Thanks, that helps a lot. I'm currently running a custom designed windows 7 professional laptop with NVIDIA graphics, 32gb of ram and a 64-bit system. What I was primarily looking to know was if I needed a driver or not :p
I believe that you will need a driver no matter what. This is at least what from I have read. In my situation, both windows XP and 7 I needed the driver. You will know if you need the driver because your mining software either a)Not be able to see Block Erupters or b) give you an error that says that "you do not have permissions to access COM1". Ill leave this link here even though I think they make it sound more complicated then what it is->
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=220450.0 However the additional information is appreciated. I do have another question if you have the time, I'm currently using the Slush pool because I'm just hashing at 10.7 Mh/s using my devices listed in the GUIMiner list, but if I'm running 12 330 Mh/s ASIC's (which I've been told clock in at actually around 336), then using 330 (the average of the advertised amount and the reported amount) * 12 I project to be hashing at 3996 Mh/s (3.996 GH/s). Based on that, in your opinion, would it be more profitable to stick with the Slush pool or switch over to another pool? Are there pools which are constructed based on speed of users, or am I just as well to stick with the Slush pool?
Thanks
I recently had the same question about what pool is the most profitable because relatively my hashes are very low. I am not familiar with Slush Pool. But I am confident to say that the following holds true for most of the Mainstream pools: Your profit all boils down to how much Hashing power you have & the luck and variance of these hashes. So really no snake oil. Youll find that some pools automatically Merge Mine Namecoin. So this is something to consider as you can factor this into your profit.
Ill try to elaborate as this post has gotten long.Whether its a large pool(like BTCguild
http://blockchain.info/pools) or a smaller pool you are getting paid by the number of shares your hashing power produces. It all factors out in the end when it comes to profitability. **Disclaimer though** In your research your going to find that some pools charge a higher fee, some pools allow you to choose if you want to get paid via "Paid per Share", Proportional, PPLNS etc etc. BTCguild uses PPLNS and PPS. I like PPLNS and the merge mining of NMC that BTCguild offers. BTCguild has high fees for PPS comparing to lets say Deepbit which only charge 2% for PPS. If you have been mining for a period of time with your 10M/hs I guess you have some coin stuck in slush that perhaps youll want to withdraw (I imagine their minimum withdraw is .01) One more thing....after playing with BFGM miner I found that you can mine on multiple pools. So you can set your miner to mine on 2 pools, so if one pools slacks on giving you work. Your mining software will point more hashing power towards the pool that is being more efficient. Its called LOAD Balancing.
In conclusion everyone has their opinion and because a pool is larger or smaller doesnt neccesary make it more desirable when considering your hashing power but like I said the pools luck can play a part. I hope all that makes sense and gave you some insight.
Ohh and one more thing.I know that "every hash adds up over time" but if your going to sacrifice your Laptop for a bit of mining I would mine for LTC.
**edit: added an additional link
