Adding a second card...

BugFreak · Jan 31, 2014

If I add a second card to my main PC can it continue to mine while I use the PC? I know I can add two cards to a miner but this is the PC I use for gaming and web surfing as well as mining. Right now I have two .bat files that I use, one for normal mining set to I-20, and another that I use while web surfing with I-17. The lower intensity allows me to use the PC while not totally cutting my mining off. Except for when I'm gaming when I turn off mining completely.

So, if I add something like a 270x or 280x to the system will it work? I realize it can't be crossfire but would it interfere with the PC in general? My goal here is to avoid building a second PC and utilize the open PCIe ports I already have while not spending 600.00 on another 290.

ZL1 · Jan 31, 2014

easy, you can even crossfire them

what you do:
- setup the xfire bridge, but do not enable xfire from catalyst, unless you want to play and drop mining
- setup cgminer with dual config files instead of bats, in each config you can setup different settins per card, like first one can be I13 and 2nd I20

BugFreak · Jan 31, 2014

So something like this? I used some info found on searches to build it so let me know if something looks off.

{
"pools" : [
{
"url" : "stratum+tcp://useast.middlecoin.com:3333",
"user" : "btc address",
"pass" : "x"
},
{
"url" : "stratum+tcp://server two address",
"user" : "server two usrname",
"pass" : "x"
}
]
,
"intensity: : "17,20",
"worksize" : "256,512",
thread-concurrency" : "15000,32675",
}

With any other added settings as well, but I thought that would give me a general idea.

manu2b · Jan 31, 2014

^Yep.

BugFreak · Jan 31, 2014

Thanks!

I can't find the answer but does listing two pools like that give each card one to use or is the second my failsafe one.

manu2b · Jan 31, 2014

Second is the failsafe one.

You need to open multi instance of cgminer to connect on different pools.

BugFreak · Jan 31, 2014

Great, that's what I wanted.

With all this playing around with my cfg I got my hash more steady and up to 797. I want that 800!

Silver_Pharaoh · Jan 31, 2014

BugFreak said:
Great, that's what I wanted.

With all this playing around with my cfg I got my hash more steady and up to 797. I want that 800!

Don't kill the cards

Also consider power usage: I can get 292 Kh out of my 6850, but my rig would use ~300 watts

Where as 280 Kh uses a mere ~220 watts :thup:

BugFreak · Feb 1, 2014

True, I'm flying blind at the moment. My Killawatt comes in next week so I can double check my power so I hope I have it estimated pretty good.

Silver_Pharaoh · Feb 1, 2014

BugFreak said:
True, I'm flying blind at the moment. My Killawatt comes in next week so I can double check my power so I hope I have it estimated pretty good.

What's the voltage you run the cards at?

I've also noticed that lower mem speed = less power used..

BugFreak · Feb 1, 2014

If you mean gpu v I run it at stock. Core is at 1k and memory is at stock 1250.

Silver_Pharaoh · Feb 1, 2014

BugFreak said:
If you mean gpu v I run it at stock. Core is at 1k and memory is at stock 1250.

Well, it's a new card, so I expect it to use less than my 6850

(Which is ~170 watts card by itself)

BugFreak · Feb 1, 2014

I hope you're right. I've been calculating this one at 300w, so if it ends up being lower I'm making more cash than I thought.

Silver_Pharaoh · Feb 1, 2014

Blaylock said:
I thought you didn't have to pay the electric bill? Crank that bad boy up! Lol

Thanks for the post bug. I'll be setting up a multi Gpu rig in about a week. Please post your results.

I don't, but I pitch in my fair share to cover the bill.

Last month it was $350!!

So I paid $20 to cover my costs. ~60 cents/day top mine

BugFreak · Feb 1, 2014

Wow, I hope mine doesn't increase that bad. My wife will lose it for sure!

Silver_Pharaoh · Feb 1, 2014

BugFreak said:
Wow, I hope mine doesn't increase that bad. My wife will lose it for sure!

It shouldn't.

We are plugging in my car. dad's truck, mom's school bus (she drives the rugrats to school

) + big heater in my dad's work shop + furnace comes on a lot + have to use dryer for clothes till summer... List goes on

Silver_Pharaoh · Feb 1, 2014

Blaylock said:
We have a hot tub that runs on a 220v line. Do you have any idea how many kW it takes to keep 800 gallons of water at 90f when the outside temp is -25!

BugFreak · Feb 13, 2014

I'm resurrecting my thread since my 270 came in. What is the best way to test the new card settings? Is there a way to disable the main card in cgimer while I test?

Silver_Pharaoh · Feb 13, 2014

BugFreak said:
I'm resurrecting my thread since my 270 came in. What is the best way to test the new card settings? Is there a way to disable the main card in cgimer while I test?

Yes! Just use the -d option.

Example, my 6850 is gpu # 0 in cgminer, so to just use it, i'd use -d 0 in my .bat file

easy peasy.

BugFreak · Feb 13, 2014

Thanks.

What is the d command stand for?

Adding a second card...

BugFreak

ZL1

Senior Crypto Caretaker

BugFreak

manu2b

Member

BugFreak

manu2b

Member

BugFreak

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

BugFreak

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

BugFreak

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

BugFreak

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

BugFreak

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

BugFreak

Silver_Pharaoh

Likes the big ones n00b Member

BugFreak

Similar threads