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Bitcoin => Bitcoin Discussion => Topic started by: calkob on January 21, 2017, 04:52:20 PM



Title: Cost of running a full node
Post by: calkob on January 21, 2017, 04:52:20 PM
i came across this Reddit thread, seems abit steep in price  :(

i run a full node on my home pc, have been running 24/7 for 14 months now and to be honest i haven't noticed any increase in electricity.  I have unlimited bandwidth tho so maybe thats the reason it costs more. i just thought that $12 was very expensive, what ya think?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/42i3az/how_to_run_a_bitcoin_full_node_for_12mo/


Title: Re: Cost of running a full node
Post by: dothebeats on January 21, 2017, 05:42:12 PM
i came across this Reddit thread, seems abit steep in price  :(

i run a full node on my home pc, have been running 24/7 for 14 months now and to be honest i haven't noticed any increase in electricity.  I have unlimited bandwidth tho so maybe thats the reason it costs more. i just thought that $12 was very expensive, what ya think?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/42i3az/how_to_run_a_bitcoin_full_node_for_12mo/

Here in our country (Philippines), the cost per kW/h is $0.21 (which is kind of a high price) and it's been fluctuating every now and then. Also, unlimited bandwidth and 20 Mbps internet connection is $36 every month. Taking everything into consideration, the internet alone is $432 a month, and I'm too lazy to compute how much would it cost to operate the machine 24/7/365 @ 400 watts. As of this moment, I do have a gaming PC that runs 24/7 (including idle times and when I'm sleeping) and every month I'm incurring $50 for electricity + $36 for internet.

I could run a node, I think, but I'm too lazy just to do it so we'll leave it to the enthusiasts.


Title: Re: Cost of running a full node
Post by: franky1 on January 21, 2017, 06:05:31 PM
most people with internet will pay for internet whether a full node or not.
so dothebeats $36 a month is $36 a month no matter if he play games, watches porn or is a full node..

also he says he uses a gaming computer thats always online 24/7 anyway.. so electric is no different.. because he already leaves it on already without being a full node. so there is no extra expense..

meaning it costs no more, nothing, ziltch.. for dothebeats to be a full node

whats next..
?try to include his house rent/mortgage as a factor..?
?hire a family member as a node 'administrator'..?
to try adding on fake costs


Title: Re: Cost of running a full node
Post by: digaran on January 21, 2017, 06:08:25 PM
I did this first time I downloaded core wallet but it was on laptop an old one from 2007 and it was a nightmare, I even liked banning people and used to ban those nodes with old version wallets and wallets other than core. I thought if I run a node then I can receive tx fees but nothing ever happened :(.


Title: Re: Cost of running a full node
Post by: dothebeats on January 21, 2017, 06:15:45 PM
I did this first time I downloaded core wallet but it was on laptop an old one from 2007 and it was a nightmare, I even liked banning people and used to ban those nodes with old version wallets and wallets other than core. I thought if I run a node then I can receive tx fees but nothing ever happened :(.

That is my initial thought too, running it on an HP Probook 6555b with a replacement hard drive of 250gb just to suffice with its requirements way back 2015. After a few weeks of running it (and a few notices from my ISP that I have exceeded my upload bandwidth or whatever that broke our ToS), I considered stopping it and put the poor laptop to rest. Haven't read well enough on the matter back then so I thought I was a hero by running that laptop on 24/7 but realized I was only wasting my time and money for the said project.

But still, given the risks and problems I might face for running a full node right now, after understanding everything, I would be glad to run another one once more.


Title: Re: Cost of running a full node
Post by: LeGaulois on January 21, 2017, 06:30:26 PM
This week i surfed about a tutorial for running a node on a RPI and the blockchain stocked on an external hard drive. It used 5.6w so according this number

5.6W * 24 hours = 135
135 * 365 days= 49275W (49.3W)

With the cost of the electricity in my country it would cost about 0.65$ per month. i think it's cheap. You can buy a RPI 3 for 38€ and the alimentation for 10€ and a box if you want to make your RPI swag


Title: Re: Cost of running a full node
Post by: shorena on January 21, 2017, 07:24:51 PM
i came across this Reddit thread, seems abit steep in price  :(

i run a full node on my home pc, have been running 24/7 for 14 months now and to be honest i haven't noticed any increase in electricity.  I have unlimited bandwidth tho so maybe thats the reason it costs more. i just thought that $12 was very expensive, what ya think?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/42i3az/how_to_run_a_bitcoin_full_node_for_12mo/

~10-12 USD/EUR is a relativly normal price for a VPS to run a full node on. Calculating the price at home would be more difficult, because - as franky1 said - its complex to avoid made up costs. I would argue a full node at home costs almost nothing as it only increases the energy need for an already existing machine very slightly. Disk space should be sufficient unless you only have a laptop w/ ssd. You might have to add more for electricity if you want the node to run 24/7 but your machine usually is not running all the time. 400 Watts however is overkill as this would assume the machine is running under full load (including GPU).


Title: Re: Cost of running a full node
Post by: calkob on January 21, 2017, 07:47:32 PM
i came across this Reddit thread, seems abit steep in price  :(

i run a full node on my home pc, have been running 24/7 for 14 months now and to be honest i haven't noticed any increase in electricity.  I have unlimited bandwidth tho so maybe thats the reason it costs more. i just thought that $12 was very expensive, what ya think?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/42i3az/how_to_run_a_bitcoin_full_node_for_12mo/

Here in our country (Philippines), the cost per kW/h is $0.21 (which is kind of a high price) and it's been fluctuating every now and then. Also, unlimited bandwidth and 20 Mbps internet connection is $36 every month. Taking everything into consideration, the internet alone is $432 a month, and I'm too lazy to compute how much would it cost to operate the machine 24/7/365 @ 400 watts. As of this moment, I do have a gaming PC that runs 24/7 (including idle times and when I'm sleeping) and every month I'm incurring $50 for electricity + $36 for internet.

I could run a node, I think, but I'm too lazy just to do it so we'll leave it to the enthusiasts.

Yeah it sounds like you should be running a full node, i doubt you would see any increase in cost, as you are already running your pc full time.  if you have any bitcoin at all then you would be securing the network and protecting your investment. 

your cost for electricity and for internet are pretty much the same as mine in the UK.


Title: Re: Cost of running a full node
Post by: unamis76 on January 21, 2017, 07:48:00 PM
12$/month isn't expensive, it's actually quite good. You can have it cheaper of course, and there are many ways to do it. I've ran nodes from anywhere between 0.80$ and 15$, the lower end of the spectrum being a Raspberry Pi I already have on 24/7 with a reused disk from an old, malfunctioning computer and 15$ for a quad core 4GB ram VPS with 1TB bandwidth.

I'm obviously neglecting hardware price for the lower end of the spectrum, but something like 50$+5$ for a Raspberry Pi kit shipped + an external enclosure for the hard drive isn't that expensive either, it's a one time cost and makes for a very lightweight node.