AMD Radeon RX 480 and Mining

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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I have seen some saying "yes" to RX 480 and mining while others have been in the "no" camp. From the performance side of things, it looks that the RX 480 a bit lackluster compared to the R9 390X, but mining is not all about performance. Any miner worth his salt (pun intended), is going to be aware of power efficiency.

At the average cost of power in the US, around 10 cents per kilowatt-hour as of May 2016, you could expect to pay $440 in electricity per month for a 1 GH/s mining rig using 480s, where a similar setup using 390Xs would cost around $842 per month (this figure excludes the power draw of the other components in the system, but all things equal that’s still a $400 a month difference per GHash).
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That's a lot of cash. But we still hope you live where it is cold. And this efficiency could very well be the reason for some stock "shortages" we are still seeing in the RX 480 arena.
 
Electricity isn't that expensive anywhere in the U.S. I ran 5x R9 290s 24x7 on Dogecoin back in 2014 and my power bill went up maybe $20 in a month.
 
I don't know where you live but I certainly pay more than 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.
 
techguymaxc said:
Electricity isn't that expensive anywhere in the U.S. I ran 5x R9 290s 24x7 on Dogecoin back in 2014 and my power bill went up maybe $20 in a month.
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You're shitting me, right? In my small town, if you use less than 1000kWh per month that, you pay 14 cents each, if you use more than that, you pay even more. Most of California is worse, as are large parts of the country. 10 cents each is a pipe dream for a lot of people.

You'd have to be paying something like a cent per kWh to have a 24/7 mining rig with five 250w GPUs and cost $20 to power them.
 
There's a misunderstanding here that requires further reading via the link. When Kyle said "you'll pay this much per month for electricity for a GHash farm" I thought his comments implied a reasonable number of graphics cards. You know, like maybe 5-10. Turns out it's closer to 40. Who has enough amperage on a given circuit (or even multiple circuits) to supply that much power at home, let alone adequate cooling? Most of my circuits are 15A, with a couple 20s for utilities.

So electricity sure costs .10 kWh (or whatever it is in your area) but the example provided is an unrealistic scenario for any home user (i.e., 99% of the reading audience).
 
I didn't realize that GPU mining was still a big thing. I thought all the ASICs and whatnot had killed that off.
 
Ultima99 said:
I didn't realize that GPU mining was still a big thing. I thought all the ASICs and whatnot had killed that off.
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This is Ethereum, something that probably should have been mentioned.
 
techguymaxc said:
There's a misunderstanding here that requires further reading via the link. When Kyle said "you'll pay this much per month for electricity for a GHash farm" I thought his comments implied a reasonable number of graphics cards. You know, like maybe 5-10. Turns out it's closer to 40. Who has enough amperage on a given circuit (or even multiple circuits) to supply that much power at home, let alone adequate cooling? Most of my circuits are 15A, with a couple 20s for utilities.

So electricity sure costs .10 kWh (or whatever it is in your area) but the example provided is an unrealistic scenario for any home user (i.e., 99% of the reading audience).
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I've got 24 cards mining in the cold room off an L6-30 at 240V... 17-18A. Not sure I could hit 40 cards on that circuit, and I don't intend to try (already have cooling issues in there), but I could probably get close. Everything is downvolted and downclocked for best power efficiency.

pendragon1 said:
dirty ass cryptominers taking all the 480s...
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Don't look at me, I don't have any. Can't find 'em to buy 'em. Pretty sure other miners are causing the stock shortage though.

When I buy anything these days it's a used 290.
 
The RX 470 should offer slightly less mining capability for lower cost and power draw. I hope/suspect that miners my go after that card when it launches, freeing up the 480s.
 
I'm using a 380 for ethereum/sia coin mining atm, and wouldn't mind getting a 480x to replace it. Just built the system in my sig this past weekend, and bitcoin mining (asic) and ethereum (380) paid for the i7 6900.
 
