Share difficulty. Does a share at difficulty=2 equal two shares at difficulty=1?

[robotrebellion]

I'd like to understand share difficulty in context of mining pool reward systems.

Would miners produce half as many shares on a pool with difficulty=2 as they would at difficulty=1?

[crazyates]

IIRC, and diff=2 share is 2x as hard to find as a diff=1 share. A diff=100 is 100x as hard. This keeps going and going, to the point where the current network diff of 12.2M would take (on average) about 12.2M shares to find one block solver.

So yes, if you're submitting diff=8 shares to a pool, it's effectively cutting your U: rate into 1/8 of what it would be at diff=1.

[robotrebellion]

Are higher difficulty shares also more likely to discover a block?

[crazyates]

Are higher difficulty shares also more likely to discover a block?

A block is simply a share that has a high enough difficulty. Right now, the network difficulty is exactly 12,153,412. This means that if you get a share that's diff=12,153,411, it's just a share. If you get a share that's diff=12,153,413, it's a block solver.

[odolvlobo]

A share doesn't really have a difficulty. When you are mining, you are generating hashes. When you mine solo, you solve a block if you generate a hash that is below the target value (which corresponds to the current difficulty). The same thing happens when mining in a pool except that you get a share when you generate a hash that is below the target value that corresponds to the pool's difficulty. If the hash is also good enough to solve the block, then your pool has solved the block, too.

The pool's difficulty only affects the chances of getting a share. It doesn't affect the chances of solving a block.

Some pools allow you to set your own difficulty in order to allow low-powered miners to generate shares at a reasonable rate. Keep in mind that if you set your difficulty to 2, your shares are 1/4 as valuable as someone that sets their difficulty to 8.

[robotrebellion]

Thank you, this really clears things up!

[Amph]

Are higher difficulty shares also more likely to discover a block?

A block is simply a share that has a high enough difficulty. Right now, the network difficulty is exactly 12,153,412. This means that if you get a share that's diff=12,153,411, it's just a share. If you get a share that's diff=12,153,413, it's a block solver.

and with the same number, it is a block solver too?

[crazyates]

Are higher difficulty shares also more likely to discover a block?

A block is simply a share that has a high enough difficulty. Right now, the network difficulty is exactly 12,153,412. This means that if you get a share that's diff=12,153,411, it's just a share. If you get a share that's diff=12,153,413, it's a block solver.

and with the same number, it is a block solver too?

I believe so.