MINING WITH MULTIPLE COMPUTERS

[thehedgemon]

I have around 50 computers (laptops and desktops) that I plan to mine LTC with via CPU. I am using p2pool and have my mining command set up as such:

C:\ltc\minerd.exe -a scrypt -r 1 -t 4 -s 6 -o http://p2pool.org:9327 -u Ldsnxxe3rswW9hUWKWadC5pvDe1fsTfZvm -p password


I'm curious if anyone knows a way to keep CPU usage down to a constant 50% as opposed to a constant 100%. Also, I want to make sure that if I use this exact command above that the findings mined by all 50 computers will be sent to the same LTC address above. If someone could get back to me on this it would help alot! Thanks.

[boobies]

if the cpu's are dual or quad core, just reduce the amount of threads (-t) to an amount less than the max, for example a 4 core cpu with 2 threads running would see "50%" usage.


Laptops are likely to overheat easily and destroy the battery life if you have this run constantly on them...especially if the users don't know this is happening on them.

[thehedgemon]

Thanks for responding boobie. That worked perfectly. And you read me like a book I don't want the users to know that its running. I'm having it run in the background upon startup. I'll get back to you when the first laptop goes belly up. 

[i3lome]

You can also hit Ctrl + Alt + Del and select Minerd in the processes windows and set MinerD to low priority.  That way if the User is running any apps open.  power is take from MinerD until the computer gets back to idle.  That way users wont experience lag and once they have finished what they are doing MinerD using the power that's available

[HeroC]

Are you doing this at a school or university? 50 computers is a lot.
I am sure there is a way biut I don't know how. Sorry!

BTW: how do you run this in the background?

[DaddyLong]

Hate to ask here but can you include one of my transactions or confirm it in one of your blocks? I hope that I am saying this right, but one of my transactions has been stuck on no confirmations and 1 node since early yesterday morning and it is blocking all of the rest of the transactions in my wallet... I am in dire need of assistance.   

[bandjhughes]

BTW: how do you run this in the background?

I was wondering the same thing...can you do that?

[thehedgemon]

Are you doing this at a school or university? 50 computers is a lot.
I am sure there is a way biut I don't know how. Sorry!

BTW: how do you run this in the background?

I use a program called Stealth runner that automatically runs the mining command after a set time of inactivity. It is in this portion of the forum...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=38588.new#new

I am going to post an extremely easy to follow "how to" once I have it running exactly the way I need it to.

[goldbtc]

Even with 50 machines CPU mining is very inefficient. I bet you will not even mine 1 LTC in a 24 hour period with 100% CPU Usage. Also there should be a separate worker for each computer.

[Itsltctime]

Not to flog a dead horse but I have also heard even a cluster of 40 cpus will not mine efficiently. Assuming they are mixed cpus hash rates could be all over the place. Also if you don't want people to know the computers are mining, you won't be able to mine with 100% cpu usage otherwise the computers will be very choppy and basically unusable. But like others above me have said you could run the mining software in the background and have each one as a different pool worker. Curious to hear actual results of a setup like this.

[Zarthalyn]

Not to flog a dead horse but I have also heard even a cluster of 40 cpus will not mine efficiently. Assuming they are mixed cpus hash rates could be all over the place. Also if you don't want people to know the computers are mining, you won't be able to mine with 100% cpu usage otherwise the computers will be very choppy and basically unusable. But like others above me have said you could run the mining software in the background and have each one as a different pool worker. Curious to hear actual results of a setup like this.

The OP mentioned that he intended specifically to run at 50% CPU, not 100% - so that point is covered. I'm curious though - through my lurkings I too have heard that each computer should be linked to its own worker - specifically for troubleshooting purposes. Is there any other reason this would be important? What would be the harm / benefit in having all the computers mine through one worker Vs. an individual one for each?

Thanks!

[thehedgemon]

Even with 50 machines CPU mining is very inefficient. I bet you will not even mine 1 LTC in a 24 hour period with 100% CPU Usage. Also there should be a separate worker for each computer.

I understand how inefficient this set up will be. And by seperate worker what exactly do you mean? Each computer will be running its own minerd and is being sent to the pool p2pool.org. To my understanding the way I have it set up it will be as if 50 different people were pool mining using p2pool, but the shared findings will all be sent to one LTC address. I'd like to know if you have any other suggestions before I embark on this. Thanks!

[goldbtc]

p2pool.org actually does not use a worker setup. Other mining pools use workers instead of addresses, which basically set up miner usernames for each computer. With this you can actually monitor each computers contribution. Maybe eliminate unprofitable ones. You would specify the pay to address in your account settings. You will find out some computers will not produce more than $1.00 a year.

List of Litecoin pools: https://www.litecoinpool.org/pools

[thehedgemon]

p2pool.org actually does not use a worker setup. Other mining pools use workers instead of addresses, which basically set up miner usernames for each computer. With this you can actually monitor each computers contribution. Maybe eliminate unprofitable ones. You would specify the pay to address in your account settings. You will find out some computers will not produce more than $1.00 a year.

List of Litecoin pools: https://www.litecoinpool.org/pools

Thanks for the insight. I've actually decided to use coinotron and make each seperate computer its own worker. I'll let you know how it goes once its all said and done.