Need a new PC! I’m a gamer, so going to grab the new Radeon 290 for gaming/litecoin mining, and hadn’t planned on giving a lot of thought to the proc until I found primecoin. Anyone have thoughts/info on the most cost efficient processor(s)? I’d prefer to stick with Intel (I want the Asus Maxima IV mobo!) but not a requirement. Thanks!
Probably Intel Core i7 4930K if you can afford it, else 4770K should be good too.
The best will be the new intel 4th Gen.
6MB of Cache 4 cores and 8 threads. This thing just screams Prime coins.
what about this "AMD FX-8320, X8, socket AM3+, 64bit, 3,5GHz, 125W, cache 16MB, BOX " ? anynoe tried? how many chains per day ? pps ?
I’m running an FX 8350 (OC’d to ~4.4 GHz) using 7 cores (I’m mining Litecoins as well, so I needed some CPU juice to support my GPUs). My PPS is ~24,000
I suspect an Intel 4770k would beat that, but I don’t know what the PPS is for that processor.
Or pre-order one of these …
I’m leaning towards AMD. I think Intel will definitely beat AMD core for core, but I really wonder how well a hyperthreaded core will do against two physical cores doing extensive calculations. That and you can get an AMD FX 8320 (3.5ghz, 4x2mb L2, 8mb L3, 8-core, 125w TDP, $149) for about half the price of a Intel Core i7-4770K (3.5ghz, 8mb cache, 4 core, 8 threads, 84w TDP, $289).
Newegg actually had has the FX8320 on sale at $129. The day after I bought it from Amazon, of course.
I’m building a computer now around the FX 8320 with inexpensive components (and some things I had lying around) to get a really good performance/price point. I’m hoping the AMD FX 8320 when overclocked will perform better than the i7-4770. I figure if it doesn’t it will be close, and should definitely beat it at the performance/price. I guess the other wildcard here is the difference in power consumption between the two. The Intel should have less.
Intel also had better motherboard selection. One of the issues I ran into is finding an inexpensive AM3+ motherboard that actually supported the new 8 core AMD processors. I actually ended up getting a more expensive one that supported crossfire in case a GPU miner ever comes to fruition.
Another thing to note is that you can get socket 1150 E3 Xeons that will work in desktop motherboards. They are similar to the i7 counterparts but with lower clock speeds, power consumption and they don’t come with the integrated graphics on the chip (you will need a graphics card). They also cost less. The E3-1220 v3 (3.1ghz, 8mb cache, 4 core, 8 threads, 80w TDP, $199). It would be harder to overclock it and it has a slower clock speed to begin with, however.
I actually have a Xeon E3-1230 v2 (3.3ghz) ($229) and this my mining output on hp11, Windows Server 2012:
{
"blocks" : 280487,
"chainspermin" : 22,
"chainsperday" : 1.73632391,
"currentblocksize" : 3096,
"currentblocktx" : 6,
"difficulty" : 9.97466052,
"errors" : "",
"generate" : true,
"genproclimit" : -1,
"primespersec" : 3301,
"pooledtx" : 6,
"sieveextensions" : 9,
"sievepercentage" : 10,
"sievesize" : 1000000,
"testnet" : false
}
But like I said, I’m really hoping that the AMD FX 8320 will perform about the same for less.
[quote=“Catswold, post:5, topic:922”]I’m running an FX 8350 (OC’d to ~4.4 GHz) using 7 cores (I’m mining Litecoins as well, so I needed some CPU juice to support my GPUs). My PPS is ~24,000
I suspect an Intel 4770k would beat that, but I don’t know what the PPS is for that processor.[/quote]
How are you getting 24k PPS?
I have an I7 just scratching at 4K
[quote=“drozenski, post:3, topic:922”]The best will be the new intel 4th Gen.
6MB of Cache 4 cores and 8 threads. This thing just screams Prime coins.[/quote]
It uses less power, and supports 3D graphics, but for Primes it’s probably better to go with the LGA-2011 4930K (or 4960X if you can afford it)… They have 6 cores, 12 threads and higher (unlocked) core, and can be overclocked to around 4.5GHz. (Comparison here http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/300/Intel_Core_i7_Mobile_i7-4960HQ_vs_Intel_Core_i7_i7-4930K.html)
UNLESS, and this is something I’d love to know more about… AVX2 / FMA3 instructions in the new HQ processors have something to say. I found this little piece of information just now… Makes me curious, can this make the HQ actually better for Primes?
Wiki on AVX:
"Applications
Suitable for floating point-intensive calculations in multimedia, scientific and financial applications (integer operations are expected in later extensions).
Increases parallelism and throughput in floating point SIMD calculations.
Reduces register load due to the non-destructive instructions.
Improves Linux RAID software performance [3]
Prime95/MPrime, the software used for GIMPS, started using the AVX instructions since version 27.x."
