Bitcoin Discussion Thread

[sethmo]

A lot of people say 3:1 ration to your core clock. I assume it is just a rule of thumb. My 6950s dont like to go below 400 though, I just keep them at 500. But my 5830s and my old 6870 seemed to like 344 the best.

 

[Chihlidog]

Cool, any suggestions on how low it should go? 400 seems about right to me....

The consensus seems to be around 300. I dont know myself, Im just sticking with CCC and it only goes down to 900 for me.

 

[Yakk]

Cool, any suggestions on how low it should go? 400 seems about right to me....

Running my 5780 at 975/300 (stock volt), memory doesn't affect performance.

 

[Salavat23]

Memory doesn't affect my performance at all for my 5830, whether is 200 or 1200.

I keep it at about 300.

 

[Chihlidog]

Alright, I just d/l'ed afterburner. I can only control my primary (5850). Is there a way to control my 5830 in it? It shows it but I dont see how to switch. I dont have them crossfired.

EDIT: found it. Im a moron today.

 

[Rahburt-33]

Allright. I turned fan speed to max (again noise doesn't bother me,) and that took 5 degree's off, so it's at +/- 75 C, with the memory running @ 1200. So I'll do a bios flash to underclock, and then install 2 more fans, and it should run nice n cool. If I follow that bios hack though, do I have to use linux as my OS?

And then depending on how cool that makes it, I'll do an overclock on the gpu. (aim for 1000, but get hopefully about 950)

 

[wheelsx45]

Is it pssible to get more than 106MH with my GTX570 ? I just started and noticed everyone else is getting at least 200MH with their ati cards. Is there any parameters I need to add or is it just my Nvidia card?

 

[burningrave101]

Is it pssible to get more than 106MH with my GTX570 ? I just started and noticed everyone else is getting at least 200MH with their ati cards. Is there any parameters I need to add or is it just my Nvidia card?

nVidia cards don't do well for mining so there aren't any parameters that are going to improve your Mh/s much. Also keep in mind that unless you have access to free electricity where you live then it probably will end up costing more to run a high-end GTX570 at full load than you'll make in profit.

 

[computerpro3]

Got two of these running for me tonight:

Too bad I have to ship them out tomorrow

 

[Veeb0rg]

what motherboard is that?

 

[computerpro3]

It's actually an incredibly good mining machine. Cooling is awesome - GPU's never get above 82C even with the side door on.

Antec One Hundred
MSI 890FXA-GD70
AMD Athlon X2 255 Regor
WD 500GB Green HD
4gb Gskill Riphaws 10666
Corsair TX950
4 Sapphire HD5830's
2 Scythe 120mm fans in the front blowing directly on the cars with no obstructions (HD mounted in 5.25 bays)
120mm Yate Loon mounted in side panel blowing directly on GPU's.
140mm Antec top exhaust
120mm Antec rear exhaust

Total price - $900ish for 1200mhash in an enclosed case that you can plug a $5 wifi adapter into, plug a powre cord in, and forget about it using logmein to manage it.

 

[meme]

It's actually an incredibly good mining machine.

Total price - $900ish for 1200mhash in an enclosed case that you can plug a $5 wifi adapter into, plug a powre cord in, and forget about it using logmein to manage it.

Three days from now, with the next difficulty increase, that machine will be producing .9 bitcoins per day. After electricity costs, it will make $11 a day, assuming $15 per bitcoin.

In another two weeks, it'll probably be producing .6 bitcoins a day. Two weeks later, probably .4. Whoever buys this better hope the price of bitcoins goes up.

 

[Rossi~]

Hi guys, i have been looking over this bitcoin stuff that you all seem to rave on about i think i might join in!
I have nVidia cards, but i have been wanting to run 3 monitors on my main rig, so would it be ok to get say a 5850 and put that it the rig a leave to mine away like a beast but also run the extra monitor?

 

[FLECOM]

Three days from now, with the next difficulty increase, that machine will be producing .9 bitcoins per day. After electricity costs, it will make $11 a day, assuming $15 per bitcoin.

In another two weeks, it'll probably be producing .6 bitcoins a day. Two weeks later, probably .4. Whoever buys this better hope the price of bitcoins goes up.

so will the be bit coin "replenishment"? what happens when they are producing <.1 bitcoin per day?

