I'm new to bitcoins, and have a question about mining?

[Bluefalcon]

Do you have to have an initial amount of Bitcoins to collect from the fruits of your mining labor?

I can't find a good definitive answer anywhere in the wiki or am just reading over it. Any info would be appreciated :-).

[BitLex]

no, you only need mining-software and computing-ressources to use that software.
you only need initial bitcoins, if you want to buy or rent those computing-ressources with bitcoins.

[Bluefalcon]

Awesome, thanks for the answer. I'll let poclbm keep chipping away then.

[Zerbie]

If you have a newer ATI card, (5xxx or 6xxx) the easiest way to get started is to use the GUI mining program and a pooled mining operation like deepbit.net (my favorite).

GUI mining app can be found here... http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3878.msg55160;topicseen#msg55160
Deepbit.net can be found here... http://deepbit.net/ 

Note deepbit.net takes a 3% fee.  Make sure you set up your BitCoin wallet so you can specify your receiving BTC address.

[Randall Flagg]

If you have a newer ATI card, (5xxx or 6xxx) the easiest way to get started is to use the GUI mining program and a pooled mining operation like deepbit.net (my favorite).

GUI mining app can be found here... http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3878.msg55160;topicseen#msg55160
Deepbit.net can be found here... http://deepbit.net/ 

Note deepbit.net takes a 3% fee.  Make sure you set up your BitCoin wallet so you can specify your receiving BTC address.

Yes deepbit.net seem fair...

I am a beginner too, i was wondering something.... if for the first block, i use the GPU on my machine only, so i get the first 50 BTC, then, after that, join a pool ?  is that good idea ?  I have a 5770, so the hash rate is pretty high right now... about 70 000

[[Tycho]]

I am a beginner too, i was wondering something.... if for the first block, i use the GPU on my machine only, so i get the first 50 BTC, then, after that, join a pool ?  is that good idea ?  I have a 5770, so the hash rate is pretty high right now... about 70 000

70 MH/s is nice, but i would recommend solo mining with at least 1-2 GH/s.
It's just my opinion.

[Randall Flagg]

I am a beginner too, i was wondering something.... if for the first block, i use the GPU on my machine only, so i get the first 50 BTC, then, after that, join a pool ?  is that good idea ?  I have a 5770, so the hash rate is pretty high right now... about 70 000

70 MH/s is nice, but i would recommend solo mining with at least 1-2 GH/s.
It's just my opinion.

Ahaha Tycho...

Okay! okay, i just joined your pool

i won't get my 50 BTC but i least i'll have some to play with it

[teknohog]

I have a 5770, so the hash rate is pretty high right now... about 70 000

Seems awfully low, do you mean a 5570? My 5570 (at 800 MHz) gets about 73 Mhash/s, whereas my 5770 (at 900 MHz) gets 180 Mhash/s.

At the current difficulty, this 5570 takes an average of 63 days between finding blocks. So for your own mental health, it is probably better to join a pool and get a steady trickle of coins.

[proudhon]

I'm going to post my newb questions in here too.  What do I need to do to set up an EWallet?  Apparently I need to do that before I join a pool and start mining.  I happen to have a single 6990, and from what I can gather, joining a pool will be the best way for me to go.  I'll earn, what, 50BTC a month that way?...

[Randall Flagg]

I have a 5770, so the hash rate is pretty high right now... about 70 000

Seems awfully low, do you mean a 5570? My 5570 (at 800 MHz) gets about 73 Mhash/s, whereas my 5770 (at 900 MHz) gets 180 Mhash/s.

At the current difficulty, this 5570 takes an average of 63 days between finding blocks. So for your own mental health, it is probably better to join a pool and get a steady trickle of coins.

Well, i am on a mac, using Diablo, and i really have a 5770.  I didn't test the others client if there are better one like this on a mac?  But you make sense, i saw the comparaison chart, and i am below the usual (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_Hardware_Comparison)...  I think i'll have to check the other client instead of using Diablo, thanks for pointing that out !   But using a pool like deepbit is now a must (even for my 5770 card)

On my console i can see some repetitive error message like "ERROR: Invalid block found on ATI Radeon HD 5770 (#1) possible driver or hardware issue)", weird?

So i have now have to check what is the root cause of this...

EDIT: by default it run at 64, i try to add -w 128, and instead of 70 Mhash/s.i have 99 Mhash/s, but still lower.  -w 192 or -w 256 throw an exeption error...