Antminer S3 batch 6 overclocking

[pekatete]

I have been intrigued as to how far the S3 can be pushed and have been doing some tests over the last few days, running each chip_freq setting for approximately a day to get a more representative average result for that specific frequency.
I did this with a batch 6 S3 powered by a Dell PS-2521-1D server PSU rated at 550 watts connected via 2 PCIe connectors.

I carried out the testing over 5 days on 5 different sppeds starting with the stock speed of 218.75, and here's a summary of the settings and results.

chip_freq	| freq_value |	timeout |	GH/s(avg) |	HW Errors
218.75	1106	18	440	147
225	0882	18	452	117
250	0982	16	503	138
256.25	1406	15	516	155
262.5	0a02	15	529	200

I am not sure of the formula used to calculate the error percentage for the S3, however from the image below, you can work it out since I have all the values in there.



I was amazed how well the temperatures were kept down by the S3 compared to the S1. Of note though, is that I keep my rigs outside the house, covered to protect them from the elements but very well ventilated.

A note about the PSU: The Dell PS-2521-1D has three 12V rails each pumping out approximately 15A on a 200-240V line. Even more interesting is that the PSU cost a mere GBP 10.00 from ebay!

I am not sure whether I can push the PSU any further as I do not have an anmeter hooked up to show the power being gobbled by the S3 at the higher clock speeds, however, from my initial tests, it seems the S3 can be pushed further without much ado. Anyone managed to clock higher?

UPDATE: - upgrade to cgminer 4.6 - 13th Sep 2014

I updated the overclocked S3 to the latest cgminer version 4.6 and below is the screen-shot after running for a day.
Note:
1. I am not sure what to attribute the drop in hashrate to, but its dropped from  an average of 529 to 514 (approx 15 GH/s over a day).
2. Hardware errors have also gone up by 50%+, though the percentage is still low generally. I would not have minded this number going up if the hash-rate was maintained or bettered.
3. The unit's GUI is very clearly more responsive (though you can not see that here), but the value of discarded shares has shot up again (did I mention I reduced the queue to 10 from the stock 4096?). I know that number is not useful, but the slight increase in temperature and the fan speed indicate to me the unit is working harder than before. Infact, I can attest to it as I hear the fans ramping up (they have a distict sound over the other fans I use on other units).



All in all, I am seriously wondering whether this upgrade is worth it on a performance level. It is well documented that 4.6 plugs some security flaws that are open in the stock version, but I am wondering whether it is worth the "pain" of losing 15 GH/s over a day's hashing.

-------- DEPRECATED! ---------- version 4.6 is no longer available Oct 2014, use 4.6.1 below
To upgrade to cgminer 4.6 follow this process.
1. SSH into the S3 and login
2. Issue the following commands sequentially.
  a) cd /usr/bin
  b) mv cgminer cgminer.bak
  c) wget http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/antminer/s3/4.6.0-140908/cgminer
  d) chmod +x cgminer
  e) reboot

To revert back to the stock cgminer (assuming you followed the above process):
1. SSH into the S3 and login
2. Issue the following commands sequentially.
  a) cd /usr/bin
  b) mv cgminer cgminer.4_6
  c) mv cgminer.bak cgminer
  d) reboot

------ END DEPRECATED! ------

UPDATE: - upgrade to cgminer 4.6.1 - 10th Oct 2014

A further update to cgminer, aka version 4.6.1, was posted by ckolivas (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=671189.msg9134744#msg9134744) and being the ever inquisitive type I decided to install it on one of my S3+'s.

But first, an update to the previous version 4.6.0 which I had installed then removed due to the "apparent" drop in hashing speed. In the interim, I obtained a couple of S1 upgrade kits from bitmain (when they were still available) and upgraded a few of my S1's. The process required me to flash the now upgraded S1's with the S3+ firmware which I did, and I additionally installed cgminer 4.6.0 onto them. When I ran the upgrades, they were hashing marginally faster than my factory S3's and so I decided to upgrade the firmware on my S3's to the latest one AND install cgminer 4.6.0 and to my delight, the previously observed speed drop was no where!

Moving on, when the new update to cgminer was published, I installed it on both my upgraded (now) S3's and the factory S3's. In the announcement post, ckolivas mentions that version 4.6.1 does improve hashing speed to begin with, but overall it does not improve / increase the hashing speed. My observations are:
1. Hashing is more stable and gets up to speed quicker.
2. I have been hashing on slush which sets diff dynamically, and with version 4.6.1 my diff is set accurately quicker and remains stable for longer. Of course, I have only had this running for a few days.
3. On my machines, they are hashing marginally faster (and higher) than I have seen them before! So, I am happy to contradict the software author's opinion here.

