Is it more efficient to mine all in one pool?

[favelle75]

I now have 4 PC's up and mining, spread over 3 different pools. Would it be more efficient to have them mining all one pool?  Is there a benefit to contributing more to one pool?

[os2sam]

I now have 4 PC's up and mining, spread over 3 different pools. Would it be more efficient to have them mining all one pool?  Is there a benefit to contributing more to one pool?

It depends on the pools.

Speaking generically I would say mining on multiple pools is better.  That way if one pool is having really bad luck hopefully the others will offset that so you don't have as much of a loss.

Also if your PC's have the same configuration/hashrate you could easily measure the performance of the pools you use.

Sam

[favelle75]

Cool, that's what I was leaning towards.

Thanks Sam.

[os2sam]

Cool, that's what I was leaning towards.

Thanks Sam.

No problem.

One of the Bitcoin Big Dogs did a paper/post on the benefits on mining on multiple pools.  It's hard to do using CGMiners balance or load balance stratagies but it is much easier with multiple rigs like you have.

Just remember to always have failover pools/servers setup.  I meant to mention that before.
Take Care,
Sam

[favelle75]

Cool, that makes sense.  I only have 4 miners online right now, but I am building 3 more rigs on Saturday...just want to make sure I am maximizing the little time I do have left to GPU-mine, LOL.

[os2sam]

Cool, that makes sense.  I only have 4 miners online right now, but I am building 3 more rigs on Saturday...just want to make sure I am maximizing the little time I do have left to GPU-mine, LOL.

People have been saying there is very little time to mine with GPU's for quite a long time now.

So who know's how long we really have for profitable mining on GPU's?

Make the most of it,
Sam

[MashRinx]

Totally agree with os2sam (although his new avatar is kind of creepy  )  I have been having the "when GPU mining becomes unprofitable" with a business partner pretty consistently since August of last year, when I got him involved.  Although those conversations do continue, with the recent runup in price, GPU mining, at least for me/us, has been more profitable recently than it ever has been.  That being said, with difficulty continuing to rise, if the price doesn't keep up, that may change soon.  That too has been part of the conversation since August as well though.... 

YMMV.  Good luck.

[favelle75]

Yeah, the great thing about the GPU mining is I also sell gaming computers on the side.  Have been for about 8 years now.  So all these machines will still make great gaming rigs and should recoup almost 100% of their cost!  The mining is just the icing!