Ethereum Mining Speed Issues with AMD HD6850
Ethereum mining has long been a popular and profitable activity for those with the right hardware and expertise. However, recently, many Ethereum miners have reported issues with their Radeon HD 6800 series graphics cards, including the HD 6850 model. Despite the advertised mining speed of over 200,000 hashes per second (kH/s), some users are experiencing slow performance when using a miner such as CGMiner.
Comparing different mining hardware at Litecoin.info/Mining_Hardware_Comparison, the HD 6800 series can actually produce high mining speeds. In fact, it’s possible that the problem may be with how the GPU manages its power and cooling, rather than with the computing power itself.
Analyzing CGMiner Output
A closer look at the output of your CGMiner setup reveals some discrepancies between what is advertised in the specs (17.28 kH/s) and the actual performance (14.39 kH/s). This suggests that there may be a power management issue or perhaps inadequate GPU cooling.
AMD HD6850 Specifications
To put things into perspective:
- AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT: 1406 MHz, 11.1 TFLOPS
- AMD Radeon RX 6750M: 1705 MHz, 10.3 TFLOPS
As you can see, the HD 6850 is significantly lower in clock speed and performance compared to its higher-end counterparts.
CGMiner Version
You also mentioned that your CGMiner version is 3.5.0, which suggests that you are using a relatively recent release. However, it is worth noting that older versions may not be as optimized for high-performance mining as newer versions.
Possible Causes and Solutions
Based on the information available, here are a few possible causes of slow performance:
- Power Management
: Make sure your power supply can handle the increased power requirements of the HD 6850.
- Cooling Issues: Make sure your GPU is adequately cooled to prevent overheating.
- Overclocking: Be careful not to overclock your CPU or GPU beyond the recommended specifications.
To fix the problem, you may want to consider:
- Power Consumption Reduction
: Try to reduce the wattage of your power supply or upgrade it if possible.
- Cooling Improvement: Invest in a good quality air cooler for your GPU.
- Optimize your power-up: Be careful when powering up and follow the proper instructions.
In summary, while the HD 6850 may not be able to deliver the advertised mining speeds of its competitors, there are possible causes and solutions that can help alleviate performance issues. If performance is slow, I recommend consulting with a more experienced miner or exploring options for improving GPU cooling and power management.
Update: For more information on mining Ethereum with AMD GPUs, visit websites like [ethereum.org]( and [miningledger.org](