[1050 TH] BitMinter.com [1% PPLNS,Pays TxFees +MergedMining,Stratum,GBT,vardiff]

[DrHaribo]

My previous pool has a monthly giveaway contest, where miners can win (ATI cards) even according to the new subscribers under their link:
http://www.bitcoinpool.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=272

I dunno how they finance this, maybe adsense on your site could help (like btcguild has).
Just trying to help with my 2 btcents...

Very nice. I am thinking about some similar ideas, but with BTC prizes.

Of course not, thats the whole idea, but its just a first draft, I was waiting for comments and suggestions. If you want anything changed let me know.
BTW, what font are using on the website for the Bitminter logo?

The button could blend in better, otherwise I think it's great. I like the background. Maybe you could make one that is not quite as tall and without text/button on, for dynamic text showing a user's speed? Or even the same background, just less tall. Then I can code a personal banner for each user.

The logo font is Century Schoolbook L Bold Italic, size 45, for "BitMinter", and FreeSerif Bold size 20 for "Bitcoin minting made easy". Thrown together with Gimp. Not a program I am skilled with using.

[P4man]

Here is a slightly revised generic banner (correct fonts, more readable, smoothed the start button border):



(edit: there is a little artifact near the S of webstart, not sure where that comes from but ill fix that).



here is a sample for a normal sized personalised banner with MH/s (you want anything else on there?):






Here is slimmed down version. I also removed shadows as I think that may be difficult for you to generate:



Ill wait for feedback, make any requested changes and then Ill mail you the templates.
edit: Ill be on IRC most of the day.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Nice designs P4Man.  I like em.  While you guys get a finalized version done I will start advertising with these prototypes.

.... and for the love of God prime numbers can this block of doom ever end?  

For anyone who needs help w/ forum codes.  This will display image plus promo line and make everything a link.  Just add it to your signature.

Code:

[url=http://bitminter.com/][img]http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/2064/bitmintergeneric.png[/img][/url]
150 BTC promotion: +5% pay on all work up to our 60th block * [url=http://bitminter.com/]bitminter.com[/url]

[DeathAndTaxes]

I know pool owner is likely busy with other things but adding even a simple API (with public & private stats) would be useful.

http://www.btc-poolwatch.com/poolstats

@ ~47GH BitMinter would be the 14th largest pool.  Some nice free advertising.

[DrHaribo]

Nice looking banners!

I think "One-click miner" might be better than "Java WebStart" since a lot of users won't know what that is.

Also, the slim version would probably look better with shadows on "BitMinter". Although there may not be room? It should be easy to get shadows on the numbers as well by printing the text twice, first in black, then in white. Won't be as nice as the shadows you put on there, but hopefully it should look ok. If it doesn't, maybe I can try some sort of smoothing on the black (shadow) text.

Personalized banner with a meter with actual number on it is a great idea!

I know pool owner is likely busy with other things but adding even a simple API (with public & private stats) would be useful.

http://www.btc-poolwatch.com/poolstats

@ ~47GH BitMinter would be the 14th largest pool.  Some nice free advertising.

Pool stats are available at http://bitminter.com/api/pool/stats - it's just not documented anywhere. Adding individual miner stats is on my TODO list.

BTW, a couple users are sometimes submitting proofs of work based on work data the pool has never seen before. Those proofs will be rejected and you'll be wasting your hashing power. If you are using software that connects to multiple pools it may have bugs causing it to grab work from pool A and send the resulting proofs of work to pool B. I asked ckolivas and this should not be a problem with cgminer. Any other multi-pool software worth checking?

[DeathAndTaxes]

Pool stats are available at http://bitminter.com/api/pool/stats - it's just not documented anywhere. Adding individual miner stats is on my TODO list.

Nice.  Whenever you do get them setup drop a line to BTCWatch.  My understanding is the only requirement to be included in the list is a public & private (key based) API for the pool.

[P4man]

Nice looking banners!

I think "One-click miner" might be better than "Java WebStart" since a lot of users won't know what that is.

Think you're right. Will do first thing tomorrow

Also, the slim version would probably look better with shadows on "BitMinter". Although there may not be room? It should be easy to get shadows on the numbers as well by printing the text twice, first in black, then in white. Won't be as nice as the shadows you put on there, but hopefully it should look ok. If it doesn't, maybe I can try some sort of smoothing on the black (shadow) text.

Its not pretty to have shadow on one side an no shadow on the other. I dont know what you will use to generate the text, but does it support blur? Even if it does, test it because it might cause huge cpu load to constantly generate dynamic images with blur filter. Perhaps its best we use hard shadows. two pixel offset to the right, two pixels to below, pure black If you can do transparency, set it to 80. If you cant do transparancy, let me know. As above, Ill make the template probably tomorrow. Its made in GIMP, so Ill send you the source file if you need any minor editing. Ill send you the full size background as well if I can still find it, should you want to use it on the site. I grabbed it off the web, but it was free to use, no license.

[P4man]

Updated generic banner PNG:
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/8317/bitmintergeneric2.png

Generic banner and speedo banner GIMP template:
http://ubuntuone.com/4mRHDJ8slKpNl4sZaQ46D3

(note: just hide the appropriate layer to get a generic banner or with speedo).

Slim banner GIMP template:
http://ubuntuone.com/5Ar7MbcegY1mkafS2Bf5Nj

(note: shadows are 2 pixel offset right + bottom, 80% transparency). Used the same Century Schoolbook font as you did on the website, 30 size

[P4man]

"Myvolition", I love you

[DeathAndTaxes]

"Myvolition", I love you

+1 on that.  Thanks for ending that block-o-doom!

