Ethereum GPU mining?

[VirtualLarry]

Anyone else stocking up on cards? Do you think that the current increase in prices (and demand for cards) is going to be temporary, until mfg's can get stock out of the newest cards, or more-or-less a permanent situation, with prices continuously but slowly rising?

I noticed that the Asus "DUAL" RX 5700XT cards, that Newegg wanted $409.99 - $50 promo code last Nov. 4th, are now in stock again, for $469.99 + $6.99 ship. $110 price increase in a month or so! Glad that I got a few back in Nov.

I'm basically at capacity, more or less, as far as physical space and PCs with slots go for GPUs, as well as electrically. Still, I bought a couple more GTX 1660-family cards the last couple of weeks. Maybe I'll flip a few of them, or try. Or get a friend interested in mining. I know a few people that are on fixed income, that could use some more money in their pocket every month.

 

[The Alias]

Anyone else stocking up on cards? Do you think that the current increase in prices (and demand for cards) is going to be temporary, until mfg's can get stock out of the newest cards, or more-or-less a permanent situation, with prices continuously but slowly rising?

I noticed that the Asus "DUAL" RX 5700XT cards, that Newegg wanted $409.99 - $50 promo code last Nov. 4th, are now in stock again, for $469.99 + $6.99 ship. $110 price increase in a month or so! Glad that I got a few back in Nov.

I'm basically at capacity, more or less, as far as physical space and PCs with slots go for GPUs, as well as electrically. Still, I bought a couple more GTX 1660-family cards the last couple of weeks. Maybe I'll flip a few of them, or try. Or get a friend interested in mining. I know a few people that are on fixed income, that could use some more money in their pocket every month.

I just bought a 6800xt, so I essentially freed up another 5700xt by taking it out of my gaming pc. I'm pretty thermally limited in my house right now. I'm also considering selling some of my 5700xt Mechs in favor of RTX 3080s for more flexibility whenever etchash goes away and getting more hash per 6 card mining rig... Decisions decisions.

 

[VirtualLarry]

In terms of "real world value", with my current mining revenue, I can order four pizzas (Med., with coupon) and a couple of sodas from Dominos every two days, and eat them for two days.

Of course, that's not the most efficient use of grocery money.

Or buy a new GPU every 25-30 days.

 

[Shmee]

I just noticed Phoenix miner 5.4c is out. Fixed the crash on startup with latest Nvidia drivers supposedly.

 

[aleader]

Another basic question...how do you know what you're spending on power when GPU mining? Are you just looking at month=to-month bills and guessing how much was attributed to mining? I'm not sure how it's done in the US, but here the meters are read every 3 months. The other 2 are estimates. I guess I could take a monthly average and see how much it increased? The issue with that is the inconsistency with the weather here. One day it's -3C, the next it's -22C, so power fluctuates based on how long your furnace runs. Or do you have a tester or something connected directly? Is it a software program that tracks it?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Most mining software can read out the power usage on NVidia and AMD cards, Pascal and Polaris and newer, respectively. AMD cards require some additional "fudge factor" to get the "at the wall" values, NVidia power usage is more accurate in the software.

But why worry about that? Get a $10-15 power meter, and plug that into the wall, and then plug the mining rig into the power meter, then you can tell how much you're actually drawing "at the wall".

Also, use 80Plus Gold or higher rated PSUs, to minimize power loss, and lower the power limit and/or undervolt your cards, and overclock the VRAM.

 

[The Alias]

It would seem the Valhalla of mining is returning. Average gas prices is 400 gwei on Sunday which is normally the slow day of the week.

 

[EXCellR8]

Oh there's all the 30 series cards...

Simon assured gamers that he doesn’t buy his cards from the regular retail supply chain. However, the large-scale purchase of graphics cards for crypto-mining is a major cause of graphics card shortage across the world.

Of course he did, what a nice guy...

 

[ElFenix]

"i ordered enough cards that i could avoid the middleman and go straight to the distributor so i didn't compete with you at retail"

 

[VirtualLarry]

"I know, right? Me too! I'm thinking of selling my car and renting out the girlfriend for a few nights so I can buy some mining rigs. "

https://www.reddit.com/r/NiceHash/comments/kqlxtq

 

[VirtualLarry]

NiceHash - Leading Cryptocurrency Platform for Mining and Trading

www.nicehash.com

Nice little write-up on their 10x RTX 3060 ti rig. They used a single 2200W PSU! (I presume, 230-240V ONLY, since they're in Europe.)

I've got almost that hash-rate, with a few more cards (mostly RX 5700XT and GTX 1660 ti, all mostly power-tuned for ETH mining). I think I'm at 595MH/sec and 1800-1900W.

