Video card P106-100: playing on something that is not intended for games

  • Conclusion
  • The GeForce GTX 1060 MINING video card (M-NP106100) is adapted for use in cryptocurrency mining farms. It has optimal characteristics for this task: relatively low power consumption, 6 GB of GDDR5 video memory, and operating frequencies most suitable for mining. A special feature of this model is the absence of video outputs, which are not needed by the device connected to the mining rig.

    Miners are especially interested in what hashrate the p106 100 6gb has, since at the moment the card can still bring significant profits in mining. In the article, we will look at the parameters and characteristics of the card, how much megahash it produces on Ethereum, and what the card’s performance is on other algorithms.

    Appearance

    Package

    The seller randomly sends cards made by MSI, Gigabyte, Galaxy, Colorful and Gengsheng (known under the Gainward brand outside China). I got Gigabyte.


    Judging by the manufacturer's website, the card comes in two versions: without a mounting bracket and with a single-slot bracket. The seller screwed on the two-slot bracket, for which I thank him, but he spared one screw. I had to fix it with blue electrical tape.

    But a broken cooling system mount cannot be repaired so easily:


    However, the remaining three fasteners are held securely.

    Radeon r7 240 mining - full information

    Nowadays, the words “Mining”, “Blockchain”, “Bitcoins” are heard literally everywhere: from tram passengers to serious businessmen and State Duma deputies. It is difficult to understand all the intricacies and pitfalls of these and related concepts, but in the database on our website you will quickly find comprehensive information regarding all aspects.

    We are looking for additional information in databases:

    Radeon r7 240 mining

    Online project databases:

    Data from exhibitions and seminars:

    Data from registers:

    Wait for the search to complete in all databases. Upon completion, a link will appear to access the found materials.

    Briefly, all the necessary knowledge will be presented in this article. So, let's start with the blockchain. Its essence is that computers are united into a single network through a set of blocks containing automatically encrypted information that gets there. Together these blocks form a database. Let's say you want to sell a house. Having completed the documents, you need to go to a notary, then in his presence, having certified the transfer with his signature, they will give you the money. It takes a long time, and besides, you have to pay a fee.

    Thanks to blockchain technology, it is enough to:

    1. Reach an agreement.
    2. Find out the recipient's account.
    3. Transfer money to the recipient's account.

    ...and not just money. You can issue an electronic signature and send documents and any other information, including confidential information. Again, notaries and other officials are not needed: it is enough for you and the recipient (be it a private person or a government agency) to identify yourself in your computer.

    The transaction takes place over a secure communication channel, no one sees (including banks and the state) who transferred what and to whom.

    The possibility of hacking is excluded due to the huge number of blocks described above. A hacker needs to find a cipher for each block, which is physically impossible.

    Other uses of blockchain:

    • Insurance;
    • Logistics;
    • Payment of fines
    • Marriage registration and much more.

    The concept of cryptocurrency is closely related to blockchain.
    Cryptocurrency is a new generation of decentralized digital currency created and operating only on the Internet. No one controls it; currency is issued through the work of millions of computers around the world, using a program to calculate mathematical algorithms. Briefly, it looks like this: 1. You intend to transfer money to someone. 2. A mathematical code is generated, passing through the blocks already known to you.

    3. Many computers (often representing a collection of them, with powerful processors and, as a result, greater bandwidth) process digital information, transmitting them to the next blocks, receiving a reward for this (some transactions can be made for free) 4. The mathematical code reaches the electronic wallet recipient, money appears on his balance sheet.

    Again, as is the case with blockchain, cryptocurrency transfers are not controlled by anyone.

    Although the database is open, with all the addresses of those transferring and receiving money, no one knows the owner of this or that address from which the transfer is made, unless the owner himself wants to tell.

    There are many currencies that work on a similar principle. The most famous is, of course, Bitcoin. Also popular are Ethereum, Rittle, Litecoins, Numits, Namecoins and many others. The difference between them is in different types of encryption, processing and some other parameters.

    Miners make money from money transfer technology.

