[4+ EH] Slush Pool (slushpool.com); Overt AsicBoost; World First Mining Pool

[Sir Alan]

I've bee watching my shares according to the stats page.
I was wondering why my miner keeps switching from block to block?
...
#          Block found at                  Duration   Total shares     Your shares   Your BTC reward Block #   Block value   Validity
21551    2014-01-27 01:17:54    0:56:44    633018888    41600    0.00169053    282635    25.14774250    98 confirmations left
21550    2014-01-27 00:21:10    4:14:43    2821235576    190874    0.00156324    282631    25.02511907    94 confirmations left
21549    2014-01-26 20:06:27    1:19:21    877146598    62015    0.00194748    282605    25.19078729    68 confirmations left
...

Your miner is trying to solve a block.  Every other miner is also trying to solve the same block.  When somebody succeeds (which can take anything from a few seconds to half an hour or more, but is on average every ten minutes) they are credited with finding that block, and everybody starts to work on the next.  Miners who are members of a pool such as bitcoin.cz each send partial results (shares) to the pool, and if a pool member happens to solve the block, then all pool members receive a proportion of the value of the block according to how much effort they contributed, and when.

If, however, the block was solved by somebody who was not a member of that pool, then nobody in the pool gets anything for it.

You will notice that the first column in your stats shows an incrementing number under the heading # : this is the round number, and counts the number of blocks the pool has solved.  The round is the interval between blocks solved by the pool, and the time in the Duration column is the length of that round.  Further along is Block # : this is the actual number of the block which was solved by a pool member; note that they are not usually consecutive, because the blocks in between were solved by somebody else.  In your stats, round 21550 ended when block 282631 was solved.  The next round, 21551, ended when block 282635 was solved some 56 minutes later.  The intervening blocks 282632-282634 were solved by miners who were not part of this pool. 

In the short term, you can expect your BTC reward to be roughly the same for each round, no matter how long it lasts, because however many shares were actually credited, your proportion of the total effort will be similar.  In the long term it will slowly decrease as more miners join the pool and your contribution gets diluted.


1Eeyore17YeHrbJW5Q3pSdV8sXujkdrrFc

[twindragon6]

Is it just me or is the hash rate from the server way down? Is this due to the DDOS and move to Amazon's EC2? It's about 25% slower than it should be. Is this being addressed? Also the latency is really high. I'm using Bfgminer. Are there any tweaks I should be making to the command line like a higher or lower queue length that will help? I'm already using these switches --no-submit-stale and the --queue (or -Q) is 1 by default.
 

[philipk999]

Is it just me or is the hash rate from the server way down? Is this due to the DDOS and move to Amazon's EC2? It's about 25% slower than it should be. Is this being addressed? Also the latency is really high. I'm using Bfgminer. Are there any tweaks I should be making to the command line like a higher or lower queue length that will help? I'm already using these switches --no-submit-stale and the --queue (or -Q) is 1 by default.
 

Don't know if it's a similar problem, but I had a network restart here recently and the usual block difficulty I get is 50-60, but now 3-15 and not all the ASICs in my cubes are even active - I suspect the server is allocating work too slowly - I'll try a ticket to the pool.

[Icebjerg]

Thank you for your replies,
I understand the stat info now much better than before.
I appreciate the explanation in detail.
I do read quite a bit, but this fourm gets so many posts to read everything or even try to skip the spam.

[twindragon6]

Is it just me or is the hash rate from the server way down? Is this due to the DDOS and move to Amazon's EC2? It's about 25% slower than it should be. Is this being addressed? Also the latency is really high. I'm using Bfgminer. Are there any tweaks I should be making to the command line like a higher or lower queue length that will help? I'm already using these switches --no-submit-stale and the --queue (or -Q) is 1 by default.
 

Don't know if it's a similar problem, but I had a network restart here recently and the usual block difficulty I get is 50-60, but now 3-15 and not all the ASICs in my cubes are even active - I suspect the server is allocating work too slowly - I'll try a ticket to the pool.

I have filed a ticket as well. It looks like the problem is that the Amazon EC2 server itself is located in Tokyo, Japan. This would explain a lot. I'm loosing hashes to horrible, horrible latency. Any word on a US deployed Amazon EC2 server? I'd hate to have to switch pools because of lag...

