[Ethereum] R9 380x low hash rate issues

hardware

I have the Tahonga R9 380x

I am on Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS using the Open CL version: 15.201-0ubuntu0.14.04.1 which i got after running the apt-cache policy flgrx command.

The drivers are not headless meaning I have to use a display to do some stuff etc. fan control

According to https://www.cryptocompare.com/mining/sapphire/radeon-r9-380x-ethereum-mining/ , I should be getting around 24 MH/s per card.

The way I see it, this could be due to the following reasons:

  1. Drivers. The drivers are not optimal for mining. This is however countered by this guys answer that claims that 15.x drivers are better than 16.x 's

  2. Thermal throttling. Le card is throttling itself. Maybe I need to fiddle with some settings to increase thermal headroom? This is however countered by the Saphire's giant ass heatsink and the fans don't even kick in till about 40% load.

  3. OS. The OS is the problem. Maybe I need to go a full headless setup by installing Ubuntu Server. Because what I currently use has a desktop environment, even though no display is attached since I SSH into the rig. Maybe the desktop environment is stealing some GPU hashing power?

Inputs from anyone with the same config or related would be highly appreciated.

Best Answer

Cryptocompare informations looks strange for this card, I don't saw reports of such a hashrate with a R9 380x. I've got an Asus one, overclocked to the limit at a very cool temp (46°C) and I barely have 20 or 21MH/s. I also run Ubuntu 14.04 and all is up to date. Also Cryptocompare data are odd for power consumption as I don't really know what unit the use but for a 380x if unit is Watt it's more between 170 and 180, not 400.

http://gpuboss.com/graphics-card/Radeon-R9-380X

Power

AMD has been behind NVIDIA in power consumption efficiency for a while now, and the R9 380X is no exception, but given the total heat output is well manageable with around 170 W, the thermal solutions doesn't have to be big and bulky.

Some other people were afraid of this 20MH/s, but it seems normal. See https://fanbitcoin.com/index.php?topic=1279983.5;wap2

My 380x is doing 20Mh.

I think this value is very reasonable. 280x is faster than 380x at the same frequency. It is better to buy a 7970 for hashing.

And we all agree that the R9 7970 is a good card but you won't find it at low prices nowadays.

https://forum.ethereum.org/discussion/comment/16487/#Comment_16487

Stats for R9 380X

min/mean/max: 19835562/19957896/20010325 H/s inner mean: 13311089 H/s

You can also have a look at calculators that propose a list of cards. For https://cryptowizzard.github.io/eth-mining-calculator/ the R9 380x is preset at 20MH/s.