Yes, I'm looking forward to getting to RTX 3060 ti or even just 3060 cards when they come out, if they become "actually available".

Returns right now on ETH mining are REALLY sweet, especially earning BTC with NH. But if EIP 1559 takes hold, mining revenue from ETH blocks/shares is going to take a nose-dive. Purely because Vitalik *hates* miners, so I hear. I think that we should all hold a "nomine ETH day" if it gets implemented. Watch as ETH blockchain gets 51% attacked left and right. That will teach him for *hitting on those that supported his vision by mining. Miners are NOT freeloaders, or profiteers, they're doing a valuable service to propel the blockchain forward, and they SHOULD BE compensated for all of their hard work (well, using GPUs or ASICs, etc.). Basically, Vitalik and his co-horts, want to do to ETH mining, what the SEC has done to XRP. And that would be a real shame, because I love this hobby, and I also love the extra income that comes from it. Don't kill the Golden Goose, Vitalik, even if it smells up the barn sometimes.

 

[EXCellR8]

I'm glad you like a hobby, but don't embellish your 'generous contribution' because it makes you feel like less of a greed-monger.

Because I'm sure you're profits will be used to fund cancer research or local charities lol

 

[Feld]

NiceHash - Leading Cryptocurrency Platform for Mining and Trading

www.nicehash.com

Nice little write-up on their 10x RTX 3060 ti rig. They used a single 2200W PSU! (I presume, 230-240V ONLY, since they're in Europe.)

I've got almost that hash-rate, with a few more cards (mostly RX 5700XT and GTX 1660 ti, all mostly power-tuned for ETH mining). I think I'm at 595MH/sec and 1800-1900W.

Yes, I'm looking forward to getting to RTX 3060 ti or even just 3060 cards when they come out, if they become "actually available".

Returns right now on ETH mining are REALLY sweet, especially earning BTC with NH. But if EIP 1559 takes hold, mining revenue from ETH blocks/shares is going to take a nose-dive. Purely because Vitalik *hates* miners, so I hear. I think that we should all hold a "nomine ETH day" if it gets implemented. Watch as ETH blockchain gets 51% attacked left and right. That will teach him for *hitting on those that supported his vision by mining. Miners are NOT freeloaders, or profiteers, they're doing a valuable service to propel the blockchain forward, and they SHOULD BE compensated for all of their hard work (well, using GPUs or ASICs, etc.). Basically, Vitalik and his co-horts, want to do to ETH mining, what the SEC has done to XRP. And that would be a real shame, because I love this hobby, and I also love the extra income that comes from it. Don't kill the Golden Goose, Vitalik, even if it smells up the barn sometimes.

Pretty good efficiency. Between 3 rigs and my desktop, I'm doing 740 MH for 2200W in total. But if I turned off my less-efficient 1060 rig, I would be doing 620 MH for 1600 W, so roughly on par using 2 year old Radeon VIIs. Especially given that the one in my desktop is overclocked rather than tuned for efficiency like the others. People panned that Radeon VII hard when it came out, but from a miner's perspective they've been an excellent buy and paid for themselves multiple times over.

About Vitalik and that EIP, gotta say it's been very well known since before Ethereum first launched that the intent was to eventually eliminate mining altogether in favor of proof of stake, and given the initially planned timelines, miners are lucky to still be able to mine that blockchain today. But that said, I don't see the logic at all in how that EIP would supposedly reduce network fees. The main difference is the fee would be burned instead of given to miners, but the amount of the fee is still dynamic, so unless someone can say for certain what network demand will be in the future then they really can't predict what the fees will be beyond the next block.

 

[The Alias]

I'm glad you like a hobby, but don't embellish your 'generous contribution' because it makes you feel like less of a greed-monger.

Because I'm sure you're profits will be used to fund cancer research or local charities lol

Greed-monger seems like a bit of a stretch considering that the smart players in this game buy hardware when there isn't demand, hold on to the profits when there is a good run and then purchase more hardware once the market goes down. You should store your grain in times of harvest, you don't eat it all.

 

[aleader]

I'm still dragging my feet on this. All the different software and 'pools' and such make it sound quite complicated. I'm sure it isn't, but it's confusing enough that I keep setting it aside. I have the 5700XT and a spanking new 750W Gold PSU, and my system runs quite cool already. This video seems like a good starting point, but I still have questions:

Questions:

1) Does it matter what 'miner' you use? Should I just use 'Nicehash' and be done with it?

2) Does using that automatically put you in a 'pool', or is that a separate thing you need to do/download/pick?