[Sir Alan]

I'm in the UK, and everything looks normal on my setup.  If anything, my hashrate is marginally higher than usual for this time of the evening (20h40).  It usually slows down significantly from around 17h00 when all the children get home from school and their online activity gobbles up the ISP's bandwidth.

[philipk999]

Is it just me or is the hash rate from the server way down? Is this due to the DDOS and move to Amazon's EC2? It's about 25% slower than it should be. Is this being addressed? Also the latency is really high. I'm using Bfgminer. Are there any tweaks I should be making to the command line like a higher or lower queue length that will help? I'm already using these switches --no-submit-stale and the --queue (or -Q) is 1 by default.
 

Don't know if it's a similar problem, but I had a network restart here recently and the usual block difficulty I get is 50-60, but now 3-15 and not all the ASICs in my cubes are even active - I suspect the server is allocating work too slowly - I'll try a ticket to the pool.

I have filed a ticket as well. It looks like the problem is that the Amazon EC2 server itself is located in Tokyo, Japan. This would explain a lot. I'm loosing hashes to horrible, horrible latency. Any word on a US deployed Amazon EC2 server? I'd hate to have to switch pools because of lag...

Rebooted proxy machine & restarted proxy and magically back on track could have been a windows update problem - was very slow to reboot machine after updates applied.

[Sonya]

Ok, so I just ordered a few block erupters, and plan on adding more. But I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for the best mining software/client to pair with these? I'm currently using GUIMiner, with 2 gpus, will GUIMiner work with the erupters?

[kabopar]

Ok, so I just ordered a few block erupters, and plan on adding more. But I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for the best mining software/client to pair with these? I'm currently using GUIMiner, with 2 gpus, will GUIMiner work with the erupters?

You'll probably do better with bfgminer https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=168174.0 or cgminerhttps://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.0. Using bfgminer 3.10 now with BE's.

Cheers

[aurel57]

Ok, so I just ordered a few block erupters, and plan on adding more. But I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for the best mining software/client to pair with these? I'm currently using GUIMiner, with 2 gpus, will GUIMiner work with the erupters?

You'll probably do better with bfgminer https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=168174.0 or cgminerhttps://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.0. Using bfgminer 3.10 now with BE's.

Cheers

I had 70 erupters running and used bfgminer and it worked great. If your interested click on the blog link on my signature and you will see my old setup. I have since sold all the BE on EBay and just run 2 BFL 60 GH singles.

[Mentalfloss]

what does everyone think of these: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=191048412931&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Terribly expensive...
Typical "looking for the greater fool" sale (approx. less than 60% ROI)...

I think by now it's safe to say it's impossible not to get a "greater fool" sale on EBay, as well as any shipping-ready low-end/medium-end hardware from a manufacturer. The only people making money there are the resellers.
Nothing on the market (ready-to-ship) seems to be even remotely able to ROI.
Everything else (high-priced pre-order gear) is the usual gamble.

IMHO if you have 900 quid to spend, buy BTC directly at a price you deem attractive.

I agree. During the gold rush those making the most money were those selling the tools. With difficulty shooting for the moon the 10 GH/s blades I'm running will be obsolete soon. Anyone paying more than $10 a G/Hs is sure to loose money.

You know this thinking is fundamentally flawed, right? "Anyone paying more than $10 a g/his is sure to lose money". Under-schooled message forum economists have been saying that for months now, but the truth is nobody knows the future value of BTC, which if trending upwards blows your entire theory out of the water. Buying in BTC is one thing, and mining versus trading carry opportunity costs as any decision does, but you put it in terms of dollar returns and it's entirely based on a future value unknown. The misinformation is so widespread here I know it's pointless to try to enlighten folks, but if BTC goes up in value a lot of people will find themselves wearing The Emporer's New Clothes, hope you like the fit.