[DeathAndTaxes]

Started noticing "too slow" errors periodically (16 in last 12 hours).  I rarely see them on Bitminter (one reason I am trying it out w/ 2GH/s).  Any one else notice some "too slow" messages?

Doesn't seem to be affecting my stales (yet).  Solid 0.05% stale rate.  I need a more powerful radiator.  GPU temps are up to 61C (35 over ambient).  I think if I had a larger radiator I could get another 200MH (maybe 300MH) out of this rig.

[Turbor]

Thanks for ending that block-o-doom!

Was a tough one 

[P4man]

And another one! Let the good times roll

@deathandtaxes
I have noticed with phoenix and diablo I regularly get time out messages and my stales are much higher than bitminter. On the order of 1% or more sometimes (compared to basically nothing for bitminter). No idea if that is the same problem or not.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Impressive numbers you got there.  Guessing you're running 5870s?  Or maybe 5970s (judging by the voltage)?

They're stable at 200mhz memory?

Yeah it doesn't seem to mind 200MHz mem freq.  They are 3x watercooled 5970s (6 total GPU).  GPU #4 is hooked up to monitors (dual 24) so I have it set to dynamic the others are intensity 8. cgminer seems to do a good job of keeping the whole thing solid.  One bad thing is I can't overvolt through cgminer so I have to use shitty afterburner (wish I can get down to single app).

Here is my execution string:

Code:

c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /C start /affinity 8 /d c:\bitcoin\cgminer\ c:\bitcoin\cgminer\cgminer.exe -o mint.bitminter.com:8332 -u DeathAndTaxes_TiredMiner -p NotMyPassword -I 8,8,8,8,d,8 --gpu-engine 925 --gpu-memclock 200

I think I can get it to 1000MHz or close to it as I have full coverage waterblocks (cools VRMs also).  That should be close to 2.7GH/s.  The only thing is my water temp is up to 61C (~30C over ambient) and traditionally with watercooling we shoot for <15C temp rise.  Then again mining may be different.   The workload on the system is different than extreme overclocking for gaming.   Just 61C water temp is outside my comfort zone.  I am contemplating buying a larger (or second) radiator. 

[DrHaribo]

Phew, I could breathe a sigh of relief when that block ended. Nice work, Myvolition !

And nice work on the banners, P4man. I will get personalized banners working soon

They are 3x watercooled 5970s (6 total GPU).

Sweet!

[FalconFour]

Irony of irony, the blocks finally finish up, just as we get the first rain of the ending summer...

...

... And as many of you know, I run my mining rig outside.

This morning, I realize that rain is wet and computers don't like being wet.

Time to test the limits of Sapphire's warranty service...

edit: heh heh, watercooling. heh. heh. 

[P4man]

Irony of irony, the blocks finally finish up, just as we get the first rain of the ending summer...

...

... And as many of you know, I run my mining rig outside.

This morning, I realize that rain is wet and computers don't like being wet.

Time to test the limits of Sapphire's warranty service...

edit: heh heh, watercooling. heh. heh.  

 
Oh man. Sorry to hear.. but really, outside?
Anyway, you sure its not the powersupply that shorted? Over the years Ive done some stupid things with PCs, like dropping screwdrivers into a running rig or putting naked motherboards on metal boxes and powering them on and that sort of stuff, but somehow I never permanently damaged anything that way.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Can you tell me what waterblock you use?

925mhz at stock voltage, stable, is awesome.  If btc value goes back up I'm going to have to invest in watercooling my 'lazy' 5970s

It isn't stock voltage.  I am running 1.1625V right now.  Likely I can bring that down but I am moving up in 20MHz steps until I hit max freq and then I will drop voltage until I find min voltage.  The 5970s are "hardy" they can handle 1.625V.

The waterblock is the cheapest full block I could find for 5970.  If I wanted to drop some money I would get an EK block but I was looking to build the cheapest possible system.  I plan to write up a little guide/post about my adventures in watercooled mining using cheapest components I could find.  
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10069/ex-blc-705/Danger_Den_DD-5970_ATI_5970_VGA_Liquid_Cooling_Block_GPU-6899.html?tl=g30c309s1072

There is really no reason to watercool without a full coverage block because the VRM becomes the bottleneck.
There is really no reason to watercool any card except the 5970, 6990, and someday 7990 because their high price and the fact that you can cool 2 GPU is required to bring the cost per MH down to a reasonable level.

[conspirosphere.tk]

They are 3x watercooled 5970s (6 total GPU).

Sweet!

It would not be way more cheaper, easy and effective a "full immersion" oil cooling system? I am tempted to try a ghetto one if I find an almost free aquarium and car radiator.

Re: "925mhz at stock voltage, stable, is awesome."
Awesomely low? My 5870 mines at 970/330 at stock voltage on air cooling.

[P4man]

They are 3x watercooled 5970s (6 total GPU).

Sweet!

It would not be way more cheaper, easy and effective a "full immersion" oil cooling system? I am tempted to try a ghetto one if I find an almost free aquarium and car radiator.

Ive looked in to that, for fun more than anything. Its not a good idea. Oil has poor themal conductivity, mineral oil isnt all that cheap,  and you still need to circulate and cool the oil; plus you have to replace the oil (or filter it or both) as particles dissolve in them. It looks cool, but its not very cost efficient and even less efficient to achieve low temperatures. And its a nightmare for maintenance.

Im still tempted to build an "aquarium" file server just for the looks, complete with air bubbler and plastic plants or even fish , but for mining or main PCs, nope.

edit: for falconfour it might be a good idea though. No drama when it starts raining