BolehVPN
Well-known member
Guides are very scattered on this so I thought I'll document the process:
In this guide we will be using:
Download the latest binaries from Nicehash. Extract it to a folder of your choice.
Step 2: Create a configuration file for SGMiner
There are many custom configurations but I will keep it as basic as possible to make it work well. I am unsure if the other settings make a real difference.
Make a new file in the same folder as your sgminer and name it sgminer.conf
Replace the pools with your relevant details. Please do support P2Pool nodes instead of regular pools since they keep mining decentralized and the network protected from 51% attacks! Pick a node with low latency from this list of Dash P2Pool Nodes.
If you want more advanced configurations for the very best results, please look at this doc (Work in progress) that shows tested settings.
The main thing you want to try playing about is xintensity.
What is xintensity?
Intensity correlates with the size of work being submitted at any one time to a GPU. The higher the number the larger the size of work. Generally speaking finding an optimal value rather than the highest value is the correct approach as hash rate rises up to a point with higher intensities but above that, the device may be very slow to return responses, or produce errors
'xintensity' is a new setting that replaces the older 'intensity' setting.
Try xintensity 64 first and play around with the number to see which gives you the best performance with the lowest error rate. Or you can Google around for your card with the recommended xintensity setting.
Do not change the worksize setting.
Save sgminer.conf in the same folder as your sgminer.exe.
Step 3: Create a dummy binary and then replace it with Wolf0's binaries
All you have to do now is double click sgminer.exe and it should start hashing and show something like the screenshot below. This screenshot is from 2 x R9 290 with a total hash of about 13Mh/s
If you have a Crossfire setup, please do remember to disable Crossfire in your ATI Catalyst settings or else it'll go funky.
Thanks and hope this helps you!
In this guide we will be using:
- SGMiner
- Wolf0's binaries (these give a huge boost in hashing over the standard SGMiner)
- Windows
- Any one of the following AMD GPU families
- Cape Verde: 7730/7750/7770
- Pitcairn: 7850/7870/R9 270/R9 270X
- Tahiti: 7870XT/7950/7970/R9 280/R9 280X
- Hawaii: R9 290/R9 290X/R9 295X2
Download the latest binaries from Nicehash. Extract it to a folder of your choice.
Step 2: Create a configuration file for SGMiner
There are many custom configurations but I will keep it as basic as possible to make it work well. I am unsure if the other settings make a real difference.
Make a new file in the same folder as your sgminer and name it sgminer.conf
Code:
{
"pools" : [
{
"url" : "stratum+tcp://pooladdress:7903",
"user" : "walletaddress or username depending on pool",
"pass" : "x",
"algorithm": "darkcoin-mod"
}
],
"xintensity" : "64",
"worksize": "64"
}Replace the pools with your relevant details. Please do support P2Pool nodes instead of regular pools since they keep mining decentralized and the network protected from 51% attacks! Pick a node with low latency from this list of Dash P2Pool Nodes.
If you want more advanced configurations for the very best results, please look at this doc (Work in progress) that shows tested settings.
The main thing you want to try playing about is xintensity.
What is xintensity?
Intensity correlates with the size of work being submitted at any one time to a GPU. The higher the number the larger the size of work. Generally speaking finding an optimal value rather than the highest value is the correct approach as hash rate rises up to a point with higher intensities but above that, the device may be very slow to return responses, or produce errors
'xintensity' is a new setting that replaces the older 'intensity' setting.
This new setting allows for a much finer grained intensity setting and also opens up for dual
gpu threads on devices not previously able to. Note: make sure to use lower thread-concurrency
values when you increase cpu threads.
It is simply a shader multiplier, obviously based on the amount of shaders you got on a card,
this should allow the same value to scale with different card models.
6970 with 1536 shaders: xI:64 = 98304 threads
R9 280X with 2048 shaders: xI:64 = 131072 threads
R9 290 with 2560 shaders: xI:64 = 180224 threads
R9 290X with 2816 shaders: xI:64 = 163840 threads
6970 with 1536 shaders: xI:300 = 460800 threads
R9 280X with 2048 shaders: xI:300 = 614400 threads
R9 290 with 2560 shaders: xI:300 = 768000 threads
R9 290X with 2816 shaders: xI:300 = 844800 threads
It's now much easier to control thread intensity and it potentially allows for a uniform way
of setting the intensity on your system. I'm very interested in constructive feedback, as I
do not have access to a lot of different card models.
This change has been tested on 6970, R9 290, R9 290X - all with equal or better speeds than
regular intensity setting after a little tuning, but your mileage may vary. Don't fret it, if
this doesn't work for you, the regular intensity setting is still available.
gpu threads on devices not previously able to. Note: make sure to use lower thread-concurrency
values when you increase cpu threads.
It is simply a shader multiplier, obviously based on the amount of shaders you got on a card,
this should allow the same value to scale with different card models.
6970 with 1536 shaders: xI:64 = 98304 threads
R9 280X with 2048 shaders: xI:64 = 131072 threads
R9 290 with 2560 shaders: xI:64 = 180224 threads
R9 290X with 2816 shaders: xI:64 = 163840 threads
6970 with 1536 shaders: xI:300 = 460800 threads
R9 280X with 2048 shaders: xI:300 = 614400 threads
R9 290 with 2560 shaders: xI:300 = 768000 threads
R9 290X with 2816 shaders: xI:300 = 844800 threads
It's now much easier to control thread intensity and it potentially allows for a uniform way
of setting the intensity on your system. I'm very interested in constructive feedback, as I
do not have access to a lot of different card models.
This change has been tested on 6970, R9 290, R9 290X - all with equal or better speeds than
regular intensity setting after a little tuning, but your mileage may vary. Don't fret it, if
this doesn't work for you, the regular intensity setting is still available.
Try xintensity 64 first and play around with the number to see which gives you the best performance with the lowest error rate. Or you can Google around for your card with the recommended xintensity setting.
Do not change the worksize setting.
Save sgminer.conf in the same folder as your sgminer.exe.
Step 3: Create a dummy binary and then replace it with Wolf0's binaries
- Doubleclick sgminer.exe and it should run. It will create a .bin file which also shows the family of your card. For example for my R9 290, the file it created was darkcoin-modHawaiigw64l4ku0.bin. Take note of this file name!
- Download the corresponding binary from Wolf0's Reddit thread that fits your AMD GPU family.
- Rename the downloaded Wolf0's binary to the same name as the .bin file created by SGMiner by default. Overwrite the sgminer's .bin file with the Wolf0's binary.
All you have to do now is double click sgminer.exe and it should start hashing and show something like the screenshot below. This screenshot is from 2 x R9 290 with a total hash of about 13Mh/s
If you have a Crossfire setup, please do remember to disable Crossfire in your ATI Catalyst settings or else it'll go funky.
Thanks and hope this helps you!
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