I pay .10 kwh in Plano (TXU) and it goes down (not UP, down) the more I use. If I break 1200 kwh (I think, I'd have to look at my TXU bill) it goes down to .07 then .05 etc. I average about 1500-2000 kwh just because AC in Texas and swimming pool pump. I don't leave computers on 24x7, but if I did and they were busy mining, I wouldn't be shocked if my bill went up 50+ bucks a month.
 
Burticus said:
I pay .10 kwh in Plano (TXU) and it goes down (not UP, down) the more I use. If I break 1200 kwh (I think, I'd have to look at my TXU bill) it goes down to .07 then .05 etc. I average about 1500-2000 kwh just because AC in Texas and swimming pool pump. I don't leave computers on 24x7, but if I did and they were busy mining, I wouldn't be shocked if my bill went up 50+ bucks a month.
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Fellow DFW resident here too -- I got out of the mining game years ago, but I was used to paying between 7 and 8 cents per kwh average with Pennywise Power. Currently on a 2 year contract with Beyond Power and I pay exactly 10 cents (i locked it in when rates where higher across the board)

Right now things are dirt cheap - many deals around for 7 and 8 cents per kwh with very favorable terms. I have one more year left on my contract, can't wait to re-up at a better rate as about a month ago I got my 2017 volt and suck down about 15kwh a day just for my car. :-p

+1 on the AC bill being nuts -- its going to be 100+ F basically for the next month solid, my AC has already been working overtime to keep my ass cool. Not looking forward to next months bill.
 
So....does the yield from all this mining offset, somehow, the real world cost? Me personally, If I were paying $400 per month on mining. I'd be needing to make at least $550 in real world turn around, to go through with it.

And that's if it even works like that. Are miners even doing that sort of thing? or is it all for some other form of payout?
 
There some questionable reasoning in this piece. Cooling and noise , these are pretty trivial to begin with you don't have your mining rig setup where it bothers you or where they overheat to begin with and Wattman provides enough tweaking where you can set the fan and the amount of Volt needed for operating at efficiency. I can't imagine that you would need an AIB card to make this work....

I ran into this Tutorial: Ethereum Mining Rig Part 1 (choosing the parts)

[UPDATED] Monday, May 09, 2016

  1. I decided to change GPU and instead of R9 380x ill choose R7 370 (after more researches i found out that this are the best performance per hash/cost/power out there), to more specific ill buy the following ASUS STRIX R9 370 (http://**************/1T0okL8) (1175core & 1600mem put out).
  2. With this new GPUs the consumption for 6x R7 370 will be somewhere between 860w an 900w so basically the 1600w PSU is too much and i had to look for a new one, i choose Corsair RM1000 80+ Gold Certificate 1000w (http://**************/24FTVfX)
  3. The frame: ill switch the wood with aluminum
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It shows that not always the best performing card is the best choice for "mining".
 
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Hey electricity is free if you still live with your parents. Which I assume applies to 60% of the [H] community.
 
Can confirm, it's ETH mining. I was asked by my buddy with a couple storefronts to try and source 480s, his dude needed as many as possible... And already had 200! That was a month ish ago. Its hard enough to find 1070s for Pete's sake, these 480s are non existent.
 
These RX 480's are truly excellent for efficient mining. By using Wattman, setting core clock down by 15-20%, and increasing Memory Clock to ~2200 MHz will yield ~25 MH/s at a nice 110-120 watt draw.
 
daglesj said:
Plenty in the UK for sale but power is more expensive here.
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I guess we should import them from places where electricity is expensive!
I also venture a guess that the 370 will also be replaced by rx460 once it comes out as it has the same number of streaming processors, 1024 and a really low tdp.
 
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I was under the impression that the 1070 and 1060 were the new mining kings on a hash/watt rate.
 
