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Topic: Which card for mining? (Read 1858 times)

sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
December 04, 2011, 12:30:51 PM
#29
I have no problem with ATI drivers...

Except that nasty 100% CPU bug right ?
I have a single card and no bug.

Well that explains it then Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1008
If you want to walk on water, get out of the boat
December 04, 2011, 12:11:07 PM
#28
I have no problem with ATI drivers...

Except that nasty 100% CPU bug right ?
I have a single card and no bug.
legendary
Activity: 980
Merit: 1000
December 03, 2011, 08:35:51 PM
#27
I picked up a used 5830 on Amazon for just under $100 and it's fantastic, I'd love to pick up a few of these https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/wts-5830s-70-each-free-shipping-52506 but have to wait until I can post there lol
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
December 03, 2011, 05:26:44 PM
#26
Both teams have shit drivers. They are both hit and miss. If un/reinstalled properly, both work well for their *intended* purposes. Mining is not the intended purpose, and setting CPU affinity fixes this...well, mostly!

Tell that to the single core CPUs Tongue
legendary
Activity: 2408
Merit: 1009
Legen -wait for it- dary
December 03, 2011, 05:23:12 PM
#25
Both teams have shit drivers. They are both hit and miss. If un/reinstalled properly, both work well for their *intended* purposes. Mining is not the intended purpose, and setting CPU affinity fixes this...well, mostly!
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
December 03, 2011, 04:49:43 PM
#24
I have no problem with ATI drivers...

Except that nasty 100% CPU bug right ?
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1008
If you want to walk on water, get out of the boat
December 03, 2011, 02:56:13 PM
#23
I have no problem with ATI drivers...
hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 500
December 03, 2011, 11:29:12 AM
#22
I still try to get the 5XXX series as they are now far cheaper compared to the 6xxx.  I do have the 6xxx but normally for games and only mining in the spare time.
full member
Activity: 186
Merit: 100
December 03, 2011, 11:14:47 AM
#21
I use a HD6850 for hashcracking, definately ATI for speeds and performace, but their drivers are damn awful!
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1008
If you want to walk on water, get out of the boat
December 02, 2011, 03:14:05 PM
#20
It's a hardware thing, no matter what code or language you use.
newbie
Activity: 5
Merit: 0
December 02, 2011, 02:55:03 PM
#19
That's funny, I found out that my ATI cards were performing 3-4x better than my Nvidia equivalent cards...

Maybe I'm not using good engines ? I even used CUDA, which was supposed to help Nvidia cards..
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
December 02, 2011, 02:05:46 PM
#18
NVidia makes fine cards but the architecture they use is complete poop (a technical term) for mining.

So technical Smiley
A more technical explanation would be a combination of two factors:
1) ATI and nVidia chose different tradeoffs on how to get good graphics performance; ATI maximizes the number of shaders on the chip, whereas nVidia prefers more complex shaders running at higher clock speeds. For 3D rendering, which one of these is better depends on the application... but for the kind of work that is done by the SHA-256 algorithm, having 3x as many shaders is better than each shader running 2x as fast.
2) ATI's SPU architecture happens to have a "rotate right" opcode, whereas in nVidia's SPU architecture it takes 2-3 operations to do. SHA-256 uses bit rotation a lot.

Correct.

ATI Shaders > nVidia CUDA Cores Smiley (for mining)
legendary
Activity: 960
Merit: 1028
Spurn wild goose chases. Seek that which endures.
December 02, 2011, 02:01:47 PM
#17
NVidia makes fine cards but the architecture they use is complete poop (a technical term) for mining.

So technical Smiley
A more technical explanation would be a combination of two factors:
1) ATI and nVidia chose different tradeoffs on how to get good graphics performance; ATI maximizes the number of shaders on the chip, whereas nVidia prefers more complex shaders running at higher clock speeds. For 3D rendering, which one of these is better depends on the application... but for the kind of work that is done by the SHA-256 algorithm, having 3x as many shaders is better than each shader running 2x as fast.
2) ATI's SPU architecture happens to have a "rotate right" opcode, whereas in nVidia's SPU architecture it takes 2-3 operations to do. SHA-256 uses bit rotation a lot.
full member
Activity: 131
Merit: 100
December 02, 2011, 01:54:08 PM
#16
Pick some 5830s up from shakaru.  Buy with trust Smiley

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/wts-5830s-70-each-free-shipping-52506
Nice! I'll be sure to show whoever I ask that link. I hope he doesn't run out anytime soon.
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
December 02, 2011, 01:50:04 PM
#15
Pick some 5830s up from shakaru.  Buy with trust Smiley

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/wts-5830s-70-each-free-shipping-52506
full member
Activity: 131
Merit: 100
December 02, 2011, 01:48:30 PM
#14
Thanks, guys! I guess it looks like I was right after all, and I don't want one that costs too much so I'll go with the 5830.
newbie
Activity: 33
Merit: 0
December 02, 2011, 12:53:37 PM
#13
Quote
nVidea has better quality cards
Uhm no.
I'd like to point the their cards don't need hearing protection to use..

Just take a little good search as I can't seem to find the video I was looking for: http://www.google.com/search?q=loud+ati+card

Anyways, wasn't my idea to start a war on this topic. It's about which card is better for mining. Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1008
If you want to walk on water, get out of the boat
December 02, 2011, 09:26:21 AM
#12
Quote
nVidea has better quality cards
Uhm no.
newbie
Activity: 33
Merit: 0
December 01, 2011, 10:42:49 PM
#11
NVidia makes fine cards but the architecture they use is complete poop (a technical term) for mining.

So technical Smiley
donator
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1079
Gerald Davis
December 01, 2011, 10:35:05 PM
#10
If you find a 5000 series card generally they are cheaper and better for mining.

If you are in the US you pretty much can't beat the 5970 on MH/W or MH/$ or MH/slot.  Watch newegg.  Their normal price is $500 but on Black Friday they dropped it to $300.  They might have another sale.  If you snag a 5970 for $300 it is pretty much unbeatable.
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