Linux vs Windows for Dedicated Mining

[Synaesthesia]

Ha Windows 7 is so easy to pirate - Windows 7 loader 

Also if you flash your card to an OC'ed ROM it will work in Linux too.

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[teukon]

Ha Windows 7 is so easy to pirate - Windows 7 loader 

Also if you flash your card to an OC'ed ROM it will work in Linux too.

Silk road is one thing but software piracy?  Are we really that dastardly?  I am shocked!

[anthony.selby]

Windows is easier to over clock but like everyone else said once you oc in windows its overclocked in linux ... the cool thing is you can unplug your HD and run off of a thumb drive ... I have four machines ... 3 running 2 x 6870 and one running 2 x 6950 after I unplugged the HDs in all of them and booted off a thumb drive my power bill dropped 15 dollars (not much but if your going for profit its worth it) they are stable and just as fast

[IlbiStarz]

Linux is a bit faster, but Windows makes it up with easy overclocking and overvolting.

[syb3ria]

I run one of my cards on Windows, and two more of the same kind on Linux. Same software (poclbm), same settings, same exact amount of overclocking.  Here is the result:

Shares:
24279 (Windows)
28622 (Linux)
28575 (Linux)

Notice any difference?

Fake or inaccurate.

You know that from your own experince or just hating open source?

[PcChip]

Windows is easier to over clock but like everyone else said once you oc in windows its overclocked in linux ... the cool thing is you can unplug your HD and run off of a thumb drive ... I have four machines ... 3 running 2 x 6870 and one running 2 x 6950 after I unplugged the HDs in all of them and booted off a thumb drive my power bill dropped 15 dollars (not much but if your going for profit its worth it) they are stable and just as fast

I'm interested in this because I have two dedicated rigs (and the hard drives get quite hot which could mean power consumption), but I have to ask two things:

1.) How can you be sure that unplugging three hard drives alone dropped your bill fifteen dollars? That sounds like quite an overstatement considering they don't draw that much power

2.) Did you have windows set to power them down after 5 minutes?  I have that set on mine, and I can't actually tell if it's doing anything because with all the gpu fans at 100% and the box fan running full blast I can't hear it or feel it over the noise and vibrations

[qed]

I run one of my cards on Windows, and two more of the same kind on Linux. Same software (poclbm), same settings, same exact amount of overclocking.  Here is the result:

Shares:
24279 (Windows)
28622 (Linux)
28575 (Linux)

Notice any difference?

Fake or inaccurate.

You know that from your own experince or just hating open source?

I'm working on Linux since over 10 years and I started using it even earlier, but I like things that works. Linux in this case is not superior to Windows talking about the hash speed and I'm not able to set voltage/frequency on it. Flashing bios makes no sense at all, especially due to RBE is not working well on 6950 cards and not working at all on 6990.

[CanaryInTheMine]

UPDATE/EDIT:  If it matters, I may add on a third and/or fourth GPU to the system later.  Running a 1k watt PSU in the rig right now with ample space and airflow.

Do you plan to use water cooling ? How else can you fit 4 cards in one MB ?

I would recommend mining on Windows, of course. Unless you are going to install more than 2x5970 or 4x5870

GPU limitation on windows is no longer an issue with 11.6 drivers

[Departure]

Windows is easier to over clock but like everyone else said once you oc in windows its overclocked in linux ... the cool thing is you can unplug your HD and run off of a thumb drive ... I have four machines ... 3 running 2 x 6870 and one running 2 x 6950 after I unplugged the HDs in all of them and booted off a thumb drive my power bill dropped 15 dollars (not much but if your going for profit its worth it) they are stable and just as fast

you can boot windows from a usb stick also thus removing the need for HD..

