Solo Mining??

[us11csalyer]

I am running a Q6600 and ASUS EAH6850 OCed to engine 905/MEM 750 @ 1.57v\
GUIMiner - v2011-08-24
I get roughly 225Mhash/s with -v -f80 -w128 aggression =11
I have it configured to allow the computer to still be used for internet and videos.

My question is can I pause solo mining or will it mess me up on probability?

[nmat]

Why don't you pool mine? With that setup it will take you ~10 months to find a block if the difficulty doesn't change. Regarding your question, you can pause it and it won't affect probability.

[bcforum]

Your probability doesn't change if you pause mining. If you buy a lottery ticket every week and your odds are 1/x you'll win that week. If you skip buying a ticket one week you have no chance of winning that week, but next week (assuming you buy a ticket) they are 1/x you'll win.

With mining, you buy as many tickets as you can (by mining) in a 10 minute period (the target block rate.) If you pause mining for 5 minutes in the middle of a block you have reduced your chance of finding a winning ticket by 50% in that period, but only in that period.

For reference, 200MH/s is about 60 tickets/minute and it takes approximately 1.8 million tickets (on average) to win.

[us11csalyer]

IDK, I just thought I'd give solo a try.

What do you think of this?

A local store has old dell pcs with a single pci-e16 slot. Would it be better to build a 3gpu rig on newegg or get these cheap (75USD per pc) from the store and throw in a gpu? The used PCs have 325-400W PSUs. I can pick four of them up for 250.00.

Here is the build I was thinking about going through newegg

160GB Sata2 HDD
1gig of ddr3 800
athlon 2 XII
ASrock Mobo with 3 pci-ex16 slots
cooler master 850w PSU with 6 6+2pin connectors. 66Amps 792W on 12+ rail

Roughly 370 dollars before video cards. (I have extra dvd drive, ect)
What 3 video cards would work on the 850W PSU?

Or do you know a better build for someone wanting to get his feet wet in bitcoin.

[Boyne7]

more rigs = more power = less efficiency, more heat.

you'd be better off with a single rig with 3 cards.

[us11csalyer]

Thanks. I'm thinking if I can get 3 6950s and unlock them I'll be able to hit around 1500 Mhash/s Since I'm able to push my ASUS EAH6850 to do 225 24/7 with the flag that lets other apps run without lag. 260ish Mhash/s if dedicated solely to mining.

[Bitcraft]

Not worth it to solomine with that M/hash.

[us11csalyer]

I'll stick to deepbit. I'm hoping bitcoin value goes back up. This is a fun hobby and it'll be nice if it pays for the electric. Here it is 9cents per Kw.