Vega 64 performance

[Joel]

My vega's crash while otherwise mining ok, mostly due to insufficient voltage. I've had to start burn in testing them at varying voltages as each card is different. One card needs a full 1000mv on both core and hbm to mine stable at 1100mhz. Others can do as low as 935mv on hbm and core. Some need 1000 hbm and 950 core, some the other way around, 1000 core 950 hbm. I test in increments of 935 / 950 / 975 / 1000.

Kind of sucks, my first 8 cards were all fine at 935/935/1100mhz. This last batch, I've had maybe one card that could do that.

If a card stays up for an hour, it's most likely those are stable settings. If it makes it 15 minutes without crashing, but not an hour, then you're pretty close to the voltage you need. And if it can't make it 15 minutes you're pretty far off.

Regarding the addon fans, I mostly agree. It uses a lot of power and makes the systems a real pain to work on -- can't use the video ports. I'm going to try putting 2 gpus in a 3-gpu board and 3 gpus in a 4-gpu board and see how that goes.

I won't ever know this now but I think I was at 1408/1100 @ 905/940mv. Gonna wipe it all and start over yet again. And I still haven't even started on my new to me z420 that I bought to house Vega #2.

God I'm tired of faffing with this.

I bought both of them on Thanksgiving day on Newegg, where would that put me on your Vega lottery timeline?

Still, your increasing voltage idea gives me hope. How do the higher voltage cards do on wattage?

 

[Joel]

@Klee, am I crazy to be considering something like this for my next miners?

HP C7000 Blade Enclosure 8x BL460c G8 2x Intel E5-2640 2.5GHz 6Core CPU Rail Kit | eBay

 

[funkywizard]

I won't ever know this now but I think I was at 1408/1100 @ 905/940mv. Gonna wipe it all and start over yet again. And I still haven't even started on my new to me z420 that I bought to house Vega #2.

God I'm tired of faffing with this.

I bought both of them on Thanksgiving day on Newegg, where would that put me on your Vega lottery timeline?

Still, your increasing voltage idea gives me hope. How do the higher voltage cards do on wattage?

Higher voltage uses more watts -- pretty linear. Also gets harder to cool the cards. Haven't had any card that couldn't do 1100mhz at 1000mv so far. If you don't want to use that much power, 1000mhz is more forgiving about voltage. Should be able to do 935mv at 1000mhz hbm, but that's no fun.

 

[garetjax]

Got my 3 vega rig online - how are you measuring power draw? Also any way to check their temps? I have one card that is a little slower than the other 2. Also what pool are you using for Monero? I'm using dwarfpool right now as Patrick set the docker image to use it. I'm still a total noob at this so looking for the wise guidance available here.

Thanks

 

[Joel]

I've been measuring power with a Kill-a-watt that my system is plugged into. Your numbers look pretty good (is there a monitor hooked up to card #3?), but how are temps? If you're using a Docker image, I suspect your power may be high, as the optimum settings are Windows only at the moment due to the undervolting available in registry.

 

[garetjax]

Oh no I'm not using the docker image - followed the guide marsh recommeneded. But Patrick's docker image uses dwarfpool so thats what I used. I bought a wemo instead of a killowatt. Can monitor the energy usage from your phone and turn it off and on from your phone. I haven't set that up yet. No monitor on #3, I'm using igpu with a dummy plug in it. However, #3 is using a different psu not sure if that matters - only difference I can think of. I'm using 2 750 evga with an add2psu

 

[marcoi]

how much are you guys paying for your vega 64 cards? where are you shopping to get best prices?

 

[Marsh]

My first vega 64 card from Newegg ebay @465 + tax - 8% ebay buck
Second vega 64 from Newegg ebay @500 + tax
Third vega 56 from fellow forum member in ForSale section for $400 + $20 shipping.

You will not find any sale of vega cards nowaday. Just be happy that you are paying close to MSRP.

 

[garetjax]

Yeah it’s not pretty. Cheapest I have seen is $599 on Amazon or $679 on Newegg for the sapphire 64. I figure that it was worth it for me to learn and mine for a few weeks or months before price goes down if it ever happens.

 

[keybored]

Yeah, even the black reference Vegas that surface on Newegg from time to time are sold out almost instantly at $700 a pop. Crazy...
Not sure why prices went down temporarily to begin with. Maybe at that time Vegas were still fairly unknown to the mining crowd. The initial reviews weren't favorable at all, so maybe it took some time for new knowledge to percolate.

 

[marcoi]

if anyone spots any for msrp, post it. i might try my hand at getting one or two.

 

[funkywizard]

if anyone spots any for msrp, post it. i might try my hand at getting one or two.

