6970's

[cypherdoc]

i'm new to mining but have 2 machines each with 3 Radeon cards, one with Sapphire 6970's, and the other with Powercolor 6970's.

the Powercolors run consistently lower Mh/s than Sapphires.  the only difference i can see physically is the 2 fans vs. one fan.  am getting in the high 200's for Powercolors vs. the low 300's for Sapphires.

what Mh/s should i expect optimally from these cards?  optimal temp? (they're currrently below 90 C).  memory at lowest setting.

using GUI miner, Win7 Ultimate.

am using the recently updated ATI Control Center with Overdrive.  any suggestions?

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[jake262144]

... they're currrently below 90 C...

I have a strange feeling they're not exactly at 50°C...

Anything above 80°C is going to impact the life span of those cards.
What is the "lowest setting"??

Suggestions...
(1) Increase case air flow.
(2) Undervolt those cards as hard as you are able to. This will prolong their life, increase power efficiency, and decrease heat.
     Undervolting is best done one small step at a time, say 0.020 V. If the card is still stable a few hours later, repeat until you've found minimal stable voltage. It will likely differ from card to card.
     I tested each undervolt level for a whole day before going further though it may have been going overboard.
     On my 6770s I've been able to decrease power by about 0.090 (from stock 1.2 downto ±1.110) while keeping the high OC levels (995/300, stock was 800). That shaved off 4 to 6°C per card.
  

[cypherdoc]

... they're currrently below 90 C...

I have a strange feeling they're not exactly at 50°C...

are they supposed to be?  they run btwn 70-high 80's

Anything above 80°C is going to impact the life span of those cards.
What is the "lowest setting"??

for temp?

Suggestions...
(1) Increase case air flow.
(2) Undervolt those cards as hard as you are able to. This will prolong their life, increase power efficiency, and decrease heat.

how do i undervolt?

[jake262144]

They're not supposed to be 50°C, I was just being sarcastic at your vagueness  
Keep'em below 80°C at all cost. Underclocking will help here. High 60s - low70s would be optimal.

If possible, avoid fan speeds exceeding 70%, though.
Higher speeds yield diminishing returns and you'll wear out the fans in a few months.

You said your memory was at the lowest setting. Can you tell me exactly what speed that amounts to?

My previous post has been updated with some general undervolting tips.
All my miners are running Linux and I'm using cgminer for the undervolting. Not sure how it's done on Windows.
I suggest you give cgminer a try. This miner is capable of dealing with multiple-pool mining, overclocking, undervolting, and temperature control all by itself. Not bad for a single piece of code.
If cgminer fails to change the voltages, try AMD's CCC.
If CCC doesn't provide an option to undervolt, you're gonna have to use software like trixx or afterburner.

[cypherdoc]

They're not supposed to be 50°C, I was just being sarcastic at your vagueness  
Keep'em below 80°C at all cost. Underclocking will help here. High 60s - low70s would be optimal.

If possible, avoid fan speeds exceeding 70%, though.
Higher speeds yield diminishing returns and you'll wear out the fans in a few months.

You said your memory was at the lowest setting. Can you tell me exactly what speed that amounts to?

My previous post has been updated with some general undervolting tips.
All my miners are running Linux and I'm using cgminer for the undervolting. Not sure how it's done on Windows.
I suggest you give cgminer a try. This miner is capable of dealing with multiple-pool mining, overclocking, undervolting, and temperature control all by itself. Not bad for a single piece of code.
If cgminer fails to change the voltages, try AMD's CCC.
If CCC doesn't provide an option to undervolt, you're gonna have to use software like trixx or afterburner.

i'm using AMD Vision Engine Control Center and Overdrive:
GPU clock 900
temp 89C
fan speed 100%
memory clock 1375 Mhz-lowest possible in Overdrive

just started mining so i'm not sure i'm ready to switch from guiminer to cgminer just yet.  i will try to adjust the setting you've recommended.

[jake262144]

i'm using AMD Vision Engine Control Center and Overdrive:
GPU clock 900
temp 89C
fan speed 100%
memory clock 1375 Mhz-lowest possible in Overdrive

just started mining so i'm not sure i'm ready to switch from guiminer to cgminer just yet.  i will try to adjust the setting you've recommended.

Some work will surely need to be done:
That temp is dangerous in the long run.
100% fan speed will wear the fans out fast.
1375 MHz @memory is just a waste of energy. Lowering the clocks to 300MHz should drop the temps significantly all by itself.
You might wish to upgrade your PC case with a few good fans. Which case are you using BTW?

I strongly suggest you ditch AMD Vision Engine Control Center and Overdrive and give MSI Afterburner a try.

Yeah, I agree that using cgminer requires putting the thinking cap on and going into the full-nerd mode (also known as text-mode)  
Once you get it working though, it's extremely handy.

[cypherdoc]

i'm using AMD Vision Engine Control Center and Overdrive:
GPU clock 900
temp 89C
fan speed 100%
memory clock 1375 Mhz-lowest possible in Overdrive

just started mining so i'm not sure i'm ready to switch from guiminer to cgminer just yet.  i will try to adjust the setting you've recommended.