 

[Edgar]

Finally got around to downloading the trixx utility. Clocks were 850/1200 and was getting average of 350 mh/s. Clocks now at 975/300 and now getting 400+ mh/s average. No volt mod since it's a non reference xfx 5870. Good right?

 

[Lorien]

so will the be bit coin "replenishment"? what happens when they are producing <.1 bitcoin per day?

Difficulty will decrease (it has happened before) to maintain the minimum 6 blocks per day rate. The thing is GPU mining was an anomaly which accelerated difficulty increases. We will continue to increase difficulty as long as the network's hashing power keeps growing but eventually we WILL hit a plateau which should stabilize things. Energy cost/performance ratio will be the limiting factor.

Look at this graph: http://www.tvori.info/bitcoin/charts/
Look at the all time chart and follow the difficulty line (color grey) to the middle of March 2011, that's when CPU mining hit a wall and difficulty decreased. Around that same time GPU mining started to take off and that caused difficulty to pick up the pace again.

Finally got around to downloading the trixx utility. Clocks were 850/1200 and was getting average of 350 mh/s. Clocks now at 975/300 and now getting 400+ mh/s average. No volt mod since it's a non reference xfx 5870. Good right?

Yeah, that number looks just about right for those clocks but you can still squeeze a little more by tweaking your miner settings.

 

[meme]

so will the be bit coin "replenishment"? what happens when they are producing <.1 bitcoin per day?

The way the system works is, there are 50 bitcoins added to the system every 10 minutes or so, somwhere around 7200 per day. In the beginning, when there were probably only 10 people mining them, everyone was getting 700 bitcoins a day. Later, when hundreds of people were mining them, people were getting maybe 50 a day.

When thousands of people are mining, everyone gets even less. Right now, there are tens of thousands of graphics cards at work (graphics cards do all the processing) mining these bitcoins, so each card is only producing fractions of a bitcoin per day on average. There won't ever be a point where a card is producing no bitcoins per day, but it might be producing truly tiny fractions of one.

Assuming the whole system doesn't come crashing down for one reason or another.

 

[TechHead]

^Lorien, what settings do you recommend for a 5870 + guiminer? I use -v -w128 -f30.

 

[Lorien]

^Lorien, what settings do you recommend for a 5870 + guiminer? I use -v -w128 -f30.

Try playing with the worksize. (64,128 or 256). You can also try Phoenix (File---New miner---New Phoenix Miner in Guiminer) using the flags: -k phatk VECTORS BFI_INT AGGRESSION=11 WORKSIZE=256.

 

[LightningCrash]

Three days from now, with the next difficulty increase, that machine will be producing .9 bitcoins per day. After electricity costs, it will make $11 a day, assuming $15 per bitcoin.

In another two weeks, it'll probably be producing .6 bitcoins a day. Two weeks later, probably .4. Whoever buys this better hope the price of bitcoins goes up.

Always a Debbie Downer.

The recipient doesn't necessarily have to use it for BTC.

 

[Shlomo]

Always a Debbie Downer.

The recipient doesn't necessarily have to use it for BTC.

Who else would buy a quad-crossfire system with 5830's of all cards, rofl.

 

[Schro]

Hi guys, i have been looking over this bitcoin stuff that you all seem to rave on about i think i might join in!
I have nVidia cards, but i have been wanting to run 3 monitors on my main rig, so would it be ok to get say a 5850 and put that it the rig a leave to mine away like a beast but also run the extra monitor?

You can run all 3 from the 5850 and just get rid of your nVidia card. You'llj ust need an active displayport -> DVI adapter to handle it.

 

[wol-va-rine]

Who else would buy a quad-crossfire system with 5830's of all cards, rofl.

this "investment", although there will be diminishing returns as time goes by, will be much easier (oops, got my train of thought mixed up earlier...lol) to swallow and absorb into other systems, for other purposes, than the picture a page (or two or three?) back where the guy had his garage filled with computer parts, dude had over $10,000 invested in video cards alone (over one hundred 5770s in the pic)...

 

[LightningCrash]

Who else would buy a quad-crossfire system with 5830's of all cards, rofl.

It's not a Crossfire system.

But Namecoin miners, RC5-72 contributors, Netsec gurus, MATLAB users, etc.

 

[Rossi~]

You can run all 3 from the 5850 and just get rid of your nVidia card. You'llj ust need an active displayport -> DVI adapter to handle it.

But i can't play games and mine at the same time really... lol Plus i'm upgrading to at least a GTX580 in a couple of months.

