(finished) Mint Race Weekend #2, BCC cards from Bitcurex!

[DrHaribo]

Mint race #2 is over. Congratulations to the winners!

Bitcurex is kindly offering their BCC cards as prizes for a second Mint Race on BitMinter. It will be similar to the first mint race. The finest quality minting work (lowest hash value) will win.

Start: friday 31.08.2012 at 20:00 UTC
Finish: sunday 02.09.2012 at 20:00 UTC

Prizes:
1st place: Bitcurex BCC card + 5 BTC
2nd place: Bitcurex BCC card + 3 BTC
3rd place: Bitcurex BCC card + 2 BTC
4th through 10th place: Bitcurex BCC card

Total value is about 38.7 BTC (price, as of this writing, is 2.87 BTC per BCC card)

If you win a Bitcurex card you can choose the currency (USD, EUR or GBP). If you don't win you can of course still buy a card from https://shop.bitcurex.com. You can sell bitcoins on Bitcurex and withdraw your money (USD, EUR or GBP) through the BCC card. Thanks to Bitcurex for sponsoring the Mint Race. You can read more about them at https://bitcurex.com and https://shop.bitcurex.com.

Win conditions:

• Just like your hash must beat the difficulty to produce a block, it must beat the other miners to win. The best (lowest) hashes during the race will win.
• As long as your work is accepted by the server it is valid for the race, even if it ends up "stale" or "orphaned" in the block list.
• Each person can only compete with one (their best) hash.

Verifiability:
Hopefully your mining software will show if you have created a block (BitMinter client does). Your block will show with your user name in the block list at http://bitminter.com/blocks. You can click the height number for the block (leftmost column) to see details. There is a link there to blockchain.info where you can see the hash value of the block both on the page and in the URL. The lowest hash value wins. Hash values are shown in hexadecimal. 0-9 is lower than A-F. A is lower than B. Pretty simple.

FINAL RESULTS:

Place	Name	Hash (lower is better)
1	Isokivi	000000000000007FE04B5867A04D88FAC07F314B2157FFDE65FE841CBE276E11
2	PasProfeta	00000000000000E2292F2798A1D277E42C08D67138B5F142937CA2DC96916011
3	salcox	000000000000012FE112E6FD081B6E4CF2713C2EB28BB9CD9E890CB42795B83A
4	darkice	00000000000001BD5F0F7AEBCA6640E4B7EDCEA81497438C46CCA38D2C619C8A
5	gigavps	000000000000024C8DE303E240DDDA8612DE3E0FB6D282783DDAFF309D50E866
6	Fefox	0000000000000277C7D84C74A82E624662305DCACA1F62332167303842123639
7	WhitePhantom	000000000000028FE9E42B3D05A1ADDBAAEB592DA8C2F03107333A0B3789DB31
8	slipbye	000000000000035132ED7900B22D1CF41308CCBD066FEF3BDD3CFBDB9B1AF797
9	gazza	000000000000042047C86D261109FC3CADBC1D0095AAC2BC1744FDF9D768BDE6
10	kujayhawk	000000000000051955C2915741ADEB4D86B506068FA10D6A5191D6C61D708FEC
---	---	--- no prizes below this point ---
11	miscio84	00000000000005785B7210D23435261F9981B367673D81964085D84357D9C8F4
12	filip	00000000000005ABA288C959766E107D49B28E2E9932855145E885C98DEAC62D
13	lenny	00000000000005AC7A6CFEE6487540B92BFCC4947CF922AF74B7CA5D20716B7F
14	zopyx	00000000000005B71D5366F00ABC42FBF555D1BE267A61ECF99951403BA53D10
15	Phraust	000000000000061CE6206AFEDC04D0A502B5E78F46A0A0AD50A01CB124F52C8C
16	benny32	000000000000064259533442DB63F5ACA7DFE370C89CF3091AD1C9CE0D5E25D8

[Bitcurex.com]

Thank you DrHaribo for this opportunity. We are gladly give out prizes.
We cannot forgot about those by whom the Bitcoin can exist - the miners.

Let the best man(or woman or machine) wins.

[AmDD]

So.... what?
Im lost as to how this works... Do we just mine as usual and as we submit shares at random the lowest "number" is the winner? Therefor the only thing we can do to better our chances of winning is submit more shares, aka mine more?

[DrHaribo]

Yeah, you just mine as usual. Just like a low hash can let you create a block, now it can also get you a prize.

[AmDD]

Cool!

Yeah, I really have a very very minimal idea as to how bitcoin actualy works, Im still pretty new around here...

[lenny_]

There are many blocks mined since begin of this competition. How we can found out who is the winnner?

[DrHaribo]

There are many blocks mined since begin of this competition. How we can found out who is the winnner?

It starts friday at 20:00 UTC.

[lenny_]

Ups, sorry:)
We're waiting then.

[DrHaribo]

With 2.5 hours left before the race we can already see miners jockeying for position.

In pole position we have amazingrando, a new miner on the pool. With 10% of the hashpower he should have a good chance to win.

