Benchmarks / common denominator for various mining techniques

[CliveK]

Hi all,

I have just started a thesis on Bitcoin mining and the various techniques available (evolution of mining really).  As part of my literature review I would like to point to some form of benchmark standard that each mining technique can be measured against.  I know once mining software is installed I can measure the hash power of each device (CPU, GPU, ASIC, etc), but has anyone seen a study or benchmark on hash functions (SHA-2) that they think could assist me?  Academia often requires using previous academic content as a starting point before moving to the more practical aspects of the topic.

Ideally my literature review will be on hash power and power efficiency but suggestions are welcome.  I include cooling under power efficiency.

Am toying with the idea of including physical space too (physical footprint).  If anything else is relevant to any who mine, please let me know.  My focus as a “social” miner is hash power versus power costs, physical footprint in my home and the stability of the mining solution.

I have read a number of academic papers on Bitcoin, thanks to those people for publishing their work.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

CK

[jonnybravo0311]

If your paper will be on hash power and power efficiency efficiency, you'll want to look at the history of mining rigs in general.  From the inception of Bitcoin and CPU mining, onward to GPUs and then to FPGA's and finally to today's terrhash-class ASICs.  The power efficiency of CPUs is well documented and I'm sure you can find plenty of white-papers and research on the same from Intel/AMD/Motorola/etc.  The same can probably be said about GPUs - they're a known commodity and processing power / power consumption information would likely be readily available from nVidia/AMD.

ASICs are a different beast.  There are multiple manufacturers and players in the space that are here and gone, and the technology is advancing incredibly rapidly.  For example, in about 18 months chips have advanced from 110nm to current 28nm with 20/14nm in the works.  The power needs have also correspondingly dropped from over 10W / GH/s to under 1W / GH/s.

As far as algorithms, there are all kinds.  SHA-256 and Scrypt being the two most prevalent, but you've got some other variants like X11, which are combinations of different types of hashing that work together to provide the basis for the coin.

I suggest you spend a bunch of time here on these forums as there are any number of great threads describing in detail the information you're researching.

[cloverme]

Here's a couple of interesting reads for your research that should help you a little bit:

Industrial scale bitcoin mining:
http://www.allied-control.com/publications/Analysis_of_Large-Scale_Bitcoin_Mining_Operations.pdf


CPU mining (failed)
http://blog.idrive.com/2014/02/19/we-tried-mining-bitcoins-heres-what-happened/

[CliveK]

Thanks for the posts, much appreciated.  I think I will try to focus on "what exactly what a hash is" in my literature review.  As mentioned, my problem with the literature review is the point is to see what others have already done in academia and build on it. If anyone has seen a paper on hash in relation to Bitcoin or SHA please let me know.

I got my R-Box yesterday, and setup CGminer for my first go at ASIC mining (previous only done CPU and GPU mining).  A cool little device. Now to setup this up on a Raspberry Pi.

Does anyone measure power usage, and if so, how?  I recall someone mentioning something, perhaps a hardware device connected to a circuit?