[CanaryInTheMine]

Windows is easier to over clock but like everyone else said once you oc in windows its overclocked in linux ... the cool thing is you can unplug your HD and run off of a thumb drive ... I have four machines ... 3 running 2 x 6870 and one running 2 x 6950 after I unplugged the HDs in all of them and booted off a thumb drive my power bill dropped 15 dollars (not much but if your going for profit its worth it) they are stable and just as fast

you can boot windows from a usb stick also thus removing the need for HD..

Is there a thread you could share for Windows from USB stick please?
I've been able to put the Windows install media on a usb stick, but not a persistent install.

[syb3ria]

I run one of my cards on Windows, and two more of the same kind on Linux. Same software (poclbm), same settings, same exact amount of overclocking.  Here is the result:

Shares:
24279 (Windows)
28622 (Linux)
28575 (Linux)

Notice any difference?

Fake or inaccurate.

You know that from your own experince or just hating open source?

I'm working on Linux since over 10 years and I started using it even earlier, but I like things that works. Linux in this case is not superior to Windows talking about the hash speed and I'm not able to set voltage/frequency on it. Flashing bios makes no sense at all, especially due to RBE is not working well on 6950 cards and not working at all on 6990.

Have you tried this? http://sourceforge.net/projects/amdovdrvctrl/

[qed]

Have you tried this? http://sourceforge.net/projects/amdovdrvctrl/

Yes. It is not able to set voltage on HD 6900 cards and it is not allowing me to underclock ram as i can with afterburner, sadly.

[JayC]

Linux hands down is going to be more profitable if you know what you're doing.  We ran extensive tests on 58xx and 69xx systems running both Windows XP and Ubuntu 11 even with the "limited" overclocking controls we found Linux to be faster by far than Windows.  Keep in mind that we first searched for the sweet spot of profitability, sometimes overclocking reduces your profit margin.

Long term this is a game about maximizing profit, and while maxing out MH/s seems like the thing to do, you should be much more concerned with MH/J, we found that over clocking outside of the 'normal' settings, resulted in a lower MH/J in all cases.

[qed]

Linux hands down is going to be more profitable if you know what you're doing.  We ran extensive tests on 58xx and 69xx systems running both Windows XP and Ubuntu 11 even with the "limited" overclocking controls we found Linux to be faster by far than Windows.  Keep in mind that we first searched for the sweet spot of profitability, sometimes overclocking reduces your profit margin.

Long term this is a game about maximizing profit, and while maxing out MH/s seems like the thing to do, you should be much more concerned with MH/J, we found that over clocking outside of the 'normal' settings, resulted in a lower MH/J in all cases.

That's why i'm using undervoltage on windows...

[syb3ria]

Linux hands down is going to be more profitable if you know what you're doing.  We ran extensive tests on 58xx and 69xx systems running both Windows XP and Ubuntu 11 even with the "limited" overclocking controls we found Linux to be faster by far than Windows.  Keep in mind that we first searched for the sweet spot of profitability, sometimes overclocking reduces your profit margin.

Long term this is a game about maximizing profit, and while maxing out MH/s seems like the thing to do, you should be much more concerned with MH/J, we found that over clocking outside of the 'normal' settings, resulted in a lower MH/J in all cases.

Yeah i know that. The only thing i wasn't aware is that the tool i gave link before isn't working on 69xx series.  Sadly there are more developers for windows.

[gat3way]

Use Catalyst 11.6 and aticonfig. It allows for core/memory clocking beyond BIOS limits.

[Mabsark]

Linux hands down is going to be more profitable if you know what you're doing.  We ran extensive tests on 58xx and 69xx systems running both Windows XP and Ubuntu 11 even with the "limited" overclocking controls we found Linux to be faster by far than Windows.  Keep in mind that we first searched for the sweet spot of profitability, sometimes overclocking reduces your profit margin.

Long term this is a game about maximizing profit, and while maxing out MH/s seems like the thing to do, you should be much more concerned with MH/J, we found that over clocking outside of the 'normal' settings, resulted in a lower MH/J in all cases.

