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mjr (OP)
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January 04, 2012, 06:26:41 PM |
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Before I begin:
I work as a systems engineer, and I have been reading about bitcoins a lot. Therefore, I do not need anyone to tell me that an NVIDIA card is not as good as ATI/AMD. I happen to have an NVIDIA card available, so I'd rather get something out of a piece of hardware I already own, instead of trying to invest in something new.
That out of the way,
I have an NVIDIA Quadro NVS 420...I have installed it on a fresh Windows 7 x64 system. That system is nothing special, just a pentium 4 with hyperthreading (2 simulated cores total) and 3 GB of RAM.
I have tried installing the latest drivers, the developer drivers, CUDA 3.1 AND 4.0 etc. I cannot get GPU CAPS Viewer OR GUIMINER to recognize the card. (GPU CAPS viewer sees the card but doesn't recognize it as a CUDA device).
I just want to know if there is something basic I am missing here.
I can see the card in the device manager, I know it is installed and "working". I just can't get it to be recognized as a CUDA device.
Please Help!
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BitEbola
Newbie
 Offline
Activity: 6
Merit: 0
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January 04, 2012, 06:54:33 PM |
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truthfully in looking up the capabilities of that card, (based on the hash performance of a NVS 295 which is only 1.7 MHash/s) the NVS 420 has similar build but with twice the CUDA cores so im guestimating a 200% the hash rate which is 4 for round numbers... that would roughly net you slightly less than 2 cents per day, and the 40w power to run the card alone costs 11 cents a day (at 0.10/KW) it is a paperweight mining wise. now this is all conjecture based on quite a few assumtions on my part but i think anyway you hash it this card will cost more than it makes unless you get free lectricity, and can wait a month per cup of coffee. hope I helped  NVS card specsMining Hardware CapabilityMy calculator spreadsheet |
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P4man
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January 04, 2012, 07:11:14 PM |
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Can you post a printscreen of GPU-z?
Also, Im not sure if GUIminer uses CUDA; most miners use OpenCL, but that ought to be part of the nvidia drivers (I think?). As a quick test, try the miner in my signature (its java webbased), see if that works.
That said; agreed with the above poster that its probably just a wasted effort; if you like to get some bitcoins without paying for them, you might be better off mining lightcoins and trading them for bitcoins, even if a Pentium 4 isnt going to make you litecoin-rich either.
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mjr (OP)
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January 04, 2012, 09:57:59 PM |
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Thanks a lot for the quick reply. Really appreciate it guys.
Yes, electricity is "free", so I am not worried about any net gain. Mostly PoC, but did not realize it was that horrible.
Maybe I forgot to mention, I do not plan on mining in a pool...I was planning on getting a few cards to just chug away, and hopefully stumble on a block a month or so...
I will try the web based one, and I will post some screen shots soon.
P.S. In MY computer, I have two video cards, both ATI...HD2400 and HD3400...are those any better?
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mjr (OP)
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January 04, 2012, 10:30:34 PM |
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Also gonna put a couple of FPGA's to work (hopefully)...
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nmat
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January 04, 2012, 10:40:53 PM |
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P.S. In MY computer, I have two video cards, both ATI...HD2400 and HD3400...are those any better?
No because they don't support OpenCL |
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mcorlett
Donator
Sr. Member
Offline
Activity: 308
Merit: 250
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January 04, 2012, 10:50:48 PM |
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hopefully stumble on a block a month or so...
With that card, you're looking at at least a couple of years before you solve a block. Just over 40, to be exact. |
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mjr (OP)
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January 04, 2012, 10:51:41 PM |
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thanks nmat...
i believe the nvidia quadro nvs 420 does support Open CL, but how do you set that up? i have the latest drivers (276.14, 276.42, and devdriver 270.81)
still nothing...