Finally, to install cgminer version 4.6.1, the process is the same as before with only the file changing, i.e

Issue the following commands sequentially.
  a) cd /usr/bin
  b) mv cgminer cgminer.bak
  c) wget http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/antminer/s3/4.6.1-141020/cgminer
  d) chmod +x cgminer
  e) reboot

EDIT: cgminer 4.6.1-141009 now deprecated  and un-available- http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/antminer/s3/4.6.1-141009/cgminer

I'd recomend ensuring the S3 as the latest firmware if you want to install over the stock cgminer, however, it will run without the firmware update too.

UPDATE: - Adding frequencies to the latest firmware 21st Oct 2014

The stock firmware for the S3+ contains frequencies up to 250M, and should you want to overclock over that, you'll need to manually add the frequency. A guide for that can be found in the thread linked via: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=699064.msg8370071#msg8370071

UPDATE: - New S3+ Firmware released by bitmain 25th October 2014

Bitmain released a new firmware for the S3+ that now includes version 4.6.1 of cgminer. Unfortunately the firmware, at the time of writing this, contains an error which makes it impossible to update the miner configuration. There is a fix for this:

1. Download and flash firmware from: https://bitmaintech.com/support.htm?pid=007201407180243004432lBQW28O0633
2. When the rig reboots, SSH into the S3 and login (remember if you chose not to keep settings while flashing, it will pop up on the default IP of 192.168.1.99 rather than its previous IP).
3. Enter this and press enter: sed -i 's/Save\&Apply/Save\&Apply/g' /usr/lib/lua/luci/model/cbi/cgminer/cgminer.lua

You can now browse to the miner configuration page and apply any changes. Also remember to change your network back to DHCP client as the firmware resets it to Static.


If this has been useful and you'd like to donate some BTC, please send to: 1AwgqD7A2KuQ4WT4273JXZPUf29BAbdp2
or point you rig for your chosen amount of minutes (or days ! ) to: stratum+tcp://stratum.bitcoin.cz:3333 with the user pekatete and password x


UPDATE: 20th December 2014 - Freq 275 voltage setting 0815, timeout 14 overclock

Since the release of the firmware that allowed to set voltage, I have found another sweet spot for the S3+ at a frequency of 275. I had to reduce the timeout from that suggested in some posts on this forum to be able to get a reasonable HW error rate. I ended up with the following setting in the respective file: pb:value("14:275:0a82", translate("275M")) which translates into timeout: 14, frequency: 275, register value: 0a82. The voltage setting I used is: 0815 (see also the voltage OC thread I posted here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=883197)



And after approx 24 hrs ....



And the poolside after approx 24 hrs ....

[vladnae]

nice freqs pekatete.

i tried 218.75 with 441gh/s avg and 0 HW ; 237.5 with 477gh/s avg amd 0 HW. When i tried 250 freq , i got allot off HW errors, about 200 in 5 mins. I modified back to 237.5 and rebooted.
Can somebody tell me why i got so manny HW errors?


Thanks
   

[pekatete]

nice freqs pekatete.

i tried 218.75 with 441gh/s avg and 0 HW ; 237.5 with 477gh/s avg amd 0 HW. When i tried 250 freq , i got allot off HW errors, about 200 in 5 mins. I modified back to 237.5 and rebooted.
Can somebody tell me why i got so manny HW errors?

Thanks

How are you powering your S3, i.e what is your PSU's power rating and how are you connecting it to the S3? Note that though I used just 2 PCIe connections for my test, I was using a server PSU that has 3 12V rails each pumping out at least 15A, so for my case, each +ve line in each PCIe plug can deliver 12V @ 7.5 Amps.

[vladnae]

I use http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00001966 . I inserted all 4 connectors to my S3 . Do you think that my PSU is the problem ?
What do you recomand ?

[pekatete]

I use http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00001966 . Do you think that my PSU is the problem ?
What do you recomand ?

That looks like its capable of running 2 slightly underclocked S3's, so should not be an issue running one. However, I do not know enough about how these desktop PSU's pump out their power. I'd suggest you use all 4 PCIe connection if you have not been doing so. If you still get such high errors, then it may be just a case of your unit not being able to overclock well.

[vladnae]

yes, as i mentioned before ( i edited  my prev post ) i allready use all 4 conectors. Tomorow i will try with another s3 . Thank you for your help.
Cand you recomand me a server PSU that you think is best ?

Thanks

[pekatete]

yes, as i mentioned before ( i edited  my prev post ) i allready use all 4 conectors. Tomorow i will try with another s3 . Thank you for your help.
Cand you recomand me a server PSU that you think is best ?

Thanks

Your PSU seems fine, though since I do not know how it sends out its power, I can not be totally sure. If you want to go down the server PSU end, look at the one I used as stated in the first post. Bear in mind that you'll have to "make" the cables for it and will have to do some soldering (not plug and play as the one you have!).

[thebebopfunk]

What kind of concern do you have for damaging the unit? I believe I have batch 5 units, can I expect similar results?

