:

[mrb]

I guess this thread is an opportunity to summarize the top miners (>10 Ghash/s) who have publicly discussed their setup:

o vladimir: ~40 Ghash/s (source: his comment). Has said publicly he uses a bunch of Radeon HD 5970, hosted in UK datacenter(s). He sells mining contracts.

o ArtForz: 38 Ghash/s (source: IRC #bitcoin-dev #bitcoin-mining). Half of his mining power (~19 Ghash/s) is provided by 28 x HD 5970 + few other ATI GPUs. The other half (19.2 Ghash/s) is provided by 96 structured ASICs, from his own design. Claims 200 Mhash/s per chip at about 10W each. Pictures of his GPUs: http://bayimg.com/eABDfaAdd http://bayimg.com/KAAeaaAdp

o Myself: 15 Ghash/s: bunch of HD 5970, plus a few HD 6990. Open-air motherboards on rack shelves (kind of like Facebook's OpenCompute servers). Most of my nodes look like this: http://blog.zorinaq.com/?e=47

I don't know who the 4th guy with >10 Ghash/s could be.

Edit: this is gutsi with 14 Ghash/s with 5850, 5870, and 5970 cards.

[Grinder]

I don't know who the 4th guy with >10 Ghash/s could be.

Maybe this guy: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5597.msg82938#msg82938

[marcus_of_augustus]

I guess this thread is an opportunity to summarize the top miners (>10 Ghash/s) who have publicly discussed their setup:

o vladimir: ~40 Ghash/s (source: his comment). Has said publicly he uses a bunch of Radeon HD 5970, hosted in UK datacenter(s). He sells mining contracts.

o ArtForz: 38 Ghash/s (source: IRC #bitcoin-dev #bitcoin-mining). Half of his mining power (~19 Ghash/s) is provided by 28 x HD 5970 + few other ATI GPUs. The other half (19.2 Ghash/s) is provided by 96 structured ASICs, from his own design. Claims 200 Mhash/s per chip at about 10W each. Pictures of his GPUs: http://bayimg.com/eABDfaAdd http://bayimg.com/KAAeaaAdp

o Myself: 15 Ghash/s: bunch of HD 5970, plus a few HD 6990. Open-air motherboards on rack shelves (kind of like Facebook's OpenCompute servers). Most of my nodes look like this: http://blog.zorinaq.com/?e=47

I don't know who the 4th guy with >10 Ghash/s could be.

So if these are the biggest miners, combined total around 100 GHash/s, then interesting that little guys make up more than 500 Ghash/s? (i.e. more than 80% of network strength)

[commlinx]

I don't know who the 4th guy with >10 Ghash/s could be.

Maybe this guy: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5597.msg82938#msg82938

Could be, I noticed on slush's site he's top of the hall of fame. Could also be a CPU miner that missed the prefix and thought it was khash . Personally I just run a single 5970 on a PC I use for other stuff so things aren't set aggressively, so a bit over 500Mhash/s or less when I'm doing other stuff.

[mrb]

So if these are the biggest miners, combined total around 100 GHash/s, then interesting that little guys make up more than 500 Ghash/s? (i.e. more than 80% of network strength)

Well, from another viewpoint, the 2 biggest pool operators, slush (180 Ghash/s) and Tycho (160 Ghash/s), effectively control 49% of the global network hashrate (the last 3-day average was ~700 Ghash/s). Based on historical growth, in the near future they will assuredly indirectly control more than half of the global hashrate. If there is collusion between these 2, they can in theory start doing evil things.

Of course I trust them today, but a pool duopoly (or monopoly) is not something I am comfortable with in the long term.

[proudhon]

I recently found 2 5970s for $375 each.  Good deal?  Would it be wise to spend money now on hardware?  I've already got a 6990 doing ~620mhps and presumably 2 5970s would bring my total hash rate to ~1800mhps.  The real worry is that I don't know if my house can handle all that heat.

[rezin777]

Well, from another viewpoint, the 2 biggest pool operators, slush (180 Ghash/s) and Tycho (160 Ghash/s), effectively control 49% of the global network hashrate (the last 3-day average was ~700 Ghash/s). Based on historical growth, in the near future they will assuredly indirectly control more than half of the global hashrate. If there is collusion between these 2, they can in theory start doing evil things.

Of course I trust them today, but a pool duopoly (or monopoly) is not something I am comfortable with in the long term.

I've thought about this as well, and discussed it with a friend.

Consider that slush and Tycho are making money by using their mining power legitimately. If they wanted to collude to attack the network, how long would it last? A day? Probably less. Someone would notice and the forums would explode. They would both lose their pools because users would obviously not want to mine for them anymore. And they would never be trusted again.

So, they would have to profit enough in a very short period of time to make up for the lost profits of simply mining legitimately for as long as they can.

I don't think there is much profit in attacking bitcoin. Of course there are other motivations that could be considered.