    These are the people who created the above-mentioned collection of computer video cards, which generates new blocks that transmit digital information - bitcoins (or rittles, or any other cryptocurrency). For this they receive a reward in the form of the same cryptocurrency.

    There is competition between miners, because... The technology is programmed to become more complex with each transaction. At first it was possible to mine from one computer (2008), but now such a currency as Bitcoin is simply unprofitable for individuals: you need a lot of video cards (they are collectively called farms), with enormous computing power. To do this, separate rooms are rented; the energy costs for work are comparable to the costs of industrial enterprises.

    But you can make money on other, less popular, but developing cryptocurrencies. There is also a distinction between solo mining and pool mining. Solo means creating your own farm, taking the profit for yourself. The pool brings together other people with the same goals. You can earn much more, but you have to share it with everyone.

    Both individuals and entire states have become interested in the prospects for using blockchain technology in general and cryptocurrencies in particular.

    Cryptocurrency is legal in Japan. In Russia, next year they are going to adopt regulations on the legalization of blockchain, cryptocurrency transfers and mining. It is planned to transfer some operations to the blockchain framework. It makes sense to study this in more detail, and, if desired, start earning money. It is obvious that now information technologies will develop and enter our lives more and more.

    safe-crypto.me

    Specifications

    Identical to the regular GTX 1060 WINDFORCE 6G except:

    • no video outputs
    • PCI-E 1.0/1.1 bus is used (for gaming video cards - PCI-E 3.0)
    • The cooling system tries to keep the GPU temperature at 55° at any cost
    • video accelerator is not detected as a gaming one (there is no support for DirectCompute and PhysX)

    Mining rig for P106-100

    Assembling mining rigs on GTX1060 / P106100 video cards

    EquipmentOptionsOrder
    Rig on 4 video cards

    RTX 3060 12Gb

    Monthly income from 3 to 725 usd *

    Payback period ~ 11 months *

    24.16 $
    Equihash1160 sol0.08 $
    422,000 rub.

    Order

    Rig on 6 video cards

    RTX 3060 12Gb

    Monthly income from 4 to 1088 usd *

    Payback period from 10 months *

    36.24 $
    Equihash1740 sol0.12 $
    RUB 594,000

    Order

    Rig 8 on video cards

    System requirements

    • presence of a video core built into the processor
    • according to the seller: it will not work on H81/B85/Z87 motherboards (i.e. 4th generation) manufactured by ASUS, as well as on older boards
    • (but there are workarounds, more on them later)

    • presence of PCI-E x16 slot. The version does not matter, because the card operates in 1.1 mode in any case, but the number of lines is very important, because the bus not only exchanges data with the processor, but also transmits a video stream. PCI-E 1.0 x16 is already equivalent in bandwidth to only PCI-E 3.0 x4. An even greater reduction in bandwidth (for example, if you use an x8 slot) will have a dramatic impact on performance

    3.AMD RX 480

    Relatively old video card, but with excellent mining capabilities

    • Low cost
    • Excellent mining performance
    • Deficit model

    If you want to pay a low price to get into the world of mining, the AMD RX 480 graphics card is a great option. The low cost is due to the fact that this model is considered relatively outdated compared to the AMD Radeon RX 580 (if you can find one). Yes, the AMD RX 480 is another graphics card in short supply thanks to its cryptocurrency mining capabilities. At the same time, 8GB of GDDR5 video memory allows the video card to reach a hashrate of up to 28 megahash/sec, again, without consuming a huge amount of electricity. In addition, if you would like to purchase an even cheaper video card for mining, configurations of this model are available with 4GB of video memory.

    Key Features
    GPU clock speed1.120MHz
    Video memory capacity8GB GDDR5 type
    Memory performance8 Gbps
    Power connectors1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin
    Power consumption150 Watt
    Standard connectors1 DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.0
    Price$370

    Dancing with a tambourine

    I insert the card, connect the monitor to the video output of the motherboard, and... there is no image. It was experimentally determined that it is necessary to change a couple of BIOS settings by setting the values ​​indicated in the screenshot:


    Further actions depend on the processor generation.

