SB management [P]ool management [S]ettings [D]isplay options [Q]uit
 0: GSF 10070012: BM1397:06+ 575.00MHz T:575 P:575 (4:2)     | 98.7% WU: 97% | 1.991T / 2.256Th/s WU:31524.2/m
 1: GSH 10041663: BM1387:02+ 375.00MHz T:375 P:375 (100:50)  | 99.8% WU: 98% | 82.56G / 83.99Gh/s WU: 1173.4/m
 2: GSH 10038894: BM1387:02+ 375.00MHz T:375 P:375 (100:50)  | 98.0% WU: 98% | 88.03G / 83.83Gh/s WU: 1171.2/m
 3: GSF 10052154: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (29:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 301.0G / 270.4Gh/s WU: 3777.5/m
 4: GSF 10053864: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 290.8G / 297.1Gh/s WU: 4150.3/m
 5: GSF 10050104: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 271.5G / 299.6Gh/s WU: 4185.5/m
 6: GSF 10054544: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (29:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 415.4G / 297.7Gh/s WU: 4158.8/m
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [2023-01-02 14:06:44.553] Accepted 048725ba Diff 14.5K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 14:06:56.428] Accepted 025d6339 Diff 27.7K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 14:07:10.289] Accepted 04fd253a Diff 13.1K/10000 GSF 4
 [2023-01-02 14:07:24.395] Accepted 0859ff5b Diff 2.01M/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 14:07:25.985] Accepted 0476518e Diff 14.7K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 14:07:30.342] Accepted 0558b45a Diff 12.3K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 14:07:48.383] Accepted 02d12650 Diff 23.3K/10000 GSF 4
 [2023-01-02 14:08:09.490] Accepted 0168869e Diff 46.5K/10000 GSF 3
 [2023-01-02 14:08:11.563] Stratum from pool 0 detected new block at height 770072
 [2023-01-02 14:08:25.631] Accepted 030ba34c Diff 21.5K/10000 GSF 3
 [2023-01-02 14:08:52.728] Accepted 01897353 Diff 42.6K/10000 GSF 2
 [2023-01-02 14:09:07.898] Accepted 0392977d Diff 18.3K/10000 GSH 1
 [2023-01-02 14:09:11.982] Accepted 045f91be Diff 15K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 14:09:13.723] Accepted 026ca67b Diff 27K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 14:09:18.526] Accepted 40db734b Diff 259K/10000 GSF 1

[os2sam]

Is there a general thread for Gekkoscience miners?  Not just for the  R909?

I am running 1 R9-9, 4 Compac-Fs and 2 New Pacs

All the Gekko threads are pretty close to the  top of the list so you should be able to see them.

Newpac:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5053833.msg47068859#msg47068859

Compac F:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5355470.msg57735149#msg57735149

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Is there a general thread for Gekkoscience miners?  Not just for the  R909?

I am running 1 R9-9, 4 Compac-Fs and 2 New Pacs

All the Gekko threads are pretty close to the  top of the list so you should be able to see them.
Newpac:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5053833.msg47068859#msg47068859

Compac F:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5355470.msg57735149#msg57735149

Long ago Kano recommended that the slower original Compacs, 2Pacs & NewPacs be ran in a separate instance of cgminer and the F's & obviously the R909 in their own instance. You can of course still run them off of the same hub and code - cgminer is perfectly happy running multiple instances of itself, AIR it is due to the vastly different data rates involved with the chips and how the CPU(s) & cgminer has to process the data for them.

[sidehack]

Is that a 2.26TH average speed from the R909? Nice. The fastest I've pushed one stable was 2.1TH so, you know, cool.

[RKG456]

Is that a 2.26TH average speed from the R909? Nice. The fastest I've pushed one stable was 2.1TH so, you know, cool.

I have been running the last round of testing with the R909 at 600mhz and it appears stable. Difficulty is locked at 10K and it seems to be handling it.
575mhz on the R909 seems to be the sweet spot for mine though. The Best share resets every time i restart the miner.. So far the best share I have seen is with the R909 at 550mhz and it was 293M and the difficulty was at 3211.  
EDIT: I did have to turn the blue know about 1/8th Clockwise to get 600mhz to be stable otherwise the R909 would not work well above 575mhz.

