OK, im gonna hit 1500GH this weekend. Im thinking about pools again. I like BTCguild. Admin seems cool. Never have any problems with the pool. But my 24 hour earnings is always a few coins less than what mining calculators are estimating. Forgive me if im asking the same questions again but with the difficulty rising i want to make sure im maximizing my return.
DGM vs PPLNS. I know there is a brief explanation in the sticky. I still dont get it. I know DGM is newer. Newer isnt always better but it usually is. I would like to get some opinions. Which method should i go with and why?
Not quite. Both methods proposed approximately at the same time. PPLNS just widely used. In the long term both methods give you the same amount of bitcoins.
Pool size. Im assuming larger pool means more blocks solved and more BTC. Just want to confirm if this is an accurate assumption. Im assuming it is and thats why BTCguild is the largest pool.
Not quite. More blocks, but your reward from each block is smaller.
You may get some extra coins (less than 0.5%) from transactions fee, but this extra income may devalued due bad uptime for big pools (due overload or DDOS).
I noticed giga is offering a semi-private pool with 0% fee for people with 200GH. Obviously, 0% vs 3% is better. But what im really wondering is if BTCguild size pay TX reward and orphans will earn more than the 3% fee.
Orphans usually around 1%, current income from TX fee usually also minuscule.
Solo mining. I hear if you solve a block yourself you get 25 coins per block. This sounds nice. Im wondering if my hashing power is enough to justify solo mining or if i should stick with a pool.
Think about solo as about gambling. You may solve block even on one CPU, but this is very unlikely with current difficulty.
With 1.5TH you have a good chance solve several blocks, but there is no warranty what your income would be bigger than from pool.