Bitcoin Forum

Hello,

I just bought a brand new 27" iMac with a killer graphics card.  I want to know how to set it up so that I can use the GPU to mine in a pool.  I may need to be spoon fed but I really want to put my new machine to work.  I am not a computer whiz by any means so go easy on me, but I do know a lot.

Thanks in advance.

You best bet would probably be to simply load up linuxcoin onto a usb drive and boot from that.

Can I have a step by step process on how to do that?  I have no clue where to start and I need some help.

Anybody?  I simply want to know how to set up a GPU pool miner for my new iMac.

Here are the basic steps for getting a miner up and running on a pool:

1.  Download DiabloMiner (this is the only mining software that works with Macs, as far as I'm aware).

2.  Register your worker name and password on one of the mining pools.

3.  Open Terminal, cd to the DiabloMiner directory, and enter the following command (edited to include your own worker name, password, and the pool you are joining; below shows how you would join the BTC Guild pool as an example):


I hope the new iMacs have something other than Nvidia GPUs -- otherwise you are not going to be mining a whole lot of bitcoins.

Thank you so much!  That is exactly what I needed.

My new iMac has the ATI Radeon 6970M Graphics card so I feel pretty confident  ;D

Last Question:  how do I join a mining pool?

I have an iMac with a 6750M, gives me ~110 Mhash/sec after I've overclocked it.

Is ~110 Mhash/sec considered good?

Just peruse the Pools subforum.  The largest pools are all stickied at the top with links to each pool's website.  My personal favorites are Eligius and BTC Guild -- when they are working properly.  You might want to join a couple of pools so you can switch between them when one goes down (as seems to happen more often lately).

I don't know of any overclocking tools for Mac, sorry.  Perhaps some other Mac users can offer suggestions.

I'm having trouble installing DiabloMiner.  I got the OSX.sh file, what next?

Open the Terminal app and CD into the directory you extracted DiabloMiner. From there you will need to run it, like:

Here's a GUI front end to Diablo Miner for Mac if you don't want to mess with the terminal: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=8994.0 (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=8994.0)

Frankly I'd recommend installing Windows using Bootcamp, overclocking your card with MSI Afterburner and then using poclbm. Gave me a much higher hashrate than using Diablominer in OS X.

It's supposedly better in 10.7 Lion.

Ah, that's good. Will see when I upgrade.

don't mine with an iMac... it's not worth it... you will regret later

Why?

someone here did and broke the chipset

That's possible? :o
Now you've got me scared.

I have a full 2 year warranty so I'm not scared at all. Besides, I am positive he is not the only person who has ever  blown a chipset due to mining.

Everyone else:  Thanks for the help thus far, I will try the GUI version in a bit.

I've started using SMC Fan Control now to increase my fan speed so my GPU temp doesn't go beyond 60 C.

If you don't want the hassle of installing software and figuring out all the command-line parameters etc. etc. I have set up a mining pool + miner that makes everything very easy. Fill out a small form on the website to register with the pool + click a button on the website to start the miner. As easy as that.

For 6970/6990 cards it is also faster than all other miners I have tested. Plus 5% extra pay for the next 58 blocks. Pool link in signature.

(No I haven't tested it against mrb's hdminer. But that miner costs 250 bitcoins and recent reports suggest it's not all that fast)

Followed what everyone said and it comes up with this error:
[6/2/12 3:45:48 PM] Using Apple OpenCL 1.0 (Jan  2 2011 18:00:11)          
[6/2/12 3:45:48 PM] ERROR: OpenCL platform Apple is not OpenCL 1.1 or later     
[6/2/12 3:45:48 PM] ERROR: No OpenCL devices found 
Help?  :'(

It's because you run an old OpenCL 1.0 driver and apparently DiabloMiner requires OpenCL 1.1 now. You can upgrade OpenCL (not sure how that works on a Mac), or use an older version of DiabloMiner that works with OpenCL 1.0 or you can use another miner instead.