Finding Optimal Clock Speed for CGMiner and R9 290/R9 290X

Update, 12/12/2013: There were some bugs in the batch files (an errant "--" in one, for example), so I've updated them with new versions that should run properly now.

Going along with the previous post on finding the best Thread Concurrency setting for your hardware, you'll probably first want to find some good clock speeds. Unlike searching for a good TC value, tuning your clock speeds could very well lead to a system crash/hang and/or BSOD. Ideally, your system will automatically reboot, but in some cases it will get stuck and you'll have to manually intervene. Once again, I've created a couple batch files (that build off the previous batch files) for helping you find optimal values for your hardware, which you can download here. The contents of the two batch files are included below for reference:

engine-clock-test-r9version.bat:

@echo off
set threadconcurrency=24000
set gpuclock=800
set memclock=1300
set gpufan=50-75
set gpuvolt=1.100
set gpupowertune=50
set gpustopclock=1100

if exist currentgpuclock.txt (
  for /F %%x in (currentgpuclock.txt) do set gpuclock=%%x
)

setlocal EnableExtensions

:startloop
echo Current GPU Clock is %gpuclock%
echo %gpuclock%> currentgpuclock.txt
start "MinerThread" miner-tc-r9version.bat %threadconcurrency% %gpuclock% %memclock% %gpufan% %gpuvolt% %gpupowertune%
sleep 300
taskkill /im cgminer.exe /f
<nul set /p =GPU Clock %gpuclock%: >> AvgHashrateGPU.txt
grep -i "(avg)" %threadconcurrency%.txt | tail -1 >> AvgHashrateGPU.txt
set /a gpuclock=gpuclock+5
if "%gpuclock%" GTR "%gpustopclock%" goto :EOF

goto :startloop


memory-clock-test-r9version.bat:

@echo off
set threadconcurrency=24000
set gpuclock=800
set memclock=1200
set gpufan=50-75
set gpuvolt=1.100
set gpupowertune=50
set memstopclock=1700

if exist currentmemclock.txt (
  for /F %%x in (currentmemclock.txt) do set memclock=%%x
)

setlocal EnableExtensions

:startloop
echo Current RAM Clock is %memclock%
echo %memclock%> currentmemclock.txt
start "MinerThread" miner-tc-r9version.bat %threadconcurrency% %gpuclock% %memclock% %gpufan% %gpuvolt% %gpupowertune%
sleep 300
taskkill /im cgminer.exe /f
<nul set /p =RAM Clock %memclock%: >> AvgHashrateRAM.txt
grep -i "(avg)" %threadconcurrency%.txt | tail -1 >> AvgHashrateRAM.txt
set /a memclock=memclock+10
if "%memclock%" GTR "%memstopclock%" goto :EOF

goto :startloop


Other than modifying the GPU Engine or GPU Memory clock each iteration, the two files are the same. They also use the same miner-tc-r9version.bat file as before (which I didn't rename because why bother). If you create a link to the batch file you're testing and put that in your Startup folder, the batch files will also continue from where they left off in the case of a system reboot...which means if your system is unstable before the stopping clock you specify, it will be stuck in a reboot loop, so keep an eye on things or don't put the files in the Startup folder and instead save that for a stable cgminer configuration -- and be sure to set the gpustopclock and memstopclock to appropriate values.

My recommendation would be to choose a reasonable starting memory clock (around 1300 is usually safe on all R9 290/290X GPUs) and run the engine-clock-test-r9version batch file. When that finishes (or reaches a point where it cannot continue), look at the AvgHashrateGPU.txt file and you should end up with one of to things. Eiher you find out how far you can push clocks before becoming unstable and crashing (with each increase in clock speed bringing improved performance), and in that case I'd probably back off 10-25MHz from the point where the GPU crashed, but you can do as you please. The other possibility is that you'll find hash rates peak at a lower clock speed (say, 825-850MHz), and as you try going higher the AMD GPU will begin to throttle automatically. If this is happening, use the clock speed that gives you the highest hash rate.

Once you've found a good GPU clock, set the gpuclock=800 line in the second batch file, memory-clock-test-r9version, to that clock speed and then run the second script. It will do the same thing as before, except now RAM clocks go up 10MHz every five minutes until you reach the stopping clock speed (1700MHz is what I put in) or you crash -- and a crash is far more likely if you try for 1700MHz GDDR5! Check your AvgHashrateRAM.txt file for the best result and use that for your GPU, and then go run the Thread Concurrency optimization batch file and find the best TC for your system.

Here's the tricky part: you need to do the above for each and every GPU in your system(s) if you want to get optimal performance, while means you also need to tweak the miner-tc-r9version.bat file and add "--device [Number]" to the cgminer.exe command for each GPU. You might not need to do this for Thread Concurrency, but for the Engine and RAM GPU clocks it will definitely help out! Also, once you find values for each GPU that work well, you may find that running all your GPUs at once will require slightly lower clocks in order to be stable (which potentially could mean you need to check TC again, though that's probably overkill).

Now all we need is for more R9 GPUs to be available at reasonable prices -- I'm seeing prices of $700 for R9 290 and $830 for R9 290X right now! And Newegg isn't really any better last I checked (well, maybe a bit better, but still price gouging). If you've already got yourself some shiny R9 290 GPUs, happy mining while everyone else is stuck waiting!

Donations and referrals gladly accepted if this helps you out:
LTC: LXpEZcNJtikd263z7Ha3vrdYDcLU7hiKWv