I'll concede that you may be correct. But only as far as wishing for a miracle. Even if BTC starts trading at $10,000 there is so much hashing power being added any ASIC we can buy will never reach ROI. Do you think the >20% increase in difficulty every 2k blocks is from people buying ASIC's on eBay? There are one or more entities out there pumping up some serious data centers full of ASICs. My theory is it is the outfit that was selling the ASICMiner Erupter Blades and Cubes. I can't remember who that was, one name leading the group was Friedkat or something, supposedly they started selling these units because they reached 30% of hashing power and for the health of the network stopped building and sold units instead. Supposedly they stopped selling them now because they "are working on a new model" Yeah, right, stop selling a profitable unit...my arse. GHash.IO exploded on the scene, so these guys stopped selling chips and resumed building. The two of them and probably others are in an arms race for the most coin, squashing us with these rises in difficulty, whatever the cause is I am far from being fundamentally flawed.

[NayemQ]

Hey guys I'm mining using the Block Erupter Blade using Slush's Pool via mining proxy and my miners stop mining suddenly and it keeps going on and off


Like it mines really well for 5 mins and then it stops (see image below)

http://i59.tinypic.com/2wm0v1d.png

I even tried switching to BTC Guild, but I have the same problem.

Any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated.   

[kkurtmann]

Hey guys I'm mining using the Block Erupter Blade using Slush's Pool via mining proxy and my miners stop mining suddenly and it keeps going on and off


Like it mines really well for 5 mins and then it stops (see image below)

http://i59.tinypic.com/2wm0v1d.png

I even tried switching to BTC Guild, but I have the same problem.

Any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated.   

 could be a bad power supply or overheating

[aurel57]

Hey guys I'm mining using the Block Erupter Blade using Slush's Pool via mining proxy and my miners stop mining suddenly and it keeps going on and off


Like it mines really well for 5 mins and then it stops (see image below)

http://i59.tinypic.com/2wm0v1d.png

I even tried switching to BTC Guild, but I have the same problem.

Any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated.   

How  many miners are you running and on what kind of powered hub? How many per hub and what is amp rating of the wall power adaptor?

[BuhTuglia]

what does everyone think of these: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=191048412931&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Terribly expensive...
Typical "looking for the greater fool" sale (approx. less than 60% ROI)...

I think by now it's safe to say it's impossible not to get a "greater fool" sale on EBay, as well as any shipping-ready low-end/medium-end hardware from a manufacturer. The only people making money there are the resellers.
Nothing on the market (ready-to-ship) seems to be even remotely able to ROI.
Everything else (high-priced pre-order gear) is the usual gamble.

IMHO if you have 900 quid to spend, buy BTC directly at a price you deem attractive.

I agree. During the gold rush those making the most money were those selling the tools. With difficulty shooting for the moon the 10 GH/s blades I'm running will be obsolete soon. Anyone paying more than $10 a G/Hs is sure to loose money.

You know this thinking is fundamentally flawed, right? "Anyone paying more than $10 a g/his is sure to lose money". Under-schooled message forum economists have been saying that for months now, but the truth is nobody knows the future value of BTC, which if trending upwards blows your entire theory out of the water. Buying in BTC is one thing, and mining versus trading carry opportunity costs as any decision does, but you put it in terms of dollar returns and it's entirely based on a future value unknown. The misinformation is so widespread here I know it's pointless to try to enlighten folks, but if BTC goes up in value a lot of people will find themselves wearing The Emporer's New Clothes, hope you like the fit.

I'll concede that you may be correct. But only as far as wishing for a miracle. Even if BTC starts trading at $10,000 there is so much hashing power being added any ASIC we can buy will never reach ROI. Do you think the >20% increase in difficulty every 2k blocks is from people buying ASIC's on eBay? There are one or more entities out there pumping up some serious data centers full of ASICs. My theory is it is the outfit that was selling the ASICMiner Erupter Blades and Cubes. I can't remember who that was, one name leading the group was Friedkat or something, supposedly they started selling these units because they reached 30% of hashing power and for the health of the network stopped building and sold units instead. Supposedly they stopped selling them now because they "are working on a new model" Yeah, right, stop selling a profitable unit...my arse. GHash.IO exploded on the scene, so these guys stopped selling chips and resumed building. The two of them and probably others are in an arms race for the most coin, squashing us with these rises in difficulty, whatever the cause is I am far from being fundamentally flawed.

