Thanks for the responses guys, although they made me even more torn as to whether or not to try and solo, ha. I was somewhat aware of the time it typically takes to solo-mine a block, and how success can be random. Are say, the "pay per share" payouts on pooled mining my best bet?

Would it be worthwhile for me to example start/organize a private pool? How would one start?

Multiple miners? Multiple pools? What methods are used? I've tried a little of everything, can't put my finger on what would be best. Some pools give namecoin payouts simultaneously also, are these kind of pools better/more profitable?

Thanks to everyone for help ahead of time. I know I'm asking a lot of questions.

Bump? Need some help here.

Newb miner trying to find some help/advice on GPU overclocking and mining. Would also really like to set up a personal pool.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117149.0

^ There's some system info on my cards and what I've done on my own. I know this machine could do some decent mining, I'm just no good with voltages and hardware.

Nice to be here. Hope to find some good guidance.

Got an Alienware Aurora ALX with dual Radeon 5900 series (I'm assuming 5970's.) Definitely not a hardware expert or an electronic engineer, was looking for some help. Hit hard times, need some extra revenue, been considering dedicating the machine to mining. I've tried reading some guides and things but most of it is over my head. Here's sysinfo:

OS Name   Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version   6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description    Not Available
OS Manufacturer   Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer   Alienware
System Model   Aurora
System Type   x64-based PC
Processor   Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         930  @ 2.80GHz, 2801 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date   Alienware A11, 4/27/2010
SMBIOS Version   2.5
Windows Directory   C:\Windows
System Directory   C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device   \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Hardware Abstraction Layer   Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)   12.0 GB
Total Physical Memory   12.0 GB
Available Physical Memory   8.67 GB
Total Virtual Memory   24.0 GB
Available Virtual Memory   20.2 GB
Page File Space   12.0 GB
Page File   C:\pagefile.sys

Currently the dual 59xx's are overclocked 805MHz GPU clock, 1010 memory clock through AMD's "OverDrive" out of the catalyst control. I average nearly 700MHash/S using multiple miners on multiple pools (with GUIMiner. Most flags are set to the "recommended" -v -w 128). I've gotten over that speed with some unstable/failing card issues. I have for example MSI Afterburner and I'm not ENTIRELY uncomfortable in BIOS, but I'm too uneducated to mess with voltages and such. Not trying to fry my machine. Been pretty consistent with temps. however, never usually getting over 80C at any point using GPU-Z to monitor things. One or two sensors read a little hotter than the others on one of the cards pretty consistently, but the general sensors usually read no more than 73C at any given moment.

Name   ATI Radeon HD 5900 Series
PNP Device ID   PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_689C&SUBSYS_25421002&REV_00\6&24A05AF0&0&00200018
Adapter Type   AMD Radeon Graphics Processor (0x689C), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. compatible
Adapter Description   ATI Radeon HD 5900 Series
Adapter RAM   1.00 GB (1,073,741,824 bytes)
Installed Drivers   aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx32,aticfx32,aticfx32,atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver Version   8.982.0.0
INF File   oem15.inf (ati2mtag_EvergreenH section)
Color Planes   Not Available
Color Table Entries   4294967296
Resolution   1920 x 1080 x 60 hertz
Bits/Pixel   32
Memory Address   0xD0000000-0xDFFFFFFF
Memory Address   0xFBFC0000-0xFBFDFFFF
I/O Port   0x0000E000-0x0000E0FF
IRQ Channel   IRQ 4294967289
I/O Port   0x000003B0-0x000003BB
I/O Port   0x000003C0-0x000003DF
Memory Address   0xA0000-0xBFFFF
Driver   c:\windows\system32\drivers\atikmpag.sys (8.14.1.6268, 360.00 KB (368,640 bytes), 7/27/2012 8:14 PM)
   
Name   ATI Radeon HD 5900 Series
PNP Device ID   PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_689C&SUBSYS_20421002&REV_00\6&2FEAE45E&0&00400018
Adapter Type   AMD Radeon Graphics Processor CrossFire Secondary (0x689C), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. compatible
Adapter Description   ATI Radeon HD 5900 Series
Adapter RAM   1.00 GB (1,073,741,824 bytes)
Installed Drivers   aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx64.dll,aticfx32,aticfx32,aticfx32,atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver Version   8.982.0.0
INF File   oem15.inf (ati2mtag_EvergreenH section)
Color Planes   Not Available
Color Table Entries   4294967296
Resolution   1920 x 1080 x 60 hertz
Bits/Pixel   32
Memory Address   0xC0000000-0xDFFFFFFF
Memory Address   0xFBEE0000-0xFBEFFFFF
I/O Port   0x0000D000-0x0000EFFF
IRQ Channel   IRQ 4294967288
Driver   c:\windows\system32\drivers\atikmpag.sys (8.14.1.6268, 360.00 KB (368,640 bytes), 7/27/2012 8:14 PM)


Anyone who could help me set an overclock/mining up properly, it would greatly be appreciated. Might be some BTC in it for ya once I get this set up right.   Would it be possible/efficient to solo with this machine?