[pekatete]

What kind of concern do you have for damaging the unit? I believe I have batch 5 units, can I expect similar results?

I did not have any concern about damaging the unit, rather damaging the PSU. As mentioned, it is a 550 watt psu and since I could not measure the "wall" wattage at the overclocked speeds, I was worried I may be stretching the PSU beyond its reasonable capacity. Mind you, I have been running my S3 at the higher clock speed since and still hashing away without much ceremony!

[miguportugal]

what firmwere do you use in the s3

[pekatete]

what firmwere do you use in the s3

The original firmware (i.e without the advanced tab settings). I have never had any issues with the unit so I did not think it wise to update the firmware. I am waiting on an "opensource" cgminer for the S3 if ever that pops up and may try that out, other than that, IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!
I think units from batch 6 upwards are quite solid for overclocking, though some earlier batches could also be.

[shadow2]

you're in luck cgminer 4.6.0 built for ANTMINERS

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=671189.msg8722578#msg8722578

[pekatete]

you're in luck cgminer 4.6.0 built for ANTMINERS

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=671189.msg8722578#msg8722578

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll download onto my overclocked S3 and report back here (and there!).

UPDATE:
Got the latest cgminer installed on the overclocked S3 and it is hashing away nicely. Will update after its been running for a while.
To get it, I did this:
1. SSH into the S3 and login
2. Issue the following commands sequentially.
  a) cd /usr/bin
  b) mv cgminer cgminer.bak
  c) wget http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/antminer/s3/4.6.0-140908/cgminer
  d) chmod +x cgminer
  e) reboot

[lowbander80]

In south east europe currently my S3 temps are 47-49c so no attempt for overclocking until
winter comes...good to see the freqs 

[miguportugal]

i will try 275mhz with the new cgminer
can help with the values because i only have 250mhz mhz max
now they are working fine at 250mhz, its bach1 with last firmwere and 4.6.0 cgminer

[pekatete]

I upgraded the S3 with the latest cgminer 4.6 and have added the test results over a day to the OP.

[crazyearner]

Nice overclocks would be nice to get bfgminer support in these miners as cgminer just hogs everything.

[pekatete]

Nice overclocks would be nice to get bfgminer support in these miners as cgminer just hogs everything.

Agreed, there is a duopoly of sorts with the cg/bfg miner mining software. Antminer (S1 / S2 / S3 / S3+ / series?) are on the TODO list for bfgminer, and that would be a good thing seeing (if we are to believe what we read!) a large percentage of the mining is done by Antminers. And who knows, we might even see hashing speed (and revenue) improvements if at all there still exists room for that with the astronomical difficulty increases of late.

[jfarboleda]

Nice overclocks would be nice to get bfgminer support in these miners as cgminer just hogs everything.

Agreed, there is a duopoly of sorts with the cg/bfg miner mining software. Antminer (S1 / S2 / S3 / S3+ / series?) are on the TODO list for bfgminer, and that would be a good thing seeing (if we are to believe what we read!) a large percentage of the mining is done by Antminers. And who knows, we might even see hashing speed (and revenue) improvements if at all there still exists room for that with the astronomical difficulty increases of late.

HI PEKATETE

COULD YOU EXPLAIN TO US DETAILS ABOUT

chip_freq
| freq_value |   timeout |   GH/s(avg) |   HW Errors

WHAT DOES MEANS ?

COULD YOU TELL US HOW TO MANAGE THE ANTMINER INTERFACE?

COULD YOU TELL US THE MEANING OF EACH ONE PARAMETER?

THANKS!

[pekatete]

Nice overclocks would be nice to get bfgminer support in these miners as cgminer just hogs everything.

Agreed, there is a duopoly of sorts with the cg/bfg miner mining software. Antminer (S1 / S2 / S3 / S3+ / series?) are on the TODO list for bfgminer, and that would be a good thing seeing (if we are to believe what we read!) a large percentage of the mining is done by Antminers. And who knows, we might even see hashing speed (and revenue) improvements if at all there still exists room for that with the astronomical difficulty increases of late.

HI PEKATETE

COULD YOU EXPLAIN TO US DETAILS ABOUT

chip_freq
| freq_value |   timeout |   GH/s(avg) |   HW Errors

WHAT DOES MEANS ?

COULD YOU TELL US HOW TO MANAGE THE ANTMINER INTERFACE?

COULD YOU TELL US THE MEANING OF EACH ONE PARAMETER?

THANKS!

1. chip_freq | freq_value | timeout -  these are the settings I applied to the asic-freq file (the unit is STILL running the stock S3 batch 6 firmware so no advanced tab!)
2. GH/s(avg) | HW Errors - these are the results I get having run the rig for at least a day (as per the image(s)).

I am not sure I can throw any authoritative light on how to manage the interface, as there is really nothing to manage as far as I can tell. But if you have a specific question / query, I'll offer my opinion.