[quote=“drozenski, post:8, topic:922”][quote=“Catswold, post:5, topic:922”]I’m running an FX 8350 (OC’d to ~4.4 GHz) using 7 cores (I’m mining Litecoins as well, so I needed some CPU juice to support my GPUs). My PPS is ~24,000
I suspect an Intel 4770k would beat that, but I don’t know what the PPS is for that processor.[/quote]
How are you getting 24k PPS?
I have an I7 just scratching at 4K[/quote]
Depends on the miner. For the hp11 miner I get 3301 pps, but for the hjPrimeminer I get 19,000 pps. I think the values are calculated differently and are not comparable.
I’m very interested in seeing what kinda result you’d get from a FX 8320 CPU.
Phenom II X6 @ 3.875 GHz (hp11 client):

{
"blocks" : 282242,
"chainspermin" : 20,
"chainsperday" : 1.60473395,
"currentblocksize" : 2131,
"currentblocktx" : 5,
"difficulty" : 9.97870129,
"errors" : "",
"generate" : true,
"genproclimit" : -1,
"primespersec" : 3457,
"pooledtx" : 5,
"sieveextensions" : 9,
"sievepercentage" : 10,
"sievesize" : 1000000,
"testnet" : false
}To whoever has tried mining with an intel 4770k, please post your PPS when using primeminer.
[quote=“drozenski, post:8, topic:922”]How are you getting 24k PPS?
I have an I7 just scratching at 4K[/quote]
I’m on Ypool and running jhPrimeminer_RdBBeta4.0F_64
Here is what I am getting with the AMD FX 8320:
I ended up putting it on Windows Server 2012 because I had trouble finding a linux version of the jhPrimeminer that wasn’t really old.
I guess I should also mention that I use the bios “AI Overclocker” to do an automatic overclock. I believe it is only running at 3.73 Ghz. Also the fan is ridiculously loud even at idle.
I am getting ~3650 pps with my i7-3770k without overclock using xolominer for beerrrrrr pool
~650 pps on my Q6600
~ 1250 pps on my Q9400
Anyway I can speed that up?
[quote=“limitzero, post:15, topic:922”]I am getting ~3650 pps with my i7-3770k without overclock using xolominer for beerrrrrr pool
~650 pps on my Q6600
~ 1250 pps on my Q9400
Anyway I can speed that up?[/quote]
Thanks for sharing your stats. Try overclocking your CPU to get the most out of it.
After running jhPrimeminer a few days using an AMD FX 8320 I have had some more opinions about the AMD processors. The motherboard selection is terrible. Most of the inexpensive AM3+ motherboards don’t support the FX 8320. This isn’t documented very well either. It can be an AM3+ board but not support 125W processors. Even if they do support 125W processors. I found out the mid-range motherboard I purchased (msi 970a-g46) tends to throttle the FX-8320 because even though it is rated at 125W it can use more. It is even listed as a supported CPU. It also doesn’t support booting without a graphics card. Which in my prior research seemed like this wasn’t that uncommon of a feature. There is no documentation on this (probably not an AMD isolated issue).
I ended up having to use a spare graphics card I had lying around, which was also power hungry on idle. I ended up getting another budget card to try to cut down on the power consumption and heat.
The power consumption is a lot. With my kill-a-watt power meter is it costing $18.00/month with a relatively low .09/kwh. I didn’t realize it was going to be so much.
Also the issue is that the processor runs hot on the stock cooler, It runs at ~70C+. I had to get an aftermarket cooler. Not to mention that CPU fan is the loudest CPU fan I have ever heard. It’s louder then any of the GPU fans I have in my other computers, and it is on full blast all the time. I can’t even stand to be in the same room as it.
The FX-8320 ($150) performs better than my Xeon E3-1230 v2 ($229). So I am sure that it definitely would out perform any Intel of comparable value for Primecoin mining. I guess you just have to be very diligent about what motherboard you get, expect to buy an extra cooler, video card, and pay higher power bills. I’m not really sure if it comes out ahead in the end.
okzx,
Can you run a quick test and see how many chains/day, PPS you get with hp11 client with that FX 8320?
Also how much are you OC’ing?
Speaking of loud CPU fans … back in the day I had a GlobalWin FOP38 heatsink with the Black Delta CPU fan.
I had the PC with it in the basement, and you could hear that mfer on the 2nd floor of the townhouse I was living in.
Another edit … FYI … you can try undervolting to reduce heat a bit, and lower power consumption. Once your box is stable, lower the volts until it starts acting up and slightly raise them from there. Stress test with prime95 etc … assuming it doesn’t need precisely the volts you’re already throwing at it.
okzx, I’m interested in the same question. How many chains per day do you have with your FX-8320?
Is there some way to find out the chains per day using AeroCloud’s jhPrimeminer?