Getting feet wet - SOLO ONLY hardware list

[mrhobbeys]

Hi all,

I have been looking around for a month or more and have even tried to setup GUIMiner on my own but I so far have not done it correctly. I want to try out a very easy to setup and use miner to run solo.

My computer is not great I just want to try it out.

[annelions]

If your computer's not great, why not try pool mining? It could be months, years or never that you find a block. With pool mining, at least you get SOME Bitcoins for your efforts.

[322i0n]

bitminter is a java client that will run without any configuration. you will just need to register at the bitminter.com pool and then log in from your client.

the client will show you what you are likely to earn in a day with your current hardware set up.


its not bad to start with.

[mrhobbeys]

Thanks but I want to Solo mine, I have newer hardware that I will eventually put it on when I find a miner I like. If it helps here is a list of the hardware I have available. And for the record I am somewhat of a gambler I would rather take the higher risk option of solo mining for the large payout.

1st Test computer
Athlon 64
Nvidia 8800 GT (AGP)
Any OS option

2nd  Test Computer
Turion X2 64x
Radion HD 3200
Any OS run in Virtual Box only

Actual machine after choice is made
Phenom Black 9950 x4
Gigayte HD 6450

Actual Machine 2
Phenom 9950 x4
R HD 4200 + 4700 Hybrid Crossfire

Actual Machine 3
Phenom II x6
R HD 5870

I also have tons of old hardware Mainly P4 Dells that I have configured into a cluster at one point but the electricity use for what I was doing at that time was very much not work the effort. But I might do it again for the fun and challenge if I like mining.

I have GUI Miner on Actual Machine #1 I just couldn't figure it out and when looking for the new version I did not see the link anymore.

[Chaseshaw]

Thanks but I want to Solo mine, I have newer hardware that I will eventually put it on when I find a miner I like. If it helps here is a list of the hardware I have available. And for the record I am somewhat of a gambler I would rather take the higher risk option of solo mining for the large payout.

1st Test computer
Athlon 64
Nvidia 8800 GT (AGP)
Any OS option

2nd  Test Computer
Turion X2 64x
Radion HD 3200
Any OS run in Virtual Box only

Actual machine after choice is made
Phenom Black 9950 x4
Gigayte HD 6450

Actual Machine 2
Phenom 9950 x4
R HD 4200 + 4700 Hybrid Crossfire

Actual Machine 3
Phenom II x6
R HD 5870

I also have tons of old hardware Mainly P4 Dells that I have configured into a cluster at one point but the electricity use for what I was doing at that time was very much not work the effort. But I might do it again for the fun and challenge if I like mining.

I have GUI Miner on Actual Machine #1 I just couldn't figure it out and when looking for the new version I did not see the link anymore.

dont take this the wrong way, but even with those specs you'd still be at about 90 days average time till finding a block, and the difficulty will change a lot in that time. I'd still recommend a pool.

the R HD 6450 will get you about 130 mhash, we'll call it 150 to be nice. the R HD 4xxx series are only beta-compatible with the SDK, and don't post nearly as good speeds (20-40% reduced over the same model from the 5xxx series -- trust me I learned the hard way). 200 mhash combined for this machine. r hd 5870 is the best model you have here and can be pushed to about 400 mhash = a combined strength of 750 mhash/sec. a quick visit to the calculator over at bitcoinpool.com means you're in for a rough road. I'd HIGHLY recommend a pool. you can dare to be great at a 50% chance of absolutely nothing happening, ever, or you can settle for .5 btc a day (at that rate are present difficulty) in a pool, and at least have something to show for it after a month of work.

I'd recommend not considering solo mining till your rigs combine to the 4 ghash/sec neighborhood.

[mrhobbeys]

Are people really reaching this 4 ghash/s and making money after power cost?

I just want to do it solo in the hope of getting lucky. I don't think getting .5 a day will be worth it to me but getting lucky or discouraged seems like my best option. It comes down to me wanting new hardware and I'm willing to take a shot while I have reduced power costs at getting lucky, maybe if I had to pay the full bill I would pool mine or just not do it at all.

[mrhobbeys]

I now have GUIminer running in VirtualBox so how do I know it is working and I did it all correclty?

[annelions]

I now have GUIminer running in VirtualBox so how do I know it is working and I did it all correclty?

Try connecting to a pool (I recommend slush's pool at http://mining.bitcoin.cz/ because of the low payout requirement) and see if that works? If it does, then you can try doing solo mining. I've never done solo mining, but I'm sure others here have.

[322i0n]

have a rethink about your hardware.

do you really need to run all these single card rigs? can the best of the cards fit into one rig? can you sell any of this and by more 5870's/5970's /69xx's?

[mrhobbeys]

can you sell any of this

 

Just made me laugh when I read that, even though it's a reasonable idea, I have a bunch of this stuff and more on craigslist right now. Most of the the time I get a few calls a day when I put stuff on craigslist this is somewhat scary to me about the state of the economy that I have not gotten any calls in 2 weeks and I have a truck, trailer, computer parts, and video games on there.....