Stoly said:
I was under the impression that the 1070 and 1060 were the new mining kings on a hash/watt rate.
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From what I gather:

RX 480
-25MH/s
-$199 (miners are targeting the 4GB model, hence why it's perpetually out of stock)
-150W (4GB model consumes slightly less power than 8GB)

GTX 1060
-20MH/s
-$249 (cheapest available)
-120W

In terms of perf/W, they are equal at stock. But the 480 is pushed harder out of box. By undervolting and underclocking it, miners are getting marginally reduced performance, but greatly reduced power draw, making it the current efficiency king. Also, it's up to $50 cheaper at retail. This is why miners go for this card. Note: Based on some light Googling. I am admittedly ignorant of this subject.
 
Best Buy finally has the 8GB XFX Ref model in stock on their website, I just bought some. I think it must have been added within the last few hours, I am continuously checking the website and showing up on Wednesday's in store. No 1080's, 1070's or 1060's in stock at pretty much any location either. I cannot believe how successful this launch of all new GPU's has been. Good news I suppose!
 
collegeboy69us said:
+1 on the AC bill being nuts -- its going to be 100+ F basically for the next month solid, my AC has already been working overtime to keep my ass cool. Not looking forward to next months bill.
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Ok so this is totally off topic.

Yeah August is always fun. I got a whole new 20 seer 8 ton HVAC this year with variable speed etc to replace a 20 year old unit. It cost a fortune and it's weird having it "blow" all the time, it really freaked me out at first. You're like... OMG the AC is running constantly, turn it down! Then the bills came. (checking TXU website) so July 2016 was 2239 kwh $176... last year July 2015 it was 3069 kwh $400. Same pool pump and normal household electric usage, the difference is the new HVAC. A 47 year old, 3000 sq ft (single story) house in the DFW area is not easy to keep cool. The pool pump has GOT to be be $75-100 of that bill, it runs 10 hours a day in the summer.

I'm currently racking up some massive debt remodeling my house, but the energy saving stuff (aside from the HVAC which I kind of didn't have a choice, they wanted a ton to fix a gas leak inside the heater component) has to wait.... I want all new windows, massive attic insulation, new variable speed pool equpment etc etc. But unless I win the lottery none of that is happening in the next 5 years. I feel like the pool equipment will happen in the next couple years (around $4-5k) as it's 20 years old and the pump has been fixed 2 or 3 times. But other than that, my next major investment will be a whole new fence (mine is almost falling down, I pray it lasts another 5 years)... that's probably going to be $25k.

Never, ever, EVER buy a house with a pool. Unless it's mine that I'm selling! :) :) :)

So yeah another $40 a month to power a mining rig, who cares....
 
Plenty of 1080s etc in stock in the UK. Looking at around $825 though.
 
Mugato said:
Best Buy finally has the 8GB XFX Ref model in stock on their website, I just bought some. I think it must have been added within the last few hours, I am continuously checking the website and showing up on Wednesday's in store. No 1080's, 1070's or 1060's in stock at pretty much any location either. I cannot believe how successful this launch of all new GPU's has been. Good news I suppose!
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Update, I had ordered overnight, called them because it was in "Preparing" for like 24 hours. I got THE most moronic "technician", this lady was so discombobulated it wasn't funny, in point of fact it was probably one of the most frustrating calls I've been on. Anyway, after her searching through 50 modules and saying the card was and was not available, a manager finally helped her out and...my browser updated with the shipping information. 30 minutes of her hmming and hawing and it just happened. End of story, received a 50$ credit, and free shipping. Card is shipped and will still be here tomorrow. I guess they had to scour tons of stores to finally find one, man these are rare!
 
Ok...I just checked, the credit is now $100...not complaining! Please free overnight shipping. Just keep looking for 480's on BB website and give em a call if you are unhappy with the service!
 
Mugato said:
Ok...I just checked, the credit is now $100...not complaining! Please free overnight shipping. Just keep looking for 480's on BB website and give em a call if you are unhappy with the service!
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Woah, nice luck there!
 
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