RaspberryPi raw hashing speed for SHA1/256/512.

[marked]

Since a number of people were asking about mining performance on an ARM CPU used in the Raspberry Pi.

This is raw hashing speed on an rPI, This should be halved for bitcoin mining; no idea how it translates to litecoin.

Obviously this is not a test with mining code, and not tested with the performance optimizations that could be achieved through the likes of ARM native code instructions or other mining hashing tricks.

still trying to find whether it is an alpha or beta board that the test was run on.

URL - http://elinux.org/RPi_Performance

Code:

OpenSSL 0.9.8o 01 Jun 2010
built on: Thu Aug 26 18:56:26 UTC 2010
options:bn(64,32) md2(int) rc4(ptr,int) des(idx,risc1,4,long) aes(partial) blowfish(idx)
compiler: gcc -fPIC -DOPENSSL_PIC -DZLIB -DOPENSSL_THREADS -D_REENTRANT -DDSO_DLFCN -DHAVE_DLFCN_H -DL_ENDIAN -DTERMIO -O2 -Wa,--noexecstack -g -Wall
available timing options: TIMES TIMEB HZ=100 [sysconf value]
timing function used: times
The 'numbers' are in 1000s of bytes per second processed.
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
...
sha1               303.72k     1092.39k     3106.50k     6302.57k     9852.39k
...
sha256             679.98k     1629.47k     2905.43k     3708.32k     4175.45k
sha512              41.02k      163.83k      232.63k      318.20k      353.81k

marked

[1715623199]

1715623199

[1715623199]

1715623199

[1715623199]

1715623199

[1715623199]

1715623199

[1715623199]

1715623199

[forsetifox]

Nice to see some data. Soo.. the bitcoin hash rate would be in between 64 and 128 some where?

[muyuu]

Doesn't seem to be using Rapberry Pi's integrated GPU. Given the noise this little thing is making, I'd expect them to be popular enough to justify having a specific miner for them using all their hardware.

[forsetifox]

"The GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24 GFLOPs of general purpose compute and features a bunch of texture filtering and DMA infrastructure."

This looks like the chip they use.
 http://infocenter.arm.com/help/topic/com.arm.doc.ddi0301h/DDI0301H_arm1176jzfs_r0p7_trm.pdf

I'm guessing it does around 16 Mhash/s. =3

[DeathAndTaxes]

"The GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24 GFLOPs of general purpose compute and features a bunch of texture filtering and DMA infrastructure."

This looks like the chip they use.
 http://infocenter.arm.com/help/topic/com.arm.doc.ddi0301h/DDI0301H_arm1176jzfs_r0p7_trm.pdf

I'm guessing it does around 16 Mhash/s. =3

I would say closer to 2 MH/s.

5970 has 4640 GLOPs floating point performance and does 750 MH/s.  Now you can't compare them exactly but it does give you an idea of the size of the chips, speed, etc since the same SP used for floating point are also used for integer calculations.

IF the Pi was as efficient as AMD 5000 series architecture it would be ~1 MH per 6 GLOPs relative performance.  That would put it at ~4 MH/s.

However AMD architecture is very integer "strong".  NVidia 580 series for example only has a relative performance of ~1 MH/s per 10 GLOPs. 

For it to be in the ballpark of 16 MH/s it would need to be roughly 300% as efficient as AMD architecture in terms of int op per clock per transistor and nearly 700% as efficient as NVidia's architecture.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Nice to see some data. Soo.. the bitcoin hash rate would be in between 64 and 128 some where?

Bitcoin is a a 512 byte block which is double hashed.

That means ~3 million hashes per second or 1.5 MH/s (bitcoin double hashes).

Obviously that code is not optimized.  Maybe optimized code does 2x better say in 3 MH/s ballpark.  Mining with GPU & CPU combined is likely still under 5 MH/s.

Seems foolish to use it as a miner if it is controlling GH/s worth of FPGAs.  It locks up and GH/s of FPGA boards go idle?

[pieppiep]

Nice to see some data. Soo.. the bitcoin hash rate would be in between 64 and 128 some where?

Bitcoin is a a 512 byte block which is double hashed.

That means ~3 million hashes per second or 1.5 MH/s (bitcoin double hashes).

Obviously that code is not optimized.  Maybe optimized code does 2x better say in 3 MH/s ballpark.  Mining with GPU & CPU combined is likely still under 5 MH/s.

Seems foolish to use it as a miner if it is controlling GH/s worth of FPGAs.  It locks up and GH/s of FPGA boards go idle?

Bitcoin is a 80 byte block.
4 bytes version
32 bytes previous hash
32 bytes transactions hash
4 bytes timestamp
4 bytes nounce
4 bytes difficulty
(last 3 times 4 bytes might be in different order, can't remember right now)
After padding the block is 128 bytes.
The first 64 bytes of the block is the same during a work unit so that part in only hashed once.
The second part of 64 bytes is hashed many times with each time a different nounce.
Each 32 bytes output is padded again to a 64 bytes block to be hashed again.
So the effective hashing rate would be around 1629.47k / 2 = 814.735k according to the OpenSSL test.

