I've completed a 3 days testing @BTCGuild. while the website is really cool indeed, the only thing I liked was the NMC merged mining. About BTC, payout is less than Slush but with less variance.
So to compare (my opinion based on my small miners)
Slush Pool: 1,0Gh/s => 0.009 - 0.010
PRO:
- Statistics are nice, I prefer to see earning than speed (which for a 24/7 miner should stay fixed)
- A bit more profitable than BTCGuild
- Payout are made with full 8 digits
CONS:
- Lack of merged mining
- Lot of variance
BTCGuild 1Gh/s => 0.007
PRO:
- Website is super nice
- NMC Merged mining
- Less variance
CONS:
- Profits are smaller
- Payout are not made with full 8 digits
While NMC are a nice plus, for me the winner is Slush Pool.
I'm now heading to 50btc to continue with testing