But thanks, so long as it doesn't affect the running of the monitor for general desktop use that's cool

 

[nxcess]

Wow. The speed in which things go outta stock on newegg is unbelievable. I was waiting for the HIS 5850 to become available. I blinked and it went in stock only to go outta stock.

 

[wol-va-rine]

Allright. I turned fan speed to max (again noise doesn't bother me,) and that took 5 degree's off, so it's at +/- 75 C, with the memory running @ 1200. So I'll do a bios flash to underclock, and then install 2 more fans, and it should run nice n cool. If I follow that bios hack though, do I have to use linux as my OS?

And then depending on how cool that makes it, I'll do an overclock on the gpu. (aim for 1000, but get hopefully about 950)

why do a bios flash to underclock the memory...? I wouldn't do that, I would just use MSIafterburner...

 

[Chihlidog]

OK. I slapped in a 5830 last night, as posted about here. Was making good numbers. Left 'em running all night. Checked this morning before work, was making good numbers.

Being the paranoid sort that I am, I kept an eye on my hash rate through my pool's website. I noticed it steadily going down. It would go slightly back up, but then back down. I KNOW the hash there is not fully accurate, but I was seeing an average of around 470. I waited a bit, then paranoia got the best of me and I had my wife go upstairs and flip the switch.

The gpu that was much more likely to overheat was my 5850 in my top slot. However, that one seemed to be producing the full output I'd expect. The 5830 in the bottom slot ran much cooler, and that was the one seeming to not be putting out as much as it did last night. I had the fans manually set and didnt see temps above 66. I assumed they'd be OK while I was at work since they ran all night while I was asleep.

My question is, could you guys figure anything that could have gone wrong to cause that, or was I just being overly paranoid? FWIW, the wife said there wasnt much heat at all coming from my case (said she couldnt really even notice any warmth axcept by my external rad for my CPU) and of course no odd smells or anything. I probably was just fine letting them run, but you guys are smarter than me.

 

[Parja]

Wow. The speed in which things go outta stock on newegg is unbelievable. I was waiting for the HIS 5850 to become available. I blinked and it went in stock only to go outta stock.

Well, I'm pretty sure the 5XXX series is EOL, so the only stock anybody's going to get is what distributors still happen to have sitting around. When they do get cards in stock, it's probably only very small quantities.

 

[Deleted member 82943]

which means prices on remaining 5xxx will become even more rediculous

 

[Parja]

My question is, could you guys figure anything that could have gone wrong to cause that, or was I just being overly paranoid?

Get your computer setup with a free LogMeIn account so you can monitor it from anywhere.

Also, assuming you're using Windows, setup Afterburner with 5 second (5000 ms) intervals on the charting, then keep an eye on the GPU usage graphs. If everything's running as intended, the GPUs should be pretty consistently pegged near 100%.

 

[Chihlidog]

Get your computer setup with a free LogMeIn account so you can monitor it from anywhere.

Also, assuming you're using Windows, setup Afterburner with 5 second (5000 ms) intervals on the charting, then keep an eye on the GPU usage graphs. If everything's running as intended, the GPUs should be pretty consistently pegged near 100%.

Yeah, they both were. I watched them like a hawk for around 4 hours last night. both 5830 and 5850 were pegged at 99-100 and running stable at 64-67c. I checked them again this morning, after leaving them run all night, and the max temp they had hit was 67. I felt like I was in good shape, just got really, really paranoid after seeing my hash seem consistently down according to the pool site.

I didnt realize logmein was free. Thats fantastic to know. Thanks!

 

[wol-va-rine]

OK. I slapped in a 5830 last night, as posted about here. Was making good numbers. Left 'em running all night. Checked this morning before work, was making good numbers.

Being the paranoid sort that I am, I kept an eye on my hash rate through my pool's website. I noticed it steadily going down. It would go slightly back up, but then back down. I KNOW the hash there is not fully accurate, but I was seeing an average of around 470. I waited a bit, then paranoia got the best of me and I had my wife go upstairs and flip the switch.

The gpu that was much more likely to overheat was my 5850 in my top slot. However, that one seemed to be producing the full output I'd expect. The 5830 in the bottom slot ran much cooler, and that was the one seeming to not be putting out as much as it did last night. I had the fans manually set and didnt see temps above 66. I assumed they'd be OK while I was at work since they ran all night while I was asleep.