[PulsedMedia]

Bitcoin is a 80 byte block.
4 bytes version
32 bytes previous hash
32 bytes transactions hash
4 bytes timestamp
4 bytes nounce
4 bytes difficulty
(last 3 times 4 bytes might be in different order, can't remember right now)
After padding the block is 128 bytes.
The first 64 bytes of the block is the same during a work unit so that part in only hashed once.
The second part of 64 bytes is hashed many times with each time a different nounce.
Each 32 bytes output is padded again to a 64 bytes block to be hashed again.
So the effective hashing rate would be around 1629.47k / 2 = 814.735k according to the OpenSSL test.

wow, that's not bad at all for something like raspberry.

[shakaru]

Wow indeed. These numbers a low, but thats not bad for what it is. Even the 4550 cards got about 7mhs or so. I doubt someone will buy 500 units to get a ghs though.

[PulsedMedia]

Wow indeed. These numbers a low, but thats not bad for what it is. Even the 4550 cards got about 7mhs or so. I doubt someone will buy 500 units to get a ghs though.

W/Mhash does not work with Raspberry Pi at all (3.5W)
Any GPU is many times larger than Raspberry Pi, consumes atleast 10s of times more electricity. Not a comparison really.

For something which is made to be as cheap as ever possible, and achieving speeds of a Atom ... That's quite significant. You are not going to line this up with latest Intel 8core extreme series, so why would you line this up with a GPU?

[cablepair]

I ordered two of them (two separate vendors), one is going to be a part of my 8 year old sons science project , and the second is going to become our new digital media player for our living room entertainment system

In terms of mining, I cant see the value in actually using it to mine - or how long the ARM processor would even last under 24/7 mining conditions but it would be a neat host for a set of BitFORCE singles

[PulsedMedia]

I ordered two of them (two separate vendors), one is going to be a part of my 8 year old sons science project , and the second is going to become our new digital media player for our living room entertainment system

In terms of mining, I cant see the value in actually using it to mine - or how long the ARM processor would even last under 24/7 mining conditions but it would be a neat host for a set of BitFORCE singles

Indeed, wouldn't prob last that long, but it's nice to see that a "lowly ARM CPU" can pack even that much of a punch.

Where did you find them? I've been wanting to order one but can't find anywhere for sale :/

[PulsedMedia]

Lol: http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/03/raspberry-pi.html
"When the cost of tablet displays comes down, which they will, I think we'll see sub $100 tablets. And I suspect that will happen in the next 3-5 years."
Well, i guess i dreamed up the 56$ tablet i got sitting on my living room table
It actually works quite well, has android on it. I played Angry Birds on it for a while and my dad used it for surfing

[kunibopl]

anyone knows when they will deliver again? still sold out AFAIK.

[cablepair]

I ordered two of them (two separate vendors), one is going to be a part of my 8 year old sons science project , and the second is going to become our new digital media player for our living room entertainment system

In terms of mining, I cant see the value in actually using it to mine - or how long the ARM processor would even last under 24/7 mining conditions but it would be a neat host for a set of BitFORCE singles

Indeed, wouldn't prob last that long, but it's nice to see that a "lowly ARM CPU" can pack even that much of a punch.

Where did you find them? I've been wanting to order one but can't find anywhere for sale :/

When I first heard about them I went to a couple sites I found on google and then registered "interest" about a week ago they emailed me and allowed me to place my order and pay for them

https://www.alliedelec.com
http://www.newark.com

its ideal for a digital media player
it has an hdmi port and the gpu specs are pretty sweet for something the size of a credit card

GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24GFLOPs with texture filtering and DMA infrastructure
GPU provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decodeGPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24GFLOPs with texture filtering and DMA infrastructure
GPU provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode



edit: just checked on my order (newark), my order is scheduled to ship on 04/03 so about 3 more weeks

[PulsedMedia]

yeah i guess just gotta wait to get one :/

[matthewh3]

It may be profitable as a CPU miner on Litecoin especially if the LTC price rises a bit?

[cablepair]

It may be profitable as a CPU miner on Litecoin especially if the LTC price rises a bit?

lol I think there's a better chance of Satoshi Nakamoto trying out for American Idol (and winning)

[Dhomochevsky]

What if one uses the Raspberry Pi to connect a USB hub to it and use a dozen FPGA boards for hashing? Could it be done? Or will the unit crap up from so many boards?

[JoelKatz]

In terms of mining, I cant see the value in actually using it to mine - or how long the ARM processor would even last under 24/7 mining conditions but it would be a neat host for a set of BitFORCE singles

It should last many years, even running at full load constantly. Pretty much all modern solid-state computer parts are designed to run at full load for years and should not suffer reduced lifespan so long as power and cooling is not sub-standard. It might throttle if it gets too hot though. That will affect its short-term performance but should not significantly affect its life.

If this is not the case of the RaspberryPi, it would only be due to almost inexcusable incompetence.

What if one uses the Raspberry Pi to connect a USB hub to it and use a dozen FPGA boards for hashing? Could it be done? Or will the unit crap up from so many boards?

The only issue I can think of would be whether the RPi can supply enough power on its USB port. Using a powered hub should solve that problem. You could also use any cheap SoHo router (with a USB port, of course) that can run Tomato USB or DD-WRT.