3) In another video he talks about using 'Hiveon', which seems to be a 'pool'. So you use Nicehash to mine on Hiveon?

4) In this video he mines ETH but gets Bitcoin. Is this the normal way of doing it?

5) These coin 'wallets'...are they secure and am I then able to convert them to my currency (CAD) and deposit them as real money in my real bank account, without having to wait several weeks/months?

6) Do I need to open a separate, actual bank account at a real bank, or can I just use my existing chequing account?

I obviously don't want to give my account info to any of these sites or have to download spurious, possibly malware-infected software to my PC as it's my main PC, not a separate 'rig'. Surely if I can figure out modern jets in DCS World I can figure this out I think I'm more interested in the 'efficiency-tweaking' aspect of it than the mining...although paying for my video card would be nice!

 

[Feld]

I'm still dragging my feet on this. All the different software and 'pools' and such make it sound quite complicated. I'm sure it isn't, but it's confusing enough that I keep setting it aside. I have the 5700XT and a spanking new 750W Gold PSU, and my system runs quite cool already. This video seems like a good starting point, but I still have questions:

Questions:

1) Does it matter what 'miner' you use? Should I just use 'Nicehash' and be done with it?

2) Does using that automatically put you in a 'pool', or is that a separate thing you need to do/download/pick?

3) In another video he talks about using 'Hiveon', which seems to be a 'pool'. So you use Nicehash to mine on Hiveon?

4) In this video he mines ETH but gets Bitcoin. Is this the normal way of doing it?

5) These coin 'wallets'...are they secure and am I then able to convert them to my currency (CAD) and deposit them as real money in my real bank account, without having to wait several weeks/months?

6) Do I need to open a separate, actual bank account at a real bank, or can I just use my existing chequing account?

I obviously don't want to give my account info to any of these sites or have to download spurious, possibly malware-infected software to my PC as it's my main PC, not a separate 'rig'. Surely if I can figure out modern jets in DCS World I can figure this out I think I'm more interested in the 'efficiency-tweaking' aspect of it than the mining...although paying for my video card would be nice!

1. Nicehash is pretty unique when it comes to mining clients. It can automatically mine whichever coin is the most profitable at the moment for your hardware, and automatically switch to mining something else if relative profitability changes. I believe you set it for whichever currency you want to be paid out in (usually Bitcoin or Ether) and they handle any necessary conversions on their end prior to the payouts. It is also the simplest to set up, with the least configuration needed on your end. However, they take the largest cut of your mining proceeds in exchange for their services. It's a nice way to get your feet wet with mining, but once you learn what you're doing better you can get a little more profit from using a different miner that you configure yourself.

2. Nicehash automatically puts your in an appropriate pool for what it has you mining. If you use a different mining client, you will have to choose that client based on the coin(s) you wish to mine and also configure it for appropriate pool(s) of your choosing. Personally, I'm using Phoenix Miner to mine Ethereum in the pool Ethermine.

3. Yes, I haven't used it personally but Hiveon appears to be a mining pool for Ethereum specifically. Their website shows they charge no fees currently, so profitability there should be good.

4. It's normal if using Nicehash. For most anything else, you would expect to be paid out in whatever coin it is that you are mining and if you want to have it converted to something else you would do that conversion yourself on a crypto exchange.

5. Security depends on the type of wallet. If it's an address on an exchange, you are putting your trust in their security. Although it isn't common, exchanges have been hacked or had insiders steal funds before, and you can bet it will happen again sometime in the future. A wallet that you generate yourself, preferably offline, will be more secure because only you have the private key (basically the password) to interact with it.

6. A checking account should be fine. But you will need to create an account at an exchange that lets you sell your crypto for dollars, and link your checking account to the exchange. If you've ever set up a Paypal account and linked it to your checking account, it's pretty much the same process. You will not need to connect your bank/checking account to your mining software or pool in any way, but it is necessary to link to an exchange if you intend to sell for fiat currency. I don't know the best exchanges these days to use in Canada, but there are others around here who can probably help you out with that. There are numerous options in the US, and I imagine at least some of them can be used by Canadians too, but I'm not the one to ask about that.

 

[VirtualLarry]

All good tips, although Nicehash does not pay out in ETH at all. They were talking about it at one point, but it hasn't happened yet. Only payouts in BTC, and if in Europe, you can convert and withdraw EUR directly, apparently, for a fee.

 

[Ajay]

"i ordered enough cards that i could avoid the middleman and go straight to the distributor so i didn't compete with you at retail"

Dropped on his head as a young child?

