Mining in campus residence

[xlcs]

Hi guys,

I've just been introduced to Bitcoins a few weeks ago and I'm very impressed with the whole concept. I'm currently a university student living on campus and interested in building a simple, cheap-ish mining rig.

I've read and re-read the university network policy a few times and mining bitcoins seems to be legal. So basically I have unlimited electricity and network bandwidth (included in residence fees) for mining, besides the ethical issues of hogging electricity, I don't see any reason not to run a mining software 24/7 in my room. I am also aware of the fact that I won't be getting much profits.

Before I jump into this, is there anything else that I should be aware of?

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[SgtSpike]

HEAT.

Seriously, it'll get hot in there.

Oh, and you won't be able to mine for any decent amount of coin on a GPU for very much longer.  As soon as ASIC miners are released, the difficulty will jump 10x or more, causing your earnings to drop by 90%+.  So, it'll be free electricity, but it'll still take years to pay it back, instead of months.

Regardless, you'll still make SOMETHING on it, and that's better than making nothing.  So I'd still go for it.  Just don't expect to completely cover the cost of the whole system.

[freeAgent]

Aside from heat, the noise may be an annoyance.  When running a GPU (or multiple GPUs) at full-bore, they will get loud.  It's definitely not worth it to build a computer that you aren't going to use for any other purpose in order to mine Bitcoin.  However, if you're putting together a computer to use for college work (or gaming), then running a Bitcoin miner on the side may not be a bad idea as long as the heat and noise are tolerable for you and any roommates you have.

[Electricbees]

Here's another hurdle for you that I ran into;

You get one circuit in a dorm. Usually 15 amps.

While you can run substantial mining equipment with that, it is far from unlimited.
I ran at capacity for a long while, and the best I could get with my 5970's was ~3.2Ghash, accounting for having other appliances and such in the room.

Just be wary if you still yet decide to start mining...

[xlcs]

Thanks for the input everyone. 

I guess I'll start off by running an old Dell mini tower (with a new GPU) in the room to check the noise/heat levels or for any potential problems, then only decide whether to invest in a better rig.

[Graet]

Thanks for the input everyone. 

I guess I'll start off by running an old Dell mini tower (with a new GPU) in the room to check the noise/heat levels or for any potential problems, then only decide whether to invest in a better rig.

not all cards make the same amount of noise
I run 3 fan gigabyte 6950 and 7970 cards 12 - 14 cards running most of the time
psu fans are my loudest fans
one reference card drowns them out :/

just something to consider in your choice of card

[protogenic]

Ehh.. I currently live on Texas A&M campus in a dorm and I seem to have enough power in my dorm building for 4 5830's (all aftermarket coolers NOT reference) just fine but with very low budget AMD Semprons as cpus.. The CPUs  are also downclocked, and never used for anything but my mining rig. And from my experience with graphics cards even the lowest of profile cards can be loud. Just avoid anything with a blower instead of a fan that cools it. Blowers can easily hit 7-14dbs above a regular fan. Almost ALL reference cards ship with blowers, so try to avoid buying 1 fanned cards look for 2 or 3, the best companies I would say that have these options are usually Gigabyte or MSI. XFX's DoubleD series has them too and these cards will split the fan load between 2-3 fans and keep your card nice and cool while also being quiet.

[Endgame]

If you're going to be investing in mining hardware, you might want to consider getting some ASICs rather than a standard rig, as it looks like these will be replacing rigs before long. This will still take advantage of your free electricity, but will make you more money in the process. You can find more information on the BFL ASICs here: http://www.butterflylabs.com/

[freeAgent]

Thanks for the input everyone. 

I guess I'll start off by running an old Dell mini tower (with a new GPU) in the room to check the noise/heat levels or for any potential problems, then only decide whether to invest in a better rig.

Watch out for the power supply that came with the Dell.  It may not be powerful enough or provide the connections a high-end GPU needs to function.

[jimbobway]

Someone almost died because of heat.  Guy feel asleep.  Mining rigs were generating heat on a hot day.  Guy woke up with heat stroke.  Went to hosiptal.  Possible brain damange.  Remember to cool!!!

[odee2004]

HEAT.

Seriously, it'll get hot in there.

Oh, and you won't be able to mine for any decent amount of coin on a GPU for very much longer.  As soon as ASIC miners are released, the difficulty will jump 10x or more, causing your earnings to drop by 90%+.  So, it'll be free electricity, but it'll still take years to pay it back, instead of months.

Regardless, you'll still make SOMETHING on it, and that's better than making nothing.  So I'd still go for it.  Just don't expect to completely cover the cost of the whole system.

When will those ASIC miners be avaible and how much do you think it will cost?

[freeAgent]

HEAT.

Seriously, it'll get hot in there.

Oh, and you won't be able to mine for any decent amount of coin on a GPU for very much longer.  As soon as ASIC miners are released, the difficulty will jump 10x or more, causing your earnings to drop by 90%+.  So, it'll be free electricity, but it'll still take years to pay it back, instead of months.

Regardless, you'll still make SOMETHING on it, and that's better than making nothing.  So I'd still go for it.  Just don't expect to completely cover the cost of the whole system.