Code:

cgminer version 4.12.1 - Started: [2023-01-02 18:44:28.984]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (5s):4.040T (1m):3.779T (5m):3.681T (15m):3.670T (avg):3.671Th/s
 A:4280000  R:0  HW:2747  WU:51295.3/m
 Connected to solo.ckpool.org diff 10K with stratum as user bc1qwgc4p4gf6qlpv0mh95ju6rtqvlhmnwtyn87dpa.NPandT
 Block: 740932e4...  Diff:35.4T  Started: [19:49:00.595]  Best share: 4.3M
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [U]SB management [P]ool management [S]ettings [D]isplay options [Q]uit
 0: GSF 10070012: BM1397:06+ 600.00MHz T:600 P:600 (3:2)     | 95.7% WU: 97% | 2.813T / 2.342Th/s WU:32720.5/m
 1: GSH 10041663: BM1387:02+ 375.00MHz T:375 P:375 (100:50)  | 97.2% WU: 98% | 86.06G / 83.85Gh/s WU: 1171.4/m
 2: GSH 10038894: BM1387:02+ 375.00MHz T:375 P:375 (100:50)  | 99.4% WU: 98% | 86.39G / 83.46Gh/s WU: 1166.0/m
 3: GSF 10052154: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:449 (28:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 268.3G / 265.7Gh/s WU: 3711.9/m
 4: GSF 10053864: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 328.1G / 300.6Gh/s WU: 4199.6/m
 5: GSF 10050104: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 276.8G / 298.5Gh/s WU: 4169.8/m
 6: GSF 10054544: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 292.9G / 297.5Gh/s WU: 4156.0/m
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [2023-01-02 20:16:18.754] Accepted 23d05810 Diff 468K/10000 GSF 2
 [2023-01-02 20:16:29.731] Accepted 0498d7c1 Diff 14.3K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 20:16:33.821] Accepted 059fe3a0 Diff 11.7K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 20:16:58.581] Accepted 0159b5a0 Diff 48.5K/10000 GSH 0
 [2023-01-02 20:16:59.384] Accepted 02e3922a Diff 22.7K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 20:17:03.497] Accepted 04fcfc43 Diff 13.1K/10000 GSH 1
 [2023-01-02 20:17:07.362] Accepted 017e3b91 Diff 43.9K/10000 GSF 1
 [2023-01-02 20:17:14.330] Accepted 0323fce4 Diff 20.9K/10000 GSF 1
 [2023-01-02 20:17:21.062] Accepted 02faca58 Diff 22K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 20:17:34.834] Accepted 02a5b268 Diff 24.8K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 20:17:47.444] Accepted 02063572 Diff 32.4K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 20:17:49.857] Accepted 01f438d1 Diff 33.5K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 20:18:01.234] Accepted 052019bb Diff 12.8K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 20:18:08.316] Accepted 01c339b1 Diff 37.2K/10000 GSF 0
 [2023-01-02 20:18:17.076] Accepted 05934f47 Diff 11.8K/10000 GSF 0

[RKG456]

So today I have been letting it run and letting cgminer and the pool manage the difficulty, and it is set low at 2587.  Yet somewhere along the line today, this little setup pulled a Best share of 1.15G.

 

Code:

cgminer version 4.12.1 - Started: [2023-01-03 08:12:27.546]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (5s):3.382T (1m):3.570T (5m):3.589T (15m):3.575T (avg):3.567Th/s
 A:25203274  R:49005  HW:12163  WU:49832.5/m
 Connected to solo.ckpool.org diff 2.59K with stratum as user MyWallert.NPandT
 Block: 60df4130...  Diff:34.1T  Started: [16:34:05.450]  Best share: 1.15G
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [U]SB management [P]ool management [S]ettings [D]isplay options [Q]uit
 0: GSF 10070012: BM1397:06+ 575.00MHz T:575 P:575 (3:2)     | 99.1% WU: 96% | 2.258T / 2.229Th/s WU:31141.5/m
 1: GSH 10041663: BM1387:02+ 375.00MHz T:375 P:375 (100:50)  | 97.3% WU: 98% | 89.83G / 84.13Gh/s WU: 1175.4/m
 2: GSH 10038894: BM1387:02+ 375.00MHz T:375 P:375 (100:50)  | 98.4% WU: 98% | 86.88G / 84.08Gh/s WU: 1174.7/m
 3: GSF 10052154: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:445 (28:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 299.3G / 270.0Gh/s WU: 3772.5/m
 4: GSF 10053864: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 392.4G / 298.9Gh/s WU: 4175.3/m
 5: GSF 10050104: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 359.9G / 299.3Gh/s WU: 4181.4/m
 6: GSF 10054544: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14)   |  100% WU:100% | 301.3G / 301.5Gh/s WU: 4211.8/m

[Atrax]

My 909 was working without any flaw.
Now, after some days, I get this messages:

[2023-01-06 13:25:48.954] Started cgminer 4.12.1-wrk                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:48.955] Loaded configuration file /home/gilkane/.cgminer/cgminer.conf                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:48.956] Probing for an alive pool                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:49.173] Pool 0 difficulty changed to 8192                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:49.174] Pool 2 difficulty changed to 8192                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:49.345] Pool 1 difficulty changed to 262144                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:50.255] 0: GSF 0 - Toggling ASIC nRST to reset                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:51.494] 0: GSF 0 - R909 Bitcoin Miner (10070007)                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:51.497] Network diff set to 34.1T                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:53.394] 0: GSF 0 - set ticket to 0xfc/64 work 128/128.0                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:53.597] 0: GSF 0 - setting bauddiv : 00 61 (ftdi/2)                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:53.673] 0: GSF 0 - setting [all] frequency to 400.00MHz (400.00) (160/2/1/5)                    
 [2023-01-06 13:25:53.694] GSF 0 failure, disabling!    

