hahahaha, good thread and that post was funny as hell.
Good luck with the under volting, I wish we would do more sticky's/guides on this site with info about this stuff, that wiki article for mining hardware is so out of date it's not even valuable.
At least give people an idea of what they can shoot for. If you've ever oc'd or changed anything from stock, you know even though it's the same product, there are always different batches/chips, etc. but it still helps because there is usually a fairly accurate average.
Topic: Optimal choice for improving gpu's life cycle without losing mhashes (Read 1851 times)
January 21, 2012, 06:29:09 PM
January 21, 2012, 06:06:16 PM
To get back to your original question; running at high fan speeds is more likely to kill the fan prematurely. Running at low fan speeds (assuming that results in high temperatures) is more likely to cause premature failure of the GPU. Its impossible to put numbers on it, premature could mean 15 years instead of 150, it could mean 2 months instead of 20. But replacing a fan is fairly cheap and easy, replacing the GPU is less so.
I agree, but running @ 100% fan speed I'm getting only 2-3C lesser temp. Not very effective I would say and my room becomes a server room. Maybe add some decent external fan, like this one:
January 21, 2012, 07:12:25 AM
Right on, P4. I'm glad you raised the often overlooked point of diminishing returns at high fan speeds.
Just keep in mind that "below 70°C" is an extreme oversimplification:
The 69xx series can never be expected to run that cold. They are all flawed products, having been meant to be manufactured at 32nm instead of 40, and will run more like high 70s - low 80s.
@BCMan, now you're talking dude
Welcome to the land of safe and efficient mining.
Just keep in mind that "below 70°C" is an extreme oversimplification:
The 69xx series can never be expected to run that cold. They are all flawed products, having been meant to be manufactured at 32nm instead of 40, and will run more like high 70s - low 80s.
@BCMan, now you're talking dude
Welcome to the land of safe and efficient mining. 
January 21, 2012, 05:58:52 AM
To get back to your original question; running at high fan speeds is more likely to kill the fan prematurely. Running at low fan speeds (assuming that results in high temperatures) is more likely to cause premature failure of the GPU. Its impossible to put numbers on it, premature could mean 15 years instead of 150, it could mean 2 months instead of 20. But replacing a fan is fairly cheap and easy, replacing the GPU is less so.
Settle for a compromise that you feel makes sense; to me that means keeping the GPU below 70C, whatever fan speed that requires. But Im not going to double my fan speed to max only to lower temps from 65C to 55C.
Settle for a compromise that you feel makes sense; to me that means keeping the GPU below 70C, whatever fan speed that requires. But Im not going to double my fan speed to max only to lower temps from 65C to 55C.
January 21, 2012, 05:44:21 AM
I'm testing it almost a day already with 960/300/1.005v. 
Rock solid stability. Incredible how much it can be undervolted, even with quite high OCing! Funny thing that with 1.000v it doesn't work, but with 1.005 working without any issues. And temp is at 71C, comparing to 77 with default voltage. Thats just great.
Rock solid stability. Incredible how much it can be undervolted, even with quite high OCing! Funny thing that with 1.000v it doesn't work, but with 1.005 working without any issues. And temp is at 71C, comparing to 77 with default voltage. Thats just great. 
January 20, 2012, 07:41:03 PM
Actually I did it in wrong way. I oced it in AMD overdrive trough ATI Tray Tools (stupid ATT overclocking tool cant up freq more than 750 mhz and lower than 500) and somehow overdrive conflicted with different frequency, even with 1.124v. I've found a workaround. Now I'm running 960/300/1.105v and its working! Alsogpu is a bit colder now, not that much tho, lesser on 1-1.5C. Wondering how far I can go with 960/300.
There are some weird resonance things that happen...maybe someone more technically adept than I can explain them. Point being that if you are tweaking clock settings, hitting an unstable setting doesn't mean you can't pass it and find a sweet spot. Just making up numbers here for an example; shit may hit the fan at 950mhz core and be fine at 940 and 960mhz.
January 20, 2012, 06:15:26 PM
Way to go BCMan!
Give that card a day. If it's still perfectly stable tomorrow, undervolt again.
If you manage to repeat this 3 or 4 times the card should be about 5 °C colder taking care of the thermal issue you raised earlier.
Give that card a day. If it's still perfectly stable tomorrow, undervolt again.
If you manage to repeat this 3 or 4 times the card should be about 5 °C colder taking care of the thermal issue you raised earlier.
January 20, 2012, 05:54:02 PM
Actually I did it in wrong way. I oced it in AMD overdrive trough ATI Tray Tools (stupid ATT overclocking tool cant up freq more than 750 mhz and lower than 500) and somehow overdrive conflicted with different frequency, even with 1.124v. I've found a workaround. Now I'm running 960/300/1.105v and its working! Alsogpu is a bit colder now, not that much tho, lesser on 1-1.5C. Wondering how far I can go with 960/300.
January 20, 2012, 05:41:33 PM
I've tried 1.105 (1.125 is default) and it even doesn't work with 750(850 is stock)/300. GPU stops responding.
Sorry to hear this :<
It's a total crapshoot, some GPUs have just higher quality chips than others.
January 20, 2012, 04:59:28 PM
I've tried 1.105 (1.125 is default) and it even doesn't work with 750(850 is stock)/300. GPU stops responding.
When you are tweaking for undervolting, your goal is higher MH/s/ January 20, 2012, 04:47:52 PM
I've tried 1.105 (1.125 is default) and it even doesn't work with 750(850 is stock)/300. GPU stops responding.
January 20, 2012, 01:34:09 PM
How can anyone tell you whether your particular card has a good enough chip to do that?
You're going to need to test that.
Try dropping the voltage by 0.020 V and running the rig for a day. Repeat until you've found maximal stable undervolt.
Now, there are two choices: you can drop the clock slightly and keep undervolting or you can keep the stable voltage.
If you're actually paying for your energy, dropping the core clock and a serious underclock job are usually the way to go.
Also, undervolting significantly drops core temps.
You're going to need to test that.
Try dropping the voltage by 0.020 V and running the rig for a day. Repeat until you've found maximal stable undervolt.
Now, there are two choices: you can drop the clock slightly and keep undervolting or you can keep the stable voltage.
If you're actually paying for your energy, dropping the core clock and a serious underclock job are usually the way to go.
Also, undervolting significantly drops core temps.
January 19, 2012, 05:41:06 PM
Whats more optimal - higher fan speed and lesser gpu temp, or auto fan speed with higher (2-3C more - 77C) temp?
cooler room and more space between the cards?
which cards?
have you heared of undervolting?
January 19, 2012, 05:28:30 PM
Whats more optimal - higher fan speed and lesser gpu temp, or auto fan speed with higher (2-3C more - 77C) temp?
cooler room and more space between the cards?
which cards?
have you heared of undervolting?
January 19, 2012, 05:26:00 PM
Whats more optimal - higher fan speed and lesser gpu temp, or auto fan speed with higher (2-3C more - 77C) temp? Can fan fail earlier than gpu with higher speeds?
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