Cryptocoin Mining?

[IGemini]

The 6950 is similar to the 560Ti, however I wouldn't recommend switching as the difference would be negligible.

In gaming it would be negligible. In bitcoin a 6950 would be 5-8x faster than the 560Ti, depending on drivers and clock settings.

 

[Smartazz]

In gaming it would be negligible. In bitcoin a 6950 would be 5-8x faster than the 560Ti, depending on drivers and clock settings.

Yeah, I should have clarified. Still, it's probably not worth switching just for Bitcoin mining.

 

[Zargon]

no probably not. he should just snag a 7970 and call it a day...

 

[Smartazz]

no probably not. he should just snag a 7970 and call it a day...

That'll definitely be a noticeable upgrade, though a tad expensive.

 

[Zargon]

psh its just money

 

[Skurge]

I'm having another issue with my bitcoin client. It won't connect to the bitcoin network and download blocks. It was working fine before. I closed it one day and came back and opened it and it wouldn't connect anymore.

 

[Despoiler]

Did you guys see this?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=57410.msg692082#msg692082

 

[suklee]

The difference in BF3 you mean?

Would there be a difference in mining?

 

[Smartazz]

The difference in BF3 would be miniscule, but in mining the 6950 would be significantly faster. However, I wouldn't swap cards strictly to mine unless you can get a pretty even trade.

 

[suklee]

no probably not. he should just snag a 7970 and call it a day...

I wouldn't mind throwing the cash towards a 7970, but I'll wait and see what I can actually do with bitcoins where I live. Honestly don't know much about bitcoins at this moment.

I just tried setting up my iMac to do some mining and it was giving me a paltry 16 mhash. the Radeon 4670 GPU was at 74C, probably not a good idea to do mining on it

 

[Smartazz]

I wouldn't mind throwing the cash towards a 7970, but I'll wait and see what I can actually do with bitcoins where I live. Honestly don't know much about bitcoins at this moment.

I just tried setting up my iMac to do some mining and it was giving me a paltry 16 mhash. the Radeon 4670 GPU was at 74C, probably not a good idea to do mining on it

I personally use http://spendbitcoins.com/ and buy some of my games on Amazon. Now that you can convert it directly into Paypal, I might consider doing that and buying games on Steam using Bitcoin.

 

[The2ff]

7970

Further testing, dropping the memory to 170mhz substantially reduces power draw. at default core clock of 925@.925v I am showing 125watts at the wall per card.

1071mhash on 250watts of usage.

EDIT:

1099@.919v
1253mhash on 300watts of usage. 4.16mhash/watt.
Stable so far after 1 hour.

Side note, work size doesn't seem to matter. Getting the same results within 5 or so mhash on 64,128, and 256.

 

[wand3r3r]

I don't get the bitcoin mining idea if this calculation is true:



According to the calculations:

Bitcoin difficulty: 1250757
Generated coins per block: 50

Conversion rate: 7.01000
Mining Factor 100: 0.56 USD/24h@100MHash/s

Hash rate: 550 MHash/s
Average generation time for a block (solo): 113 days, 1 hour (can vary greatly depending on your luck - probabilities)
Coins per 24h at these conditions: 0.4423 BTC

Electricity rate: 0.07 USD/kWh
Power consumption: 375 w

*Fixed**
Power cost per 24h: 0.63 USD
Revenue per day: 3.10 USD
... less power costs: 2.47 USD

Ignoring the rest,

Power cost per 24h: 0.63 USD
Revenue per day: 3.10 USD
... less power costs: 2.47 USD


*Edit/ fixed*

Well, one point still remains. The difficulty is going to double during 2012. So at some point here it will halve. This calculation includes cheap $0.07/kWh electricity, so it would take a long time to pay off a card.

 

[IGemini]

I don't get the bitcoin mining idea if this calculation is true:

According to the calculations:

Bitcoin difficulty: 1250757
Generated coins per block: 50

Conversion rate: 7.01000
Mining Factor 100: 0.56 USD/24h@100MHash/s

Hash rate: 550 MHash/s
Average generation time for a block (solo): 113 days, 1 hour (can vary greatly depending on your luck - probabilities)
Coins per 24h at these conditions: 0.4423 BTC

Electricity rate: 0.7 USD/kWh
Power consumption: 375 w

Power cost per 24h: 6.30 USD
Revenue per day: 3.10 USD
... less power costs: -3.20 USD

Ignoring the rest,
POWER COST $6.30/day
REVENUE $3.10/day


Even if you up the MHash/s to 660, it's still -$2.60/day

That's an absurdly high power rate even in Europe. Did you forget a zero?

