Bitcoin Forum

its been now a couple of weeks in the mining world.. starting with a cpu ... then getting an amd 5450 card (trying to learn) ... then coming across a good priced r9 390x (so i picked it up) and what i got out of the r9 in 3 days exceeded what i got out of the cpu and the 5450 in two weeks !!! but now i would like to utilize it to the best i could, and today i came across 3 different monero pools that made me wonder (gorillapool , atithasos, and xmr-pool) they are all newly founded pools (gorilla is just me i guess and one other miner with no blocks found so far!!!) the thing is, i keep submitting hashes and im thinking ... what the hell am i doing?!

so, my question is, and if someone could explain it in very simple words, how do pools work? or mining for that matter?

now if i run my own node (bitmonerod) and then run a miner connected to that node...

what exactly is happening? and what are all these shares that i keep submitting, if its not of a found block?

is it solving shares first, and they would construct a block?

or is it finding a block first, and then trying to solve all its hashes?

and where are the pools getting these shares from?

i know that this is the core of the mining world, and that i should by now have figured it out, but since mining has been going on for some while now, so most of the articles and discussions have already surpassed these basic points that one can not find a very simple walk through (not simple to level of run a node, run a miner, find a block, get reward) and also not too complicated (like going into what algorithm is being used, and clock speeds, and all these other zillion settings that the advanced users discuss)

thank you to anyone who can take the time to help simplify the process to me, but not over simplify :)
 

Are you specifically trying to mine Monero?

i guess like most, not settled yet on something, but i mined BCN when i was using the 5450, and now Im mining monero (which takes around 3 days on a pool to get like half an xmr) and i also mined ETC for a few days (also took like 3 days for 1 ETC) ... so im guess im still shopping :))

You can try dual mining on Coinotron.On the other hand keep an eye on the diffuculty of the coins and mine it for the price movement in near future.

Do not mine at small pools unless you have enough Mh for solo mining.

While you are out shopping, you might want to give ethereum a try.

I had a few shares scattered here and there from mining with the 5450 so I'm trying to complete their minimum payout ... and I just installed get last night and trying to figure out how to run my own node

Posted From bitcointalk.org Android App

on your cpu , were u mining solo or on a pool?

There are many issues with pools and mining, first does it mean that your hash rates is not showing, it is not accurate or you have not seen any coin in your account since you have been mining ?

no .. not at all .. i was just trying to figure out how the pools (or mining in general) work ... thats all :)

although, i thought i would run a node and try solo mining (mining on my local node) and selected EXP for that, so i downloaded the blockchain and started mining and after a few hours i found a block, only to discover that the address i used on the node (ethbase) its keystore file disappeared and i cant figure out how to open that wallet ... so i created a new address and now its been two days and nothing!! not a single block ... a bit frustrating, but it might have been beginners luck :)

Your best bet when starting off is to join a pool to see how things work. Most of what you have described so far should be left until after you have mastered the basics and have a bit more understanding in how it all works.

Mining boiled down to its simplest is your computer is guessing to come up with a magic number, or hash. This number needs to meet certain requirements to be accepted by the network and if it passes you are credited with mining a new block and get the block reward and any mining fees. Only on dead or very low interest coins will you have much of a chance at solo mining. This is because as more miners join in, the network difficulty increase to keep up with the increasing hash-rate. This process is automatic and is intended to keep block generation on a steady pace as set out in the coins specifications.

With most popular coins, and all coins that net more profit than their cost in electricity to mine, you will need to join a pool with only one GPU in order to be profitable. You can mine as long as you want solo if you are simply curious, but if you want to earn any income you will need to increase your chances of finding a block. To do this you will need to join a mining pool.

A mining pool is simply what it sounds like. You "pool" your mining resources with other users to increase the chance you will find a block in a more reasonable time frame. Of course this means you also share in the profits and will receive less than a whole block reward, usually proportional to your hash-rate versus the pools. While this may sound bad, most pools typically find enough blocks in a day that you will receive a steady income.

Shares are simply a way to track your progress while you mine on a pool. The pool will assign you work at less than the actual difficulty of the network so that you can earn credit toward the reward. There is a very slim chance you might actually be the discoverer of the next block, but even so since you are now part of the pool, the reward will be split proportionally according to your hash rate. In the past some pools did offer a blockfinder bonus, but most of them now are straight up proportional payouts in one form or another.

If you switch to an Ethereum  pool, you should earn around 0.15 ETH per day with your card. This will equate to around $1.50 per day in income after subtracting your electricity costs. The actual amount may be higher or lower depending on your electrical rates, but I am trying to keep these examples simple.

I guess this is pretty much what i gathered so far (how you described it) ... what confused me at first is that i thought the mining apps are actually trying to solve a problem rather than just guess the right answer, after that came the matter of blocks, are they out there to be solved or are they build up from shares!!! but then i gathered like what you have described:

- miners are all guessing (or trying to guess) a correct value
- if that is found, then that what constructs a new block, and hence gets rewarded to
- pools pool the resources of all subscribers to gain more "guessing" power to come up with the correct answer and get the reward, which is then divided among the participants (and pool and devs) depending on their payment policy


what has been frustrating for me that last 3 days, is that the first night i ran the Expanse node, i found a block within a couple of hours (and lost the keystore folder like i mentioned before) and now its been 3 days running without anything .... i thought EXP will be a bit simpler (smaller) than solo mining ETH ...

and yes...so far i'm doing all of this to explore the mining world and its different parts ... i did some mining on a couple of ETH pools and they did the amounts you mentioned