You can put a stock alert on newegg for parts they expect to get back in stock. But if you get the alert, be prepared to buy right away. They sell out in 15-30 minutes after the alert goes out.

 

[marcoi]

im seeing the pricing around 679-699 for out of stock. is that the going rate?
I'm also thinking for that i might get a 1080 ti card and use it mostly for gaming/mining and move my older 1080 card just to mining. right now it mining aeon at 1200 H/s at about 90watts

 

[keybored]

im seeing the pricing around 679-699 for out of stock. is that the going rate?
...

Yes... $700 for reference cards. $1000 for liquid cooled.

 

[funkywizard]

im seeing the pricing around 679-699 for out of stock. is that the going rate?
I'm also thinking for that i might get a 1080 ti card and use it mostly for gaming/mining and move my older 1080 card just to mining. right now it mining aeon at 1200 H/s at about 90watts

Yeah, $679-$700 has been the "lucky to get it but not impossible to get it" price recently.

1080ti uses more power for less profit. But far easier to find the cards. With the massive run-up in zec prices the last couple days, 1080ti mining profits have spiked, but Vega is still a little better, and uses less power. 1080ti is far easier to use in linux, however, is a more stable miner, and is a better gaming card.

I considered getting more 1080ti's recently, but, that model is getting close to a year old now, so I assume nvidia will release something better within the next 6 months, so not the best time to stock up on those. But, buying just one for gaming primarily, and paying off the expense via mining, that's still a good way to go.

 

[Joel]

Yeah, $679-$700 has been the "lucky to get it but not impossible to get it" price recently.

1080ti uses more power for less profit. But far easier to find the cards. With the massive run-up in zec prices the last couple days, 1080ti mining profits have spiked, but Vega is still a little better, and uses less power. 1080ti is far easier to use in linux, however, is a more stable miner, and is a better gaming card.

I considered getting more 1080ti's recently, but, that model is getting close to a year old now, so I assume nvidia will release something better within the next 6 months, so not the best time to stock up on those. But, buying just one for gaming primarily, and paying off the expense via mining, that's still a good way to go.

If the Titan V is any indicator, next gen Nvidia gear will also have HBM, which is Vega's secret sauce.

 

[funkywizard]

If the Titan V is any indicator, next gen Nvidia gear will also have HBM, which is Vega's secret sauce.

Hard to say given the $3000 price of Titan V. It is a reasonable assumption that whatever they release next will have faster memory. Allegedly gddr6 should come out at some point, though HBM2 (on Vega) is probably faster. AMD co-owns the intellectual property for HBM2, so nvidia would prefer not to strengthen their conpetitor. They've sucked it up and done so for their highest end cards, because at $3000+ for a GPU, nvidia stands to gain far more than AMD for each card sold. I'm not sure if they're prepared to help AMD generate revenue just to sell a mainstream gpu at mainstream prices.

Even so, faster memory is one obvious opportunity for nvidia's next generation. A process shrink should also boost performance per watt and total performance a bit. No idea what architectural changes they would release, seems like tensor cores aren't very relevant for gamers.

Even if the "11" series ends up being less of an upgrade than the 10 series was, it'll probably be enough to cut down the profitability of mining on 10's substantially. If they stick to a predictable release cycle, that limits the lifespan of any 1080ti's bought today. As the prices on those cards have not dropped at all since their releass date, I wouldn't want to make a bet on that hardware today.

After the zec surge from May died down and difficulty skyrocketed, a 1080ti has ranged from earning $80/mo to $120/mo the majority of the time since June. Despite some brief surges above that, at this point only the very lucky have made a profit off 1080ti's bought in May or later. If you bought cards in May, June, July, it is likely you'll be profitable before any new card is released, but I wouldn't bet on that buying them today.

 

[Marsh]

Added a Vega 56 card ( flashed with V64 bios, sort of like a Vega 64 card)

Using the reddit Monero and Vega - the definitive guide • r/MoneroMining
safe power play table reg file as baseline, then use overdriventool to optimize performance and power consumption.

This V56 card needs more power then my other V64 cards
GPU_P7=1408;1000
Mem_P3=1100;950

Power consumption: 222w total ( base computer 50w, vega 56 mining XMR 172w )

 

[zhoulander]

Finally rebuilt my rig with Z270 to use onboard. Was a bit of a mission because win10 kept installing newer drivers than what I had installed, and I might have a touchy riser. All cards seem to be performing slightly better though after using IGP for display.
PDU reporting 3A@240V for 4xV64, 7860 H/s total (15m avg)

 

[Marsh]

That is what I learned, having IGPU make mining life much easier.