Modified Kernel for Phoenix 1.5

[Phateus]

phatk Kernel for Phoenix 1.5

I have started working on my phoenix kernel again, so I should be putting out normal updates.  Anyone with bugs, questions or suggestions, post in the thread and I'll try to look into them.  After an update, if you are still having issues, please feel free to post again since it is hard to track which bugs I have fixed and which are still out there.

Version 2.2: https://sourceforge.net/projects/phatk/files/phatk-2.2.zip/download
Version 2.1: https://sourceforge.net/projects/phatk/files/phatk-2.1.zip/download
Version 2.0: https://sourceforge.net/projects/phatk/files/phatk-2.0.zip/download
Version 1.0: https://sourceforge.net/projects/phatk/files/phatk-1.0.zip/download

Make sure if are you using version 2.0, you supply a valid WORKSIZE option (such as "WORKSIZE=256")

Kernel performance (BFI_INT active / APP KernelAnalyzer CAL 11.7 profile):
HD5870 (Also any other 5xxx or 68xx card)
Diapolo 2011-07-17: 1374 ALU OPs
Version 1.0: 1418 ALU OPs
Version 2.0 (7/29/11): 1363 ALU OPs
Version 2.1 (8/2/11): 1359 ALU OPs
Version 2.2 (8/8/11): 1354 ALU OPs

HD6970
Diapolo 2011-07-17: 1698 ALU OPs
Version 1.0: 1747 ALU OPs
Version 2.0: 1691 ALU OPs
Version 2.1: 1692 ALU OPs
Version 2.2: 1688 ALU OPs

As of version 2.1, phatk now has command line option "VECTORS4" which can be used instead of "VECTORS".
This option works on 4 nonces per thread instead of 2 and may increase speed mainly if you do not underclock your memory, but feel free to try it out.  Note that if you use this, you will more than likely have to decrease your WORKSIZE to 128 or 64.

Below is a graph I came up with for my 5870 with the core clocked at 950.
V1 is the speed with no VECTORS option enabled, V2 is with using the standard "VECTORS" and V4 is using the new "VECTORS4" command line option.  The numbers with them show the WORKSIZE.
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/oimg?key=0Ar69rrd0ZESNdGU3NElvU3Q0eFYzYkhuUFJUbkVraUE&oid=1&zx=ks7ngj3nt03g

To install, unzip into the phoenix's kernel folder (files should be in [phoenix root]/kernels/phatk/)

I use the command:
phoenix.exe -u http://user:password@www.bitcoinpool.com:8334/ DEVICE=0 BFI_INT VECTORS AGGRESSION=12 WORKSIZE=256 -k phatk

Lastly, I am keeping track of new features that I have thought of adding to my kernel (not sure what is feasible yet, but these are just things I am looking into).  If anyone has any suggestions, I will add them to the list.  If any of these sound useful to you, let me know so I know where to put my efforts:

• Precompiled Kernels for SDK 2.4 so, any version of the SDK will get the full speed of the latest SDK
• Auto-optimize which will iterate through all of the combinations of command line options to give you the fastest hashrate
• Logging
• Web Interface for controlling miners and viewing hashrate graphs (this will probably have to be a separate project and would likely slow my progress on optimizing)

If it works out for you and you're feeling generous, any donations would be greatly appreciated so I can continue to put out bitcoin related software:
124RraPqYcEpX5qFcQ2ZBVD9MqUamfyQnv

-Phateus

[mitak64]

Just tried it.

phoenix 1.4 aggression=11 on HD5850 @865/300 - 340mh/s
phatk 1.4   aggression=11 on HD5850 @865/300 - 338mh/s

[Gnaffel]

on my test machine HD5570 OC@700Mhz

poclbm          72MH/s no desktop lag
phoenix          73MH/s no desktop lag
hashkill          75MH/s sometimes slow mouse
phoenix-phatk 76MH/s very slow desktop environment/must be good for headless

[Convery]

5850 1050/300:
Phoenix - 402Mhash
Phatk - 415-417Mhash

Quite nice ;3

[bolapara]

phoenix 1.46 agg=13 bfi_int vectors

card 1:

5870, 995 core, 300 mem

poclbm - 431
phatk - 438

card 2:

5870, 900 core, 300 mem

poclbm - 389
phatk - 397

Nice little bump.  

[EPiSKiNG]

5870 @ 970core 300mem
Guiminer-2011.05.01: 431.5MH/s (--platform=0 -v -w 256 -f 0)
PhatK: 426.62MH/s (phoenix.exe -u http://XXX:XXX@deepbit.net:8332/;askrate=15 PLATFORM=0 DEVICE=1 BFI_INT VECTORS AGGRESSION=12 -k phatk)

-EP

[Kick]

5870 @ 970core 300mem
Guiminer-2011.05.01: 431.5MH/s (--platform=0 -v -w 256 -f 0)
PhatK: 426.62MH/s (phoenix.exe -u http://XXX:XXX@deepbit.net:8332/;askrate=15 PLATFORM=0 DEVICE=1 BFI_INT VECTORS AGGRESSION=12 -k phatk)

-EP

not really a correct comparison. youre missing the w256 flag for phatK

actually, i take that back. default should be max the device can support.

