How to overclock Nvidia and AMD GPU mining: Windows 10 | Overclock settings

How to overclock Nvidia and AMD GPU mining: Windows 10 | Overclock settings – 2021 is the year of massive popularity of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin has already taken the 58 thousand level, and smaller coins do not sleep and also set new historical highs. At the same time, the popularity of mining has grown significantly.

For example, if at the end of November 11 thousand people mined cryptocurrency on the 2Miners mining pool, now there are more than 40 thousand of them. If you’ve also decided to join coin mining and do it with Nvidia graphics cards, this article is for you. We will tell you how to overclock video cards to increase profits and how to do it correctly for different algorithms.

The material was prepared by Denis Trushin, head of the advanced technologies development department of ADM-TECHNO LLC.

Miners protect the cryptocurrency from possible attacks or canceled transactions. The more miners, the better the protection of the network and the more difficult it is to carry out an attack on it, up to the impossibility of an attack due to the lack of the necessary amount of necessary mining equipment in the world (the attacker cannot find such a number of video cards for rent that will provide 50% of the hashrate of the attacked network) …

For this work, any cryptocurrency network of the PoW (Proof of Work) system pays the miners with their coins. They come from the issuance of new coins and transaction fees. When miners find a new block in the cryptocurrency network, they receive a reward for this – a pole commission from transfers that were included in this block.

What cryptocurrencies to mine in 2021?

At the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, Ethereum was the most profitable coin in mining. It is also Ethereum, ETH, or simply “ether” in miner’s jargon.

To efficiently mine ether in 2021, you need a card with 5 GB or more video memory on a video card.

Nvidia graphics card shortage

Those video cards that can no longer mine Ether are relatively profitable to mine Ravencoin RVN, but more on that below.

Setting up overclocking of Nvidia and AMD video cards for Ethereum mining

If you do not want to delve into the intricacies of the settings, but simply look for the cherished values, then they are given below in our tables. But we advise you to read the entire article and understand how overclocking and tuning video cards for mining works. After reading, you will be able to fine tune your cards and get higher hash rates and less electricity consumption, which, of course, will lead to higher profits. But if you need to “quickly”, “immediately”, “too lazy to delve into” – then use our tables. Install MSI Afterburner to configure overclocking for video cards if you don’t already have it.

We found out the ideal overclocking settings for Nvidia and AMD video cards and collected them in a table. The columns show the device models, core frequency, memory frequency, power limit and expected hash rate. First, here are the data for Nvidia video cards.

Overclocking Nvidia graphics cards

And AMD data.

Overclocking AMD graphics cards

We decided to delve into the process of overclocking and setting up video cards for mining, then read on.

How to overclock your graphics card when mining Ethereum

An important point: when overclocking and testing, always monitor the temperature of the video card. When safely mining Ether, the core temperature should not rise above 65 degrees. Higher temperatures are at your own risk.

The basic setup of video cards for Ether is quite simple.

1. first of all, we determine at what frequency the memory will work as much as possible , with a step of +25 MHz. We find the one on which the video card driver starts to fly – that is, reboot – and retreat from it 50 MHz down into the stable region.
2. we find the core voltage at which we are satisfied with the power consumption of the card. The lower the voltage, the less the card “eats”, but the lower the maximum speed. The dependence is disproportionate, because usually when consumption decreases by 20-25% of the nominal, the speed drops by only 10-15%.
3. we find the maximum stable core frequency (also at +25 MHz) and retreat from it down to 25 MHz.

A finer tweak will give us 2-6% extra speed or 2-4% energy efficiency. We will not dwell on it in detail in this article.

The above instruction works well for AMD graphics cards. For Nvidia video cards, setting up highly efficient mining is a little more complicated, so let’s dwell on each series separately.

Mining with Nvidia on Windows (P2 and P0 modes)

An important point when working with Nvidia cards running Windows is that initially the memory of video cards at standard frequencies allows a small number of errors that are not critical when rendering images in games, but can be critical for accurate calculations. Therefore, for the operation of CUDA systems, Nvidia engineers have provided a special mode with a reduced memory frequency (P2).

The transition of cards to this mode is carried out automatically, however, miners often want to get the maximum hash rate and seriously increase the memory frequency to values ​​of +700, +1000 and even higher. As a result, two factors are added – a decrease in the frequency by the P2 mode and an increase by the miner. At the same time, the miner works successfully, but when the miner is turned off, the P2 mode switches back, and the plus frequency set manually remains. This leads to frequencies that the cards cannot hold and, as a result, the driver crashes when the mining program is turned off or restarted.

