Hey new miner here, looking for some feedback...thanks in advance

[frankiebits]

So I discovered bitcoin 2 days ago and this is where I'm at , I'll try to make it simple.

I am mining off my desktop PC ,the one I am typing on right now...

I am using poclbm for the GPU , here are some specs and other info

Windows 7 Ultimate x86
Core2Quad Q9550 12MB Cache OC'd from 2.8 to 3.4GHz /100% Load Temp 50-60C= 5000 khash/s
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Stock @ 625MHz /100% Load Temp 60-65C = 70,000 khash/s

I made a batch file to run poclbm here is the commands I found to work well

start /DC:\bitcoin\ poclbm.exe --user= --pass= --device=1 -f 60

Without the -f 60 command windows felt laggy, the command fixed it and I don't notice any impact on the hashing speed.

Do these numbers seem accurate for my hardware?
The system has been hashing for 17 hours and is stable.

Questions:

Will this miner work with Crossfire?
I can add another 4850 for around $60, is it worth it, and will my speed double?
Should I set my cpu back to stock speeds?
Are my temps too high?

Thanks for any help, any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks for looking!

[xenon481]

Windows 7 Ultimate 33bit

 

[frankiebits]

Windows 7 Ultimate 33bit

 

Shit you know my secret... I changed it to x86 so no one else finds out.

[xenon481]

Also, you should not be CPU Mining using the bitcoin client itself. If you are going to be CPU Mining in addition to GPU Mining (not recommended unless you get free electricity) then you should be using ufasoft's SSE2 CPU Miner which should get you ~3x-4x+ of the CPU Mining performance you are getting now.

[frankiebits]

Also, you should not be CPU Mining using the bitcoin client itself. If you are going to be CPU Mining in addition to GPU Mining (not recommended unless you get free electricity) then you should be using ufasoft's SSE2 CPU Miner which should get you ~3x-4x+ of the CPU Mining performance you are getting now.

Should I just be using the GPU?

Also I downloaded the miner but not sure how to get it running.

[BitLex]

Will this miner work with Crossfire?

no, but with multiple GPUs

I can add another 4850 for around $60, is it worth it, and will my speed double?

yes, just don't activate crossfire,
you might get a 5570 for about the same price though and with a bit of OC get the same speed at 1/2 the power-consumption of a 4850.

Should I set my cpu back to stock speeds?

as xenon481 said, i wouldn't bother with CPU mining at all,
if you do it anyway and are ok with cost of electricity, go for it, no need to go back to stock-speed, as long as your system remains stable.

Are my temps too high?

no

[frankiebits]

Will this miner work with Crossfire?

no, but with multiple GPUs

I can add another 4850 for around $60, is it worth it, and will my speed double?

yes, just don't activate crossfire,
you might get a 5570 for about the same price though and with a bit of OC get the same speed at 1/2 the power-consumption of a 4850.

Should I set my cpu back to stock speeds?

as xenon481 said, i wouldn't bother with CPU mining at all,
if you do it anyway and are ok with cost of electricity, go for it, no need to go back to stock-speed, as long as your system remains stable.

Are my temps too high?

no

Wow thanks , I can only get bitcoin to use 1 cpu, how do I get it to 0? Do I just stop generating coins? Will the GPU continue to generate coins even if it is disabled in bitcoin?

[nster]

Don't mine with CPU unless electricity is free... else you will pay more in electricity then you will get in bitcoins

[BitLex]

I can only get bitcoin to use 1 cpu, how do I get it to 0?

get it to 0 by not starting it. 

to use more than 1core, set the number of threads to use,
-t 2 would run 2 threads, or use 2cores/50% of your quadcore

[BitLex]

Don't mine with CPU unless electricity is free...

that's like saying "don't run BOINC unless electricity is free",
why not let people decide what they want todo?

[os008]

Do I just stop generating coins? Will the GPU continue to generate coins even if it is disabled in bitcoin?

Yes, just stop generating. Yes, you'll continue to generate coins even if generation is disabled in Bitcoin software.

[frankiebits]

Do I just stop generating coins? Will the GPU continue to generate coins even if it is disabled in bitcoin?

Yes, just stop generating. Yes, you'll continue to generate coins even if generation is disabled in Bitcoin software.

Thank you!

[frankiebits]

So I can get a new 5770 for $130 and sell my 4850 for $50 (which is what I paid for it almost 2 years ago).

