I decided to diversify my SHA256 farm and start mining some Scrypt, mostly because of coupons from Bitmain and then $505 list prices of L3s, combined with some empty shelf space in my data center.
Spent some time on Google, but unlike BTC pool information, not finding as many pool comparisons for LTC and its friends or specific fee structures.
Update: Finally found
https://litecoin.info/index.php/Mining_pool_comparisonRecommendations I found so far:
Solo hash - Pro: no fees. Cons: LTC only unless I was to setup merged mining and manage multiple wallets. Doable.
Litecoinpool - Pro: Claims 0 fee compliments of merged mining. Cons: Cost money to run a pool, guessing they shave some off the merged mining and keep (currently trivial) transaction fees. Concerns: PPS pools TEND to have higher fees to cover themselves. Reported in the Pool Comparison to charge 4%
Give-Me-Coins - Pro: Smaller pool, merged mining, payout directly to each wallet. PPLNS - so SHOULD have lower fees. Cons: (Minor) Need to maintain multiple wallets (already setup). Concerns: Pool Comparison claims 0% fee, but a pool must charge something to survive.
ProHashing - Pro: Profit Switching, rumored to pay out substantially more than merged mining sites. Ability to pay out in any coin, including BTC. Cons: Somebody is paying for all the transaction fees associated with mining multiple coins and converting them to payout coins. Concerns: Unknown fee structure. Also, if they are so great, and pay a lot more, why isn't everyone mining there?
FYI: Out of principle, I refuse to mine on any Chinese owned or controlled pool. Also trend towards smaller pools for the health of the network - so long as blocks are found on a weekly basis I consider them big enough (which is why Litecoinpool is just a backup for me now).
Basically, this boils down to trying to maximize my return, which usually means minimizing expenses.
Can anyone please help educate me on this branch of mining?