    AMD APU (Ryzen G, Athlon GE, A10 and others), as well as Intel Haswell generation and newer

    Windows 10

    Starting with Windows 10 1803, Microsoft has implemented a semblance of the Optimus technology familiar to laptop owners. Rendering in heavy applications is carried out by a discrete video card, and the built-in video core of the processor is responsible for image output and 2D processing. The video stream is transmitted via the PCI-E bus and output through the video output of the motherboard. You need to install a graphics driver on the processor video core. Intel owners can use the Driver & Support Assistant application, and Adrenalin drivers are provided for AMD owners.

    In addition, you will have to use the NVIDIA driver no older than version 417.22 (stable) or 417.23 (beta). In later ones, either something has changed, or NVIDIA has implemented protection, but after installing the modified driver, the device will either hang in the manager with an error, or (at the end of 2022) simply refuse to work.

    First, disable automatic driver updates via Windows Update. Otherwise, sooner or later a more recent driver will appear there and will be automatically installed. There are various methods on the Internet, but only one worked for me - through group policies. To do this you will need Windows 10 Professional or Enterprise.

    Disabling driver updates for a specific device

    In the properties of the video adapter in the device manager, look at its identifiers (4 pieces):


    Start → Run → gpedit.msc → Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Device Installation → Restriction on device installation → Prohibit the installation of devices with the specified device codes → Enabled → Show → Add there the 4 lines that you saw above.

    Secondly, install the driver:

    If you need PhysX support (the hard way)

    Disable Secure Boot in the BIOS:


    Download and unpack the distribution, edit the file /Display.Driver/nv_dispi.inf. The technique is simple - you need to find and delete lines containing NVIDIA_DEV.1C07

    (1C07 - ID P106-100).
    Then add the following lines to the nvaci.inf file: after %NVIDIA_DEV.1BE1.1243.1025% = Section064, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1BE1&SUBSYS_12431025 add (yes, there is a space at the end) %NVIDIA_DEV.1C07% = Section066, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C07
    after (yes, the same again line)

    %NVIDIA_DEV.1BE1.1243.1025% = Section064, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1BE1&SUBSYS_12431025 add %NVIDIA_DEV.1C07% = Section066, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C07

    after

    %NVIDIA_DEV.1BE1.1243.1025% = Section063, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1BE1&SUBSYS_12431025 add %NVIDIA_DEV.1C07% = Section065, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C07

    after

    NVIDIA_DEV.1BE1.1243.1025 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070" add NVIDIA_DEV.1C07 = "NVIDIA P106-100"

    If desired, you can change

    NVIDIA_DEV.1C07 = "NVIDIA P106-100" on NVIDIA_DEV.1C07 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB" but this does not affect anything other than the display name in the task manager. Applications like GeForce Experience will still recognize the card as P106-100. As far as I understand, this can only be changed by resoldering resistors (straps) on the card itself, the combination of which determines what PCI ID the video card will have.

    Ready driver (all optional (and mostly irrelevant for this card) components such as telemetry, audio output support, ShadowPlay have been removed... leaving only the video driver itself and PhysX)

    After that, download Display Driver Uninstaller, disconnect the network adapter (or pull out the network cable). Open a command prompt with administrator rights and execute:

    bcdedit /set {current} testsigning on Reboot Launch DDU, clean the system from NVIDIA drivers:


    Go to the device manager and execute “Action” → “Update hardware configuration”. It is necessary to ensure that the “3D video controller” is displayed instead of the discrete video card: Run setup.exe and install the driver. There is no point in installing GeForce Experience, it still “sees” that the card is not a gaming card, functions like ShadowPlay will not work. We perform a clean installation. We agree to install the driver without checking the publisher:


    After installing the driver, there should be no devices with exclamation marks left in the device manager.