Really tempted to do this...

[nster]

Don't mine with CPU unless electricity is free...

that's like saying "don't run BOINC unless electricity is free",
why not let people decide what they want todo?

no... Bitcoin is an economy... The whole point of bitcoins is to get money. it is not PROFITABLE, but the opposite, to mine with his CPU... He is looking to make money so I am warning him that he should not mine with his CPU unless electricity is included in his rent

BOINC is using resources for a good cause

He's new to bitcoins, he needs guidance, and whether or not I tell him not to mine with his CPU, he gets to do what he wants to do... but if I tel him he might make a more informed decision

[nster]

He's new to bitcoins, he needs guidance, and whether or not I tell him not to mine with his CPU, he gets to do what he wants to do... but if I tel him he might make a more informed decision

+1, yea what a novel idea, why don't we treat fellow miners not as competitors but as friends who help us make bitcoin more successful and protected. Help instead of deceive.

frankiebits: forget about CPU mining, usually not worth electricity, consider getting 5970 card, it is the most cost effective ATI card at the moment. do not hesitate to ask questions here on forum or on IRC. BTW there is an opinion that mining with GPU's is about to get not that attractive soon.

If you buy a new GPU, especially something like the 5970, make sure you buy it primarily for something else like gaming, as bitcoins become less and less profitable everyday. The days where you could buy a GPU in which your main goal is to make money are long gone... Every 2 weeks, if the trend continues, the difficulty to make a 50BTC bloc increases by 40%, so every 2 weeks it takes 40% more time on average to make he same amount of bitcoin

Also, since you only have a 4850, consider (and you should) going into pools, especially paid per share ones

[frankiebits]

Thanks everyone for all the advice!

The only thing I am still having trouble with is getting Ufasoft SSE2 Miner running. I will probably take the advice and stop CPU mining , not sure if electricity is inlcuded in the rent cause I don't handle the bills. Anyhow I am curious of what kind of increase in performance I can get with that particular miner. Any help would be appreciated, thanks again for everyones help!

[BitLex]

The whole point of bitcoins is to get money. it is not PROFITABLE, but the opposite, to mine with his CPU...

sorry, but that's untrue,
the whole point of Bitcoin is to be able to transfer money, not to get it.
and i never said that mining on CPUs is profitable, actually this

as xenon481 said, i wouldn't bother with CPU mining at all,
if you do it anyway and are ok with cost of electricity, go for it,..

is what i said, you might have missed that.

BOINC is using resources for a good cause

you say mining is NOT using ressources for a good cause?
care to explain?
what better cause could there be than to protect your money?

[Grinder]

you say mining is NOT using ressources for a good cause?
care to explain?
what better cause could there be than to protect your money?

Spending more money to mine than it would cost to just buy the bitcoins is hardly a good way to protect your money.

[BitLex]

Spending more money to mine than it would cost to just buy the bitcoins is hardly a good way to protect your money.

not only your money, everyones money, protect the whole economy.
any hash/s more strengthens the network, doesn't matter if the miner is making profit or loss.

[nster]

The whole point of bitcoins is to get money. it is not PROFITABLE, but the opposite, to mine with his CPU...

sorry, but that's untrue,
the whole point of Bitcoin is to be able to transfer money, not to get it.
and i never said that mining on CPUs is profitable, actually this

as xenon481 said, i wouldn't bother with CPU mining at all,
if you do it anyway and are ok with cost of electricity, go for it,..

is what i said, you might have missed that.

BOINC is using resources for a good cause

you say mining is NOT using ressources for a good cause?
care to explain?
what better cause could there be than to protect your money?

The whole point of mining is to get bitcoins, and the whole point of getting bitcoins is either to buy something with it or trade it for money, so the whole point is PROFIT.

Using that many watts in electricity just to make a virtual economy IS NOT FOR A F$*^*$^% GOOD CAUSE. Imagine if all this were used fopr BOINC and Folding @ Home, that would have been a good cause, actually investing in research... If the purpose of mining were to make a virtual economy but with no monetary return, or if the monetary return was exactly the electric bill, NOONE would be mining. People do it for many, don't even try to convince yourself otherwise.

Besides, buying bitcoins probably helps the economy 1000 fold compared to mining with a CPU that could do ~12 Mh/s and losing money in the process (as well as contributing to global warming