I am up for it - my 5770 sits idle all night. And I could add a GT680M if it seems like a good idea.
I will be adding a 7970 to the mix in the not too distant future.....
I will be adding a 7970 to the mix in the not too distant future.....
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Who's Keen for a MR BitCoin Team?
- Thread starter DoFoT9
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well its back to SETI for me then
only wanna have fun in a team effort
Can we invite you to come over to team 3446 and fold some proteins with us ?
Short before 1bn and still need help
12 cores folding also quite good ! Even better... Even under Mac OS X. If you run Windows the GPU might be supported; will check later (I'm a NVidia guy )
maybe they do -- here's from the june 29 entry on the fah blog...
To run FahCore 17, you need a Fermi GPU or better and Windows or Linux, or a AMD HD5000 or better and Windows. It also currently requires proprietary drivers from these vendors. You can test FahCore 17 by adding the "client-type = advanced" setting into the extra core options in the V7 client, as in the Configuration FAQ. Another excellent resource is the GPU FAQ which describes why GPUs are so helpful to us.
http://folding.stanford.edu/home/blog/page/2/
I'd give it a shot if you've got a Windows box...
I've been interested in mining for a while now, but never tried it, the only thing I've really got to do it on is a mac pro, which will be slow (and probably knacker out the hardware quickly)....
Been looking at ASIC miners and they're expensive, and I dont really know how you'd go about building a rig if you could get the ASIC boards
Been looking at ASIC miners and they're expensive, and I dont really know how you'd go about building a rig if you could get the ASIC boards
windows
oh dear no matter then (all my Windows does nowadays is game, rest of the time my mac is in mac mode) 
Just looked what the cost for ASICs are: wow, that's serious money for dedicated/specialized hardware.
Just looked what the cost for ASICs are: wow, that's serious money for dedicated/specialized hardware.
Yeah they're pretty new, it'll get a lot cheaper come next year when all 5/6 ASIC manufacturers have shipped some significant volume. A lot of people are willing to pay for a money making machine though
You guys do know there are alternatives, right?
I've been doing the mining thing for several months now myself (sure wish I made the effort to get this set up earlier, when the REAL profits were possible).
Here's the thing: Bitcoin has already become so established as "the" cyber-currency to mine for and use, there are far too many people mining it. By design, the more people start creating new bitcoins, the more the difficulty level notches up to find the next batch of coins (harder math to crunch through and solve).
People have thrown enough investment money on mining rigs that it's gotten so you can't even begin to make a worthwhile profit without high-end ASIC based, dedicated mining machines. The good ones are all in VERY limited supply and you'll generally be looking at $8,000+ to PRE-order one you might not receive for many months.
So what's the point for the "little guy"? Thankfully, a number of software developers realized there was room for OTHER e-currencies, so you've got well over 25 different competing "alt coins" out there now. Most of these can be mined easily using the "scrypt" protocol, which still has an effective rate of return when you use the right 3D video cards on a standard PC. (Due to the way scrypt works, it doesn't lend itself well to building dedicated processors just to mine it faster, the way the ASIC miners obsoleted video card mining for bitcoin.)
Obviously, these other coins are only worth fractions of what a bitcoin is. But you can think of them sort of like the dimes, nickels or pennies to bitcoin's virtual "dollars".
Personally, I've been mining "litecoin" -- which seems like it has the best chance of sticking around in the long run as a partner currency to bitcoin. (There are free web shopping cart programs out there to let merchants accept litecoins, etc.)
I've been doing the mining thing for several months now myself (sure wish I made the effort to get this set up earlier, when the REAL profits were possible).
Here's the thing: Bitcoin has already become so established as "the" cyber-currency to mine for and use, there are far too many people mining it. By design, the more people start creating new bitcoins, the more the difficulty level notches up to find the next batch of coins (harder math to crunch through and solve).
People have thrown enough investment money on mining rigs that it's gotten so you can't even begin to make a worthwhile profit without high-end ASIC based, dedicated mining machines. The good ones are all in VERY limited supply and you'll generally be looking at $8,000+ to PRE-order one you might not receive for many months.
So what's the point for the "little guy"? Thankfully, a number of software developers realized there was room for OTHER e-currencies, so you've got well over 25 different competing "alt coins" out there now. Most of these can be mined easily using the "scrypt" protocol, which still has an effective rate of return when you use the right 3D video cards on a standard PC. (Due to the way scrypt works, it doesn't lend itself well to building dedicated processors just to mine it faster, the way the ASIC miners obsoleted video card mining for bitcoin.)
Obviously, these other coins are only worth fractions of what a bitcoin is. But you can think of them sort of like the dimes, nickels or pennies to bitcoin's virtual "dollars".
Personally, I've been mining "litecoin" -- which seems like it has the best chance of sticking around in the long run as a partner currency to bitcoin. (There are free web shopping cart programs out there to let merchants accept litecoins, etc.)
I'm still trying to figure out the legitimacy and sustainability of a bitcoin economics. The dollar, for example, is a currency that is backed up by a reserve of the US government.