The problem I have with pooled mining atm is that my calculations show that I will spend more in power than I will get back even with my reduced rate. That is why I have decided I want to take the "gamble" of solo mining. It's just more fun to get a lump payout.

[P4man]

If you want to roll the dice a bit, to have a chance of winning more than in a big pool, why not use a small pool? In a small pool you can still get lucky or unlucky if it takes weeks to find a block, but at least you will find something, which is anything but sure if you are mining solo.

Im mining for bitminter:
https://bitminter.com/

With 25-30GH is a pretty small pool. On a lucky day they get 1 block a day, on a bad week.. it takes weeks.

ANyway, I hope you are not paying for electricity, or none of these machines would make sense, except for number 3.

[Graet]

The problem I have with pooled mining atm is that my calculations show that I will spend more in power than I will get back even with my reduced rate. That is why I have decided I want to take the "gamble" of solo mining. It's just more fun to get a lump payout.

yep, fair enough, but with a pool you can cover some of your costs, solo you can get lucky, or you can cover none of your costs for a very very long time
good luck with it

[mrhobbeys]

I got GUIMiner up and working some time yesterday and I have it doing its thing as slow as .... well just slow. Now I am ready to setup the next slow computer and I will try a mined pool this time.

Recommendations?

[paraipan]

I got GUIMiner up and working some time yesterday and I have it doing its thing as slow as .... well just slow. Now I am ready to setup the next slow computer and I will try a mined pool this time.

Recommendations?

you could try mining at https://ozco.in/ and get good results, i don't recommend deepbit because it's too big already and your income would suffer if you have to split it with so many miners 

[deepceleron]

The problem I have with pooled mining atm is that my calculations show that I will spend more in power than I will get back even with my reduced rate. That is why I have decided I want to take the "gamble" of solo mining. It's just more fun to get a lump payout.

The 5870 is the only card worth mining on, the others will use more power than the BTC they generate.

400Mhash/s from that card:

~0.23 BTC per day pool mining at current difficulty; $1.23 at current exchange rate.
or
a 50% chance of getting 50BTC after 7.25 months of mining

[nmat]

At what Ghash woul you recommend to turn on into SOLO mining and why?
For example mining with 20GH/s at a pool is ALWAYS not as good as mining SOLO?

The main advantage of mining solo is that you do not to pay the pool fee. To mine solo I would say that you need to generate maybe 1 block per week/few days, but that really depends on how much are you willing to risk.

This might interest you

[mrhobbeys]

That was interesting. The biggest problem I am having is figuring out what my older hardware might do for me. Investing money up front for more newer stuff is not an option at this point.

[fireball500]

Thanks but I want to Solo mine, I have newer hardware that I will eventually put it on when I find a miner I like. If it helps here is a list of the hardware I have available. And for the record I am somewhat of a gambler I would rather take the higher risk option of solo mining for the large payout.

1st Test computer
Athlon 64
Nvidia 8800 GT (AGP)
Any OS option

2nd  Test Computer
Turion X2 64x
Radion HD 3200
Any OS run in Virtual Box only

Actual machine after choice is made
Phenom Black 9950 x4
Gigayte HD 6450

Actual Machine 2
Phenom 9950 x4
R HD 4200 + 4700 Hybrid Crossfire

Actual Machine 3
Phenom II x6
R HD 5870

I also have tons of old hardware Mainly P4 Dells that I have configured into a cluster at one point but the electricity use for what I was doing at that time was very much not work the effort. But I might do it again for the fun and challenge if I like mining.

I have GUI Miner on Actual Machine #1 I just couldn't figure it out and when looking for the new version I did not see the link anymore.

dont take this the wrong way, but even with those specs you'd still be at about 90 days average time till finding a block, and the difficulty will change a lot in that time. I'd still recommend a pool.

the R HD 6450 will get you about 130 mhash, we'll call it 150 to be nice. the R HD 4xxx series are only beta-compatible with the SDK, and don't post nearly as good speeds (20-40% reduced over the same model from the 5xxx series -- trust me I learned the hard way). 200 mhash combined for this machine. r hd 5870 is the best model you have here and can be pushed to about 400 mhash = a combined strength of 750 mhash/sec. a quick visit to the calculator over at bitcoinpool.com means you're in for a rough road. I'd HIGHLY recommend a pool. you can dare to be great at a 50% chance of absolutely nothing happening, ever, or you can settle for .5 btc a day (at that rate are present difficulty) in a pool, and at least have something to show for it after a month of work.

I'd recommend not considering solo mining till your rigs combine to the 4 ghash/sec neighborhood.

I hate to say it, but 750 mhash combined is a bit of a stretch, I'd put it closer to 550 mhash

[Eveofwar]

Seriously bro, Solo Mining with anything less than 10 GH /s is a waste of time.

Not a waste of time, just hope you enjoy variance...

[mrhobbeys]

Well I have my best computer going solo for now.

I want to now make a Ubuntu computer that is much older work for pooled mining and I will be able to add computers till I can see what kind of numbers I get.

So I have now;

Athlon 64x 3200+
Nvidia 8600 (AGP)
Ubuntu 11.xx

What's the recomendation for a miner to run?