Frequency was originally set on 450 in my configuration. Changed it to 400, but still the same result.

Rebooting the Raspi didn't change anything.

edit:
Now, since a while, I only got this message:

[2023-01-06 13:33:51.305] GekkoScience detect (1:11) failed to initialise (incorrect device?), resetting

Any advice where I should begin with finding the error?

[Atrax]

Get the same behavior when I plug in the 909 on my desktop computer. So I guess there's something I should be able to fix on the 909?

[Atrax]

Okay, seems it is a power problem. Had to find a more stable PSU for we have here massive problems with the current in our house. Hope it will be better once I put the device out of the testing environment in my house and  on a solar device.

[RKG456]

For those still looking for an R909. I see them listed on Amazon for $620 with free prime shipping.  Sold by Eyeboot and ships from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BQZ35B6G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

[MoparMiningLLC]

For those still looking for an R909. I see them listed on Amazon for $620 with free prime shipping.  Sold by Eyeboot and ships from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BQZ35B6G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

419mining has them as well for 599 but they dont take btc - neither does amazon, so I am unable to order.

[sidehack]

R909 seem to be a bit particular about power, yeah. The fairly cheap brick on my linux laptop is noisy and I had to replace it before it'd detect the R909 over USB. Sometimes it'd load up and work for a few seconds then drop out again, but most of the time it just doesn't work. I ended up in a pinch just using a second lab PSU for the laptop, just like the one powering my test R909, and it's been running beautifully at 600MHz for the last day on that setup.

Didnt have the problem on a Pi controller, because it was running off the same clean power source as the pod. Low quality power for either the pod or controller could cause ground loop noise issues that throw off the USB signal voltages and make for a poor connection.

[yettihead]

Bitcoinmerch has them and I believe they take bitcoin through Coinbase Commerce.

https://bitcoinmerch.com/products/bitcoin-merch%C2%AE-geoscience-terminus-sha256-bitcoin-r909-pod-miner-led-version

For those still looking for an R909. I see them listed on Amazon for $620 with free prime shipping.  Sold by Eyeboot and ships from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BQZ35B6G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

419mining has them as well for 599 but they dont take btc - neither does amazon, so I am unable to order.

[n0nce]

The BM1397 chips have a significant temperature coefficient, which means that they pull noticeably more power as they get warmer. Nobody at GekkoScience will be offended if a tuner or enthusiast upgrades the fan, as more airflow could mean reducing power consumption by 5-10% just from maintaining lower temperatures. These units take a standard 80mmx25mm 3/4-wire 12V case fan.

Speaking of this: is there any way to read out the chips' temperatures?
Or would we need to manually place a thermocouple and monitor it that way? I'm asking, because I replaced the stock fan and now I'm not sure whether it's getting too hot.

[kano]

So I tried to do something that I'd not suggest anyone else to do
Of course try it if you really know what you are doing and have a 5kRPM fan, high quality power and are using linux

The aim was to see how fast I can get the R909 going - and I've got a record so far, we'll see who can beat it
My production R909 has one chip not as good as the other 5, so someone with 6 perfect chips should be able to beat it.

Anyway, I put in a 5kRPM fan, set the blue screw close to maximum, set 5 chips to ... 725MHz ... and the dodgy chip to 500MHz.

Results after hours of running (that I posted in discord earlier):

Code:

(5s):5.067T (1m):5.046T (5m):5.105T (15m):5.098T (avg):5.024Th/s
 A:36261324  R:23056  HW:8786576  WU:70192.7/m
 Connected to               diff 2.88K with stratum as user
 Block: 5fd33018...  Diff:34.1T  Started: [19:45:10.943]  Best share: 84.9M
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0: GSF 10008346: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14) |  100% WU:100% | 307.9G / 292.5Gh/s WU: 4086.1/m
 1: GSF 10008000: BM1397:06+ 500.00MHz T:500 P:500 (4:2)   |  100% WU: 98% | 2.265T / 1.970Th/s WU:27525.2/m
 2: GSF 10055348: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14) |  100% WU:100% | 296.0G / 286.5Gh/s WU: 4001.8/m
 3: GSF 10070004: BM1397:06+ 687.50MHz T:500 P:665 (3:2)   | 90.4% WU: 89% | 2.433T / 2.475Th/s WU:34579.3/m

Massive >20% hardware errors, but "3: GSF 10070004: BM1397:06+" powering along at 2.475Th/s

(and of course the other number there, total of >5TH for 2xR909 and 2xCompacF)

Mine on!

