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Topic: GridSeed 5-chip USB miner voltage mod - page 79. (Read 156988 times)

newbie
Activity: 23
Merit: 0
March 21, 2014, 11:32:26 AM
I might need to try this volt mod, for some reason my gridseed miner is having great difficulty getting over 300kh/s no matter what frequency i run Sad

i thought it was running really well before but it seemed was an inaccurate reading from bfgminer
member
Activity: 107
Merit: 13
March 21, 2014, 08:17:23 AM
I am giving out 0.6BTC to the first to get his Gridseed miner stable at 1100 MHz (<10 HW error in 24h) and post the steps to mod the miner. So far I have managed to get it stable at 1013 MHz, but I feel we can push it further.

Are there rewards(donation) for higher frequencies?
member
Activity: 84
Merit: 14
March 21, 2014, 01:18:26 AM
from the gridseed gc3355 datasheet :

CLUS_ADDR=0xE
REG ADDR
(8 bits)

0x0

[30]pll_BS
0 PLL Band Select
1: High band, 500MHz<=Fvco<=1GHz
0: Low band, 300MHz<=Fvco<=600MHz

the default is 0 so it might requirw a software mod to modify the reg addr to the higher band? or is it already enabled? thought of this as i recall the the PLL voltage being modifed somewhere.. stab in dark maybe.........


GridSeed docs are actually wrong, pll_BS is bit 31, and pll_BP is probably bit 30. If you look at the frequency tables in cgminer, you'll see that for frequencies >= 500 MHz, the highest bit is set.
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 250
March 21, 2014, 12:40:02 AM
Also I have found that the big resistors or capacitors or whatever they are that are close to the chips do not allow the heatsink to touch the chip next to them.  So I added .016 of copper so that the heatsink is flush.  I don't think it really matters just running scrypt but I did it for fun.



thermal pads....

how is your poolside hashrate #'s average comparing to your cgminer hashrate?

I feel like all those units connected to one instance of cgminer is bogging you down in speed

Danny


He is def losing hashes. You can see it in his shares. I am running 80 of these and its annoying...
sr. member
Activity: 378
Merit: 250
March 20, 2014, 11:19:08 PM
PhaseLockedLoop

Thanks.
I actually remembered minutes before I saw your response Wink

And in this case, altering the PLL voltage accomplishes what, exactly?

hero member
Activity: 826
Merit: 1000
°^°
March 20, 2014, 10:53:19 PM
PhaseLockedLoop
sr. member
Activity: 378
Merit: 250
March 20, 2014, 10:45:34 PM
I am giving out 0.6BTC to the first to get his Gridseed miner stable at 1100 MHz (<10 HW error in 24h) and post the steps to mod the miner. So far I have managed to get it stable at 1013 MHz, but I feel we can push it further.
I have found the only way to push these further is by replacing the 36k resistor with a higher one and playing with PLL voltage, you need to lower the resistance of R211 or R212 by tracing it with a pencil. Measure the voltage across both resistors and it should be around 1.1v total. If you want to increase PLL voltage, trace R212, to decrease it, trace R211 (go back and forth atleast 10-20 times or you will not notice a change). Simply use an eraser to revert the mod. Personally 1.05v seems sweet spot.



Disclaimer: as always, I am not responsible for damage to your miner, do this at your own risk!

What is the test point on the card for checking/monitoring the voltage?

Thanks
Wolfey2014

Core voltage can be measured across the 36k, assuming it's voltmodded (by default it would be the 33k)
PLL voltage can be measured across R211 and R212.

Thank you.
What does PLL stand for, again? I'm a bit rusty on some terminology.
Wolfey2014
sr. member
Activity: 378
Merit: 250
March 20, 2014, 10:41:36 PM
Also I have found that the big resistors or capacitors or whatever they are that are close to the chips do not allow the heatsink to touch the chip next to them.  So I added .016 of copper so that the heatsink is flush.  I don't think it really matters just running scrypt but I did it for fun.



