ATI underclocking memory under linux?

kirax

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Quote from: HanSolo on June 13, 2011, 11:54:49 PM

I've got 6950s and 6970s.

RBE warns on certain changes that the native drivers may stop recognizing the card.. and someone else mentioned after a certain RBE edit even aticonfig wouldn't find the cards.

Are you using a signed 'rbe' excerpt from another card (~1kb) to get around that?

I cannot for certain say for those, but I am running 6870's, with RBE modified bioses. The newest version, 1.28, supported overvolting them, which is pretty useful. The doom and gloom forum posts about the cards not being recognized in windows and BSOD's seem to be limited to the windows world. I used "method 2" , aka the no checksum, direct write, screw it lets see if it works method, to increase my overdrive limits to 1200 MHZ on a couple of cards so far, and linux has been happily mining away now for days on them as I test for stable clocks.

Note, I changed the GPU register, modified the fan curve, and used method 2 to increase the max overdrive, but I didn't mss with any powerplay states, so I don't know if that will work or not.

Underclocking memory would likely mean modifying the powerplay states, and I have been too lazy to do that thus far.

There was a post I made about this on the techpowerup forums, but it is gone to the nether since apparently putting a hosting company in your .sig is a bannable offence. Not that I am bitter.

coblee

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Creator of Litecoin. Cryptocurrency enthusiast.

Try atitweak: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=25750.0
This new tools works much better for me.

hugolp

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Quote from: Folax on June 16, 2011, 09:31:48 AM

Is there a guide somewhere on how to do this and where to get the installation packages?
When I do a forum search on SBE I get a lot of (German) BTC betting stuff but nothing on this tool, also 'Winbios' does not return much unfortunately (only this post).

It was RBE: http://www.techpowerup.com/rbe/ Just follow the official tutorial, its all explained.

Folax

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Is there a guide somewhere on how to do this and where to get the installation packages?
When I do a forum search on SBE I get a lot of (German) BTC betting stuff but nothing on this tool, also 'Winbios' does not return much unfortunately (only this post).

hugolp

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Quote from: Folax on June 16, 2011, 07:23:01 AM

Quote from: hugolp on June 16, 2011, 12:35:28 AM

I have two Asus 5870 and the memory can go as low as 200Mhz with AMDOverdriveCtrl. The sweet spot for me is 335Mhz. But I just got a XFX 8750 and while I can get the memory to 335Mhz, it wont allow to push the core speed more than 900Mhz. It depends on the vendor.

I got an Asus 5870 and an Alienware 5870 in the same LinuxCoin box.
AMDoverdriveCTRL allows me to:
Asus: 300-1200GPU 200-1200MEM
Alien: 300-900GPU 200-1200MEM

So the Asus runs great @ 1000//335
The Alien runs slower @ 900//310

Would love to set the GPU of the Alien higher but cant, so my conclusion is that it really depends on the manufacturer what the rangers are on the card, and of course you should be able to alter them but for me it's been hard fining how to alter the Alien.

I just solved it this morning. I used SBE and winbios (or something like that) to get the bios from the Asus, copy the limitations, then mix the limitations of the ASUS with the bios of the XFX and reflashing the XFX. Works like a charm.

Folax

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Quote from: hugolp on June 16, 2011, 12:35:28 AM

I have two Asus 5870 and the memory can go as low as 200Mhz with AMDOverdriveCtrl. The sweet spot for me is 335Mhz. But I just got a XFX 8750 and while I can get the memory to 335Mhz, it wont allow to push the core speed more than 900Mhz. It depends on the vendor.

I got an Asus 5870 and an Alienware 5870 in the same LinuxCoin box.
AMDoverdriveCTRL allows me to:
Asus: 300-1200GPU 200-1200MEM
Alien: 300-900GPU 200-1200MEM

So the Asus runs great @ 1000//335
The Alien runs slower @ 900//310

Would love to set the GPU of the Alien higher but cant, so my conclusion is that it really depends on the manufacturer what the rangers are on the card, and of course you should be able to alter them but for me it's been hard fining how to alter the Alien.

hugolp

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Quote from: LMGTFY on March 10, 2011, 07:45:01 AM

Strange - maybe different manufacturers set different ranges? I'm out of options, though - given the MSI Afterburner stuff - I'd assume that it *must* be possible to go outside the configurable peak range on Linux, too. (There's a thread somewhere here - you've likely seen it - where Windows users with MSI Afterburner are finding a "sweet spot" around 300MHz; it'd be good to have that available on Linux...)

I have two Asus 5870 and the memory can go as low as 200Mhz with AMDOverdriveCtrl. The sweet spot for me is 335Mhz. But I just got a XFX 8750 and while I can get the memory to 335Mhz, it wont allow to push the core speed more than 900Mhz. It depends on the vendor.

ovoskeuiks

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Supa what type of card were you reflashing?

darkpandora

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Quote from: vx609e on June 13, 2011, 05:48:01 PM

Quote from: HanSolo on June 13, 2011, 03:51:23 AM

Even leaving AMDOverdriveCtrl running, same result.. the displayed ranges of --odgc make it look like lower clocks are possible, but below some threshold which varies based on CPU clock any change (from --odsc or GUI) doesn't take effect and in fact causes the memory to snap back to the default for the current load level. Arrrgh!!!