 

[aleader]

Thanks for the detailed answers. I understand it much better now. I have heard Phoenix Miner bandied about. I assume it isn't that difficult for a reasonably tech-savvy person like myself to use? Do you just monitor it and change pools daily/weekly or something if you need to? Can I easily switch between Nicehash and PM?

This offline wallet, is this the 'cold storage' or 'paper wallets' that I read about? Is this what you guys do? Is this how all of that Bitcoin became trapped when Gerald Cotton 'died'?

Is it possible to just link your PayPal account instead of your bank account directly? I have my credit card on there, but I am able to receive funds to the PayPal account for instance when I return bottles/cans to Sarcan. They just credit my PayPal account.

Also, is there any benefit to holding Bitcoin instead of ETH?

 

[LightningZ71]

Bitcoin might be a bit more liquid, as some places are willing to take it instead of regular money as payment whereas I don't know of many (or any really) places, save for exchanges, that will accept it as currency. The other thing to keep in mind, while they tend to fluctuate in similar directions, they are often proportionally different and you can increase the cost value of your holdings more quickly by picking the one that is proportionally rising faster. To give you an abstract example, if you own $1000 in bitcoin holdings or Eth holdings today, a $10 rise in the value of each Eth will increase your holdings more than a $10 rise in each bitcoin, because you will own fewer bitcoins at $1000 then Eth.

There are much more informed coin investors than I that can give you better guidance, just beware that both coins are volatile assets, and can be worth near zero quickly if a few whales change their position.

 

[Feld]

All good tips, although Nicehash does not pay out in ETH at all. They were talking about it at one point, but it hasn't happened yet. Only payouts in BTC, and if in Europe, you can convert and withdraw EUR directly, apparently, for a fee.

Ah, good to know. I figured they must have implemented that long ago by now. Guess I should have checked.

 

[Feld]

Thanks for the detailed answers. I understand it much better now. I have heard Phoenix Miner bandied about. I assume it isn't that difficult for a reasonably tech-savvy person like myself to use? Do you just monitor it and change pools daily/weekly or something if you need to? Can I easily switch between Nicehash and PM?

This offline wallet, is this the 'cold storage' or 'paper wallets' that I read about? Is this what you guys do? Is this how all of that Bitcoin became trapped when Gerald Cotton 'died'?

Is it possible to just link your PayPal account instead of your bank account directly? I have my credit card on there, but I am able to receive funds to the PayPal account for instance when I return bottles/cans to Sarcan. They just credit my PayPal account.

Also, is there any benefit to holding Bitcoin instead of ETH?

Yeah, it's not hard to set up, and easy to switch between miners once you have things configured. Nicehash will automatically handle any pool switching it calculates is worth doing. With Phoenix, you can switch pools easily too if you want to but if you're mining the same coin there's likely never going to be a need to switch pools unless something happens like your pool quits operating or goes offline due to a DDoS attack.

Pretty much, yes, I mine to and store crypto only in wallets that I alone control the keys to. I actually use a hardware wallet for most of my needs.

Not sure if you can get direct payouts to Paypal. That would depend on the exchange, so you would have to look into what exchanges serve Canada and see what options and requirements they have for withdrawls. In the US regulations are pretty stringent, but it may be less so in Canada.

Honestly, you can't go wrong holding either one. Or some of both.

 

[VirtualLarry]

In the USA, you can link your Coinbase exchange account to Paypal, and then transfer BTC to Coinbase, sell for USD on their site, and then withdraw USD to Paypal.

 

[Shmee]

Or can deposit in a bank.

 

[aleader]

In the USA, you can link your Coinbase exchange account to Paypal, and then transfer BTC to Coinbase, sell for USD on their site, and then withdraw USD to Paypal.

Ok, I like that idea, but is this after your mined Ethereum? Is it easy to convert Ethereum to Bitcoin? Say for instance I use Phoenix miner to mine Ethereum. Your method here does not require me to have a bank account hooked up then correct? Is there any additional fees I need to think about if doing it this way?

So the process would be:

1) Download and install Phoenix miner and pick a pool to mine Ethereum into (Ethermine, Hiveon??)

2) Alternatively, just install Nicehash and it picks the pool automatically. Does it also switch coins based on profits, or just Bitcoin?

3) Link Phoenix miner/Nicehash to Coinbase?

4) Pick or setup a wallet (Coinomi?), or does Phoenix miner include one? Could I switch from a digital wallet to an offline one later once I know what I'm doing?

5) Link Coinbase to Paypal and/or a bank account

Is that pretty much it?

Also, I know I need to set up my card by limiting power and overclocking the VRAM. Do you just use Adrenalin for this or is it better to use Afterburner? In Adrenalin, my power limit is at 0 right now. Do I just set that as negative as I can?