CPU performance for Mining, how to know where to check?

I

imre

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 2, 2012
Messages
311
Hello everybody

How do u know if a CPU is good at mining before u buy it ?
I find this a challenge, where do u check this?
www.cpubenchmark.net is not a good indication of this i find, or maybe i dont know what to check?
I really want to know because i am told you can buy a really cheap CPU like an AMD operton or INTEL celeron and it can be as good good as an i3 or xx phenom.
Really bizzare, but i have tested this theory and it seems with the 5 computers i have tested, the CPUs on cpubenchmark show different results to real actual mining.
For example mining against AEON.... AMD X4 860K mines at 115 hashes/second and the i7 2600K mines at 210 hashes/second BUT on cpubenchmark it is not the same stats...
Another example, using an Intel E6300 u get 45 hashes/per second and this is almost half of the AMD x4 860k and they are years and years apart in manufacturing and even speed...
But why only almost 2.1 times faster, it just doesn't make sense to me.
Therefore , for me i need to know what or where to check this information and what to check for , can i use www.cpubenchmark.net as this gauge ?

I really want to know this more clearly.

Thanks
 
The AMD x4 860k has similar IPC to the Intel E6300.

The i7 2600K has considerably higher IPC versus the AMD x4 860k.

and they are years and years apart in manufacturing and even speed...
Click to expand...

It took AMD several years to match core2 IPC.
 
Last edited:
drescherjm said:
The AMD x4 860k has similar IPC to the Intel E6300.

The i7 2600K has considerably higher IPC versus the AMD x4 860k.


It took AMD a long time to match core2 IPC.
Click to expand...


Mining is a bit different. My undervolted fx8320 @3.4Gghz does 350h/s with XMR.

My 4.5 4790k does 220, at a higher power draw as well.
 
drescherjm said:
The AMD x4 860k has similar IPC to the Intel E6300.
The i7 2600K has considerably higher IPC versus the AMD x4 860k.
It took AMD several years to match core2 IPC.
Click to expand...

Completely disagree with the first line, the X4 860 flies past the E6300 Core 2 duo, u kidding right?
line 2 - true
line 3 - no idea.
 
Completely disagree with the first line, the X4 860 flies past the E6300 Core 2 duo, u kidding right?
Click to expand...

No I am not kidding. They have a similar IPC but this core2 has a lower frequency and 2 cores instead of 4.
 
thebufenator said:
Mining is a bit different. My undervolted fx8320 @3.4Gghz does 350h/s with XMR.
My 4.5 4790k does 220, at a higher power draw as well.
Click to expand...
Correct Mining is very different it seems, i was told there are really good cheap old CPUs that perform well for mining.
My question , and challenge and difficulty is to understand OTHER THAN the CPUBenchmark site, where do u see these stats.
I mean i can buy an old i3 and it might perform well or an old i7 ,i just need and wish to know where u can see this.
As i say when i referrence my AMD and the i7 i have on the CPUBenchmark site , it says X between the 2 right, one scores X1 passmark and two scored X2 passmark , and according to that it is almost 1.7-8 times faster for the i7...
BUT when i mine, the result is so different which is 1.9 -2 times faster.

So this is where i learn that CPUBenchmark is not the right site to use.
It can throw you off completely and u can buy the wrong cpu , u know what i mean?
 
imre said:
Completely disagree with the first line, the X4 860 flies past the E6300 Core 2 duo, u kidding right?
line 2 - true
line 3 - no idea.
Click to expand...

He is right about all of them? The 860 does fly past the E6300....Because it has 2 extra threads and a MUCH higher core clock, just about all the gain can be explained in core speed when talking about single thread, meaning an IPC of close to the same. As for time for AMD to match IPC, the E6300 was in 2009 and the 860 was 2014, so yes, it took a while.

imre said:
Mining crypto currencies yes, other than Bitcoin..... so alternative coins, yes.

:) man this is a challenge.
Click to expand...

It is a challenge, when the OP gives no information on what he is doing or the coin he is mining when they all have different programs and hash rates, some being totally pointless to use a CPU for, why you can't just say what coins you are mining I have no idea.
 