And the little guy is just getting squeezed out, further and further. I keep a spreadsheet of Bitcoin CZ, of all the blocks and times, and average them by day, and it's been interesting and depressing to watch the time-to-find-a-block rise and rise, as the daily reward lowers, and not just because of the difficulty rise. The problem I think, and I'm sorry if this makes me sound like a whiny baby, but the problem is big business seeing yet more dollar signs to reap/rape, and millions being invested by them, etc. I just hope that they are as disappointed as I am when all their hardware is useless crap because of a few more block reductions, difficulty in the trillions and so on. I'm sure they'll find some other soft virgin flesh to tear into at that time. Greed is what drives the world, I guess, and I even admit to my share, but hell, all I wanted was my share. This time a year ago, price of BtC notwithstanding, my share was still pretty good. I've got ten times the hash power now, and I'm not doing crap. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

BTW, that pool that's now the largest, I can't remember the name, the one that has got over the 51% barrier, is that a private pool?

russell

[organofcorti]

BTW, that pool that's now the largest, I can't remember the name, the one that has got over the 51% barrier, is that a private pool?

russell

I think you mean GHash.IO? They're the largest at the moment. They never got to 40%, and they've slowly been dropping for the last couple of weeks.

Details: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=77000.msg855078#msg855078


DeepBit did hit 50% in mid 2011 though.

[BuhTuglia]

BTW, that pool that's now the largest, I can't remember the name, the one that has got over the 51% barrier, is that a private pool?

russell

I think you mean GHash.IO? They're the largest at the moment. They never got to 40%, and they've slowly been dropping for the last couple of weeks.

Details: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=77000.msg855078#msg855078


DeepBit did hit 50% in mid 2011 though.

Yes, that's the one, Deepbit. Thank you.

[Savaron]

I have like 0.004 btc left in my account (beer money is always good), but can't pay it out. Can I send funds to my account to circumvent the minimum payment requirement?

[Mudbankkeith]

I have like 0.004 btc left in my account (beer money is always good), but can't pay it out. Can I send funds to my account to circumvent the minimum payment requirement?

Set your payout limit very high
Run some miners till you have more than the minimum payout
Then reduce your payout to the actual amount in the account

or sell your account details to a friend

[gourmet]

I agree. During the gold rush those making the most money were those selling the tools. With difficulty shooting for the moon the 10 GH/s blades I'm running will be obsolete soon. Anyone paying more than $10 a G/Hs is sure to loose money.

You know this thinking is fundamentally flawed, right? "Anyone paying more than $10 a g/his is sure to lose money". Under-schooled message forum economists have been saying that for months now, but the truth is nobody knows the future value of BTC, which if trending upwards blows your entire theory out of the water. Buying in BTC is one thing, and mining versus trading carry opportunity costs as any decision does, but you put it in terms of dollar returns and it's entirely based on a future value unknown. The misinformation is so widespread here I know it's pointless to try to enlighten folks, but if BTC goes up in value a lot of people will find themselves wearing The Emporer's New Clothes, hope you like the fit.

I'll concede that you may be correct. But only as far as wishing for a miracle. Even if BTC starts trading at $10,000 there is so much hashing power being added any ASIC we can buy will never reach ROI. Do you think the >20% increase in difficulty every 2k blocks is from people buying ASIC's on eBay? There are one or more entities out there pumping up some serious data centers full of ASICs. My theory is it is the outfit that was selling the ASICMiner Erupter Blades and Cubes. I can't remember who that was, one name leading the group was Friedkat or something, supposedly they started selling these units because they reached 30% of hashing power and for the health of the network stopped building and sold units instead. Supposedly they stopped selling them now because they "are working on a new model" Yeah, right, stop selling a profitable unit...my arse. GHash.IO exploded on the scene, so these guys stopped selling chips and resumed building. The two of them and probably others are in an arms race for the most coin, squashing us with these rises in difficulty, whatever the cause is I am far from being fundamentally flawed.

It's a nice fairy-tale to speak about taking into account furure BTC exchange rate.
But you buy the equipment today, for today's price. The equipment can mine limited amount of BTC during its life (before the difficulty eliminates any reasonable output). If you can buy the same amount of BTC for less $$ than the equipment today, it's sure better way to do it. The possible future growth of exchange rate is then your gain. In the case of the minig alternative, successful waiting for exchange rate increase would only be lowering your existing loss.

[edit]
Conclusion: (At least) the small USB minig devices that are available online now for delivery are overpriced, sometimes even several times their real value.