Edit: I should add, when you change frequencies or it has finished ramping up the frequencies, reset the averages.
I've added the details to http://kano.is/gekko.php#perf

[sidehack]

Mine with 6 good chips is sitting at 2.4T flat at 600MHz, blue knob about 1 o'clock, pulling 104 watts DC with a stock fan and pretty low HW. My old laptop craps the latency timer at any higher MHz but if I can get the Pi back running I'm gonna try to beat that record.

[cygan]

i will also try to get to the performance/record of kanos r909. but for now i have no desire to tinker with my small lottery farm.
first wait for my new gekko usb hub and then i will first adjust my two r909 and among other things replace the fans against the noctua ones

[Atrax]

R909 seem to be a bit particular about power, yeah. The fairly cheap brick on my linux laptop is noisy and I had to replace it before it'd detect the R909 over USB. Sometimes it'd load up and work for a few seconds then drop out again, but most of the time it just doesn't work. I ended up in a pinch just using a second lab PSU for the laptop, just like the one powering my test R909, and it's been running beautifully at 600MHz for the last day on that setup.

Didnt have the problem on a Pi controller, because it was running off the same clean power source as the pod. Low quality power for either the pod or controller could cause ground loop noise issues that throw off the USB signal voltages and make for a poor connection.

Yep, once the power problem has been solved, it is hashing beautifully on 600 Mhz at room temperature:

(5s):2.887T (1m):2.433T (5m):2.418T (15m):2.422T (avg):2.401Th/s   

Now measuring for a couple of days how much power it sucks before installing it in a solar system. There it will work in constantly 15° Celsius, so looking forward on how the performance will be then.

[n0nce]

among other things replace the fans against the noctua ones

For what it's worth, do be aware that Noctua does not equal absolute silence. So far, their most quiet fans in my experience are the A12x25, which even at roughly half speed (1000RPM) provide ample cooling and static pressure for my application while being almost silent. Of course, they don't fit this miner.

Other Noctua fans however, need more RPM to cool properly and are definitely audible. Even larger ones like the NF-A14 PWM.

I installed the NF-A8 PWM in the R909 earlier today and it sounds slightly higher pitched (at full 2200RPM speed) than the stock Arctic F8 at 2000RPM, although the sound is a bit quieter and more pleasant; the F8 almost sounded 'rattly' in a way; some kind of frequency was probably spiking higher than the others.
Right now, I am running the Noctua with the included LNA (low noise adapter) at 1750RPM and that makes it almost silent from a few meters away. However, it results in a bit less airflow than even the stock fan.

For now it works without issues at 525MHz and a bit over 2TH/s, but I definitely need to check my temps somehow.

[n0nce]

I've been gradually increasing frequency, without playing with the voltage knob, and so far I've reached 600MHz. Getting 2.3TH/s out of it. Pretty amazing!

Anyway, I put in a 5kRPM fan, set the blue screw close to maximum, set 5 chips to ... 725MHz ... and the dodgy chip to 500MHz.

Results after hours of running (that I posted in discord earlier):

Code:

(5s):5.067T (1m):5.046T (5m):5.105T (15m):5.098T (avg):5.024Th/s
 A:36261324  R:23056  HW:8786576  WU:70192.7/m
 Connected to               diff 2.88K with stratum as user
 Block: 5fd33018...  Diff:34.1T  Started: [19:45:10.943]  Best share: 84.9M
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0: GSF 10008346: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14) |  100% WU:100% | 307.9G / 292.5Gh/s WU: 4086.1/m
 1: GSF 10008000: BM1397:06+ 500.00MHz T:500 P:500 (4:2)   |  100% WU: 98% | 2.265T / 1.970Th/s WU:27525.2/m
 2: GSF 10055348: BM1397:01+ 450.00MHz T:450 P:450 (28:14) |  100% WU:100% | 296.0G / 286.5Gh/s WU: 4001.8/m
 3: GSF 10070004: BM1397:06+ 687.50MHz T:500 P:665 (3:2)   | 90.4% WU: 89% | 2.433T / 2.475Th/s WU:34579.3/m

In this overview, what frequency is shown when a device has multiple chips? On your two R909's, I can spot one at 500MHz and one at 687.5MHz. Is it the average?
I guess so.. (725*5+500)/6 = 687.5

I'm going to need to dabble with the Java API and individual frequencies, too. Right now, just using --gekko-r909-freq 600 and restarting the process when trying another setting.