[CLOSED] BTC Guild - Pays TxFees+NMC, Stratum, VarDiff, Private Servers

[eleuthria]

From what I've been told, the US server is better for connections from Asia.

Thanks will test both once I'm ready to move over to BTC guild. Still working out some electricity calculations to make sure our rigs have 24/7 up time.

If your experience adding upwards of 4-5 TH/s in the next coming days would seem viable to get a decent share? Or would I be better off going with a smaller pool?

Pool size is mostly irrelevant.  Smaller pool means you get a larger share of the blocks, but they're further apart.  Smaller pools have more variance, so higher highs when you're lucky and lower lows when you're unlucky.  So your speed really doesn't play a huge factor in picking a pool (although I'd probably avoid pools so small that you're larger than the entire pool).

[1714313484]

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[1714313484]

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[abyssmu]

Hello all!

I just got my first miner setup with BFGminer. I'm running an Antminer U2. It is working, but the h/s is really low. Much lower than what it should be. It is currently running from 200-500 Mh/s when it is supposed to do 2 Gh/s w/o being overclocked.

Here is the command line that I am using. I typed it directly from the Support page of the BTCGuild website:

-o http://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -u ****** -p ****** -S all --icarus-options 115200:1:1 --icarus-timing 3.0=100

Is there anything I can add to it to make it run up to par with its specifications? I tried Googling it and I noticed things like the clocking speed command for Antminers -> –set-device antminer:clock=x0981. I tried adding that at the end and it had no effect.

[BRADLEYPLOOF]

Hello all!

I just got my first miner setup with BFGminer. I'm running an Antminer U2. It is working, but the h/s is really low. Much lower than what it should be. It is currently running from 200-500 Mh/s when it is supposed to do 2 Gh/s w/o being overclocked.

Here is the command line that I am using. I typed it directly from the Support page of the BTCGuild website:

-o http://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -u ****** -p ****** -S all --icarus-options 115200:1:1 --icarus-timing 3.0=100

Is there anything I can add to it to make it run up to par with its specifications? I tried Googling it and I noticed things like the clocking speed command for Antminers -> –set-device antminer:clock=x0981. I tried adding that at the end and it had no effect.

it should be -o http://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -u ****** -p ****** -S antminer:all

Get rid of that icarus crap...it's no good...

[abyssmu]

it should be -o http://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -u ****** -p ****** -S antminer:all

Get rid of that icarus crap...it's no good...

Simply replacing the icarus and all with antminer:all doesn't work. The miner won't even recognize the asic without me going in and manually adding it. I got rid of the antminer and left it at -S all and the hash rate has gone up slightly. it now runs at 600-800, but still much less than I would like it to be.

Edit: It seems to be going up at a very slow rate. It is currently averaging 1 Gh/s. Not entirely sure what is going on, but it seems to be getting better slowly. I doubt it will get up to the 2 Gh/s, so I would still like some help in figuring it out.

[syber]

From what I've been told, the US server is better for connections from Asia.

Thanks will test both once I'm ready to move over to BTC guild. Still working out some electricity calculations to make sure our rigs have 24/7 up time.

If your experience adding upwards of 4-5 TH/s in the next coming days would seem viable to get a decent share? Or would I be better off going with a smaller pool?

Pool size is mostly irrelevant.  Smaller pool means you get a larger share of the blocks, but they're further apart.  Smaller pools have more variance, so higher highs when you're lucky and lower lows when you're unlucky.  So your speed really doesn't play a huge factor in picking a pool (although I'd probably avoid pools so small that you're larger than the entire pool).

More just want to maximize the amount of coins I can pull in with the first few months to ensure good ROI on these asic chips. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your input thus far eleuthria.

[suzukii]

...
More just want to maximize the amount of coins I can pull in with the first few months to ensure good ROI on these asic chips. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your input thus far eleuthria.

Hi Syber.
Ditto that here. I'm waiting on KNC to send me my Neptune 3TH miner to get it going asap so I can make upcthe ROI asap before all hell breaks loose.

[flounderella]

How come we don't find blocks for hours and then boom boom, two in a row, and then wait again? Just curious how or why it happens.... seen it with other pools too.

[wpgdeez]

one word ... luck

[mdude77]

How come we don't find blocks for hours and then boom boom, two in a row, and then wait again? Just curious how or why it happens.... seen it with other pools too.