After him we have the usual suspects, our regular miners in the 40-60 GH/s range. We can see Entropy now pushing up to 74 GH/s though, just in time for the race. But what is this, farfie is falling back, he appears to have lost about 20 GH/s. We can only hope this is not a repeat of the previous mint race where one of Fefox's rigs caught on fire. I must remind everyone that every machine has its limit. Don't push things too far or you'll end up spending all your mining income on repairs.

Quick update, we now see amazingrando responding to Entropy's move, pushing up to 112 GH/s and keeping a good lead.

Interestingly we are not seeing any GPUmax runs yet. At the last mint race several miners were plagued with mistimed GPUmax runs both before and after the race.

[Isokivi]

With 2.5 hours left before the race we can already see miners jockeying for position.
Interestingly we are not seeing any GPUmax runs yet. At the last mint race several miners were plagued with mistimed GPUmax runs both before and after the race.

I wouldnt bother with a gpumax run, the word on the street is that miners havent been paid for a long time.. and most have swapped out of gpumax. It is also uncertain if a purchase would even go trough.

[DrHaribo]

I wouldnt bother with a gpumax run, the word on the street is that miners havent been paid for a long time.. and most have swapped out of gpumax. It is also uncertain if a purchase would even go trough.

Ah.. knew there had to be a reason for it.

Well, hashrate still went over 1100 GH/s just before start. And we have now passed 20:00 UTC and the race is on!

May the best minter win

[DrHaribo]

In a surprising move we see PasProfeta, a miner who is not even on the top 50 by hash rate, delivering excellent minting work. The hash is much lower than the first prize hash from the previous mint race. Can he have already secured first place so early in the race? There is still plenty of time left, but finding another hash that low won't be easy.

Also gigavps, salcox, miscio84 have excellent hashes that are below the first prize hash from last race. It will be interesting to see if those will all stay among the 10 winner hashes.

We see manny following up with a namecoin block, but that will likely fall in the rankings fairly quickly.

(current standings updated in the original post above)

[DrHaribo]

gigavps hits another block. It's not good enough to take the first place from PasProfeta, but it does improve his current second place, making it that much harder to beat.

Miners don't seem deterred by the minting we have seen so far. The pool hashrate seems to be inching up towards 1200 GH/s.

Update: oops, missed that micheletegon had an NMC block as well. Not sure if I will bother to dig the bitcoin hash out of those merged namecoin blocks though, as they will probably be pushed off the rankings soon.

[squid]

Seems fun, tough I doubt my measly 1 gh/s will be a victor!

[ziomik]

AAAArgh !! ---------------------->  Fefox 1,111,999 Mhps !!! O-O

[DrHaribo]

Three new blocks have been minted by zopyx, slipbye and benny32. Rankings in the first post will be updated in a moment.

And here's something we haven't seen before. A GPUmax run pushes Fefox up to 1500 GH/s! Pool hashrate at 2.5 TH/s. That's a new record for highest miner hashrate and for pool hashrate as well!

[ziomik]

I have the impression that this is a test of "ASIC".
Gpumax not to send so strong! I bought still Gpumax, but never sent with this power. However, it is a pleasure to see so much power! 

[SgtMoth]

no, its gpumax

[Fefox]

I have the impression that this is a test of "ASIC".
Gpumax not to send so strong! I bought still Gpumax, but never sent with this power. However, it is a pleasure to see so much power! 

when no one was looking I took a ASIC Mini Rig out on the track for a few laps

[ziomik]

With how much security you're telling...  
Anyway ... finished.  

@fefox: super lol 

[Fefox]

Looks like a wheel just came off, back to the old one now 

[ziomik]

Fefox   41.23% 20.67884171 BTC
WORK 4,360,265
4,360,265 ----> 41,23% = 1.787.708
buy 1.787.708 of shares Gpumax = 70 BTC
20-70=-50

was a great deal!    

[P4man]

OKAY was this gpumax or a big asic rig?

if it was gpumax the loss of 50 coins will be offset with some prize money.

fefox is in third place for the race which is worth some coins.


 I am not sure as to how gpumax works?
 Do I rent it so to speak?
 I also read they had trouble paying people lately.

It was gpumax. It works a bit like a pool, but you can buy the hashrate and send it to any other pool.
As for the loss or gain; its too early to tell. If we find one or even two more blocks fast enough, Fefox will make a profit. If we dont, then he will make a loss. On average you would expect to lose big time buying gpumax shares and pointing them to a pool with <=100% expected PPS, but that never stopped a gambler before

[ziomik]

yes, I had not done this reasoning.... always the case of gpumax, right? 

[Fefox]

Darkice has joined the race and is burning up the shares!

[DrHaribo]

HALF TIME!

Someone do a little dance or something.

After Fefox's hashrate returned to normal we have seen ScoobyDoo and PuppetMaster both boost their hashrates much higher than normal for a time.