BlueFireIce said:
He is right about all of them? The 860 does fly past the E6300....Because it has 2 extra threads and a MUCH higher core clock, just about all the gain can be explained in core speed when talking about single thread, meaning an IPC of close to the same. As for time for AMD to match IPC, the E6300 was in 2009 and the 860 was 2014, so yes, it took a while.

It is a challenge, when the OP gives no information on what he is doing or the coin he is mining when they all have different programs and hash rates, some being totally pointless to use a CPU for, why you can't just say what coins you are mining I have no idea.
Click to expand...
Hi BlueFireIce thanks for your reply,

So i any coin really, i guess AEON would be fine i am not sure what algorithm it uses.
I guess i can say anything using a CPU, surely a better CPU would do better for all algos in my case...
I have seen the FX 6300 do well and somehow i feel sad i did not go for AM3, i maybe should have.
I went FM2 for bang for buck price perm which today the X4 860K still is.
Oh well, we all learn hey ?

So i am very fortunate though my friend gave me his setup which consists of an I7 2600K ....this is a good CPU miner... BUT it still only might fight the electricity.

GPU is the way to go so I would like to get an AMD GPU instead of an NVIDIA GPU as i am told AMD is a real monster when it come to computing.
Maybe you can confirm.

Also, unsure if i should rather get rid of all of my stuff and then get a new motherboard and cpu.

As for the CPU , what i am hashing, what algo....i suppose u can say anything like Cryptonight / Hodl / Lyre2re ....i know Crytonight is so so slow. I guess this is why GPU is better for this.
As far as i know there are some coins which are only minable by CPU like the AEON ... so on the X4 860 i get 125 hashes per second and the i7 2600k i get 215 hashes per second.

I really wish i knew of what CPUs are afordable and that can actually pump at mining, im sure there ust be but how u check this i do now know which is what i do want to know.

Thanks for reading
 
imre said:
Hi BlueFireIce thanks for your reply,

So i any coin really, i guess AEON would be fine i am not sure what algorithm it uses.
I guess i can say anything using a CPU, surely a better CPU would do better for all algos in my case...
I have seen the FX 6300 do well and somehow i feel sad i did not go for AM3, i maybe should have.
I went FM2 for bang for buck price perm which today the X4 860K still is.
Oh well, we all learn hey ?

So i am very fortunate though my friend gave me his setup which consists of an I7 2600K ....this is a good CPU miner... BUT it still only might fight the electricity.

GPU is the way to go so I would like to get an AMD GPU instead of an NVIDIA GPU as i am told AMD is a real monster when it come to computing.
Maybe you can confirm.

Also, unsure if i should rather get rid of all of my stuff and then get a new motherboard and cpu.

As for the CPU , what i am hashing, what algo....i suppose u can say anything like Cryptonight / Hodl / Lyre2re ....i know Crytonight is so so slow. I guess this is why GPU is better for this.
As far as i know there are some coins which are only minable by CPU like the AEON ... so on the X4 860 i get 125 hashes per second and the i7 2600k i get 215 hashes per second.

I really wish i knew of what CPUs are afordable and that can actually pump at mining, im sure there ust be but how u check this i do now know which is what i do want to know.

Thanks for reading
Click to expand...

Like I said, you would probably get better and more answers in the mining forum here, as people who are more interested will probably view it more. However, there are a number of sites online that list hash rates for CPUs/GPUs, they don't often list ALL CPU/GPU, but rather the top 10-20 that are best bang for the buck, this changes based on if you are paying for electricity. If the coin can be mined with a GPU, I would not even bother with CPUs, the GPUs are going to make it unprofitable to mine with a CPU, the CPU only supported coins might work for you, depending on their price as you could still end up in the hole if the coin is not valued enough. There are quite a number of online calculators that you put in your electricity cost, hash rate and coin and it tells you how much a day/week/month/year you can make or if you will lose money on it.

Best thing to do is look at those sites that review gear for this, and look at their suggested rigs, many have searched high and low for the cheapest parts that use the least electricity with the highest hash rate. Assuming you are building only for mining and no other use.

