Bitcoin Forum

I currently have access to 1920 cores in the cloud (don't ask - don't tell), and Primecoin (XPM) has caught mine and everybody else's attention recently. I decided to make a 24 hour comparison between the two major mining pools ypool.net and beeeeer.org, and post the results here for you to see and comment on. I used the latest and most recommended builds of mining software, for each of the pools, respectively.

Test #1 - ypool.net
24 hours
1920 cores
Using the latest jhPrimeminer v3.3 by rdebourbon for x64 Linux (compiled myself)
Default setting on all 60 instances: jhprimeminer -o http://ypool.net:10034 -u myuser -p mypass -t 32
No connection problems whatsoever
Number of blocks found according to the user interface: 27
Result: 174 XPM (quite delayed because mined XPMs mature very slowly in comparison to other coins)

Test #2 - beeeeer.org
24 hours
1920 cores
Using the latest primeminer v0.6 RC1 by thbaumbach for x64 Linux (compiled myself)
Default setting on all 60 instances: primeminer -pooluser=myaddress -poolip=beeeeer.org -poolport=1337 -genproclimit=32
No connection problems whatsoever
Number of blocks found according to the user interface: 0 (WTF?!)
Result: 22 XPM (also quite delayed)

CONCLUSION

I think the numbers speak for themselves: Ypool.net rules for mining XPM using many instances. Under these conditions, ypool.net gave more than 8(!) as many XPM. Also, the user interface is a million times better at ypool.net. I know that lots of people push for beeeeer.org on other forums and here. I almost smell scam.

Does everybody agree?

Thanks for the report. Are you going to try solo mining and the new RPool as well?

To be honest, I don't know how to solomine without setting up a pool of some sort of my own. With so many cores, the regular client can't take the heat. I'd love to solomine of course, but don't know how to proceed. (Setting up 60 different clients/wallets and manually transferring the mined coins to my primary isn't an option.)

So, I'll stick with ypool.net for the time being. Unless someone would be so kind to enlighten me how to solomine using very many cores.

Have you tried using the same wallet on ALL machines?

It works nicely for me (but I only have 5 machines), I'm not sure if this work for 60 machines.

 ;D ;D

If/when I "find" more cores, I might give RPool a shot. But I don't like that software, because of all library dependencies. I want to compile on one machine and copy the binary only to the rest. Streamline the process. Works well with the software for ypool.net, but not with the one for beeeeer.org.

I think beeeeer.org was having issues with their payout system which caused all rewards to go down. something about outdated clients spamming 6 chains. Not sure if your results are conclusive with this in mind

How come beeeeer.org demands all users to use v0.6, while RPool says ONLY v0.4. Something is fishy here. I don't care what the problem is. Just fix it. I won't waste another clock cycle on something that loses me a lot of money. I'm on ypool.net now for obvious reasons.

Everybody's complaining that they are "small miners" and ypool reward system is unfair to them. So they go to beeeeer and earn much more. I think the truth is that both beeeer and even ypool have a reward system that grossly overpays "small miners" out of pocket of people who have better hardware and find blocks.

You've found 27 blocks and got paid only 174XPM by ypool. But you've earned 272 XPM for the pool. Almost 100 XPM you've earned went to "small miners", that did nothing valuable for you or the pool.

For the same work beeeeer paid you whooping 22XPM. Beeeeer treats small miners even better, so most of your earning went to them.

Now I understand why small miners are so happy with the beeeeer. Yes, beeeeer pays them much much more.

Wow, 1920 cores!
Now I know why difficulty went up ;)

Hey robo,

Could you repeat your test? There were many changes on both ypool and beeeeer.

For long term mining, create an empty wallet with keypool=1000, run all machines with same wallet solo, run client at your desktop with same wallet, enjoy looking how blocks comming to your wallet  :)
Proven solution works with all coins, I has only problem with QRK when I forget to create a wallet with keypool=1000 and mine more than 500 blocks, but even after I realise that machines has different balance, I recover all coins using copy of wallet from each machine and will be able to transfer coins to new wallet.

Mining solo give you more profit and protect the network from possible attacks!

Tips unnecessary but greatly appreciated ;-)

@robolove
If you get 27 blocks and paid 174XPM, you are paid 62% of your work. The number is close to mine https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=257623.msg3366767#msg3366767

I think you were trying beeeeer at a wrong time when it was having problem with web interface etc. I have used it in the last week and preliminary data seems to show that the pay rate is close to soloing.

If you compare them again please post results here.

On which of the XPM pools I can see my overall hashrate? Without this information I feel blind.

P.S.  Or at least shares/hour.

free bump.