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mjr (OP)
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January 04, 2012, 10:52:56 PM |
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yikes, did not realize it was that long...thanks, i really am liking bitminter though, i am very interested in getting some namecoins too. Would love to get a decent domain name on .bit
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P4man
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January 04, 2012, 10:56:15 PM |
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OpenCL is part of the nvidia drivers: http://developer.nvidia.com/openclIf you installed the drivers, you should have the software. Just keep in mind most mining software isnt made with nvidia in mind, because if the enormous performance difference. As for the namecoins. I can send you some if you like. They are virtually worthless anyway. |
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mjr (OP)
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January 04, 2012, 10:58:50 PM |
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lol, why are they worthless?
isn't there only use to register domain names on the dot-bit domain? was not aware of any other value.
ALSO, can anyone explain the other coins? the "silver" to bitcoins "gold"? lightcoins...right?
also, do you need a separate wallet for namecoins? I am definitely a noob in the bitcoin world...thanks guys
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P4man
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January 04, 2012, 11:05:12 PM |
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lol, why are they worthless?
isn't there only use to register domain names on the dot-bit domain? was not aware of any other value. They are traded, so you can buy them if you need them. But they are very very cheap. Current 0.00767 bitcoin per namecoin: https://btc-e.com/exchange/nmc_btcALSO, can anyone explain the other coins? the "silver" to bitcoins "gold"? lightcoins...right? Litecoin is one of many alternate chains. Its like a clone of bitcoin, works pretty much the same way, except the hashing algorithm they use is not suited for videocards. It only really works on CPUs. Litecoins, as most alternate chains, are also cheap, but difficulty is also relatively low making it somewhat worthwile to mine, and then trade for bitcoins. also, do you need a separate wallet for namecoins? I am definitely a noob in the bitcoin world...thanks guys
I think so. Ive never bothered to set it up. I set the payout adress for namecoins to the deposit address of the exchange I use, so they are sent straight from the pool to the exchange, and I trade them there for bitcoi...cents. |
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mjr (OP)
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January 04, 2012, 11:40:53 PM |
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thanks so much p4man and everyone else. I was hoping to use hardware i had laying around, hopefully the FPGA is better for the bitcoins, but think i will try litecoins, and then trade up. I definitely have more cpu's than i do gpu's lol.
Sucks that the NVIDIA card is basically worthless, it is pretty pricey online, and i figured if it could push 4 monitors at 2560x1600 (16,384,000 pixels) then it should be able to do pretty well at parallel processing. I will keep you posted about the FPGA and my progress there...
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mjr (OP)
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January 04, 2012, 11:42:14 PM |
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might just use that nvidia for skyrim instead lol, but it might not be good enough for that either?
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nmat
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January 05, 2012, 12:57:15 AM |
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How do I get btc?
You buy them at an exchange such as TradeHill or CampBX. |
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RandyFolds
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January 05, 2012, 01:03:48 AM |
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Good job not pointing newbies to gox. Fuck that place. |
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nmat
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January 05, 2012, 01:06:10 AM |
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Good job not pointing newbies to gox. Fuck that place.
I personally never had any problems with MtGox, but I think that it is important to have alternatives. |
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Fiyasko
Legendary
Offline
Activity: 1428
Merit: 1001
Okey Dokey Lokey
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January 05, 2012, 01:09:14 AM |
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Can you post a printscreen of GPU-z?
Also, Im not sure if GUIminer uses CUDA; most miners use OpenCL, but that ought to be part of the nvidia drivers (I think?). As a quick test, try the miner in my signature (its java webbased), see if that works.
That said; agreed with the above poster that its probably just a wasted effort; if you like to get some bitcoins without paying for them, you might be better off mining lightcoins and trading them for bitcoins, even if a Pentium 4 isnt going to make you litecoin-rich either.
GUIminer has CUDA support |
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mjr (OP)
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January 05, 2012, 02:53:11 PM |
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yes, guiminer does have cuda support, but for some reason, i cannot get the drivers to work so that it can find the device...that was my original problem, but it probably isn't worth the time to fix the problem.
I think the FPGA i am working on MIGHT get 375 MH/s...so it's a start at least...
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