I'm having the same problem.

i have the same problem too on my 6990s

Adapter 0 - AMD Radeon HD 6990
Core (MHz) Memory (MHz)
Current Clocks : 950 1250
Current Peak : 950 150
Configurable Peak Range : [500-1200] [75-1500]
GPU load : 99%

supa

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Activity: 56

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Quote from: HanSolo on June 13, 2011, 11:54:49 PM

I've got 6950s and 6970s.

RBE warns on certain changes that the native drivers may stop recognizing the card.. and someone else mentioned after a certain RBE edit even aticonfig wouldn't find the cards.

Are you using a signed 'rbe' excerpt from another card (~1kb) to get around that?

As already mentioned, make sure you make a backup of your existing BIOS. atiflash has a built-in command (-s X filename).

I don't bother with the RBE signatures, etc - I just change my clocks under Additional Settings with relatively good luck so far.

The only "issue" (really not an issue) is that on reboot after flash, Windows did infact not recognize the card.... and I had to go through letting it re-detect and put the drivers back in place. Occasionally, it would do that every 3 or 4th reboot. I stopped using Windows whenever possible.... Wink

PS - for the record, ^ the above only happened on one Windows PC and a buddy with an identical card doesn't have that problem.

Folax

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AMDoverdrive works great for me on my 5870s with Linux.

hugolp

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Quote from: HanSolo on June 13, 2011, 11:54:49 PM

I've got 6950s and 6970s.

RBE warns on certain changes that the native drivers may stop recognizing the card.. and someone else mentioned after a certain RBE edit even aticonfig wouldn't find the cards.

Are you using a signed 'rbe' excerpt from another card (~1kb) to get around that?

Just as a remainder, always back up the original bios before trying to flash your card with a new one. At least you will be able to get your card to the oringinal condition.

HanSolo

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Activity: 59

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I've got 6950s and 6970s.

RBE warns on certain changes that the native drivers may stop recognizing the card.. and someone else mentioned after a certain RBE edit even aticonfig wouldn't find the cards.

Are you using a signed 'rbe' excerpt from another card (~1kb) to get around that?

Sideways

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What I had to do to get my 5830 to 300 mem clock was edit the bios. You unfortunately have to use windows, google the "RBE" Radeon Bios Editor, or look in former posts for info.
Once the bios is moded, the new limits show up for aticonfig

supa

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What cards do you both have?

I'm on 5850s....

vx609e

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Quote from: HanSolo on June 13, 2011, 03:51:23 AM

Even leaving AMDOverdriveCtrl running, same result.. the displayed ranges of --odgc make it look like lower clocks are possible, but below some threshold which varies based on CPU clock any change (from --odsc or GUI) doesn't take effect and in fact causes the memory to snap back to the default for the current load level. Arrrgh!!!

I'm having the same problem.

HanSolo

newbie

Activity: 59

Merit: 0

Even leaving AMDOverdriveCtrl running, same result.. the displayed ranges of --odgc make it look like lower clocks are possible, but below some threshold which varies based on CPU clock any change (from --odsc or GUI) doesn't take effect and in fact causes the memory to snap back to the default for the current load level. Arrrgh!!!

supa

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Activity: 56

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In my experience, if you use the -b thing, you can't adjust with aticonfig afterward. Which is great if you have 100% decided on clocks, but not so great if you're still fiddling.

I just leave the GUI running.

hugolp

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Quote from: supa on June 13, 2011, 02:02:09 AM

AMDOverDriveCtrl *causing* freezing sounds like a red herring to me....

It's more likely you were setting invalid clocks or otherwise making your card unhappy.

Yes. I was checking now and the utility he recomended uses AMD ADL API, which I believe is the same AMDOverdriveCtrl uses. So basically both programs are frontends to the same AMD API. There should be no difference.

Quote

Run AMDOverDriveCtrl and leave it running. Do not exit it.

You should see a lower floor when you try aticonfig --odgc and aticonfig will let you set a lower clock. That's my experience.

AMDOverdriveCtrl lets you save the profile once you have a configuration you like and then you can load it with the -b option, for example:

AMDOverdriveCtrl -i 1 -b profilefordevice1.ovdr

This will set up the device 1 with the configuration on the file profilefordevice1.ovdr (that you should have created with the GUI previously) and exits, allowing you to start the miners. No need to have the GUI running. I actually have a script that sets the cards using taht comand and then launches the miners.

supa

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AMDOverDriveCtrl *causing* freezing sounds like a red herring to me....

It's more likely you were setting invalid clocks or otherwise making your card unhappy.

Run AMDOverDriveCtrl and leave it running. Do not exit it.

You should see a lower floor when you try aticonfig --odgc and aticonfig will let you set a lower clock. That's my experience.

Topic: ATI underclocking memory under linux? (Read 7673 times)