GPU mining newbie questions

[FireFox31]

Hello, I'm new to GPU mining and have a few questions.  I'm running Windows XP on an Athlon 64 X2 5200+ with an nVidia GTX460 card.  I am mining in solo mode.

How do I disable CPU mining and run only the GPU?  Do I tell the official Bitcoin client (running in -server mode) to stop generating, and let the command line generator do the work?

poclbm barely worked for me.  I got "problems communicating with bitcoin rpc" errors for about two minutes, then 5 seconds worth of work, then RPC communication errors again.  How can this be resolved?  Kiv's GUI said that poclbm was "connected", but it also reported RPC connection problems.

rpcminer seems to be working.  I told it to connect to localhost:8332 and it's reporting ~58 Mhash/sec every few seconds.  And, it's made my Windows GUI a little slower.

How can I confirm that rpcminer is really working?  poclbm may have caused the official Bitcoin client to report a 9th connected user instead of the typical 8 (ports are not forwarded from the outside to reduce network traffic).  While running rpcminer, the connected user total is still at 8.  Heck, I can tell the Bitcoin client to stop generating and rpcminer still reports Mhash/sec every few seconds.

How can I monitor my GPU temp, usage, fan speed, etc?  With rpcminer supposedly running, the GPU fan doesn't sound any louder and it doesn't feel like it's putting out more heat.  I'd like to make sure I don't hurt it.

I'd really like to get ~58 Mhash/sec instead of the 2.5 Mhash/sec that my CPU was providing.  Thanks for any help you can provide.

[1715577996]

1715577996

[1715577996]

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[1715577996]

1715577996

[bitlock]

I found the gui miner helpful to understand this whole process:
http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3878.0

You might need to install the beta to use some of the alternate miners.... the thread is easy to follow.

Motherboards and video card offer software to monitor heat, and processing statistics.... you will have to research what is available for your specific setup...

[FireFox31]

I'm trying to confirm that my setup is working before I leave it unattended to mine for months.  There's a few basic things which would confirm this, though they were missing in the docs.  I'll add them to the wiki once confirmed.


Does RPC Miner show when it's received a new block to hash?  ie: Does it display a "New Target" message in the command prompt window like it does when it first starts.  How do I know it's actually getting new work?

In solo mode, if the official Bitcoin client is open but not "Generating Coins" (to avoid using the CPU), will RPC Miner be mining, getting new blocks, etc?


Thanks again.

[grue]

I'm trying to confirm that my setup is working before I leave it unattended to mine for months.  There's a few basic things which would confirm this, though they were missing in the docs.  I'll add them to the wiki once confirmed.


Does RPC Miner show when it's received a new block to hash?  ie: Does it display a "New Target" message in the command prompt window like it does when it first starts.  How do I know it's actually getting new work?

In solo mode, if the official Bitcoin client is open but not "Generating Coins" (to avoid using the CPU), will RPC Miner be mining, getting new blocks, etc?


Thanks again.

it gets work from the local bitcoin client on a regular interval (less than a minute), and yes, even if bitcoin isn't set to "generate coins" your gpu miner will still be mining.

Keep in mind, you're not gonna get a block anytime soon, because the difficulty is so high. use this tool http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php to find how long it will take for you to generate a block. if it's too high you're probably better off joining a pool.