One thing new users tend to not get is there isn't "progress towards" solving a block.  Each share generated and submitted by each user has the potential to be a block.  The next share submitted is in no way affected by the results of the prior one.  

It's like playing poker.  The contents of your last hand has no impact on the contents of your next hand.

The pool is currently around 6.43 ph/s.  That means, on average, one of the shares submitted should be a block every 2838 seconds, or about 47.3 minutes.  (I think that math is right.)  However, that is an average.  There will be times when it's more, and there will be times when it's less.

M

[popinjay]

How come we don't find blocks for hours and then boom boom, two in a row, and then wait again? Just curious how or why it happens.... seen it with other pools too.

It's completely random and based on the pools hashrate.  Right now I think BTCGuild has about 16-18% of the total hashrate. That means every block we have a 16-18% change to get. If we don't get the current block then the next block starts and we have a 16-18% chance to get that one.  That being said, we could go on a run of 4-5 blocks in a row if we were really lucky (akin to flipping a bunch of heads in a row since we should only be getting one of those blocks).  Or we could go 20-30 blocks without getting one if we were really unlucky.  In the long run in all averages out.

[eleuthria]

How come we don't find blocks for hours and then boom boom, two in a row, and then wait again? Just curious how or why it happens.... seen it with other pools too.

I replied to an email about luck earlier today, thought this is a good illustration:


Let's say you have a miner that mines at 1 GH/s.  That means every second, your miner is generating 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) hashes per second.  Now, as a miner, your target on BTC Guild (default) is a difficulty 2 share.  That happens *roughly* every 8,400,000,000 hashes, or 8.4 seconds at 1 GH/s.

To make it easy, think of that work you're doing as a billion little scratch-off lottery tickets, where each slot has only two possibilities: Keep Going or Lose.

To get a difficulty 2 share, you need to get 'Keep Going' 33 times in a row.  Once you get that share, you hand your ticket off to the pool as proof that you found one with at least 33 in a row, which happens 1 in 2^33 (~8.4b) times.

Now, your ticket had at least 33, but it may have even more.  If you get enough of them, you "win" the lottery (block).  The pool only cares about you getting 33 in a row, that's what your proving you found, and that's how your paid.  The pool then checks how many more 'Keep Going' entries you have.  Just like a perfect coin flip, each one is a 50% chance.

As of today, the odds are (roughly) 1 in 2^64 to solve a block with a given ticket.  That might not sound so bad, afterall your 1 GH/s is doing a billion attempts per second!  With the pool at 6.2 PH/s, the pool is doing 6.2 quadrillion attempts per second, it surely can't be that hard.

For those who don't know just how fast powers of 2 increase.  While 2^32 is only 4,200,000,000 (a couple seconds at 1 GH/s), 2^64 is 1 in 18,446,744,073,709,551,616.

[hurricandave]

it should be -o http://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -u ****** -p ****** -S antminer:all

Get rid of that icarus crap...it's no good...

Simply replacing the icarus and all with antminer:all doesn't work. The miner won't even recognize the asic without me going in and manually adding it. I got rid of the antminer and left it at -S all and the hash rate has gone up slightly. it now runs at 600-800, but still much less than I would like it to be.

Edit: It seems to be going up at a very slow rate. It is currently averaging 1 Gh/s. Not entirely sure what is going on, but it seems to be getting better slowly. I doubt it will get up to the 2 Gh/s, so I would still like some help in figuring it out.

   I use the Antminer U2 and the best results I've had were after changing the order of the start up line.
   bfgminer -S antminer:all -o http://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -u xxxxxxx_# -p 123

[os2sam]

it should be -o http://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -u ****** -p ****** -S antminer:all

Get rid of that icarus crap...it's no good...

Simply replacing the icarus and all with antminer:all doesn't work. The miner won't even recognize the asic without me going in and manually adding it. I got rid of the antminer and left it at -S all and the hash rate has gone up slightly. it now runs at 600-800, but still much less than I would like it to be.

Edit: It seems to be going up at a very slow rate. It is currently averaging 1 Gh/s. Not entirely sure what is going on, but it seems to be getting better slowly. I doubt it will get up to the 2 Gh/s, so I would still like some help in figuring it out.

Post in the BFG Miner support thread here.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=168174.msg1750927#msg1750927

Also does that software come with readme files?  If so try reading them.

