first setup questions

[fastfored]

where to start? thats the question.. reading i see cpu replaced by gpu. now its aisc... how do i know where to start? any help appreciated thanks

[RenegadeMind]

where to start? thats the question.. reading i see cpu replaced by gpu. now its aisc... how do i know where to start? any help appreciated thanks

Research. And lots of it. There are lots of numbers posted out there, but you need to compile a lot and figure out what fits your budget and expectations.

[slarowe86]

Well the ASIC's haven't been released yet, so here's what I did.

First thing is ATM/AMD GPU's will work far better than NVidia.

Next with the current difficulty, you're looking at about 3-5 high end pc's to start making a somewhat decent profit.

I'm running 4 7970's (soon to be 5), 2 5830's, and a measly 7770. All together I get about 3.4 GH/s which is like 0.22 BTC a day.

The PSU for these rigs 1250+, you will be drawing a bit of power with cards, fans, etc.

Fans ARE A MUST! My cards run (auto target set) of 75 degrees celsius (167 degrees F) imagine 4 of them blasting in 1 room, it will make the room unbearable unless you have some type of ventilation setup, so you needs fans in the PC to help cool the cards a bit, or send cool air through the system.

[fastfored]

where to start? thats the question.. reading i see cpu replaced by gpu. now its aisc... how do i know where to start? any help appreciated thanks

Research. And lots of it. There are lots of numbers posted out there, but you need to compile a lot and figure out what fits your budget and expectations.

been lookin for a few days. gets confusing.


Early Bitcoin client versions allowed users to use their CPUs to mine. The advent of GPU mining made CPU mining financially unwise. The option was therefore removed from the Bitcoin client.

GPU Mining is drastically faster and more efficient than CPU mining. See the main article: Why a GPU mines faster than a CPU. A variety of popular mining rigs have been documented.


FPGA mining is a very efficient and fast way to mine, comparable to GPU mining and drastically outperforming CPU mining. FPGAs typically consume very small amounts of power with relatively high hash ratings, making them more viable and efficient than GPU mining. See Mining Hardware Comparison for FPGA hardware specifications and statistics.


ASIC Mining: An application-specific integrated circuit, or ASIC, is a microchip designed and manufactured for a very specific purpose. ASICs designed for Bitcoin mining were first released in 2013 and (at the time of this writing) are in the hands of a very limited number of miners. For the amount of power they consume, they are expected to be vastly faster than all previous technologies and will likely make GPU mining financially unwise.


1.) so i should be looking at asic setups? or fpga? have no hardware really, except 2 yr old x64 wndows box, 3.4ghz cpu, no "good"  gpu yet...

2. whats difference between bitcoin and litecoin? post i saw says nothing... maybe im just not understanding.. thanks

[killerbread]

Asic miners are a bit of a scam atm. it will take months for your order to come, I know some who has been waiting 8 months. I would just get a 7770 and mine litecoins. Once the asic miners start to come out mining on a gpu will get a lot harder.

[fastfored]

First thing is ATM/AMD GPU's will work far better than NVidia.  ok, AMD it is...

Next with the current difficulty, you're looking at about 3-5 high end pc's to start making a somewhat decent profit. whats decent profit? i need 5 computers? how man cards each pc? 1-5? so maybe 25 cards needed?

I'm running 4 7970's (soon to be 5), 2 5830's, and a measly 7770. All together I get about 3.4 GH/s which is like 0.22 BTC a day.  whats numbers mean?3.4 GH/s? ghz per scond? of cpu? or total power? im confued....   and o.22 BTC a day, so 5 days=1 BTC?

The PSU for these rigs 1250+, you will be drawing a bit of power with cards, fans, etc. i bet...

Fans ARE A MUST! My cards run (auto target set) of 75 degrees celsius (167 degrees F) imagine 4 of them blasting in 1 room, it will make the room unbearable unless you have some type of ventilation setup, so you needs fans in the PC to help cool the cards a bit, or send cool air through the system.

need server room ac for all this stuff... thinking my electric bill will go thru roof..Thanks.

[fastfored]

"Once the asic miners start to come out mining on a gpu will get a lot harder."


you mean because more/faster asic will solve hash aster than gpu so by time im halfway finished they already done because their asic faster than my gpu?

[slarowe86]

First thing is ATM/AMD GPU's will work far better than NVidia.  ok, AMD it is...
Oops ATI, but you got what I meant lol

Next with the current difficulty, you're looking at about 3-5 high end pc's to start making a somewhat decent profit. whats decent profit? i need 5 computers? how man cards each pc? 1-5? so maybe 25 cards needed?
I run 2 cards each PC currently

I'm running 4 7970's (soon to be 5), 2 5830's, and a measly 7770. All together I get about 3.4 GH/s which is like 0.22 BTC a day.  whats numbers mean?3.4 GH/s? ghz per scond? of cpu? or total power? im confued....   and o.22 BTC a day, so 5 days=1 BTC?
g=Giga hash per second, the number of solutions to the complex math program that ties into confirming past transactions on the bitcoin network.