Miner Nvidia

Important: changing P2 to P0 does not increase the maximum speed, but only increases stability when turning on / off / restarting the miner.

It is most correct to disable P2 mode for CUDA – this is done through the nvInspector utility, or rather its nvProfileInspector subroutine. We find the CUDA parameter – Force P2 state, turn it off, then start the miner.

nvProfile

Another important point: the Force P2 state parameter is restored when any new Nvidia card is installed into the system, do not forget to double-check it.

Ethereum mining on Pascal architecture (GTX 10xx series)

Unfortunately, the 10xx series cards were not developed specifically for mining, so at the end of 2020, the 10xx series miners faced a slight drop in speed when mining Ether. To maintain speed, power consumption had to be raised, which significantly changed energy efficiency.

Important: on the Nvidia GTX 10xx series, with each subsequent era of Ethereum – and they change every four days – the power consumption of video cards will increase slightly up to the maximum power limit of the video card. In approximately 1.5 years, the cards will start to run into the power limit.

Cryptocurrency miner

Please note that Nvidia decided not to update the Nvidia driver for 10xx cards for Windows 7, so this system cannot efficiently mine Ether on 10xx video cards (16xx, 20xx and 30xx video cards no longer have this problem). To mine Ether on the 10xx series, use Windows 10 or Rave OS.

Overclocking Ethereum Mining with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB), 1070 and 1070ti

These cards work on the GDDR5 memory type, the overclocking algorithm is the same for them.

1. We turn on the miner without overclocking. We gradually raise the memory frequency (+50 MHz). We find the frequency at which the video card driver starts to fly off – reboot – we retreat from it 50 MHz down to the stable region.
2. we begin to decrease PL a little – somewhere by 1%. The video card will start to consume less, and the temperature will decrease, at some point the speed will begin to drop. Stop at a 5% drop in speed.
3. we raise the core frequency a little bit, find the frequency at which the video card driver starts to fly, and retreat from it 25 MHz down to the stable region.

The speed lost at point # 2 should return completely. If you have not returned completely, you can slightly increase the Power Limit, but this will also increase the power consumption of the card.

Mining Ethereum with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 and 1080ti

1080 and 1080ti cards have high-timing fast GDDR5X memory, which initially significantly outperformed GDDR5 memory during Ether mining. However, the ETHlargementPill-r2 pill was released quite quickly, reducing timings for this type of memory, after which they became very effective for Ether.

The tablet makes the memory work less stable and reduces the possible maximum overclocking. For many early revisions of GTX 1080 (Rev. A) cards, the tablet is unstable even at the nominal frequencies, therefore, for the stable operation of such cards, the video card memory frequency has to be lowered .

Cryptocurrency miner

Even if lowering the frequency did not lead to stable operation of the miner program, then for such cards, instead of a tablet, you must use a soft analogue. This is the -mt parameter in the t-rex miner, which varies from 0 to 6. The higher this parameter, the more aggressive the decrease in timings – but also the lower the stability.

After successful activation of the tablet or selection of the -mt parameter, the overclocking of these cards is similar to the cards 1060 and 1070.

Mining Ethereum on Nvidia GeForce GTX 16xx and 20xx

These cards do not have problems with placing large amounts of data in the video card memory and at the same time have very powerful cores.

The overclocking algorithm is very simple:

1. Reduce PL to a minimum.
2. We gradually raise the memory frequency (+50 MHz). We find the frequency at which the video card driver starts to fly and retreat from it 50 MHz down to the stable region.
3. We check that an increase in PL does not lead to an increase in the hash rate.

If an increase in PL increases the hash rate – this is relevant for some 2080 and 2080ti models – then we find the hash rate to which the PL can be raised. Then we take the following steps.

• We begin to reduce PL a little – somewhere by 1%. As a result, the video card will start to consume less, and the temperature will decrease, and at some point the speed will begin to drop. Stop at a 5% drop in speed.
• We raise the core frequency a little bit, find the frequency at which the video card driver starts to fly and retreat 25 MHz from it down to the stable region.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070

The speed lost at point # 2 should return completely. If you have not returned completely, you can slightly increase the Power Limit, but this will also increase the power consumption of the card.

Mining ETH on Nvidia GeForce RTX 30xx

The cards 3070, 3080 and 3090 are the most capricious of all NVIDIA cards in terms of overclocking, we will dwell on them in detail. Let’s note right away that the overclocking of the 3060 and 3060ti is similar to the overclocking of the 20xx series.

