Looks like confirmations are starting to trickle in. Thanks again and no worries.

Thanks for the quick feedback. I sent you a PM with a few more details. So far I am not seeing any confirmations on my end, nor through blockchain.info. Most likely the network is lagged or something.

For some strange reason, the last two BTC transactions that I've received from withdrawing from the pool aren't getting any confirmations. I simultaneously made a withdrawal from MtGox and it has received 6 confirmations already. This was over an hour ago. Is this unusual?

I just used FC4B today for the first time. The process was incredibly simple and convenient. In the past, I used MtGox/Dwolla and also BitInstant/PayPal. While both alternatives work, MtGox to Dwolla has been slow recently and BitInstant may cost you a little more. No matter who you choose to use, let's all be thankful for the services and alternatives these groups have provided along the way to make bitcoin more practical for everyone. A little competition in the market is always a good thing for consumers.

Side question for Tangible: If I choose 1 day ACH to Bank of America on a Friday morning, will that deposit likely appear on Saturday, or Monday?

Cheers!

I just tried out BitInstant after cashing out some bitcoins on MtGox. I sent money to a PayPal account from a MtGox code (dollars). It was a painless and straightforward process, aside from the 6% processing fee. Funds were in my PayPal account within an hour. There was some delay which I think was because I was a first time user. From PayPal its just 3-4 days to the bank, or instant from an ATM if you have a PayPal debit card.

Thanks BitInstant!

A very legitimate point. I don't personally believe in forcing anyone to do anything. It is your life to live however you see fit, so long as you are not forcing, harming, or deceiving others in the process.

Personally, if you want to remove yourself from risk, don't do it by forcing everyone else to get vaccinated. Pack your bags and head for rural Montana. Are you afraid of car accidents? Stay off the freeway. Part of freedom is the freedom to take risks.

Now, for the vaccine-faithful, you better open your eyes to some harsh realities. Those people pushing vaccines are not just a bunch of benevolent philanthropists.

Baxter International Found Guilty of Distributing Live Flu Virus to 18 Countries:
http://goo.gl/6bpzL

GlaxoSmithKline Fined $3 Billion for bribery, etc:
http://goo.gl/hfP7o

Merck Makes False Claims:
http://www.naturalnews.com/036328_Merck_mumps_vaccine_False_Claims_Act.html

Flu vaccine in the 70s caused a number of deaths and permanent disabilities:
http://goo.gl/0O01w

So to the rest of you of the blind faith in the crony-capitalism that drives much of the pharmaceutical industry, enlighten us and please tell us which vaccines are safe and which are not. :p

I just thought I'd post a follow-up about my most recent withdrawal.

Withdrawal request from MtGox to Dwolla:
~$900
June 25, 2012 - evening

Deposit into Dwolla from MtGox:
~$900
July 8, 2012 - evening

Total transaction time: 13 days

Thanks for the insight. My apologies if it seemed like I was blaming Mt. Gox. I wasn't aware that Dwolla was holding things up. Where can I learn more about it? Does Mt. Gox have any suggested alternatives to get money to a US bank account that are not too expensive?

For all the difficulties, I still appreciate the service Mt. Gox provides, as well as the fast support response.

The last three transactions I've done from MtGox to Dwolla over the last month or two have all taken greater than 8-10 days. In each instance, the amount was between $500 - $1,000.

There's got to be a better way. This is getting pretty ridiculous.

Mine has been down since the 28th.

If you've already got a computer with an adequate power supply and a couple free pcie slots, go find a couple used 5870 cards and run them non-stop until ASICs flood onto the market. Otherwise, don't invest in a full GPU based solution at this point. You'll likely never fully recover your expenses on it from GPU mining alone if ASICs ship in October.

When *IF* my ASIC gear shows up 

I mine in multiple pools. Solo mining would be slightly more profitable in the long run, but I like the consistency of pools and ability to remotely monitor what my machines are doing. If one goes offline, and occasionally they do, I can get alerts and all so I can get the issue resolved quickly. I like some of the features that pools provide, such as graphs, trends, etc. When my ASIC gear shows up, I'll probably just switch everything to solo mining.