That said, would I like to see more large pools show up, reducing the percentage of the network that is in the hands of so few? Yes, of course, competition is good!

[rezin777]

I recently found 2 5970s for $375 each.  Good deal?  Would it be wise to spend money now on hardware?  I've already got a 6990 doing ~620mhps and presumably 2 5970s would bring my total hash rate to ~1800mhps.  The real worry is that I don't know if my house can handle all that heat.

I would buy them. In fact if you don't, send the deal my way! 

[eleuthria]

Update on my hashing capacity:

Gaming Rig (1x 5970) - 600 mhash/sec
Mining Rig #1 (2x 5870) - 760 mHash/sec
Mining Rig #2 (2x 5870) - 750 mHash/sec

Built Mining Rig 1 on Monday this week, and it went so well that I customized a cheaper version of the internal components/case for Mining Rig #2.  If it weren't for having to pay sales tax on a few parts, the rig would've only cost me $1 per mHash/sec capacity.

[marcus_of_augustus]

So if these are the biggest miners, combined total around 100 GHash/s, then interesting that little guys make up more than 500 Ghash/s? (i.e. more than 80% of network strength)

Well, from another viewpoint, the 2 biggest pool operators, slush (180 Ghash/s) and Tycho (160 Ghash/s), effectively control 49% of the global network hashrate (the last 3-day average was ~700 Ghash/s). Based on historical growth, in the near future they will assuredly indirectly control more than half of the global hashrate. If there is collusion between these 2, they can in theory start doing evil things.

Of course I trust them today, but a pool duopoly (or monopoly) is not something I am comfortable with in the long term.

This is a good point. If one of you big guys would temporarily pipe a portion of your resources via btcmine.com or one of the other small pools it will probably help them grow to an appreciable size  bringing players over from slush and [Tycho] (not that I've got anything against either) .... bigger pools attract more players due to less variance ... if we have 3 or more pools taking up that almost 50% we'd be in pretty good shape.

[gusti]

I don't know who the 4th guy with >10 Ghash/s could be.

Maybe this guy: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5597.msg82938#msg82938

Yes, that's me.
36 mining rigs with a combination of 5850's, 5870's and 5970's
Totally more or less 14 Ghps.

[Peao]

Yes, that's me.
36 mining rigs with a combination of 5850's, 5870's and 5970's
Totally more or less 14 Ghps.

It would be nice to see some pics! 

[mjsbuddha]

At the moment I operate rigs which are slightly lower than 40 Ghps combined. Probably, it is safe to say that ArtForz is the top dog. For now at least. His ASIC project is also a great example of what can be done by a determined person. Respect!

I am truly humbled to be in the company of people mentioned in mrb's post.


Anyway found an image on my phone which does not show too much, but still might be interesting.

this is like Bitcoin porn to me...

[OUTSIDE]

Now arround 1.5GH/s

My mining rig -> 2x5850 (2x290MH/s)
Gaming rig -> 6970 + temporarly 5850 (330+290MH/s)
Working rig -> 5850 (290MH/s)

TOTAL: 4x5850 + 1x6970 = 1.49GH/s

[OVerLoRDI]

2.5 Ghash/s currently, another 600Mhash will pop up next week.  So I'll be up at ~3.0-3.1 Ghash/s.

Current Hardware
2x6950 unlocked, watercooled @ 970mhz
5x5870 @850-900mhz
1x5770

On the way
2x 5870

I think the poll my have been more informative if you broke up the 1Ghash to 10Ghash category.  I personally believe there is a pretty big difference between miners who pull 1Ghash and 10Ghash.  I would have done 1-5Ghash and 6-10Ghash.

[JorgePasada]

I really want to see more pictures!

I know the 5970's and 5870's are pretty much the 'sweet spot' right now. Hard to find new though.

[Diablo]

Me, my sister, and my cousin's computer all with HD5770s
Gives about 150 MH/s each, but aren't all always on.

Makes enough to make me happy. I plan on expanding in the fall when I go off to college dorms where I don't pay for electricity.

[eleuthria]

Just crossed the 3 ghash mark now that my third rig is ready for assembly.  Got half my 4th rig (1 of the 2 5870s) ready...just gotta keep sniping NewEgg and Amazon for when another 5870 pops up for under $220.

Average hashing capacity per rig:  840 mHash/sec
Average power usage: 480-500 watts (according to a Kill-A-Watt meter)

[[Tycho]]

I know the 5970's and 5870's are pretty much the 'sweet spot' right now. Hard to find new though.

You don't need new. Used ones are MUCH more cost-effective.

[marcus_of_augustus]

I know the 5970's and 5870's are pretty much the 'sweet spot' right now. Hard to find new though.

You don't need new. Used ones are MUCH more cost-effective.

Yeah, but you have to be careful they haven't been trashed bitcoin mining ... some of things I see guys talking about on the mining forum threads with ham-fisting over-clock changes, machine hang, screen black, etc makes me shudder to think what they just did to their cards ...