I'd think twice about doing that. I don't think you need that .016 spacer.
I found all of my GS units had lose or improperly torqued screws and when re-tightened properly, the heat sink sandwiches the chips very snugly and evenly. The two surface mount components you speak of are not a problem even though they stick up a 1/10000 more than the uP chips do.

Wolfey2014
hero member
Activity: 616
Merit: 500
March 20, 2014, 10:35:57 PM
I am giving out 0.6BTC to the first to get his Gridseed miner stable at 1100 MHz (<10 HW error in 24h) and post the steps to mod the miner. So far I have managed to get it stable at 1013 MHz, but I feel we can push it further.
I have found the only way to push these further is by replacing the 36k resistor with a higher one and playing with PLL voltage, you need to lower the resistance of R211 or R212 by tracing it with a pencil. Measure the voltage across both resistors and it should be around 1.1v total. If you want to increase PLL voltage, trace R212, to decrease it, trace R211 (go back and forth atleast 10-20 times or you will not notice a change). Simply use an eraser to revert the mod. Personally 1.05v seems sweet spot.



Disclaimer: as always, I am not responsible for damage to your miner, do this at your own risk!

What is the test point on the card for checking/monitoring the voltage?

Thanks
Wolfey2014

Core voltage can be measured across the 36k, assuming it's voltmodded (by default it would be the 33k)
PLL voltage can be measured across R211 and R212.
sr. member
Activity: 378
Merit: 250
March 20, 2014, 10:28:09 PM
I'm chillin and seeing what others do in the long run with these volt mods. The only thing I'm doing is disconnecting the fans but I'm running in scrypt only so they are running just fine.

I'm with ya Wolfey.

Cool Wink
sr. member
Activity: 440
Merit: 250
March 20, 2014, 10:20:58 PM
A soldering gun probably wont work here. Your going to need a pretty fine pencil tip and a steady hand.
sr. member
Activity: 308
Merit: 250
March 20, 2014, 10:20:45 PM
I'm new to soldering, does the type of soldering/flux matter? Heat? Any other variables that I should know about before attempting this? I picked up a soldering gun today but haven't talked myself into opening the package yet... Weller SP40NK. Comes with a tiny coil of lead-free solder... Any advice appreciated...
 
And to those who would advise me be not to this... I appreciate your advice, but probably wont take it  Tongue

 did ask this similar question, hope you will get more answers than I did Wink
newbie
Activity: 27
Merit: 0
March 20, 2014, 10:04:38 PM
I'm new to soldering, does the type of soldering/flux matter? Heat? Any other variables that I should know about before attempting this? I picked up a soldering gun today but haven't talked myself into opening the package yet... Weller SP40NK. Comes with a tiny coil of lead-free solder... Any advice appreciated...
 
And to those who would advise me be not to this... I appreciate your advice, but probably wont take it  Tongue
sr. member
Activity: 378
Merit: 250
March 20, 2014, 09:54:30 PM
I am giving out 0.6BTC to the first to get his Gridseed miner stable at 1100 MHz (<10 HW error in 24h) and post the steps to mod the miner. So far I have managed to get it stable at 1013 MHz, but I feel we can push it further.
I have found the only way to push these further is by replacing the 36k resistor with a higher one and playing with PLL voltage, you need to lower the resistance of R211 or R212 by tracing it with a pencil. Measure the voltage across both resistors and it should be around 1.1v total. If you want to increase PLL voltage, trace R212, to decrease it, trace R211 (go back and forth atleast 10-20 times or you will not notice a change). Simply use an eraser to revert the mod. Personally 1.05v seems sweet spot.



Disclaimer: as always, I am not responsible for damage to your miner, do this at your own risk!

What is the test point on the card for checking/monitoring the voltage?

