Optimizing GPUs for maximum hashrate

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Okay, I ran the engine test, but the hashrates just kept dropping.

@ 1120 core, I got 350 Kh, when I know it gets 475 Kh on that....

Anyways, I got both my 270x and my 6850 running full tilt @ 755 Kh/s
Cool.

 

[gsrcrxsi]

when you ran the core test, what did you have the memory set to? intensity? etc?

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

when you ran the core test, what did you have the memory set to? intensity? etc?

Stock mem, 1400 intensity 19 (just like manual testing) voltage was 1.24 + powertune 20%

I did notice that anything over 1500 mem and 1130 core decreases the hashrate.

I also got those settings/clocks from a post on reddit, so I imagine he did some testing too

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Should I make a new worker for my 270x? or just have both 270x and 6850 mine using the same worker?

 

[gsrcrxsi]

Well, the 7870 might be dead :/.

Saw the WU number was way low. Started playing with settings, then tried to reinstall drivers. And now it won't mine at all. Opens then closed.

Afterburner won't recognize it. GPUz says the core/mem clocks are 0, says the temps are 0. Just not getting a reading from anything. But it displays a basic desktop fine and I can navigate.

Will try a reformat tomorrow but I think it might be toast

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Well, the 7870 might be dead :/.

Saw the WU number was way low. Started playing with settings, then tried to reinstall drivers. And now it won't mine at all. Opens then closed.

Afterburner won't recognize it. GPUz says the core/mem clocks are 0, says the temps are 0. Just not getting a reading from anything. But it displays a basic desktop fine and I can navigate.

Will try a reformat tomorrow but I think it might be toast

Noooo! Maybe bake it? Re-TIM it?
That sucks

 

[gsrcrxsi]

ok i fixed it. required a complete OS reinstall. what a pain. i briefly tried out BAMT on it, but it wouldnt run (a least i had no indiciation that it was running) and it kept telling me there was a problem with the temps. i didnt feel like messing with it, so i went back to windows.

the machine that the 7870 was in, was running Vista x64. i know vista sucks, but it was working fine. what i think happened was the OS got some pretty bad corruption regarding the video drivers from my constant driver switches during testing. (install, DDU forced remove, install, DDU forced remove, install, DDU forced remove, etc lol). i just installed Win7 x64.

so the card is back at it. interestingly enough, now sgminer, and kalroths cgminer are working fine with the 12.8 drivers, when they didnt before. im getting a few more kh too, about 387 (vs 380)

im not sure if it's worth even upgrading the drivers from 12.8. i never saw any performance issues/increases from updating drivers alone.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

ok i fixed it. required a complete OS reinstall. what a pain. i briefly tried out BAMT on it, but it wouldnt run (a least i had no indiciation that it was running) and it kept telling me there was a problem with the temps. i didnt feel like messing with it, so i went back to windows.

the machine that the 7870 was in, was running Vista x64. i know vista sucks, but it was working fine. what i think happened was the OS got some pretty bad corruption regarding the video drivers from my constant driver switches during testing. (install, DDU forced remove, install, DDU forced remove, install, DDU forced remove, etc lol). i just installed Win7 x64.

so the card is back at it. interestingly enough, now sgminer, and kalroths cgminer are working fine with the 12.8 drivers, when they didnt before. im getting a few more kh too, about 387 (vs 380)

im not sure if it's worth even upgrading the drivers from 12.8. i never saw any performance issues/increases from updating drivers alone.

Probably not. I run 13.12 and I see the same hashrates among other miners with the same hardware.

If 12.8 works, why upgrade?

 

[gsrcrxsi]

so i swapped down to 13.12 drivers to see if it would make a difference vs. 14.1 - made no difference.

then i decided to give kalroths 3.7.2 a try. bam +20KH and a boatload better WU.

so now the 270x is pushing 440KH/s with zero changes. i'll play around with the xintensity feature one day. seems to be popular.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

so i swapped down to 13.12 drivers to see if it would make a difference vs. 14.1 - made no difference.

then i decided to give kalroths 3.7.2 a try. bam +20KH and a boatload better WU.

so now the 270x is pushing 440KH/s with zero changes. i'll play around with the xintensity feature one day. seems to be popular.

Kalroth's cgminer?

So what's the deal then? What is the BEST miner for Radeons?
Sgminer, Kalroth's or good old cgminer??

 

[gsrcrxsi]

well so far the kalroth miner is working wonders on my 270x. with no config changes...
420KH/s -> 440KH/s
350WU -> 450+WU

on my 7870, i saw no hash improvements, but it helped my WU a lot there too.

im going to re-install the OS on my other rig (7950+5970) and install the 13.12 drivers and kalroths miner and see if it helps there too.

 

[ZL1]

i wonder why 7870s do so diff from the 270s ... im so pissed i cant get past 400 on my 7870, its an asus, it ocs like crazy .. but nothing over 400 really +/- a few lame khs
in sha it does superbly, outruns the 6950s which do 450 in scrypt
ram timings ? could that be all it is ? flashing or bricking ? )

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

i wonder why 7870s do so diff from the 270s ... im so pissed i cant get past 400 on my 7870, its an asus, it ocs like crazy .. but nothing over 400 really +/- a few lame khs
in sha it does superbly, outruns the 6950s which do 450 in scrypt
ram timings ? could that be all it is ? flashing or bricking ? )

Might be the timings, I can't think of anything else lol.

 

[gsrcrxsi]

dont feel bad, i cant get my 7870 to budge over 385

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Got kalroth's cgminer to run.
No Kh improvments, but WU shot up from ~200 to ~490!

Too bad it dosen't run with vertcoin (does it? I tried but it made my 270x artifact and die till I rebooted)

 

[gsrcrxsi]

i think vertcoin needs it's own miner. wont work with the kalroth miner.

but man if your WU was that low, with 480+ hashrate... yeah thats not right. WU should be like 90-100+% of your hashrate.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

i think vertcoin needs it's own miner. wont work with the kalroth miner.

but man if your WU was that low, with 480+ hashrate... yeah thats not right. WU should be like 90-100+% of your hashrate.

Sorry, my WU was ~450
I was thinking of my 6850, it's WU was ~220

 

[Janus67]

well so far the kalroth miner is working wonders on my 270x. with no config changes...
420KH/s -> 440KH/s
350WU -> 450+WU

on my 7870, i saw no hash improvements, but it helped my WU a lot there too.

im going to re-install the OS on my other rig (7950+5970) and install the 13.12 drivers and kalroths miner and see if it helps there too.

have you tried sgminer to see if there is a difference?

 

[gsrcrxsi]

I was using sgminer before this.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Better way to optimize

linky link
its the UT build

Thanks to dyckah, he found a better way to optimize hashrates while mining at the same time:

The UT build of Cgminer on that site (or the build at the bottom of the site that includes all cgminer mods) Simply run the UT modded cgminer normaly, then hit "g" "c" then "u" to activate Ultratune, put in some values like the min/max clock rates, then it will mine for you and find the best clock settings to mine with!

dyckah, for finding that!
I'm mining Ultracoin and letting it find the best clocks for my 270x

If you want to get the best hashrates without any hassles, this is the way for you.