    Open a command prompt with administrator rights and disable the installation of unsigned drivers (all sorts of anti-cheats react to this very nervously):

    bcdedit /set {current} testsigning off Reboot into BIOS, enable secure boot in the same place where you disabled it. We boot into Windows, turn on the network adapter or plug in the network cable.

    If you don't need PhysX support (easy way)

    Download the distribution and install it normally. There is no point in installing GeForce Experience, it still “sees” that the card is not a gaming card, functions like ShadowPlay will not work.

    The driver is installed, now let's turn the card into a game card. NVIDIA video cards can operate in one of two modes: WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) and TCC (Tesla Compute Cluster). Non-gaming cards (mining cards and all sorts of Teslas) operate in TCC mode by default, so from an OS point of view they do not have Direct3D support. The operating mode is switched using the nvidia-smi utility supplied with the driver:

    1) Launch the command line as administrator and go to the directory with the utility:

    cd “C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVSMI” 2) Run the utility: nvidia-smi.exe 3) We see something like this output:


    from which it follows that our card has an identifier of 0 and operates in TCC mode.

    4) Change the operating mode:

    nvidia-smi -g 0 -dm 0 where -g 0 is the card ID we saw above and -dm 0 enables WDDM mode as described in the documentation.

    Without rebooting, go to the registry branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318} and see subsections there (0000, 0001, ...) corresponding to video adapters (integrated processor graphics and discrete video card) . We go to the subsection corresponding to our P106-100 and set the EnableMsHybrid key to 1 (if there is no such key, create it - a 32-bit DWORD type; some users report that it only worked for them when they set the value to 2, keep in mind). By changing the registry we will force the NVIDIA control panel to work (otherwise it will refuse to start, citing the fact that there is no monitor connected to the video card). Finally rebooting.

    If you now run GPU-Z, it will report that the card now supports DirectCompute (and PhysX, if you have done the manipulations to activate it and, of course, installed PhysX itself along with the driver):

    Go to the NVIDIA control panel, in the “Manage 3D Settings → Preferred GPU” section, select “High-Performance Processor”, and in the “Set PhysX Configuration” section, select P106-100 as the PhysX processor.

    Linux

    We install the proprietary NVIDIA video driver from the repositories, as well as Steam/Lutris/Wine. Everything works out of the box.

    Windows 7

    The LTT forum suggested this solution: To force vga output in Windows 7 you need to go to the “Screen resolution” menu, click on “Detect” button — another gray screen(s) should pop up in the menu. Click on one of them, and in the drop down menu select something like “Try to connect VGA display on P106-100” After that select “Extend Displays” and apply

    Then if you set your “virtual monitor” as a Default (Don't do this unless you have a program to switch windows between monitors with keys!!! I use Ultramon) program will start there and use the P106-100 GPU and you can use your hotkey to switch to your main monitor and it will be good"

    Intel Ivy Bridge generation and older

    Please note that you will not have DX12 support in
    Windows 10

    linustechtips.com/topic/1001580-p106-now-support-directx-not-official/page/10/?tab=comments#comment-13232905

    Linux

    Perhaps everything will work out of the box after installing the proprietary NVIDIA video driver from the repositories. No one has checked yet.

    Windows 7

    The LTT forum suggested this solution, but no one has tested it with older processors yet: To force vga output in Windows 7 you need to go to the “Screen resolution” menu, click on “Detect” button — another gray screen(s) should pop up in the menu. Click on one of them, and in the drop down menu select something like “Try to connect VGA display on P106-100” After that select “Extend Displays” and apply

    Then if you set your “virtual monitor” as a Default (Don't do this unless you have a program to switch windows between monitors with keys!!! I use Ultramon) program will start there and use the P106-100 GPU and you can use your hotkey to switch to your main monitor and it will be good"

    4.AMD Radeon RX Vega 56

    Graphics card with graphics performance beyond its capabilities

    • Excellent mining performance
    • High energy consumption
    • Gets a little warm during operation

    The AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 is one of the most well-featured graphics cards available on the market today. Performance tests confirm that this model is faster than the Nvidia GTX 1070 graphics card. Thanks to the Bitcoin mining craze, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 GPU is a worthwhile investment. Again, it is likely that this model is not so easy to find, and its level of power consumption suggests that the video card will be an expensive pleasure if it is used around the clock for mining purposes. However, the mining capabilities of the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 cannot be overestimated, so if you manage to find one, it is definitely worth considering purchasing it.

