The Intel Xeon phi is too expensive $2599.00 so it woudn't be cost effective for mining.

Thanks, she is working fine  :-)


keiichicom

Hi,

I wanted to write this message because I fell into this trap too. When first starting out, people who have had experience GPU mining with bitcoin, automatically assume that ANY GPU's are better than CPU's at litecoin mining because this is the case with bitcoin mining but this is not  true.

This message pertains to the "scrypt" algorithm used by litecoin miners. The "scrypt" algorithm is optimized for CPU's not GPU's, unlike the algorithms in bitcoin, so even if you have a higher hash rate on your GPU and if your GPU is too slow you will get better performance with cpu mining (you can win the competition for solving blocks more easily on cpu's). Also make sure you have enough RAM. So the key with litecoin mining with cpu's is to increase the number of cpu cores. However the best processors today have about 100 cores (other company than Intel) which gets approximately only 294khash/s (see calculations at bottom) which makes it a slow earner. So you would about 3or4 of these to get 1Mhash/s to start making a good amount of litecoins. So if you want to use GPU's slower ones won't cut it at all if you are interested in profitable mining. With GPU's You need to use MULTIPLE graphics cards of the fastest type.

Here is an example:



2 core cpu: getting about 6kilohash/s - This gets valid shares right away every 10-15min approx.
(using minerd)

nvida geoforce 210, getting 3megahash/s - waiting along time to get even 1 share even though hash rate is higher than on the cpu's.
(using cgminer)

So you would need multiple ultrafast graphics cards to make your litecoin mining at least as profitable or more profitable as on multiple multi-core CPU's.

Here are come calculations:

On a 16 core cpu I was getting about 47khash/s on average using minerd
So on a 100 core cpu this would be about 294khash/s (100*47/16)

Besides the 100core cpu's, one potential solution to litecoin mining on CPU's might be the Intel Xeon Phi Coprocessor, the fastest one has 60 cpu cores. So (just a rough estimate). You would need about 6 of them mining at the same time to make cpu litecoin mining profitable e.g. 60/100 core ratio * 294khash/s = 176 khash/s, then 1meghash/s  / 176 khash/s = 5.6 ~ 6 devices.

Depending on the cost of Intel Xeon phi this may or may not be profitable...
 
keiichicom

intel xeon phi also too slow for bitcoin (60 core cpu).
and slow earner  for litecoin

Thanks onkel. I got the chip to wakeup and I was about to
Test SHA256 but I guess if the clock speed for i2c or serial transmission speed for one wire is too slow there is no point.

Hi Jay,

I have my ATSHA204 chips, so I will try very soon and then let you know. So far I downloaded a library for arduino to talk  to the chip and I am currently reviewing the bitcoin mining algorithm to see how it works...

Keiichicom

You maybe better off to buy an asic miner from Avalon, they have actually shipped, although they are sold out of the current batch...and you would have to wait a while.

Care to try cgminer, I have had trouble with reaper myself?

Hi,

I am not sure but what I do know is that the higher the thread concurrency the more ram memory it uses on your gpu, so you need to drop it so that you aren't using up the gpu's memory.

This thread might help:



Keiichicom.https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=176871.0

Hi,


Try dropping your thread concurrency; it might be too high, other settings look fine.  if this doesn't work drop your intensity until all gpu's connect. If this still doesn't work or it doesn't mine fast enough for you, then you could try cgminer instead, I found it a bit easier to tweak (although I admit I only have one gpu...)


Cheers, Keiichicom.

Hi,

Please post your current reaper parameters and I will look at them and advise...

Keiichicom

Thanks, revised the poll...

Hi,

I am going to see if it is possible to develop a fast low power hardware miner based on Atmel's atsha204 crypto chips. I will let you know when/if what I come up with. I am intending this to be a cheaper alternative to FPGA and ASIC design (at least for the crypto chips). The sha256 hashing will be done on the crypto chip and the controller will be an Arduino Uno during the first experiment. I was not able to find any data yet on the speed of hashing of the atsha204. Does anyone know?

Later when I buy one I will try the Intel XEON Phi...



p.s. I have ordered my atsha204's (10 of them) and I am waiting impatiently for them...

Cheers,
Keiichicom  

Hello Fellow Bitcoiners,

I am a bit late in the game but I hope to develop some novel bitcoin mining hardware. I Will let you what I come up with.

Keiichicom