4G issues of A card and recommended driver version (Part 2)

In the previous article "4G problems of AMD cards and recommended driver versions", we said that " technology is innovating every day, there are new hopes every day, and there may be variables in the future ", and it really lived up to our expectations.

We saw a message on GitHub

Extend the life of 4GB AMD cards

1)Reverse order of light cache and DAG allocation. DAG allocated first.

2)Attempt to allocate ~80MB light cache buffer on GPU. If not enough memory then allocate it on host.

3)DAG generation will be much slower but we regain a little more space for the DAG...

https://github.com/ethereum-mining/ethminer/pull/1998

To translate, it roughly means: when creating a DAG, it consists of two parts, one is the light cache and the other is the DAG. Previously, the light cache was created on the GPU first, and then the DAG was created. Now, we change it to create the DAG first, and then the light cache. If the light cache fails to be created, it will not be created on the GPU, but on the hard disk. This has a small disadvantage, that is, the speed is slower, about once every 5 days, which is not a big deal.

If you don't understand the translation above, in a nutshell, doing this can free up about 80M of space, which is enough for about 45 days at the current block production rate .

However, although the end time of 4G has not yet arrived, some mining machines’ GPU0 has a problem with computing power 1, as shown in the figure below.

There are two ways to solve this problem:

Method 1: Insert a 6G or 8G graphics card into the GPU0 position

Method 2: Set the integrated graphics output in the motherboard BIOS (see www.qskg.top for some motherboard examples)

For the specific deadline of 4G, follow the official account and send " 4G " to query by yourself. This query result does not include the possible 45-day extension mentioned above , because it is not clear whether the PhoenixMiner kernel has currently created the light cache to the hard disk.

According to the query results at the time of publication, using the Claymore kernel on Windows can work until August 4, 2020, and using the PhoenixMiner kernel can work until October 16, 2020.

It is not ruled out that the subsequent versions will be upgraded to refresh the final use period, which will inevitably require upgrading the software and the kernel. Here, we once again call for the use of Easy Miner's group control to achieve one-click batch upgrades of software and kernels, so that the mining machines can resume work and production as quickly as possible when problems occur and new versions are upgraded .

Since the PhoenixMiner kernel does not support the original BIOS, in order to reduce the workload of original BIOS users, Easy Miner has supported the automatic timing function of the A card original BIOS in the latest test version . You are welcome to contact us for testing.

Another 4G graphics card P104, due to the difference in capacity of P104 of different brands, some 4G P104 already have problems. Users who need to flash 8G BIOS click "Overclocking Settings" - "BIOS" in the software to refresh. It is particularly important to note that some P104 will drop to 30 or even 5 after flashing 8G .

Again, technology is innovating every day, there are new hopes every day, and there may be variables in the future. We will continue to pay attention to 4G issues and release news in a timely manner.

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