A bitcoin…. has value (real or virtual) because why? Who backs it up? Backed up by some government's gold reserves? I don't get it. Why invest thousands of dollars on expensive bitcoin mining rigs and even hundreds/thousands of hours mining for something where the value is about as "real" as World of Warcraft currency?
I'd like someone to explain their take on why this is a worthwhile pursuit…
A bitcoin…. has value (real or virtual) because why? Who backs it up? Backed up by some government's gold reserves? I don't get it. Why invest thousands of dollars on expensive bitcoin mining rigs and even hundreds/thousands of hours mining for something where the value is about as "real" as World of Warcraft currency?
I'd like someone to explain their take on why this is a worthwhile pursuit…
Re: bitcoin sustainability
I think the answer is, a currency is legitimate and sustainable as long as its users have faith in it. The U.S. Dollar isn't backed by anything but debt and promises these days. At one time, it was backed by gold but the country abandoned the gold standard long ago.
Bitcoin isn't tied to any one government or its financial situation. Instead, its more of a global, universal currency and the machines doing the mining process that creates more coins are really doing the math required to verify each transaction as legitimate.
I think the answer is, a currency is legitimate and sustainable as long as its users have faith in it. The U.S. Dollar isn't backed by anything but debt and promises these days. At one time, it was backed by gold but the country abandoned the gold standard long ago.
Bitcoin isn't tied to any one government or its financial situation. Instead, its more of a global, universal currency and the machines doing the mining process that creates more coins are really doing the math required to verify each transaction as legitimate.
And this makes me wonder what's all about and why I think that's a pyramid game. The winner are the early joiner and maker of ASICs. Nothing get produced except a big bubble. Plus there is no chance for growth. I read somewhere the maximum number of coins/value is limited. So there will be a time where you have to put more in to get less out. Like oil digging these days.
But hey, have fun with mining.
Yeah, I don't understand it either so I'll stick to folding where I hope I never benefit from the research (if you know what I mean)...
Nobody knows for sure, yet, but ....
The "pyramid scheme" complaint is heard a lot out there about Bitcoin (and the other "alt coins"). Personally, I don't think it's the same thing.
With your standard pyramid scheme, you typically have a business of some sort that claims to offer some great, profitable product or service. The people who get in on the bottom make big profits recruiting more people to sell (because some sort of commission is usually paid for signing up more people, and it turns out that's really where the profit is).
Eventually, you have so many people in the program, the last ones in can't find anyone else to sign up, even though they've all paid for a supply of products to sell (or whatever up-front costs had to be paid to be able to perform whatever service the company claimed to perform). So the company owner made all his/her money selling all those overpriced products or "getting started" packages for the service, and the first group in made a big profit signing people up. Everyone else loses.
If you try to compare that to Bitcoin? For starters, there is no one "company" involved. Sure, there's someone who wrote the code for it in the beginning, and I don't doubt at all that guy profited by mining and hanging onto a bunch of Bitcoin before everyone else got into it and raised the difficulty levels. But really, so what? It's not like anyone else was going to pay him for all of his work coding it. Doesn't he deserve to be successful for designing a whole new type of currency that winds up in world-wide use? Besides -- it was FAR from a sure thing it would even go anywhere. He took a big chance putting all the time and effort into coding it that it might not have ever caught on, and would have just been a big waste of effort.
But also differing from a pyramid scheme, the more people who take part in it, the more legitimate the product (the Bitcoin) becomes.
The "mining" aspect is really only a portion of it. Bitcoin is designed so eventually, a hard limit will be reached on the number of coins in circulation and mining will quit making any new coins after that. (As the limit is approached, the mining, again by design, will become more and more difficult -- meaning less profitable in the sense of new coins appearing in the miner's electronic wallet.)
As this gets closer to happening, more and more users of Bitcoin will start focusing on treating it like cash money instead of a money-making scheme where you invest in computer power to make Bitcoin out of thin air.
Since each transaction still requires multiple mathematical verifications of its validity before it's considered "processed" - the systems doing this by "mining" will still be a critical part of keeping the whole thing functioning. By the time there's little or no more Bitcoin to be generated though, the currency will hopefully be established enough so these people can turn it into a business model of getting paid a small cut of each transaction. (Not unlike what every other payment processor on the planet does now, such as credit card processors or bank wire transfer fees....)
The "pyramid scheme" complaint is heard a lot out there about Bitcoin (and the other "alt coins"). Personally, I don't think it's the same thing.
With your standard pyramid scheme, you typically have a business of some sort that claims to offer some great, profitable product or service. The people who get in on the bottom make big profits recruiting more people to sell (because some sort of commission is usually paid for signing up more people, and it turns out that's really where the profit is).
Eventually, you have so many people in the program, the last ones in can't find anyone else to sign up, even though they've all paid for a supply of products to sell (or whatever up-front costs had to be paid to be able to perform whatever service the company claimed to perform). So the company owner made all his/her money selling all those overpriced products or "getting started" packages for the service, and the first group in made a big profit signing people up. Everyone else loses.
