Introductions and n00b questions...

[burdock]

Hello all,

After hearing about btc online and in other mainstream media I have finally decided to take the plunge. Ive been reading about btc for a few weeks now and just started pooled mining about a week ago.

Currently I am running a pair of nvidia gtx 275 cards that each produce about 55mhash/sec...which isnt terribly fast and, of course, im using the basic GUI mining software. I want to get into the more advanced stuff...but all in good time. Just before I started mining, I had purchased a pair of GTX 770s to replace the 275s but I ended up returning them as I was having problems. Once the refund for the 770s gets processed, I will be ordering another pair of gpus and I am tempted to go with AMD cards, but Im not sure about that since I am more concerned about having my main rig for gaming instead of mining, we will see which path I end up taking.

I am finding the cryptocurrency world to be very technical and it, so far, has been a fun and exciting challenge to learn about this, I wish I would have hopped on the bus a year or two ago.

I do have a general question though.

If I want to mine on multiple computers, is it as simple as registering another worker on the pool and then getting the software running on the 2nd computer? If that is the case, any payout goes to the wallet via the address in the wallet and pool? Obviously I am a little confused on how multiple mining machines works and I havent found much good information out there to point me down the right path.

Thanks!

[vaio127]

While some would argue that Nvidia is by far the superior brand of gaming gpus, I've only owned AMD products and have been quite satisfied with both their gaming performance and their increased mining ability over Nvidia.

As for workers, it really is that simple.  Just use a different worker on the same account for each machine you're mining on, and they'll all go to the same wallet when you finish shares.

[pacers101]

amd/ati is better for mining from everything I read. I'm not mining now but I did a little back in april, I had an old 4750 and was getting 70mhash

[Speakeron]

If I want to mine on multiple computers, is it as simple as registering another worker on the pool and then getting the software running on the 2nd computer? If that is the case, any payout goes to the wallet via the address in the wallet and pool? Obviously I am a little confused on how multiple mining machines works and I havent found much good information out there to point me down the right path.

Thanks!

With most pools, you can either register a new worker if you want to keep track of how each machine is performing, or just point both machines to the same worker; in this case, the work from both machines will be added together. You'll need to run the mining software (cgminer is recommended here) on each machine whichever way you do it.

What happening under the hood is that pool will distribute "work units" to each machine that connects to it. The results of the work unit is then added to the worker that the machine is configured with.

For payouts, you normally register your wallet address with the pool for either automatic payouts (say every time you earn at least one Bitcoin) or you can request a manual payout.

Be aware that your Nvidia GPUs will earn only a small fraction of a BTC per year.

[Gabi]

AMD is good for gaming too. I have an AMD card and i game perfectly with it. I simply don't understand all the people saying "nvidia is better for gaming", maybe they believe marketing?

Anyway, forget GPU bitcoin mining. You are just wasting time and energy, either you get an ASIC (and still good luck having any profit) or just don't. Yes, the bitcoin world evolve VERY fast.

You could try mining litecoin with the GPUs

[Pokerfan]

After hearing about btc online and in other mainstream media I have finally decided to take the plunge. Ive been reading about btc for a few weeks now and just started pooled mining about a week ago.

Currently I am running a pair of nvidia gtx 275 cards that each produce about 55mhash/sec... [...]

I am finding the cryptocurrency world to be very technical and it, so far, has been a fun and exciting challenge to learn about this, I wish I would have hopped on the bus a year or two ago.

If I want to mine on multiple computers, [...]

Thanks!

You don't need to mine bitcoin to use bitcoin, the same way you don't need to mine gold to use gold as money.

[burdock]

The reason I prefer to stick with nvidia for gaming is that I have been using that brand since 6800 series of cards came out, so quite a long time. On top of that, the rest of my system is geared towards nvidia gaming (sli and nvidia chipsets). Im sure AMD cards would be fine in my rig for gaming and easily better for mining, but I just prefer nvidias products so I will probably stick with them.

I am strongly leaning towards mining alt currencies at this point. I have been mining btc for a little over a week and at the rate Im going, it will take about 3 years to earn 1 btc, not considering difficulty increases, etc. Im looking into ponying up some cash and buying one of two of the usb dongle asic mining devices to do this. I see btcguild has one that is currently going for .24 btc or around $38 USD. I have been reading a bit about litecoins and I am aware that there are a ton of other currencies out there but it seems like many of them arent recognized as having much damand or value. What are some other alt currencies that are worth looking into?