My question is, could you guys figure anything that could have gone wrong to cause that, or was I just being overly paranoid? FWIW, the wife said there wasnt much heat at all coming from my case (said she couldnt really even notice any warmth axcept by my external rad for my CPU) and of course no odd smells or anything. I probably was just fine letting them run, but you guys are smarter than me.

the sites stats are usually way off as far as your actual speed goesd, the Dos window or GUIminer are what your actual hashing speed is, the site introduces a lot of variables so you will see periods of slow hashing and faster than possible hashing with the cards you have, I pull 550MH/s, but because I've had both cards get lucky with some back to back to back verifications within seconds, I've seen my speed reported as high as 700+MH/s, the same holds true in the opposite direction if both cards get unlucky and go minutes between verifications with some stales included...

so yeah, I think you're just being paranoid...

 

[Parja]

...just got really, really paranoid after seeing my hash seem consistently down according to the pool site.

Down how much? Like percentage-wise? I've had strings of good and bad luck where the results on mine will swing +/- 20% for periods of time compared to their actual hashing rate. Remember, the hash rate the pool sites report is the estimated hash rate based on the results your miners are turning in. So if you have a period of good or bad luck, the estimated hash rate from the pool can be quite a bit off from actual.

 

[Chihlidog]

Well, Im right around 510 actual. Last night I saw it on the site go up to as much as 570 or so. Today from my work PC I couldnt monitor temps or anything else, but I saw it go down to as low as 460 and that's when I sort of panicked. I thought either it must be overheating and throittling back, or my PSU is just not able to handle the juice. I knew I was being a BIT paranoid but I figured better safe than sorry. I know the pool site hashrates arent accurate but my PC is my one luxury and I cant afford to brick any of my components.

Thanks for soothing my mind, guys. Appreciated.

 

[Kardonxt]

The pools just aren't very accurate. My farm is about 3200 but the pool shows anywhere from 2200 to 4000

 

[Parja]

Ha, just checked my stats on BTC Guild.

One of my 5830s is currently showing 339MH/s and one is showing 238MH/s. Actual is right around 290, so yup, about a 20% swing.

 

[Rahburt-33]

this "investment", although there will be diminishing returns as time goes by, will be much easier (oops, got my train of thought mixed up earlier...lol) to swallow and absorb into other systems, for other purposes, than the picture a page (or two or three?) back where the guy had his garage filled with computer parts, dude had over $10,000 invested in video cards alone (over one hundred 5770s in the pic)...

I didn't bother flashing it. At first I used MSI Afterburner, but it would only let my memory underclock to 600 mhz. I just isntalled Sapphire Trixx, and I have it underclocked to 300 mhz now. No bios flashing required.

Now, what's a good pool to mine from? I'm using bitcoin.cz, is this good or bad?
I'm now running at 975/300, at about 76 C, and getting +/- 210 mh/s, if this helps. (This is with a pretty loud computer, albiet I don't mind noise, and a room that smells like fried electronics)

 

[wol-va-rine]

I didn't bother flashing it. At first I used MSI Afterburner, but it would only let my memory underclock to 600 mhz. I just isntalled Sapphire Trixx, and I have it underclocked to 300 mhz now. No bios flashing required.

Now, what's a good pool to mine from? I'm using bitcoin.cz, is this good or bad?
I'm now running at 975/300, at about 76 C, and getting +/- 210 mh/s, if this helps. (This is with a pretty loud computer, albiet I don't mind noise, and a room that smells like fried electronics)

I switched from Deepbit and use BTC Guild because it's free and as low as my MH/s rate is I need to keep everything I mine, it's basically on a 24 hour delay with regards to rewards because they wait for confirmation of your rewards minus stales and such...

 

[Salavat23]

I didn't bother flashing it. At first I used MSI Afterburner, but it would only let my memory underclock to 600 mhz. I just isntalled Sapphire Trixx, and I have it underclocked to 300 mhz now. No bios flashing required.

Now, what's a good pool to mine from? I'm using bitcoin.cz, is this good or bad?
I'm now running at 975/300, at about 76 C, and getting +/- 210 mh/s, if this helps. (This is with a pretty loud computer, albiet I don't mind noise, and a room that smells like fried electronics)

I'm also using bitcoin.cz, pretty much because it's the first link I got when I searched up pools and bitcoins.

Using it right now and it seems fine, but than again, I don't know much else.