Also salcox was able to create another bitcoin block, this one much better than the first one. Still, even this is not good enough to wrest control of first place away from PasProfeta who is looking very secure indeed. It does however put salcox in second place so far and looking very hard to beat.

Recently darkice appeared, quickly placing himself #1 on the top50 hashrate list, just above amazingrando. Also singular and Ayrat pushing up among the top 10 hashrates further adds to the fierce competition we are seeing right now.

And yet noone has been able to touch PasProfeta so far. And not for lack of trying. One of the smallest miners is sticking it to the big guns. Is he untouchable? We will find out soon. Only 24 hours of the 48 hours race left.

Meanwhile, benny32's position is looking very precarious. Can he hold on to a prize position? It is not likely if we see as many blocks in the second half as in the first half.

[P4man]

I was actually going to buy a Bitcurex card before I read they gave them as prizes here. So, unless Im lucky enough  to win one myself, if any of the winners isnt interested in it, Im buying . Assuming you can transfer them, but I think you can.

[SgtMoth]

Fefox   41.23% 20.67884171 BTC
WORK 4,360,265
4,360,265 ----> 41,23% = 1.787.708
buy 1.787.708 of shares Gpumax = 70 BTC
20-70=-50

was a great deal!    

....anyone else hear that LOUD sucking noise.....about -33....was fun to watch


...sry fox, couldnt help myself

[darkice]

lol found one for you

a few days ago I found

00000000000000c261cc5ca7abc4d267004263b

but since block itself is 50 BTC 

[Fefox]

Fefox   41.23% 20.67884171 BTC
WORK 4,360,265
4,360,265 ----> 41,23% = 1.787.708
buy 1.787.708 of shares Gpumax = 70 BTC
20-70=-50

was a great deal!    

....anyone else hear that LOUD sucking noise.....about -33....was fun to watch


...sry fox, couldnt help myself

Well it didn't pan out that well $ wise, but hey! it was a great test and the most fun I have had for months (teasing people I was running ASIC)   

[Bitcurex.com]

Hi

I dont understand any of it but congratulations for every winner out there We are keeping fingers crossed for all of you.

cheers

[DrHaribo]

A nice block by darkice landed him in 3rd position. kujayhawk takes 8th and lenny just barely squeezes into 10th, leaving zopyx, Phraust and benny32 out of luck for prizes.

The best hashes are looking very hard to beat, but we will probably still see some changes in the lower rankings.

On the hashrate side of things we see narousberg arriving on the scene and Garr255 pushing up on the hashrate charts. The hashrate needed to show up on the top50 list keeps going up.

[DrHaribo]

Isokivi was a bit too quick and created a block just before the race started. But now he strikes back with a block that beats even PasProfeta's. Isokivi moves into 1st place.

[Isokivi]

Im a Winrar!

[Isokivi]

[SgtMoth]

Thanks to Bitcurex for sponsoring this Mint race!

[DrHaribo]

The race is now over!

A big thanks to our sponsor Bitcurex. This was a lot of fun! Thanks also to everyone who took part, and congratulations to the winners!

The top 3 winners will find a BTC prize in their BitMinter account now. All 10 winners will be contacted to receive their Bitcurex cards. If you didn't register your email address on BitMinter perhaps you can do so. This way I am sure that the correct person gets the prize. Should you not have a use for the card you could take P4man up on his offer to buy one.

If you didn't win, don't despair. You can buy a card from https://shop.bitcurex.com. You can also compete in the next mint race!

If you would like to sponsor the next mint race with prizes, or you have ideas for prizes, email me at operator (at) bitminter.com (or PM me in this forum).

[Bitcurex.com]

Hello

Congratulations to all winners.

It was amazing to read DrHaribo's comments on the race.
Amazing job DrHaribo.


We are very glad to be able to support the race.


Once we will receive the shipping details we will inform the users about shipping the cards.

Cheers

[AmDD]

Thanks to Bitcurex for sponsoring this Mint race!

Agreed! Thank you!!

[Bitcurex.com]

Most of the winners have claimed their award.
Some cards has been sent today.
We are still waiting for other winners.

[darkice]

I cannot claim my win, Turkey is not listed in the address field of the checkout page, even zimbabwe and all our neighbours are listed, sent an email about it, bu no answer, and bitcurex shop is down

[lenny_]

I cannot claim my win, Turkey is not listed in the address field of the checkout page, even zimbabwe and all our neighbours are listed, sent an email about it, bu no answer, and bitcurex shop is down

It's just you, Bitcurex is UP.
Turkey is not listed but it doesn't matter, you can use EUR currency. Or sell card to someone else

[darkice]

bitcurex was up, shop.bitcurex.com was down, but now it's back again, What I mean by turkey not being listed is in the address-country field where my card should get posted, there is no Turkey in the list so I cannot checkout my address from the site , I know I can use euro etc

[DAoneNonlyG]

Received my card today!! thx to Bitcurex and bitminter!! 

[DrHaribo]

Received my card today!! thx to Bitcurex and bitminter!! 

Awesome

That's everyone except kujayhawk I think. Please look in your email inbox, last call.