The PSU for these rigs 1250+, you will be drawing a bit of power with cards, fans, etc. i bet...

Fans ARE A MUST! My cards run (auto target set) of 75 degrees celsius (167 degrees F) imagine 4 of them blasting in 1 room, it will make the room unbearable unless you have some type of ventilation setup, so you needs fans in the PC to help cool the cards a bit, or send cool air through the system.

need server room ac for all this stuff... thinking my electric bill will go thru roof..Thanks.

If you have a basement, it will do fine there, the larger the room the less effect from all the heat.

[fastfored]

I run 2 cards each PC currently

amd yes... kinda liked nvidia better, but thats just from my experience...thought geforce were the best? (or are they good, but most expensive?
1. so u run 8  to 10 cards now?
2. how much average cards? 500 each? so like 5k in cards?
3. what do you see when you solve a hash?

[slarowe86]

I run 2 cards each PC currently

amd yes... kinda liked nvidia better, but thats just from my experience...thought geforce were the best? (or are they good, but most expensive?
1. so u run 8  to 10 cards now?
2. how much average cards? 500 each? so like 5k in cards?
3. what do you see when you solve a hash?

I'm currently running 7 cards
the 7970's go for about $450 a pop
You join a pool to get a steady payout

[fastfored]

I'm currently running 7 cards
the 7970's go for about $450 a pop
You join a pool to get a steady payout

so, like 5k on cards, say another 5k on setup 5 rigs (2 cards each) so 10k investment pays 1 bitcoin per week? and $120.00 per bitcoin(?) means $120. x 52 weeks=$6240 minus electricity? means like i make 5k from like 10k investment (+ electricity?) or im missing something?

thanks for the answers... much appreciated!

[slarowe86]

I'm currently running 7 cards
the 7970's go for about $450 a pop
You join a pool to get a steady payout

so, like 5k on cards, say another 5k on setup 5 rigs (2 cards each) so 10k investment pays 1 bitcoin per week? and $120.00 per bitcoin(?) means $120. x 52 weeks=$6240 minus electricity? means like i make 5k from like 10k investment (+ electricity?) or im missing something?

thanks for the answers... much appreciated!

Which is why you would have to build an outrageous amount, the price of BTC will fluctuate, it was $266 last week before the crash, will it see it again? who knows, but as the difficulty goes up, your income will drop, so you ave to stay ahead of the curve. It's just like any investment, it takes money to make money. And if in the event that GPU mining becomes no longer viable, well I have PC's I can sell for $2000-2,500 a piece.

[fastfored]

$266 before crash, whats it now? and where can i look to see current pricing for 1 bitcoin to us dollars?

[slarowe86]

I use 50btc.com (it's also a pool to mine with)

[fastfored]

1 BTC =111.32 USD   so 111.32 for 1 bitcoin. not bad, but thats 1/2 value as when it was $232.00   

what do you see on the pc when you figure out the hash and get bitcoins?

how do you know which site to use? any tips on choosing a site?
are all the programs (miners) the same?
the miner programs come from the sites themselves? not sure how this works...

[slarowe86]

1 BTC =111.32 USD   so 111.32 for 1 bitcoin. not bad, but thats 1/2 value as when it was $232.00   

what do you see on the pc when you figure out the hash and get bitcoins?

how do you know which site to use? any tips on choosing a site?
are all the programs (miners) the same?
the miner programs come from the sites themselves? not sure how this works...

The program will tell you what the card is hashing and then after a few minutes it will show up on the site that you set the miner up with.

Common mining programs to use are cgminer (personally I like it the best because you can tweak settings)
GUIMiner (fast easy setup)
50btc.com has one you can use, but I've had nothing but problems with it.

You wanna go with sites that aren't super full of users (then you get charged higher transaction fees), but not too little because it's a sign that it's newly established and who's to say they won't close up shop and take what you've mined?

technically I'm still labeled a noob here so I can't post links, and the download site is down, so stick with GUIMiner for now

[fastfored]

thanks, for a noob you have good info thanks!

guiminer it is...

what os you recommend? win7?

[slarowe86]

thanks, for a noob you have good info thanks!

guiminer it is...

what os you recommend? win7?

Some say there's a difference, I've been using Win7 on all the pc's, one of them are running Win8, but it's a pain when I have to restart the pc remotely, because I have to physically unplug the wireless usb adaptor before I can get it mining again x.x So I'll probably be dropping it down to win 7 this week

[No1Draftpick]

this whole 5 post thing is ridiculous I just want to ask questions in another section.

[fastfored]

thanks, for a noob you have good info thanks!

guiminer it is...

what os you recommend? win7?

Some say there's a difference, I've been using Win7 on all the pc's, one of them are running Win8, but it's a pain when I have to restart the pc remotely, because I have to physically unplug the wireless usb adaptor before I can get it mining again x.x So I'll probably be dropping it down to win 7 this week

nice to know, win7 it is... saw this article: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=136392.300   seems like butterfly labs asic is a scam
any pics of your setup?