There are two ways to overclock RX 4XX / RX 5XX series cards - with and without BIOS modification. Overclocking these cards with Afterburner does not lead to significant performance gains.
The potential of all video cards of these modifications does not differ much, by about 5-10%. ETH mining speeds are about 6-8 megahashes per second on stock settings, 23-26 with the calculation mode enabled, and 29-33 in overclocking.
BIOS modification may give slightly better results. But it can also void your warranty if your GPU fails. This is how to configure RX470, RX480, RX570, RX580, RX590 cards for Ethereum mining without BIOS modification.
Algorithm for overclocking of a GPU
This is what you need:
- RX 4XX / RX 5XX series graphics card with 8Gb VRAM.
- Working miner app on the Daggerhashimoto algorithm.
- AMD Radeon Software.
1. Enabling the calculation mode
First, enable the calculation mode in the graphics card settings. Go to Radeon Settings, select the desired graphics card, go to Advanced Settings and select the Computing workload.
Attention! Games may not work correctly in this mode. If you are going to play, you should turn off this mode.
2. Experiments with video memory frequency
There are two parameters that can be changed to increase the hash rate. It is to change the frequency of video memory and to change timings. The "Memory timing level" drop-down menu is responsible for timings.
Your task is to find such a ratio of timings and frequencies at which the highest hash rate is obtained.
- Increase the memory frequency by 50MHz. Wait five minutes and write down the hashrate acquired at this frequency. Also look if there are any messages about Incorrect shares in the miner window.
- If the computer restarts, freezes or you see messages about Incorrect share in the miner window, roll back the frequency 50 MHz back.
- If the computer works stable, repeat steps 1 and 2 until the computer freezes or restarts.
- Repeat all these steps for all timing levels: Auto, 1 and 2
3. Reducing energy consumption
The next step is to decrease the core frequency. This significantly reduces power consumption and temperature.
Decrease the core frequency by 7-10%. Wait 5 minutes and check if the hash rate has dropped. If it remains at the same level or falls slightly, you can reduce the core frequency by another 1-2%. If the hash rate drops, increase the core frequency back by 1-2%.
Sometimes it happens that the frequency is not set properly. In this case, you need to reset the card settings and set them again.
4. Fan setting
Finally, set up the fan. Its speed is selected so that the temperature of the card is kept at around 65-70 degrees Celsius. See Safe GPU temperatures.