Then you obviously don't know what you are doing. Post some settings and screenshots and we'll soon find out if you're talking fanboy crap. With a 5830 the best hash rate you're going to get is around 330 MHz in Windows. "Faster by far" would be around 400 MHz. So, lets see then.

[FnuGk]

Linux hands down is going to be more profitable if you know what you're doing.  We ran extensive tests on 58xx and 69xx systems running both Windows XP and Ubuntu 11 even with the "limited" overclocking controls we found Linux to be faster by far than Windows.  Keep in mind that we first searched for the sweet spot of profitability, sometimes overclocking reduces your profit margin.

Long term this is a game about maximizing profit, and while maxing out MH/s seems like the thing to do, you should be much more concerned with MH/J, we found that over clocking outside of the 'normal' settings, resulted in a lower MH/J in all cases.

Then you obviously don't know what you are doing. Post some settings and screenshots and we'll soon find out if you're talking fanboy crap. With a 5830 the best hash rate you're going to get is around 330 MHz in Windows. "Faster by far" would be around 400 MHz. So, lets see then.

He is not talking mhz here. He is talking overall profit.
If OS A. gives 1000 MH using 500wats = 1000/500= 2
 OS B. Gives 1200 MH using 550wats = 1200/500= 1,83333333

in this examble OS B i clearly filling you butcoin wallet faster but in return it is emptying it even faster than OS A. making it less desirable if you want to maximize your profit.

[JayC]

Linux hands down is going to be more profitable if you know what you're doing.  We ran extensive tests on 58xx and 69xx systems running both Windows XP and Ubuntu 11 even with the "limited" overclocking controls we found Linux to be faster by far than Windows.  Keep in mind that we first searched for the sweet spot of profitability, sometimes overclocking reduces your profit margin.

Long term this is a game about maximizing profit, and while maxing out MH/s seems like the thing to do, you should be much more concerned with MH/J, we found that over clocking outside of the 'normal' settings, resulted in a lower MH/J in all cases.

Yeah i know that. The only thing i wasn't aware is that the tool i gave link before isn't working on 69xx series.  Sadly there are more developers for windows.

AMDOverdriveCtrl works with 6950's and 6970's just fine.

[JayC]

Did you read my post?  I'm assuming when you write MHZ, you really mean MH/s.  First, we were trying to find the most profitable settings, surprisingly as you overclock, while you're MH/s increases, often your MH/j tends to decrease, meaning while you get more BTC, it costs you more per BTC to generate them.

So, while AMDOverdriveCtrl doesn't allow you to overclock as much as certain Windows tools, the sweet spot was *always* within the range of a linux system without having to jump through hoops.Now your point probably is that makes them even...  but it doesn't...

In theory you're having to buy a Windows license to run that dedicated mining rig...  that costs money...  you're most likely putting Windows on a hard drive, which costs a lot more than network booting, or thumb drives, that costs extra money...  Windows requires dummy plugs for each card, that costs money, and makes management that much harder...  and remote management takes a little more setup time, costing you time, and as we all know time is money...  More money spent means less profit

So yeah, if you know what you're doing in Linux, it's more profitable than Windows for dedicated mining rigs.

Linux hands down is going to be more profitable if you know what you're doing.  We ran extensive tests on 58xx and 69xx systems running both Windows XP and Ubuntu 11 even with the "limited" overclocking controls we found Linux to be faster by far than Windows.  Keep in mind that we first searched for the sweet spot of profitability, sometimes overclocking reduces your profit margin.

Long term this is a game about maximizing profit, and while maxing out MH/s seems like the thing to do, you should be much more concerned with MH/J, we found that over clocking outside of the 'normal' settings, resulted in a lower MH/J in all cases.

Then you obviously don't know what you are doing. Post some settings and screenshots and we'll soon find out if you're talking fanboy crap. With a 5830 the best hash rate you're going to get is around 330 MHz in Windows. "Faster by far" would be around 400 MHz. So, lets see then.