AEON uses cryptonote and from some quick searching is not CPU only, though GPU miners seem to be few, a number of results put some rather old AMD GPUs at 3-400 and newer cards with custom BIOS are seeing 800+. This gets more complex with HW choices, as you start looking at GPUs that the custom BIOS will work on, makes the GPU useless for most else, but can really up the hashrate of the cards.

Seems like you have ALOT more research to do before jumping in on a coin, one set of HW might not be good for another, so swapping might or might not be an option down the road.
 
BlueFireIce said:
Like I said, you would probably get better and more answers in the mining forum here, as people who are more interested will probably view it more. However, there are a number of sites online that list hash rates for CPUs/GPUs, they don't often list ALL CPU/GPU, but rather the top 10-20 that are best bang for the buck, this changes based on if you are paying for electricity. If the coin can be mined with a GPU, I would not even bother with CPUs, the GPUs are going to make it unprofitable to mine with a CPU, the CPU only supported coins might work for you, depending on their price as you could still end up in the hole if the coin is not valued enough. There are quite a number of online calculators that you put in your electricity cost, hash rate and coin and it tells you how much a day/week/month/year you can make or if you will lose money on it.

Best thing to do is look at those sites that review gear for this, and look at their suggested rigs, many have searched high and low for the cheapest parts that use the least electricity with the highest hash rate. Assuming you are building only for mining and no other use.

AEON uses cryptonote and from some quick searching is not CPU only, though GPU miners seem to be few, a number of results put some rather old AMD GPUs at 3-400 and newer cards with custom BIOS are seeing 800+. This gets more complex with HW choices, as you start looking at GPUs that the custom BIOS will work on, makes the GPU useless for most else, but can really up the hashrate of the cards.

Seems like you have ALOT more research to do before jumping in on a coin, one set of HW might not be good for another, so swapping might or might not be an option down the road.
Click to expand...


Agreed, mining is a gamble in my opinions for many people as i do not think many know what it involves, though many that have have good hardware be it from well off family or just by mistake and they dont realize it, it is easier for them to just open the a gui or run a prepared batch file in windows and make some tom everyday.
Knowledge is still required though if you dont have money to play with in terms of what you purchase.
I would like to get in to it so for me i know you cant go on the cheap and expect miracles.
I have spend a good sum on a decent power supply and already have mind set on either of the AMD RX series cards 470/480, i just dont see that a 480 is way way much better than a 470.... if for example mining Monero/XMR 22 megahashes by default on RX470 and 25 on an RX480.
Not sure if it is such a super difference.
Whats your opinion on the memory of the card 4GB versus 8 GB ? so say i took the RX480 ....
Maybe at a later stage i can get a Fury or as you say a GTX variant for usage on another system....ELSE just buy another RX480/RX470 if i get any of them cheap why not,
I do believe that RX470/RX480 can run together in Windows 7/10.

As for CPU , i am surprised about the GPU mining being an option for AEON.
Not seen it yet , but anyways i will research.

But yah for CPU mining its not a great road to pursue.
 
Depending on algorithm used really says what GPU, but most I have seen suggest the 470 to be the best for faster return on investment, in most cases, though not all, the 470 and 480 are very close, 4GB vs 8GB seems to be debated, lots of people suggested 8GB as future proofing, but from what I have seen, no RAM wall has been hit yet and no performance gains seen, most gains are seen in RAM speed and not related to size. The 470/480 seem to be the "safe" bets, as they do pretty good with most GPU supported algorithms. Little information out there about the newer NV cards at all. I would suggest sticking with all one type and even brand of card, many of the GPU miners seem to be pretty picky when it comes to stability, so I would not want to mix things up to much to be on the safe side.

As for GPU mining of AEON, it states so on many pages that it is a "CPU/GPU mining, ASIC-resistant" coin.
 
thebufenator said:
Mining is a bit different. My undervolted fx8320 @3.4Gghz does 350h/s with XMR.

My 4.5 4790k does 220, at a higher power draw as well.
Click to expand...

I have an fx8320 as well, stuck a 245H/s using xmr-stak-cpu. Are you on Windows? Could you share your configuration file?
 
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