Some work will surely need to be done:
That temp is dangerous in the long run.
100% fan speed will wear the fans out fast.
1375 MHz @memory is just a waste of energy. Lowering the clocks to 300MHz should drop the temps significantly all by itself.
You might wish to upgrade your PC case with a few good fans. Which case are you using BTW?

I strongly suggest you ditch AMD Vision Engine Control Center and Overdrive and give MSI Afterburner a try.

Yeah, I agree that using cgminer requires putting the thinking cap on and going into the full-nerd mode (also known as text-mode)  
Once you get it working though, it's extremely handy.

Overdrive minimum memory clock speed setting is 1375 Mhz.

[jake262144]

Overdrive minimum memory clock speed setting is 1375 Mhz.

That's precisely why I said give MSI Afterburner a try. It's a better alternative to Overdrive, free of charge.
Another widely-used and highly-regarded program is Sapphire TriXX

[cypherdoc]

Overdrive minimum memory clock speed setting is 1375 Mhz.

That's precisely why I said give MSI Afterburner a try. It's a better alternative to Overdrive, free of charge.
Another widely-used and highly-regarded program is Sapphire TriXX

but cgminer would be your first choice?

what is undervolt anyway?

[jake262144]

As I said, I have no experience whatsoever running cgminer on Windows.

Try those Overdrive-replacements first. This should allow you to make better use of your cards.
While your (hopefully) undervolted cards will being tested for stability, you can mess around with setting up cgminer.

what is undervolt anyway?

Undervolting a GPU means lowering the voltage at your GPU core.
Almost all cards will run without problems at lower than factory-set voltage levels.
The reason for this phenomenon is, the lower the quality of the GPU core is, the higher voltage is required to run that particular chip. Manufacturers set voltage levels for the whole families of cards based on an absolute worst-case scenario.

Power usage (and thus the amount of heat produced) diminishes by voltage squared, hence relatively minor voltage reduction can have a tangible effect on power efficiency and temperatures.

I already touched on it here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=60593.msg706110#msg706110

[cypherdoc]

... they're currrently below 90 C...

I have a strange feeling they're not exactly at 50°C...

Anything above 80°C is going to impact the life span of those cards.
What is the "lowest setting"??

Suggestions...
(1) Increase case air flow.
(2) Undervolt those cards as hard as you are able to. This will prolong their life, increase power efficiency, and decrease heat.
     Undervolting is best done one small step at a time, say 0.020 V. If the card is still stable a few hours later, repeat until you've found minimal stable voltage. It will likely differ from card to card.
     I tested each undervolt level for a whole day before going further though it may have been going overboard.
     On my 6770s I've been able to decrease power by about 0.090 (from stock 1.2 downto ±1.110) while keeping the high OC levels (995/300, stock was 800). That shaved off 4 to 6°C per card.
  

sorry to be such a noob about this but i really just got started.

ok, in the AMD vision engine control ctr, there is a Power Control setting slidebar % w/o any units.  i can decrease to a negative %.  would this be the undervolting you're describing?

[jake262144]

Not quite. What you are talking about would be the Powertune slider.
This doohickey doesn't change the voltage but changes the maximum amount of power the card will use at driver level.
That's nowhere near as useful as being able to change the voltage directly because powertune impacts the hash rate to some degree.
You may set it to eg. -10% in order the lower the temperatures.

Once again I remind you that there are better tools for fine tuning your cards than AMD Vision Engine Control Center and Overdrive.
No need to feel sorry, just do as any other newb does and do some research in Hardware and Mining Support.

[cuz0882]

I run my 6970's at 950 mhz +7% voltage. Which gives about 400mhash. Mine are water cooled which makes it a lot easier on the temps though. Also, like somone else mentioned don't run them over 80c. Low 70's is what you should shoot for.

[jake262144]

Voltage or Power-tune? Those two are completely orthogonal values and mustn't get mixed up.

[jake262144]

Cypherdoc, any progress?
Installed MSI Afterburner yet?

[cypherdoc]

Cypherdoc, any progress?
Installed MSI Afterburner yet?

not yet.  the machines are at work and i won't be able to get to them until Tuesday.

will it be as simple as just uninstalling AMD Engine and installing MSI Afterburner?  will Afterburner automatically detect the cards?

[jake262144]

I wouldn't even uninstall it. Just don't use it; perhaps remove from autostart if you're satisfied with Afterburner.
It's supposed to detect your hardware automagically, yes.

[cypherdoc]

I wouldn't even uninstall it. Just don't use it; perhaps remove from autostart if you're satisfied with Afterburner.
It's supposed to detect your hardware automagically, yes.

thanks for the help.  i'll let you know.

[ineededausername]

cypherdoc: You should be getting close to 400 MH/s

[cypherdoc]

cypherdoc: You should be getting close to 400 MH/s

yeah, that sucks doesn't it? 

i'm willing to move to cgminer but would need to be talked thru it since i'm not familiar with command lines.  i am smart though and follow instructions very quickly.