 

[wand3r3r]

That's an absurdly high power rate even in Europe. Did you forget a zero?

lol!! Yeah, it's 7cents not 70. Thanks, now I see the light.

 

[slayernine]

Ignoring the rest,
POWER COST $6.30/day
REVENUE $3.10/day


Even if you up the MHash/s to 660, it's still -$2.60/day

I think you do much better if you are in a pool than solo. There are definitely people who have made money. Those of us who have spare hardware lying around don't need to worry much about the initial cost.

Those who can find ways of getting "free" electricity do even better

 

[Elfear]

Can someone tell me how to get Diablominer to run? I was using Guiminer before and the interface is pretty simple. Unfortunately Guiminer doesn't work with GCN and I've been messing around with Diablominer for the past hour and can't figure out how to make it run.

 

[Despoiler]

Can someone tell me how to get Diablominer to run? I was using Guiminer before and the interface is pretty simple. Unfortunately Guiminer doesn't work with GCN and I've been messing around with Diablominer for the past hour and can't figure out how to make it run.

Are you using Windows? If so for a single card

cmd
then cd to your diablominer directory.

DiabloMiner-Windows.exe -D 1 -v 1 -l http://workerusername:workerpassword@poolurl.com:port#

 

[Elfear]

Are you using Windows? If so for a single card

cmd
then cd to your diablominer directory.

DiabloMiner-Windows.exe -D 1 -v 1 -l http://workerusername:workerpassword@poolurl.com:port#

You rock Despoiler. Thanks.

So would I just repeat that same command line for the 2nd worker (6870) with just the worker name changed?

 

[Despoiler]

You rock Despoiler. Thanks.

So would I just repeat that same command line for the 2nd worker (6870) with just the worker name changed?

You can use commas in the flags. If you want to put more than one device to the same worker use -D 1,2. Diablo will give you a cumulative MH/s for all the devices you turned up. Personally I have one worker per card and I use a command shell window per worker/card. That way I get stats on each individual miner. So 2 cards, 2 workers, 2 command shell windows.

Also, the -v 1 I gave you gives the best performance for 7900 series cards. Your 6870 will need a different set of switches to get the most performance. Diablo's first post has some suggestions. I think on reply 49+ somewhere they explain how they switch to using arrays. The - v value changes from what is on the first post.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1721.0

 

[AdamK47]

Is it even worth it doing Bitcoin mining? Just upgraded to three HD7970s @ 1100/1600 and have been wondering if I should even try it.

 

[Despoiler]

Is it even worth it doing Bitcoin mining? Just upgraded to three HD7970s @ 1100/1600 and have been wondering if I should even try it.

If you pool mine then yes. If you have 3 7970s I would be mining when not gaming. Depending on how much you game you could make .5 to a little over 1 BTC per day with those at stock speeds and depending on the pool. They can be quite efficient when undervolted.

 

[blastingcap]

Is it even worth it doing Bitcoin mining? Just upgraded to three HD7970s @ 1100/1600 and have been wondering if I should even try it.

I think a lot of people who are getting into mining now are in for a rude awakening if they are in a tiered service area. If you live in an area with tiered rates, then you pay the lowest rate for your first block of power, then a higher rate for the next, and so on and so forth. It's an energy efficiency/conservation measure by state/local government that gives you incentive to reduce power usage. If you live in a tiered rate area, I would mine with no more than 1 card, maybe not even 1... you can actually LOSE money mining if your power is expensive enough.

I speak from experience, after seeing my power bill increase by over 500% when I first started mining and bitcoins were worth something like $20. With today's low coin prices, it's barely worth mining if you're on a tiered rate (adds stress and wear and tear on cards for a meager profit, though for some people the added heat would be welcome in wintertime... but it's getting closer to the end of winter...).

If you have flat rate (untiered) or free power, and all of your hardware is stuff you already have, then it's more worthwhile to mine. Still not worth it to actually buy additional hardware for the sole purpose of mining, though, as it would take a long time to break even, assuming bitcoins maintain or rise in value--and that is not certain. Coins went down to $2 or so very recently, and 12 months ago they were worth less than a buck.

 

[suklee]

Can anyone briefly explain how addresses work? I'm used to PayPal where you sign in with an email address and then see your balance. So far all I have done is load up the bitcoin client, and it generated an address for me. Is this where I receive bitcoins at? How do I manage accounts or addresses? Any best practice tips for a newbie?

 

[Shmee]

hey also a newb here, just read about it and got interested. How well would a 2 unlocked 6950's work with this? I may just give it a try