Efirium Mining on Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070

When overclocking the 3070 – like all older cards of the 30xx series – it is important to feel what the card lacks. The card consistently gives 60 MH / s, while overclocking the memory, you can stably get 63-64 MH / s. The card has a very powerful core, which is not particularly necessary for ether mining: 700-800 MHz is enough for it. Therefore, the gluttony of the card can and should be limited.

Overclocking the 3070 is not difficult: first of all, we overclock the memory to a stable maximum, then we lower PL.

1. We gradually raise the memory frequency (+50 MHz). We find the frequency at which the video card driver starts to fly, retreat from it 50 MHz down to the stable region.
   The final effective memory frequency according to MSI Afterburner should be 8100-8400 MHz.
2. We begin to reduce PL by 1%, the video card will start to consume less and the temperature will decrease. At some point, the speed will begin to drop, we return it back to plus a couple of percent.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070

В какой-то момент при понижении PL частота ядра может начать "прыгать", периодически сваливаясь ниже 1 ГГц и через секунду возвращаясь обратно. Это значит, что карте не хватает лимита мощности.

This effect is called trotting (from the English verb to slow down). An important point: at the same time, t-rex miners and others can show high speed, but the effective speed will be 4-5 MH / s lower than the displayed one.

When the card heats up and the fans are overclocked, the PL should be slightly increased, since the fan consumption of Nvidia cards is also taken into account in PL, and the card's core may start running out of the remaining power. This is due to the fact that the fan consumption of Nvidia cards is also taken into account in PL, and the card core may start running out of the remaining power.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070

Conclusion: Do not restart PL. Normal consumption of 3070 when mining is 130 watts at 63 MH / s speed.

The best results can be obtained on Windows 7 by fixing the core voltage in the region of 713-725 mV and lowering the core frequency. With good memory, we get 121 W consumption at 64.6 MH / s speed. This is a t-rex excluding devfee.

If you use the fixation of the mode in the nvidia inspector (command -forcePState: 0,0), then you can get 61 MH / s at 107 W or 570 MH / s at 1 kW of power. But in this case, after a reboot, you will first have to restore the operating mode, and only then turn on mining, otherwise the driver will cyclically fly. In this case, saving 10 W from the card is not practical.

Efirium Mining on Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080

When overclocking the 3080 – like all older cards of the 30xx series – it is important to feel what the card lacks. The 3080 card has a very powerful core, which is redundant for ether mining, so first of all we limit the core as much as possible – without throttling – and only then we overclock the memory.

Windows overclocking.

1. We reduce the memory frequency to a minimum. Using MSI Afterburner, we fix the core voltage at 750 mV, save, check the memory frequency. It should be around 7500 MHz.
2. We begin to record the voltages at the lowest points (743 mV – 725 mV – 713 mV – 700 mV). We are looking for the point at which the memory frequency drops to 5000 MHz (P3 mode), we retreat from it 1 step higher. We make sure that the memory frequency is again higher than 7000 MHz.
3. Reduce the kernel to a minimum. We turn on mining.
4. We gradually raise the memory frequency by +50 MHz.

Then there are two options.

1. Or we find the frequency at which the video card driver starts to fly, we retreat from it 50 MHz down to the stable region. After that, you can add the kernel a little and check that the speed does not increase from this. If the speed increases, then we add the core, the main thing is not to reach the next option.
2. We find the point after which the core starts to “jump” and fall below 1 GHz. Alas, we have a weakly powered card, we stop at this point and are content with the current speed above 90 MH / s.

Mining ether on Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090

The overclocking principle of the 3090 is no different from the 3080, you just have to assume from the beginning that the 3090 behaves like an overclocked 3080 with poor power supply.

Overclocking AMD RX 5xxx and 6xxx video cards for mining

Let’s separately discuss the overclocking of new and very effective series from AMD. Unlike NVidia cards, these cards do not have special modes or “smart modes” of operation, which are hard-coded in the video card BIOS.

Therefore, using Windows in no way helps to achieve better results in terms of speed, but on the contrary, it reduces stability. Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming majority of “red” miners (based on the color of the AMD logo) prefer more stable off-the-shelf Linux systems, of which Rave OS is a good example.

Using such systems, overclocking cards is very simple:

1. Overclocking memory at 900+ MHz
2. set the core to 1350-1375 MHz
3. carefully, in 5 steps, lower the core voltage until it is stable (boldly up to 800 mV, lower depending on the card)
4. we reduce the voltage of the memory (up to 800 safely, below we check the stability)

As a result, we get the maximum hash rate with the minimum power consumption.

