Bitcoin Forum

it's 28 April 2011, mtgox is trading at ~1.75 usd/btc. I've been mining with a 3 GHz CPU for ~24 hours now. My client says it has 8 connections, 120606 blocks, and 1 transaction (my 0.05 from the faucet). How many alpaca socks can I buy?

CPU mining is worthless at this moment, you'll have to mine for some decades to generate a block.

Most miners use powerful GPUs for this, that's many times faster.
ATI 5970 does more than a 6 BTC per day at current difficulty level (in a pool).

If you're using your CPU to mint bitcoins, you're unlikely to get any bitcoins at all unless you join a mining pool (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Pooled_mining).  I have a CPU miner running on a machine that is otherwise mostly idle, and it's running at a slow 1 khash/sec 1 Mhash/sec.  This miner currently rakes in less than 2 bitcents per day.

The picture is different is you can use the GPU, but I guess someone else can tell you about it.

Cheers,

You can buy 1/360th of Alpaca Socks.

Using your CPU to mine isn't going to get you very far. You really need to have a compatible video card from this list and probably join a pool.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

obvious troll is obvious

save your 0.05BTC for twenty years and you'll be able to buy a small alpaca factory.  with several guys named Al, to do your packing...

Ok, thanks. Those are really helpful answers for a noob.

So, neglecting the cost of hardware, what is the current cost, in joules, of digging a coin out of the cryptographic ground? I assume the answer will be a range of values; I'm interested in the variables.

Also, how do you guys measure your energy consumption?

Check out the following chart. Most people use watts as it's normally kW/Hrs that utilities charge in. I use a 5970 which is listed as about 300W and earns me about 6 BTC per day at the current difficulty, I could probably get say 7-8 if it was dedicated because I use it for other stuff as well. So I'd be using about 7.2kW/Hrs a day at .15 so a bit over a dollar a day. There are many variables, but if you have a decent ATI card it's generally currently profitable at the moment versus the power consumed. In my case I have the PC running all the time for other reasons anyway, so my "added" cost is a little lower versus a dedicated rig not doing anything else.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

The same questions have been asked and answered quite a few times before, the following thread includes a calculator and comments on the subject:

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5826.0

Do you have anything of value (including labor) that you can offer in exchange for the Bitcoins to buy the socks?

Have you considered selling your soul to the bitcoin gods? I hear they're very generous this time of the year......

But umm I think the best solution for you is to get the most powerful but CHEAPEST ATI Radeon card you can find. Scour the local classifieds sites or ebay.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001

Using that or a similar device. I got mine from Canadian Tire. It's not a kill-a-watt-with-extreme-prejudice but it does the same thing.

I'm using 5830's they are only £73 and still pump just under 270MH/s Probably work out about the same money to grab a 5970 of ebay for around £300 but for me I don't have £300 I can just go out and spend on a gc :D even though I'm getting money back I am poor as you like hahah.

Sapphire 5830
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/265356

xfx HD5830 xxx edition.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/263858

Sapphire 5850
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/265355

xfx 5870
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/248887

The cheapest new 5970 I could find is selling for £490 lol !! total rip off and forget ebay ATM I'm telling you most people on there take the pi^& nowa day trying to charge more than the retail prices and anything that does go on there just gets snapped up. Probably due to all the bitcoin attention :D

So if you are one of those skiddies that keep outbidding me PPPPLLLEEEEAAASSSEEEE let me have just one :D

PS: if you live in the UK you can get one of those watt meters for free by asking your electric supplier real nicely :D. They are a real nice bit of kit too its pre set to your tarrif so you know exactly how much electric your using :D !!