    Key Features
    GPU clock speed1.156MHz
    Video memory capacity8GB type HBM2
    Memory performance800MHz
    Power connectors2 x 8-pin
    Power consumption210 Watt
    Standard connectors3 x DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.0
    Price$500

    Testing

    Since the card is identical in characteristics to the regular GTX 1060 6GB, the only question of interest is whether the performance drops due to the low bandwidth of the PCI-E 1.0 bus.
    Tests were carried out on the platform:

    • Core i7-6700 ES @ 3.7 GHz
    • ASUS Z170-P
    • 16 GB DDR4-2133 in single channel mode

    Unigine Valley Benchmark 1.0
    Render: Direct3D11 Mode: 1920×1080 8xAA fullscreen Preset: Extreme HD FPS: 65.7 Score: 2748 Min FPS: 31.9 Max FPS: 125.8

    The number of points obtained corresponds to the GTX 1060 6GB.

    Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0

    Render: Direct3D11 Mode: 1920×1080 8xAA fullscreen Quality: Ultra Tessellation: Extreme FPS: 61.7 Score: 1555 Min FPS: 25.5 Max FPS: 125.2

    12.5% ​​performance loss compared to GTX 1060 6GB.

    Final Fantasy XV Benchmark


    9% and 7% drop in productivity respectively.

    Perhaps it would have been better with a more powerful processor and dual-channel memory mode. It's also worth noting that Ansel's technology works because it's not tied to GeForce Experience.

    Under load, another feature of the card appears - it tries to keep the GPU temperature at 55°. The noise level can hardly be called comfortable. For miners this is not critical, but we are gamers... The problem can be solved in one of two ways:

    Method 1 (at your own risk)

    - flash the BIOS from a similar card, which has more relaxed temperature limits:

    • Find a suitable BIOS on TechPowerUp. To see the firmware for P106-100, you need to select “Unverified Uploads” in the “GPU Brand” column, and select “P106-100” for “Card Model”
    • when choosing firmware, carefully check that the memory capacity matches (6 GB) and that “Memory Support” supports the manufacturer of the memory soldered on your specific card
    • By searching I was able to find an older BIOS. It contains quite reasonable fan speeds.
    • The BIOS is flashed using NVFlash with the commands nvflash —protectoff nvflash 213313.rom —overridesub without the key “—overridesub” the utility will refuse to flash it, since the manufacturer specified Gigabyte in the old BIOS, and NVIDIA in the new one
    • If successful, reboot and repeat the manipulations with installing the driver and editing the registry

    method 2 (safe universal)
    - specify the desired temperature curve in MSI Afterburner:

    2.AMD Radeon RX 580

    The most popular video card for mining from AMD

    • Great price tag
    • Good cooling system
    • Difficult to find in stock due to popularity with miners

    The AMD Radeon RX 580 can rightfully be considered one of the best video cards designed for mining. It has even become, in some ways, a victim of its own “coolness”, since it is incredibly difficult to find in stock at retailers. However, the popularity of this video card is not without reason: it provides an excellent hashrate of 29 megahash/sec, while maintaining low power consumption. Among other things, the price of this model is lower than that of the GTX 1070 video card. If you are not afraid to rummage around a little in the settings, you will definitely be satisfied with the mining performance of this card.

    Key Features
    GPU clock speed1.257 MHz
    Video memory capacity8GB GDDR5 type
    Memory performance8 Gbps
    Power connectors1 x 8-pin, 1 x 6-pin
    Power consumption185 Watt
    Standard connectors1 DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.0
    Price$260

    FAQ

    Is it necessary to order from China?
    Since, starting with Pascal, NVIDIA mandatory requires a digital signature for firmware, “Chinese” cards do not have any special, modified firmware. Therefore, they are no different from those available from us.

