Perhaps the BIOS mod works with some makes of RX 480 cards better than others.

Also, which driver version are you using? We found the November 2016 driver to be the most reliable. The driver released after that one has a lot of known issues. I haven't checked recently if there's a later/better driver.

I am using the latest recommended driver from AMD. What the BIOS mods are trying to do is to to get tighter VRAM timings so there is less time spent preparing VRAM to be read or written. I did experiment a bit with voltages as well today but it did not yield any improvements. It turns out the voltage you can change is actually memory controller voltage and not the actual VRAM voltage. VRAM voltage is fixed at 1.5V, memory controller will be somewhere 0.95-1.0V as shipped and supposedly can be safely increased to 1.15V. All my cards are 1.000V stock voltage and I tried 1.125V but it did not help. I think it's more down to the actual VRAM used on card which can be from different manufacturers ( Samsung, Hynix etc) and different batches. All of them will meat minimum specifications but some can be pushed further. All my cards have Samsung VRAM so maybe other manufacturers VRAM would be better off.

I am just wondering if there are any PCI-E spliters/risers for desktops so that you could split 1 x16 slot in several x8, x4 or veven x1 slots. I know there are some out there for server motherboards that do 1 x16 into 2x8 slots but they are generally server specific , odd shape or orientation. The reason I am asking is that my current old PC that I am experimenting with only has 2x16 slots which operate at x8 mode if both used and 1x1 slot so maximum I can connect is 3 cards. The risers I ordered are still in the post so I am limited to 2 cards at the moment. My server has 1x16 slot but I cannot use until I receive risers due to space restrictions. If I could split it in lets's sy 4x4 slots or even 16x1 slots I could run several cards of it as well outside case.

There's none that I know of. I've looked for similar adaptors/splitters previously myself without any luck.

Thanks for the answer about PCI-e slots. :) I have given myself time to decide on Antminer L3+ till Monday. You have owned S9 for a while so I would like to hear more about it as it is somewhat similar to L3+. How long have you had it? How hard is it to setup and have you had any problems with it. I mean manufacturers 3 months guarantee is not exactly inspiring .

I've not had a single issue with the S9. It's been running almost continuously since it arrived at the end of February and all 189 ASIC chips still show as fully functioning on the status page of the web interface. For the first couple of months I ran it in my workshop at home then I moved it to my customer's server room (with their permission) where it is now. They're a bit loud for home use. Not unbearably loud ... louder than most servers or about the same as a typical modern vacuum cleaner. The L3+ uses almost half the S9's 1.3kW of power, so maybe it'll be quieter too ...

Setup couldn't be easier: You just log into the web interface and enter the pool details. Or, if you're using NiceHash, you just enter NiceHash's server address and your Bitcoin address as your username.

Thanks for that. I think I will order L3+ on Monday, just giving me some breathing time to mull it over. :)

Loudness is not the biggest issue, I have 27x9 feet garage for it :)

I mean their current return rate is jusst out of this world and I expect it to drop dramatically but I think it's still worth a punt.

And I am back to tax issue. So let's say I earn some bitcoins and use them to buy more hardware without cashing it in to GBP. Does that mean i do not have to pay any income tax for it? I suppose the tax system is not up to date yet and there are changes to come .

That was my reasoning for buying. That and my past experience with Bitmain and the S9. It's a gamble of course, but I figured it's probably less of a gamble than my S9 purchase was, especially since I'd had no previous dealings with Bitmain or their products back then.

I think that's essentially it, and that's how I interpret the HMRC documents I linked to. My customer asked their accountant a few similar hypothetical questions recently. He had heard of Bitcoin but knew little of mining and other cryptocurrencies. After looking into it, I believe his response was something on the lines of "wow, they're going to want to regulate this because presently there is nothing to stop you making a lot of money without paying tax, except when your exchange earnings into GBP". From what I've heard/read, I believe the current UK government stance towards cryptocurrencies is somewhere between positive and indifference. I don't know if that's true or if it's likely to change any time in the near future. I suppose it depends on how big the cryptocurrency market becomes and how much tax they think they can collect from it.

It really depends on personal preference and how legit you want to be. I mean Linux is great, if you're a Linux guru, but it can be a pain to get things working right if you're not. I don't work with Linux enough to be comfortable supporting it, so I'm using Windows. I know it all adds up, but a genuine Windows 10 OEM licence is relatively cheap compared to the rest of the mining rig so, for my customer's rigs at least, which are operating within a business premises/environment, we're sticking with fully licensed Windows 10 rigs --- It's more than my reputation is worth not to. You can actually buy Windows 10 OEM licences from ebay for about £30 though. Probably not genuine but, in a home environment, as long as the licence key works, do you care? Alternatively, you can go down the perpetual evaluation route: Windows 10 will work indefinitely without a key; there's just a few limitations, such as disabled desktop customisation. After all, these are just test rigs, right? ;)


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Windows-10...C/232359014619

Works a treat +++