Thanks
Wolfey2014
sr. member
Activity: 440
Merit: 250
March 20, 2014, 09:23:48 PM
I'm chillin and seeing what others do in the long run with these volt mods. The only thing I'm doing is disconnecting the fans but I'm running in scrypt only so they are running just fine.

I'm with ya Wolfey.
hero member
Activity: 826
Merit: 1000
°^°
March 20, 2014, 08:16:50 PM
Actually, if you drop a 12V fan to 5V, the current draw will increase accordingly
do you have a source for that?
from what i read, the current stays the same, yielding less watts and so rpm
hero member
Activity: 672
Merit: 500
March 20, 2014, 06:01:31 PM
Also I have found that the big resistors or capacitors or whatever they are that are close to the chips do not allow the heatsink to touch the chip next to them.  So I added .016 of copper so that the heatsink is flush.  I don't think it really matters just running scrypt but I did it for fun.



thermal pads....

how is your poolside hashrate #'s average comparing to your cgminer hashrate?

I feel like all those units connected to one instance of cgminer is bogging you down in speed

Danny
donator
Activity: 1057
Merit: 1021
March 20, 2014, 05:48:49 PM
Also I have found that the big resistors or capacitors or whatever they are that are close to the chips do not allow the heatsink to touch the chip next to them.  So I added .016 of copper so that the heatsink is flush.  I don't think it really matters just running scrypt but I did it for fun.

donator
Activity: 1057
Merit: 1021
March 20, 2014, 05:03:48 PM
Ok i modded 10 of my gridseeds.  They seem to be working fine.  3 of them were getting HW errors and I checked the solder and from another angle the solder wasn't touching all the way, so I fixed them and they work fine now.

How do I set just 10 of them at voltage 1?  Can I do a conf file with the serial numbers of just those 10 and change the voltage?

EDIT:  I figured it out.  You just set the gridseed-voltage in the conf file with the serial numbers of the units to run voltage 1.

Is there any way to scroll on a terminal window so I can have the font larger and see all the miners?

sr. member
Activity: 378
Merit: 250
March 20, 2014, 04:35:25 PM
I am so happy to get rid of the controllers.  I had digital timers turning the power off every 2 hours for 1 minute to reset all the miners.  CGminer has been flawless so far.  Time to start soldering.

I'm starting to like CGminer more and more Wink
I'm holding off on the over-volt / over-current mods for a while yet to see what happens to the ones who do.
Getting positive results on the profit end is a good thing but, is it temporary or is it permanent? Will the uP's take it indefinitely or will they fail prematurely at some point? Only time will tell.
Wolfey2014
If they're anything like video cards and cpu's, they'll be fine as long as you have the proper cooling and don't go too crazy with the voltage.  It really comes down to the devs and how much headroom they left us.

found thius in the geedseed specs for the gc3355 chip

Power and Ground

6.3 Operation Condition
PARAMETER MIN TYP MAX UNIT
Core Supply Power 0.7 1.0 1.2 V
PLL Supply Power 0.9 1.0 1.1 V
IO Supply Power 2.5 3.3 3.6 V
Operating Temperature -20 25 85 ℃
DVDD Operation Current 5000 mA
Power Consumption 5000 mW

and also this

6 ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS
6.1 Crystal and Oscillator
PARAMETER MIN TYP MAX UNIT
Clock Period 40 ns
Clock Frequency 25 50 MHz
Clock Duty Cycle 45 50 55 %
Clock Jitter 50 ps

so the clock speed/cystal has 50% haed room and there is about 10-20 % headroom on the voltages. yet to find the actually spec for some of the other chips though.


Cool. Thanks for looking that up.
So, what is the core voltage being pushed up to at this point given the current mods?
How will these mods effect running in SHA should one wish to go back to mining them at some point and, it is still possible that people will end up doing just that. The potential I SHA coin game for we small fries is not dead yet. Not by a long shot. Wink
I presume none of the other specs have been altered at this point?

Wolfey2014
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