    They say that some games don't work in this situation?

    I personally checked out such games as The Witcher 2, The Witcher 3, World of Warcraft, Nier: Automata, Metro Exodus, Hearthstone, Star Wars: Battlefront II. Everything is working. Only the 3DMark benchmark did not start.

    What if I flash the BIOS from 1060 6GB?

    I managed to patch all the checks in the NVFlash utility, but it is impossible to programmatically flash the BIOS from another chip, because the Device ID of the video card and the Device ID of the firmware are checked not only by the utility, but also by the video chip itself. An attempt to flash with a hardware programmer resulted in a BSOD. Perhaps it makes sense to programmatically conjure with straps (Device ID in modern video cards is built directly into the chip; there is a known attempt to resolder a video chip onto a GTX1060 board - the resulting “mutant” was still identified in the system as P106-100). But there is no publicly available documentation - it’s simply not clear which registers need to be written into.

    What other cards are there for mining?

    P106-090 - similar to the GTX 1050 Ti, has a wider memory bus, higher frequencies, but only 3 gigabytes of memory. P104-100 - overclocked GTX 1070 with halved memory. P104-101 is a copy of the GTX 1080. P102-100 is a stripped-down version of the GTX 1080 Ti with 5 GB of memory. P102-101 - the same thing, but with 10 GB of memory.

    You need to understand that the more powerful the card, the more it will rest against the bus. Please note that there are cards with a bus reduced to PCI-E 1.1 x4

    ! For example, P104-100 made by Gigabyte and P106-90 made by Zotac. This greatly impacts performance.

    Just in case, here are the identifiers of these cards (drivers are modified in the same way):

    • 1C09 = "NVIDIA P106-090"
    • 1B87 = "NVIDIA P104-100"
    • 1BC7 = "NVIDIA P104-101"

    Is it possible to put such a card in SLI with a gaming card?
    Yes, see here and here. And not necessarily with a GTX 1060. For example, you can pair the GP106-100 with a GTX 1070.

    Is it possible to use a cheap discrete video card to display images instead of integrated video?

    The only option for using two discrete video cards is SLI, described above.

    1.Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070

    Low power consumption, high hashrate

    • Excellent ratio of energy consumption to hashrate (a measure of the number of hashing operations that a miner is able to perform in a certain period of time)
    • Large memory capacity
    • High cost of the device

    The GTX 1070 video card from Nvidia is not only an excellent solution for gamers, but also an excellent graphics processor for mining. This is because the video card provides a high level of hashrate (about 30 megahash/sec) with a small amount of electricity consumed. It is important to remember that the more energy a GPU requires, the more expensive it is to operate, which cannot but affect the size of the final profit. Like many of Nvidia's new graphics cards, the 1070 has a fairly high price tag, so you'll have to spend some money up front. However, if you are serious about mining cryptocurrencies over the long term, the GTX 1070 can be considered perhaps the best graphics card for mining available today.

    Key Features
    GPU clock speed1.506MHz
    Video memory capacity8GB GDDR5 type
    Memory performance8 Gbps
    Power connectors1 x 6-pin
    Power consumption150 Watt
    Standard connectors3 x DisplayPort 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.0, DL-DVI
    Price$480

    Overclocking 1060 6Gb in Hive OS

    Overclocking 1060 6Gb for ETH mining in Hive OS, if you are not yet registered in Hive OS, register using this link with the promotional code InsidePC and get $10 to your account, only 1 rig is free in the system, from the second rig you need to pay $3 per month for each rig. Overclocking 1060 6Gb in Rave OS

    Yield 1060 6Gb:

    As you can see, as of March 20, 2022, the card brings in about $2 per day. At the same time we consume 90 watts. Is it possible to increase the hashrate of the card using overclocking?

    Overclocking a 1060 6GB video card for mining on Windows is done using MSI Afterburner. This program works perfectly with all cards and all card manufacturers, both Nvidia and AMD.

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