Price will slowly make its way upward I think. Just remember that there are already over 9 million coins in existence. Even if coin production completely stopped in December, it still wouldn't budge the price too quickly. This is purely speculation of course. There is a possibility that bitcoin could become A) Easier for the common folk to use, and B) Easier for miners to transact into cash. If this happens, it's anybody's guess.

Personally, I plan to hold all the coins I don't spend on BFL ASIC SC's.

Miners are going to take a pretty heavy hit due to the difficulty increase. Some were talking about making money back in 6 months. I don't think we have 6 months before network power goes through the roof. If price doesn't keep up with difficulty (and it probably won't for quite a while), then it will actually cost you more money to mine with GPUs than it will make, assuming you pay for electricity.

For me, every piece of hardware I buy, I assume I will never resell, it will die, or become obsolete. Furthermore, I don't acquire hardware unless I think I can make my money back in 3-4 months time. I assume everything after December is going to make 0 for my GPU miners.

All that said, you can always mine at a loss if you think value will ultimately go up. Of course it would be more wise to just buy bitcoins if you think that is the case, but that's just not as fun.

Alright, you got me, I've only got two 5770s and...  

I am actually out of town right now so i am not able to get you full proof, but here's a good start. The first photo is a smaller lab that runs slightly less than 1/3 of the operation. The second photo is a new lab I recently built out which is roughly about the size of the first, but the photo doesn't show the current state. It's all I had access to at the moment. The third photo is actually my oldest and most powerful lab. It has the 208v bar visible on the floor. As with the power in the first photo, you can see digital readouts of how many amps are coming across the bar. What isn't visible in this room are a few cased machines running a few 6-series cards. Those were running off of 120V, so I had to place them closer to the outlets. Sorry for the low quality. I'll try and share more when I am back home. (I don't actually recommend mining with 6 series cards btw).

http://imgur.com/a/1QCeS/embed

Cheers!

I run 28 machines fully populated with a wide range of GPUs. Nearly all are 5-series GPUs. Each system runs on Windows. Systems are spread across 3 locations which all connect to the internet via wireless cellular modems. Most systems are running off of 208 volt power for higher power efficiency.

If you can get, or already have, an FPGA right now then you should have nothing to worry about until ASICs arrive. Even then, you can trade up to the ASIC thanks to BFL's generous trade-in program. The power consumption is pretty negligible compared to even the most efficient of GPU setups. Personally I wouldn't order an FPGA now due to the amount of time it will take to recover the investment, the amount of time it will take BFL to deliver, and I believe ASICs are going to render them insignificant in the end. If you already have a desktop computer you are better off buying a couple used 5-series GPUs at a good price and start mining immediately, so long as you have relatively cheap power and can deal with a little heat. Two used 5870s can produce the same hash rate as a BFL single at half the cost.

So if you have have an FPGA now, I'd get in on the trade-in list with BFL. If you don't, find yourself a couple used 5870s and stick them in an existing computer. At this point, building full computers doesn't make much sense when difficulty is outpacing the BTC price in the near future.

Pirate, do you distinguish between subdomain/IPs people use to log in and monitor/manage their account vs the subdomain/IPs people are actually mining from?

My situation is this:
I monitor from work, corporate internet access
I monitor from home, cable internet access
I mine from 3 separate cellular modems (same provider, different IPs)

It was great and exciting for the two whole days I got to experience it, but now my account passes no work (public or private) through GPUMAX. Any chance of re-enabling my account and precautions I can take to avoid future suspension would be greatly appreciated. For the record, I saw the suspension warning after I got (presumably) suspended.

Hi Romeo, I would say you would be cutting it really close with only 650 watts. Each 6870 at that speed will consume roughly 170 watts. In addition, your system is going to need about 50 watts for overhead; Processor, ram, HD, etc.

Also, the 6-series cards cannot underclock memory that low. With the 6870, you can only run the memory at 100 MHz below the GPU core speed.

Double check your power supply's 12V rail rating to see how much power it can deliver to the cards before attempting this.

Good luck!