Topic: Please explain the love for the 5830s and 5850s (Read 2270 times)

Wow, I think the cards are rated to somewhere like 90C.  100C is really hot.  I personally don't like my cards at 80C.  I'm new to this but I never use the stock fan control.  I either set it manually in windows with the catalyst control panel or use AMDOverdriveCtrl in linux.  Especially in a laptop, I think you're going to burn something up, like your cards.   And yes, underclock memory to reduce temps.   Too low will also reduce hashes so experiment or use other people's values.  If I don't turn the fan speed up, my cards will rocket to high temps very fast.  Yeah, I'm stressing out the fans more but I've also read on here that higher temps shorten the life of your chips (just as higher fan speeds shorten the fan life)

I've seen a couple of reports in this thread of 4850's getting 80-90 mhash/s.  I've been mining on two for the past week and a half, trying to tweak them, but only reliably getting 55-60 out of them.  One is on a laptop, so that's to be expected... its gpu is clocked at 500 mhz by default.  The desktop's running at slightly over stock,  too, but I need to get the card cooler before trying any overclocking.  It's currrently running at 103 degrees C.  It's an old setup, so the fans could probably use some cleaning.  I've read that people recommend underclocking the memory, is that to reduce temps?

Most of this is a moot point, I was lucky enough to find a 5830 in stock at Newegg last week, so I'll get a nice boost in mining and gaming performance when it comes in tomorrow. I'll still want to use the 4850 in a linux server i have running, so I do want to figure out how to get that card mining optimally. I've looked at the mining hardware comparison chart, but I can't get anywhere near those numbers.

If it makes any difference, I'm running phoenix miner with fastloop, aggression 3, and worksize 128.  Trial and error has shown that seems to work well and allow the pc to be used.  Raising the aggression only gets me a couple mhash extra, but makes it unusable.  Raising it too high makes the pc crash.

I apologize for being long winded, I haven't had enough coffee this morning.  I guess I'm just feeling the need to vent and find out options to optomize my mining.

Oh, I've been mining on both systems for 12 days or so and have earned 1.15 BTC from the pool i'm connected to.  Is this low for 110-120 MH/s?


Edit: I think it's a cooling problem.  I stopped mining, let the GPU cool, then restarted it.  I was running at 67 MH/s until it hit about 100 degrees, then it dropped down.

5770s are the most efficient IMO (just check wiki site to find effiency (mj/s). I just added a new one to my rig today (yay!). And when you do the math it does make a difference. I get my energy cheap (8 cent /k i beleive). I also have a 5870 and running these two 24/7 (which is how they run unless im in doing my game design crap). Also, as the difficulty increases the hardware becomes less and less efficient while energy will go up if anything- usually. so if you are planning ahead only the most efficient cards will be pulling their own weight in the end and then eventually even they will be paperweights compared to new tech.

5770 = 6.00 a month
5870 = 15.00 a month

So I consider that 1.5-2 BTC that will be lost a month due to electricity.... this number will also increase with difficulty as a result no doubt.

But then as problems get harder I'm sure value will rise without as many new BTC coming into the market.

I personally use 5770s. Easy to get, and great price to performance ratio.

Yeah, my partner and I can't find anything near that.

I know a guy who was selling 40-60 5870's a week at $200 apiece.  Apparently he was getting them for way cheap.  He made a killing

I will take 100 at that price!

I look at it this way.  Four 5830's doing 1.2GHashes/sec for $440 shipped.  Seems pretty reasonable to me.

If nothing else convinces you, try and find yourself a 5850/5830 for the prices mentioned in other threads.  No, really, try. 

I'll wait.

Not to troll you too hard, but the lack of availability of this card attest to it's use in the environment.  If it wasn't what people say it is, then everyone who was the early adopter would have simply sold their own off mid-hype.  The fact that this far in people are still both stating it's praises and it's this difficult to get them means that they're likely the real deal.

First of all you got your numbers a bit off.

5770 does not do 200 Mhash/sec at least not stock clocks.

Secondly if you want to compare with 5850, you have to at least count the 5850 for around 350 Mhash/sec.
I am currently running a 4850 @ 90 Mhash/sec and 5850 @ 350 Mhash/sec (got the 5850 to 400, but clocked it back down since it was a huge OC - still in the safe zone temp. wise). 
Running them in the same rig to answer above question get one now and upgrade later.

I think when you're looking at the hardware mining comparison chart, don't use the highest numbers for each card.  You can take them up that far, but you void the warranty, probably stress the shit out of your fan, and just generally lessen the life of the card.  IMO, not worth the extra 1/8 or so Mh/s.  Without the bios overclocking of the cards, my 5830 gets about 260, and my 5850 gets about 290  (or something like 275 and 300 if I use -k phatk in phoenix miner, I think).  That's not much of a difference.  I use a couple external fans for circulation, and my gpu fans are at about 50-60%.  I want to keep these cards for a long time, not burn them up in a few months.  Just my opinion, and I'm trying to post wherever I can so I can stop being a newbie

about 80 MH for the 4850 ... about 250 Mh for the 5830 ....

start with the existing card + one 5830 ...

You may have to change both card (or stop mining) when difficulty become to high ...

happy mining!

is it OK to install a 5830 into a system that already has a lesser card in it, like a 4850?  and then use both to mine?  or would it be more cost-effective to just get 2 5830's?

SOORY SORRY I'm so stupid ....

I converted the wrong way ... the card cost 80 euros here ...

convert yourself in USD ...

my fault!

5850 Xtreme only cost 140bucks

Saying the 5830 is faster but uses more energy is like say that .50cal Desert Eagle is powerful but is loud.  You see, no one cares about the loud part.

Wow! Yes, sure, please tell me where they can be ordered for $50, preferably online?

You should buy loads of those and sell for all miners. I bet that reselling would give a lot more profit than mining

The 5830 can be found at about 50 usd here in france ...at the moment good bargain ...

So really the power consumption is much less important then the dollar cost/performance of the cards?

That makes sense, thanks for the reply. =)