[Phateus]

I see most of you are running 300 Mhz memory.  One thing that I've noticed from messing around with everything is that 300 Mhz memory can be too slow.  I found that with 1000Mhz core, 330 was optimal for the memory.  At really low memory clocks(especially with my kernel), the speed is limited by the memory.  A good estimation for memory speed(for both the 5850 and 5870) was 1/3 the core speed.

Happy mining

-Phateus

[Convery]

I see most of you are running 300 Mhz memory.  One thing that I've noticed from messing around with everything is that 300 Mhz memory can be too slow.  I found that with 1000Mhz core, 330 was optimal for the memory.  At really low memory clocks(especially with my kernel), the speed is limited by the memory.  A good estimation for memory speed(for both the 5850 and 5870) was 1/3 the core speed.

5850 peak Mhash:
1055/300 - 417Mhash
1055/350 - 419Mhash
1055/375 - 420Mhash
1055/400 - 416Mhash - Unstable.
1055/425 - 417Mhash

[Tyran]

Unfortunately no improvement on a 5770:
@935/300 -k poclbm: 207.5
@935/300 -k phatk: 202.5
Higher memory clocks only decrease performance more.
Might be because I'm running SDK 2.1, do you think it would make up for the ~5% loss going to 2.4?

[nster]

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4292.0

I run 1020/344

Went from 301 Mh/s to 310 Mh/s with phatk

[Phateus]

Unfortunately no improvement on a 5770:
@935/300 -k poclbm: 207.5
@935/300 -k phatk: 202.5
Higher memory clocks only decrease performance more.
Might be because I'm running SDK 2.1, do you think it would make up for the ~5% loss going to 2.4?

Yeah, at least for my kernel, which was specifically written for 2.4.  The optimizations are mainly tricking the compiler into doing what I want it to do, so using 2.4 should increase performance a fair amount  but not actually having different SDKs on any of my machines, I cannot test it.  Might be worth a shot.  Its always a toss-up whether its worth the hassle/down-time to tinker with your miner.

[EPiSKiNG]

5870 @ 970core 300mem
Guiminer-2011.05.01: 431.5MH/s (--platform=0 -v -w 256 -f 0)
PhatK: 426.62MH/s (phoenix.exe -u http://XXX:XXX@deepbit.net:8332/;askrate=15 PLATFORM=0 DEVICE=1 BFI_INT VECTORS AGGRESSION=12 -k phatk)

-EP

Also, I am using ATI-Stream-v2.1 (145) & Catalyst 11.3 (3-8-2011)... Haven't tried using 2.4 yet, and I don't really feel like switching it... Is 2.4 supposed to be better performance?

-EP

[jedi95]

Very nice!
I am getting 408 Mhash/sec now vs 394 Mhash/sec using the poclbm kernel. There is also no difference in desktop responsiveness compared to the poclbm kernel.

This is very close to what I get with the poclbm kernel on Linux with SDK 2.1. (410 Mhash/sec, but that's at AGGRESSION=11)

5870 @ 930/300 (Win7 x64, 11.5 + SDK 2.4)
Arguments: FASTLOOP VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=8

Also, it appears you used an older revision of the poclbm kernel as the base for phatk. It doesn't include the FASTLOOP changes in Phoenix 1.45 and newer. The hashrate comparison above is with the FASTLOOP updates added to phatk, however with these particular settings it should be nearly identical.

Donation coming your way  

[Herodes]

Seeing an 3-4% increase in hashing speed. Donation coming your way. Thanks for sharing.

[grndzero]

5850 900/300

Went from 361 to 355 VECTORS AGGRESSION=12 BFI_INT

[jedi95]

5850 900/300

Went from 361 to 355 VECTORS AGGRESSION=12 BFI_INT

This is probably because it's optimized for SDK 2.4. If you are using the Linux + SDK 2.1 setup in your sig then it's probably better to stick with the poclbm kernel. The advantage of phatk is that it produces similar speed to poclbm + SDK 2.1 with SDK 2.4.

[grndzero]

5850 900/300

Went from 361 to 355 VECTORS AGGRESSION=12 BFI_INT

This is probably because it's optimized for SDK 2.4. If you are using the Linux + SDK 2.1 setup in your sig then it's probably better to stick with the poclbm kernel. The advantage of phatk is that it produces similar speed to poclbm + SDK 2.1 with SDK 2.4.

Ah, yeah, I did read that, it failed to register.  (I just woke up)

[Nicksasa]

Tried it again on my 6970 @ 925Mhz, dropped from 379mhash to 366mhash on 11.4 & sdk 2.4

[Herodes]

Anyone tested it on 5970 yet?