Gigabyte & Mining

Well, I had a hell of a time debugging stability problems with an AX370 Gaming 5.  (Purchased because I didn't want to support Intel after their hardware bug fiasco, so I bought an AMD, and that mobo had a rebate....)  The thing would run for anywhere from 30 minutes to 8 hours, and then lock up.  I had no idea it was the PCIe version, until I saw on an Amazon page for a riser card that you need to use something lower than version 3.  Version 2 didn't help with the Leboo expander card I was using, but version 1 is solid.

The other problem I ran into was that the mobo gets stuck in a boot loop when trying to plug in more than 6 GPUs.  (Note that all 7 are Gigabyte branded!)  This is particularly nasty, because not only do I have to reset the CMOS (push the button), I have to unplug all video cards to get it to work: doing just one or the other is insufficient.  Having one card in the slot, the BIOS a message saying to plug in the auxiliary power connector, and that breaks the boot loop.

Now, I had the F5 BIOS on there, so I flashed F20, which gave a couple more options, like enabling memory above 4GB.  Well...that didn't help either.

Gigabyte has a page on mining using their "Ultra Durable" motherboard line.  The suggestions are:

1. Update BIOS to the latest one, and enable mining mode
2. Disable the CSM option for UEFI mode OS
3. Change Max Link Speed setting from Auto to Gen2
4. Change Initial Display Output setting from PCIe 1 slot to IGFX
5. Change Above 4G Decoding setting from Disabled to Enabled
6. Change Internal Graphics setting from Auto to Enabled
7. Use UEFI mode to install the OS

Amusingly, elsewhere Gigabyte says to not update the BIOS unless necessary.  I changed Max Link Speed and Above 4G Decoding; there's no option for this board for internal graphics when a PCIe card is plugged in.  Besides, on an Intel system with Nvidia graphics and Linux for an OS, trying to use the internal video causes annoying problems.

The only thing I haven't done is change the CSM option.  Based on my luck so far, I doubt that'll make a difference; then again, one page claims that CSM is a boot support option that is necessary for some video cards.  Even so, that the mobo somehow corrupts the CMOS--as the boot loop persists after switching the PSU off, unplugging it, plugging it back in, and turning it back on--seems like either a hardware compatibility problem or a firmware bug.

Anyway, this screwed me because I wanted to put 12 or 13 cards in this one frame I built.  Now I can only have six.  Perhaps I should try putting more than 6 in the ASRock board I added to my collection....

ETH Mining

For reference:

• Tweaks for GeForce 1070 mining: presumably still applicable to 1060
• Silent mining with a GeForce 1060: perfect!--with a hardware list that influenced me to buy an EVGA card

Looking for info on running a miner in a VM with Windows running on Linux, I found the exact opposite.  Well, maybe I'll just run on Linux.

The nanopool miner is Claymore.  I like the name.

Bonus article: how to reduce power consumption of mainstream computing hardware to 5.9W...with a few hacks.

VNC over SSH

Apparently it's possible to use local port forwarding with SSH to secure a VNC connection.  I can't imagine it'd be very fast, though....

Bitcoin

Of course I'd heard of Bitcoin, but Joe B. at work pointed out that there were ASICs coming out that are supposed to crank the mining hash rate.  Butterfly Labs is one of the companies producing specialized machines.  (The FPGAs are more interesting since you could repurpose them later, but they have higher power consumption and lower hash rate.)

Seems pretty risky, though, since a bunch of ASICs will probably be coming online at the same time.  BFL's FAQ has an entry on this that seems to imply that one could break even in about 6 mo, but that calculation may lowball the impact of the additional computational power; then again, the exchange rate has also risen about 60% since that calculation.  In other words, it's a total crapshoot.  Another site has a profitability calculator.

There's also a mining hardware chart on the bitcoin wiki.  Some people build custom mining rigs using multiple graphics cards, but the hash rate doesn't even come close to the theoretical rate of the ASICs.  In that regard, investing in one of those might be more sound.  Or it could be better to have the lower rate now before the ASICs come online....

Power Switches

Sparkfun, an online hobby electronics store, is selling an AC power switch that can be controlled with TTL logic, as well as the Sharp optoisolated solid-state relay itself.

I kind of wanted to run a low-power server to make available lots of storage which I could switch off to save energy when not being used.  It could also be useful for security for preventing sensitive data from being accessed, should the server be exposed to the Internet.

Raspberry Pi seems like an ideal candidate for such a system.

Portable Apps

AE mentioned this to me a long while ago (18 months or so), and I forgot to link it: software called Portable Apps that enables running other software from a USB drive or off the network (I hate saying "the cloud").

He also recommended the Super Talent Pico drive, but that's kind of a ripoff of the Sony ones I've been using for quite some time.

Silhouette

Interesting device to "print" out cut stencils.  The wife might find this useful, so it could be a neat Christmas present for her, albeit a bit of a spendy one.

USB Stick PC

The Raspberry Pi USB Stick PC beats the hell out of a OLPC!  Sign me up.

Pendrive Linux

Just read a mention of multiple bootable OSes from a single USB memory stick via Pendrive Linux.  There's the universal installer and multiboot.  That could be fun to play with.