If you try to compare that to Bitcoin? For starters, there is no one "company" involved. Sure, there's someone who wrote the code for it in the beginning, and I don't doubt at all that guy profited by mining and hanging onto a bunch of Bitcoin before everyone else got into it and raised the difficulty levels. But really, so what? It's not like anyone else was going to pay him for all of his work coding it. Doesn't he deserve to be successful for designing a whole new type of currency that winds up in world-wide use? Besides -- it was FAR from a sure thing it would even go anywhere. He took a big chance putting all the time and effort into coding it that it might not have ever caught on, and would have just been a big waste of effort.
But also differing from a pyramid scheme, the more people who take part in it, the more legitimate the product (the Bitcoin) becomes.
The "mining" aspect is really only a portion of it. Bitcoin is designed so eventually, a hard limit will be reached on the number of coins in circulation and mining will quit making any new coins after that. (As the limit is approached, the mining, again by design, will become more and more difficult -- meaning less profitable in the sense of new coins appearing in the miner's electronic wallet.)
As this gets closer to happening, more and more users of Bitcoin will start focusing on treating it like cash money instead of a money-making scheme where you invest in computer power to make Bitcoin out of thin air.
Since each transaction still requires multiple mathematical verifications of its validity before it's considered "processed" - the systems doing this by "mining" will still be a critical part of keeping the whole thing functioning. By the time there's little or no more Bitcoin to be generated though, the currency will hopefully be established enough so these people can turn it into a business model of getting paid a small cut of each transaction. (Not unlike what every other payment processor on the planet does now, such as credit card processors or bank wire transfer fees....)
And this makes me wonder what's all about and why I think that's a pyramid game. The winner are the early joiner and maker of ASICs. Nothing get produced except a big bubble. Plus there is no chance for growth. I read somewhere the maximum number of coins/value is limited. So there will be a time where you have to put more in to get less out. Like oil digging these days.
But hey, have fun with mining.
Thank you for your time wrapping it up for me; much appreciated.
The last part makes me even more think: do I understand it right that at the end of the coin mining (hard limit reached) the system need to continue mining to stay alive ? Means lots ASICs remain online and validating transactions ? No added value; only distributing limited resources between parties.
Does it also mean that Coin owner have to contribute to the mining in a long run ? To keep the value of the coins or even to just perform transactions ?
re: mining after coins are all mined
Right... as it's designed now, there's no way to perform any more exchanges of Bitcoin between parties if there aren't Bitcoin miners on the network to do the math that validates the new transactions.
The thing is, the sum total of all transactions are placed in a "block chain", which is essentially a database that each Bitcoin "wallet" or "miner" has to download in full, before it can do anything else.
Traditionally, many of the "wallet" programs that show how much Bitcoin you own and let you perform "deposits" or "withdrawals" can also do solo mining in the background as they're left running. (With difficulty levels as high as they've shot up now -- it realistically means you're hardly ever going to get any new coins out of it on a standard home PC, even if you leave it running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But still, the functionality is there.)
There's some incentive to leave such a program running in the background, if you're going to use it regularly to do Bitcoin transfers ... because otherwise, that darn block chain has had so many new additions made to it since the last time you ran the client and downloaded a copy, it takes it hours to "catch up" and make it current again.
So yes, I could easily see it just becoming standard practice for everyone to leave a machine helping process future transactions, if they had any interest in using the currency. But not sure if that would constitute enough processing power to handle all transactions in a timely manner. (You have to figure conputer power will be a lot greater than it is today by the time all Bitcoin has been mined and the limit reached ... but how hard will the math be at that point, too?)
Right... as it's designed now, there's no way to perform any more exchanges of Bitcoin between parties if there aren't Bitcoin miners on the network to do the math that validates the new transactions.
The thing is, the sum total of all transactions are placed in a "block chain", which is essentially a database that each Bitcoin "wallet" or "miner" has to download in full, before it can do anything else.
Traditionally, many of the "wallet" programs that show how much Bitcoin you own and let you perform "deposits" or "withdrawals" can also do solo mining in the background as they're left running. (With difficulty levels as high as they've shot up now -- it realistically means you're hardly ever going to get any new coins out of it on a standard home PC, even if you leave it running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But still, the functionality is there.)
There's some incentive to leave such a program running in the background, if you're going to use it regularly to do Bitcoin transfers ... because otherwise, that darn block chain has had so many new additions made to it since the last time you ran the client and downloaded a copy, it takes it hours to "catch up" and make it current again.
So yes, I could easily see it just becoming standard practice for everyone to leave a machine helping process future transactions, if they had any interest in using the currency. But not sure if that would constitute enough processing power to handle all transactions in a timely manner. (You have to figure conputer power will be a lot greater than it is today by the time all Bitcoin has been mined and the limit reached ... but how hard will the math be at that point, too?)
The few Bitcoins I had were stolen. I wont be getting back in but let this be a lesson to others who still have BTC, keep your wallets secure....
No, I had them on a PC. Without going into too much detail and looking like a COMPLETE idiot I will just say keep your wallet on an offline machine if possible.