[mark978]

How come we don't find blocks for hours and then boom boom, two in a row, and then wait again? Just curious how or why it happens.... seen it with other pools too.

It's completely random and based on the pools hashrate.  Right now I think BTCGuild has about 16-18% of the total hashrate. That means every block we have a 16-18% change to get. If we don't get the current block then the next block starts and we have a 16-18% chance to get that one.  That being said, we could go on a run of 4-5 blocks in a row if we were really lucky (akin to flipping a bunch of heads in a row since we should only be getting one of those blocks).  Or we could go 20-30 blocks without getting one if we were really unlucky.  In the long run in all averages out .

Problem in bold !

Isn't that the problem now? "long run" may have been months, now 6-9 weeks and profit has mostly evaporated, unless the btc price has also dramatically risen?

Or is that time frame still long enough that mining on a small pool is still viable, even with some bad luck?

[flounderella]

How come we don't find blocks for hours and then boom boom, two in a row, and then wait again? Just curious how or why it happens.... seen it with other pools too.

I replied to an email about luck earlier today, thought this is a good illustration:


Let's say you have a miner that mines at 1 GH/s.  That means every second, your miner is generating 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) hashes per second.  Now, as a miner, your target on BTC Guild (default) is a difficulty 2 share.  That happens *roughly* every 8,400,000,000 hashes, or 8.4 seconds at 1 GH/s.

To make it easy, think of that work you're doing as a billion little scratch-off lottery tickets, where each slot has only two possibilities: Keep Going or Lose.

To get a difficulty 2 share, you need to get 'Keep Going' 33 times in a row.  Once you get that share, you hand your ticket off to the pool as proof that you found one with at least 33 in a row, which happens 1 in 2^33 (~8.4b) times.

Now, your ticket had at least 33, but it may have even more.  If you get enough of them, you "win" the lottery (block).  The pool only cares about you getting 33 in a row, that's what your proving you found, and that's how your paid.  The pool then checks how many more 'Keep Going' entries you have.  Just like a perfect coin flip, each one is a 50% chance.

As of today, the odds are (roughly) 1 in 2^64 to solve a block with a given ticket.  That might not sound so bad, afterall your 1 GH/s is doing a billion attempts per second!  With the pool at 6.2 PH/s, the pool is doing 6.2 quadrillion attempts per second, it surely can't be that hard.

For those who don't know just how fast powers of 2 increase.  While 2^32 is only 4,200,000,000 (a couple seconds at 1 GH/s), 2^64 is 1 in 18,446,744,073,709,551,616.

Thanks!

[mark978]

Looks like http://port80.btcguild.com/ now redirects to https://www.btcguild.com/ which isn't overly useful for mining behind a fussy firewall, is this going to get fixed/reverted?

If not, are there alternative http/https addresses I can use with BTC Guild?

tia

Port80 is currently down for the count due to the continued work on removing getwork.  I'm looking at setting up one stratum server to redirect incoming port 80 connections to port 3333.  Port 80 will not be coming back to getwork.

Was port 80/443 ever fixed/implemented? Trying to mine behind restrictive firewall, landlord seems to have gone after torrents and blocked dam near everything else.

[eleuthria]

Problem in bold !

Isn't that the problem now? "long run" may have been months, now 6-9 weeks and profit has mostly evaporated, unless the btc price has also dramatically risen?

Or is that time frame still long enough that mining on a small pool is still viable, even with some bad luck?

Past luck has no impact on future results.  Every block is a completely independent chance.

[joeofall]

the unknowin blockchain is killing our hit rate!!

[ManeBjorn]

It's mostly going to China.
Where bitcoin is not really banned.
http://fiatleak.com/

Just scroll up once the page loads and let the chart run for 1/2 an hour or so.  Pretty frustrating.
Most likely the mining hardware manufactures mining with the equipment they pre-sold.

[organofcorti]

It's mostly going to China.
Where bitcoin is not really banned.
http://fiatleak.com/

Just scroll up once the page loads and let the chart run for 1/2 an hour or so.  Pretty frustrating.
Most likely the mining hardware manufactures mining with the equipment they pre-sold.

There's only about 7.5% really unknown. There are a bunch of hashers that blockchain.info doesn't keep track of, and these get lumped into their "unknown".