PPS vs Proportional: Whats better for low-hash miners?

[lechuck]

most pool allow for pay per share or proportional payouts, which payout method is better for a miner with a small hashrate like 310Mhs?
as far as I understand proportional is worse, but PPS also gets worse the bigger the pools hashrate is?

[fortismilites]

I personally use Proportional, I have a decent payout rate at 350 Mhash/s

[lechuck]

may I aks how much?

[zubatej]

It should be the same in the long run, but proportional pool can be exploited by pool hopping. If you don't hop, pps would be better assuming the fee is the same.

[fortismilites]

i got about 1.5 btc in the pas 7 days mining for about 12 hours each day

[erpbridge]

Using Deepbit, I ran a miner for a day, and looked at the stats. Then, calculated. My Prop amount, when I divided it by how many shares I put in, came out quite a bit above the stated PPS amount. Not double or anything, but enough to make a significant difference.

[josephholsten]

In the long-run, both are designed to give the same payout.

PPS places a bunch more risk on the pool, since they must continue to pay out even during really long rounds. That means miners don't bear the risk of not getting paid. Even better, you simply get money sooner, so it's a bit like getting a zero interest loan from the time you submit the share to when a block is found and confirmed.

The main difference is not the long-term payout, but the fees charged by the pool. Deepbit probably has the largest share of the PPS market and their payout is equivalent to a 10% fee. Their proportional fee is 3%, and many newer pools have a 0% fee. If that early payment is valuable, PPS may be worth it for you.

But as a low-hash miner, you won't earn many bitcents a day. You'll spend more time waiting to pay out than you would waiting for your proportional shares to convert.