When will those ASIC miners be avaible and how much do you think it will cost?

Butterfly Labs says they'll start shipping ASICs in October.  If you order now, though, it is very doubtful you'll get one in October based on what I've seen.  Anyway, they start at $150: http://www.butterflylabs.com/products/

[gmouse]

The ASICs will drop eventually, and will be the only way to mine soon enough.  No need to drop the cash on a brand new rig now, unless you also need it for serious gaming.  I have a miner running 24/7 at 215 Mhash/sec on a GPU, with no appreciable increase in noise or heat.

My reward though, from doing this, will soon be seriously diminished I fear, when "cheap" ASICs come out.  I may have to get one of those coffee warmers and plug it into a cheap betook if/when they become available.  If that setup generates 0.1 BTC a day, then I beak even after half a year.  Woo-hoo!

[odee2004]

The ASICs will drop eventually, and will be the only way to mine soon enough.  No need to drop the cash on a brand new rig now, unless you also need it for serious gaming.  I have a miner running 24/7 at 215 Mhash/sec on a GPU, with no appreciable increase in noise or heat.

My reward though, from doing this, will soon be seriously diminished I fear, when "cheap" ASICs come out.  I may have to get one of those coffee warmers and plug it into a cheap betook if/when they become available.  If that setup generates 0.1 BTC a day, then I beak even after half a year.  Woo-hoo!

Thanks for the link.

Maybe I'll buy one of those and test if

Edit: Has anyone tested if the site is trustworthy? I don't want to waste my $163 (w/ shipping).

[freeAgent]

The ASICs will drop eventually, and will be the only way to mine soon enough.  No need to drop the cash on a brand new rig now, unless you also need it for serious gaming.  I have a miner running 24/7 at 215 Mhash/sec on a GPU, with no appreciable increase in noise or heat.

My reward though, from doing this, will soon be seriously diminished I fear, when "cheap" ASICs come out.  I may have to get one of those coffee warmers and plug it into a cheap betook if/when they become available.  If that setup generates 0.1 BTC a day, then I beak even after half a year.  Woo-hoo!

Thanks for the link.

Maybe I'll buy one of those and test if

Edit: Has anyone tested if the site is trustworthy? I don't want to waste my $163 (w/ shipping).

They have already delivered their FPGA products.  Of course, nobody has actually seen one of the ASIC products, or even a photo of them, yet.  There's definitely risk involved.

[bougelahi]

I mined in my dorm all of last semester. Free electricity and bandwidth was nice, and no one will ever know you are mining. Free power r nice.

[Endgame]

The ASICs will drop eventually, and will be the only way to mine soon enough.  No need to drop the cash on a brand new rig now, unless you also need it for serious gaming.  I have a miner running 24/7 at 215 Mhash/sec on a GPU, with no appreciable increase in noise or heat.

My reward though, from doing this, will soon be seriously diminished I fear, when "cheap" ASICs come out.  I may have to get one of those coffee warmers and plug it into a cheap betook if/when they become available.  If that setup generates 0.1 BTC a day, then I beak even after half a year.  Woo-hoo!

Thanks for the link.

Maybe I'll buy one of those and test if

Edit: Has anyone tested if the site is trustworthy? I don't want to waste my $163 (w/ shipping).

Based on past performance they are trustworthy. If you're worried that their ASICs will not live up to the hype you can always wait until they have a working product. Of course by then you will have missed out on a lot of very profitable mining days

[Monkey1]

Is there anything else you can use a mining rig for when these new rigs are released? I have a reasonable gaming machine, which I will keep and continue to use for gaming, which is its primary focus.  I'm a little late to the bit coin party and aim unsure about these asic. Can I use my rig to mine something else when bit coin becomes too difficult?  Is therevanying else?

[freeAgent]

Is there anything else you can use a mining rig for when these new rigs are released? I have a reasonable gaming machine, which I will keep and continue to use for gaming, which is its primary focus.  I'm a little late to the bit coin party and aim unsure about these asic. Can I use my rig to mine something else when bit coin becomes too difficult?  Is therevanying else?

You can continue to mine Bitcoin on a GPU or even CPU if you want.  It will just become cost-ineffective to do on GPU.  It's already not cost effective on CPUs.  "Free power" changes that calculation a slightly, but the amount of Bitcoin you'll be able to mine on a GPU after ASICs come out will be so miniscule that even the additional wear and tear on your hardware will far outweigh any returns you receive from mining on GPU/CPU.  I've heard Litecoin was designed to make mining more difficult for specialized hardware, but I haven't looked into it.  I'm not convinced that Litecoin or any of the alternatives are worthwhile.

[mypolopony]

I'm all for utilizing resources given to you, but I would think about asking a systems administrator or other such person before jumping into this endeavor.

I agree that it's nice to fly under the radar. But if you don't feel comfortable talking with them about it, i.e. if you are unsure whether they will be cool with it, keep in mind that they will probably find out and, regardless of your interpretation of the usage agreement, probably have the right to get upset.

And if they are cool with it (or they want to take a cut, hehe), they may be able to provide you with useful information or assist you in some way.

But if you don't want to tell them, I still say go for it anyway!