ATI 6970 Optimization

[Xer]

Rule no #2 of mining, keep that miner up to date !

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[w128]

I have no issue at all keeping it cool, it runs at a stable 70-72C, i just have issues keeping my apt below 80F...even with an A/C running.  This thing puts off a lot of heat, i am just glad my case can muffle most of the noise from it.

I spent some time adjusting afterburner to come up with a fan speed plan that would keep me at 70C with bearable fan speed 55%. Far superior to the default plan. I have more than enough space, so the ambient temp isn't much of a concern. I'd stick the thing in the basement and really get some low temps if I didn't still have a desire to play Portal 2 now and again =)

[polishwarrior]

got it up to 396.7 , update my gui miner and it made a 30 mhs difference. thanks for the advice!! Moved my miner into an empty room and took the cover off and added a third fan and am now down in the low 70's high 60's for heat.

You can probably push your core a little higher. Another 5-10 mhz on the core and you'll hit 400mhash/s ^_^

[heavyb]

I have it at 950 which is the max I can push it to.

[TurboK]

I've a question, how do you set PowerTune along with the clockspeeds and voltage in msi afterburner? I can only seem to set powertune settings in CCC, which will reset the speeds to CCC values.

[datguywhowanders]

First off, I'd like to thank everyone who has posted in this thread so far. It was very helpful and informative in getting the best performance out of my cards.

I'm running two HIS 6970s on Windows 7 64-bit. I have the most recent version of GUI Miner and am using the most recent version of the catalyst drivers and the stream SDK. When I load up the control center, I have all the necessary controls for my first card. By bumping up the voltage to the recommended 7% (again, thank you so much for that) and using the flags "-v -w64 -f0", I am running in between 405-410 Mhash on that card.

The problem is that I don't have a voltage control for my second card inside of the control center. I have attempted to bump up the voltage in MSI Afterburner, but it doesn't seem to have the same effect. As a result, I can only get the second card as high as 365-370 Mhash. Adding the flags above without bumping up the voltage hurts performance, dropping it by about 30 Mhash, just as another poster in this thread noticed. Is there some way I can get that voltage control to show up for the second card?

Thanks!!

[2nd_lawl]

This thread helped out alot. At stock everything i was getting around 345.

After applying everything i learned in this thread, Im banging out a whopping 404, at 74c and running seemingly stable.
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/5922/yeababy.jpg

[aznsniper911]

Hey does anyone know an app to increase the voltage for the memory instead of doing a hard mod? I notice that I get some good boost when I increase memory speeds.

[DarthMagma]

I realize this thread hasn't been touched in a few days but it seems like the best place to post my questions, so here goes nothing ...

I've been trying to optimize a Sapphire 6970 with limited success.  I've gone through the settings recommended in several threads, this one and this one (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=13809.0) in particular, as well as those listed in the Mining Hardware Comparison wiki, but have not been able to break the ~385 MH/s mark.  It's a little frustrating when it seems I should be able to squeeze  another 20+ MH/s out of it with out much more trouble.  There's also the chance I can get my hands on another 6970 and I'd like to get this figured out before I start on a new one.

I'm on a Win7 64 machine with the most recent Catalyst and SDK.  Right now I'm getting about 380-385 MH/s with this configuration in the latest (6/14) guiminer/poclbm: -w128 -f0, with GPU settings (ATI Control Center):

Core:  950
Mem:  685
Power:  +20%

Adding -v knocks off nearly 50 MH/s.  I tried duplicating 2nd_lawl's Afterburner settings above (assuming stock voltage at 1.175 V) and was only able to get to the 340 Mh/s range.  Adding -v and bumping the voltage in the CCC added hardly anything. I also experimented with datguywhowanders's settings (-v -w64 -f0, +7%, not sure on clock/mem) but couldn't break 350.   It feels like I'm getting close but I'm obviously still missing something.

Does anyone have any suggestions, anything I missed?  That last 20 MH/s is starting to feel a little personal.

Also, while I'm here, what effect, if any, does the CPU affinity selection have?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

[jallen1000]

I'm getting 420 MHash/s with my unlocked non-ref 6950 2GB. I plan to buy a couple more on friday

[Jazkal]

I realize this thread hasn't been touched in a few days but it seems like the best place to post my questions, so here goes nothing ...

I've been trying to optimize a Sapphire 6970 with limited success.  I've gone through the settings recommended in several threads, this one and this one (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=13809.0) in particular, as well as those listed in the Mining Hardware Comparison wiki, but have not been able to break the ~385 MH/s mark.  It's a little frustrating when it seems I should be able to squeeze  another 20+ MH/s out of it with out much more trouble.  There's also the chance I can get my hands on another 6970 and I'd like to get this figured out before I start on a new one.

I'm on a Win7 64 machine with the most recent Catalyst and SDK.  Right now I'm getting about 380-385 MH/s with this configuration in the latest (6/14) guiminer/poclbm: -w128 -f0, with GPU settings (ATI Control Center):

Core:  950
Mem:  685
Power:  +20%

Adding -v knocks off nearly 50 MH/s.  I tried duplicating 2nd_lawl's Afterburner settings above (assuming stock voltage at 1.175 V) and was only able to get to the 340 Mh/s range.  Adding -v and bumping the voltage in the CCC added hardly anything. I also experimented with datguywhowanders's settings (-v -w64 -f0, +7%, not sure on clock/mem) but couldn't break 350.   It feels like I'm getting close but I'm obviously still missing something.

Does anyone have any suggestions, anything I missed?  That last 20 MH/s is starting to feel a little personal.

Also, while I'm here, what effect, if any, does the CPU affinity selection have?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

I have a Sapphire 6970 also, and I'm seeing the exact same numbers that you are. best I can do is 376-381.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

I must have gotten a hell of a card. With a little tweaking I'm running my 6970 at 59C under full gpu load.

[Takkun]

Why is it that as soon as I go over 900 core clock, I drop like 70 Mh/s?

[nebiki]

because the AMD driver has a built-in throttle so the card won't go above the TDP. you have to set this thing so it may burn up to +20% more.

edit: i have it set at +20%, 1140mV, 950MHz, memory stock (i can't underclock my memory, don't know why) and am getting 410 mhash/s with WORKSIZE=128 BFI_INT AGGRESSION=9 VECTORS at roughly 170-180W above idle. for me, poclbm is less aggressive, it will drain less power but also produce less hashes per sec.

[goldbit]

Sapphire 6970, Windows 7 64bit, using poclbm -v -w 128 -f 1, getting 408Mhash/s

Core: 950Mhz
Mem: 350Mhz

[Jazkal]

Update on my 6970's.

I have them running at 429 Mh/s each.

Core: 970Mhz
Mem: 360Mhz
Fans: 100%
Powertune: +5%
Temps run anywhere from 64C to 69C

Running guiminer(newest) with Phoenix:
-k phatk VECTORS BFI_INT WORKSIZE=128 FASTLOOP=false AGGRESSION=12