Here is the AMD RX 5600 overclocking recommendation from the user of this graphics card.

The core is from 1100 to 1200, from memory – from 950 – we lower it until the card starts to work stably, that is, up to 900 with a step of 5. You can try to drive them stronger in voltage to 740 in the core and memory, but I have about 18 days worked without resetting with these settings, stability is important for me.

AMD RX 5600

Here are the results for the RX 5600.

Hashrate AMD RX 5600

With regard to AMD RX 5700: the core can be set at 1300-1325-1350-1375, from 930 in memory and lower it by 5. If they do not work stably, then up to 900. Voltage at 780.

AMD RX 5700

And the bottom line for the RX 5700.

Hashrate AMD RX 5700

For clarity, we show the real power consumption of the mentioned video cards. Left – RX 5600 result, right RX 5700.

Mining Nvidia on the Kawpow algorithm

The Kawpow algorithm, on which the main currency is RVN, has burst into mining quite brightly. To illustrate the growing popularity of cryptocurrency, we present the graph of the Ravencoin hash rate on the 2Miners pool: over the month, the indicator has grown by about five times.

At the same time, the RVN rate jumped more than 500 percent in thirty days. On February 20, 2021, he set a record at 28.5 cents.

Ravencoin price chart for a month

The algorithm still works even with video cards with 3 GB of memory, it is not capricious (moreover, many capricious cards on other algorithms work confidently on kawpow), and the speed correlates well with the level of PL cards. Finally, RVN is listed on many major exchanges.

By a combination of factors, this algorithm confidently ranks second in importance and profitability after Ethash for mining on video cards.

Miner Ravencoin

For Windows 10 - video cards with 4 GB or more memory are required. For Windows 7 and Rave OS, 3 GB of memory on the card is enough for now.

Overclocking video cards for the Kawpow algorithm

Setting up video cards for KAWPOW is quite simple.

1. first of all, we determine at what frequency the memory will work as much as possible , with a step of +25 MHz. We find the one on which the video card driver starts to fly, and retreat from it 50 MHz down into the stable region.
2. we find the core voltage at which we are satisfied with the power consumption of the card. The lower the voltage, the less the card “eats”, while the lower the maximum speed. The dependence is disproportionate, usually when the consumption decreases by 25-35% of the nominal, the speed drops by only 15-20%. This gives us unique opportunities for automatic overclocking of video cards in time for multi-tariff meters.
3. we find the maximum stable core frequency – also up +25 MHz – and retreat from it down 25 MHz.

A finer tweak will give us 2-6% extra speed or 2-4% energy efficiency. Therefore, we will not dwell on it in detail in this article.

For all the secrets, visit our Telegram chat.

Energy efficiency in mining and its importance. Selecting the operating mode

All video cards can work in economy mode, but they can also be overclocked to the maximum to obtain higher hash rates. Of course, the energy efficiency of mining will suffer.

ASIC-miner for Ethereum

The results obtained can be saved in the form of ready-made links to the 2Cryptocalc calculator, which will allow you to estimate in just a few clicks how much the algorithm you have chosen is better or worse than analogues in terms of the current mining profitability for your farms.

The cost of electricity and the current profitability are key factors in choosing the algorithm and operating mode of the farm.

Maximum energy efficiency and its importance when harvesting new farms

As a rule, all miners sooner or later come to an estimate of the maximum speed per 1 kW of farm power. Someone does it because of the price of electricity, someone – because of reaching the limits of shareware outlets.

The maximum achievable speeds minus devfee per 1 kW of power from the wall on a platinum PSU for the 10xx, 20xx and 30xx series are as follows:

* – data for 30xx are given as of December 25, 2020.

As it is easy to see, the marginal basic income from one kilowatt of energy in the 20xx series is almost everywhere 1.5 times higher than that of the previous one. This is primarily due to the improved memory access algorithm. For algorithms that mainly use the core of the video card, the effect is not so impressive: an increase of about 33%.

With each new era of Ether, energy efficiency deteriorates slightly.

Postscript

The whole year of 2021 promises to be very productive in terms of new card models, and with the advent of each new card or miner software, the balance of power may change significantly. Perhaps we will see new mining algorithms – who knows. The article in its current form is relevant at the beginning of March 2021 and will be actively supplemented as new data becomes available.

You can always discuss any questions and solutions in the Telegram chat of the 2Miners mining pool. Also check out the pool itself.

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