at what point is a person considered a "respectable" miner?

[malevolent]

Google also had custom PSU built for their datacenter years ago but that was back when avg ATX PSU was 70% efficient.

Given what % of PCs (most of them) are sold with chinese crap PSUs (not necessarily no-name but of similar quality) with an avg. efficiency of 40-60% I think some time has to pass when an average ATX PSU is 70% efficient.

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[JayCoin]

The reasons for choosing 277VAC are:
a) Still only one phase to worry about - not two or three per PSU. Less wiring.
b) No 480 --> 240 VAC transformer losses. (Not sure how much efficiency loss there is, but I don't think the transformer could be any higher than 96-97% efficient. Mine is a 45Kva SquareD)
c) Smaller gauge wiring due to the higher voltage.

Well "a" doesn't really matter.  If you home isn't 3 phase you aren't getting 3 phase anyways.

On "b" I think you are forgetting about the 480 -> 277 VAC transformer. Still transformers tend to be very efficient.  97%+ is certainly likely, 99%+ is possible.   Energy in = Energy out.  So all the energy on the 480 VAC side becomes 240 VAC or heat.  An inefficient transformer on a mains where it could be pulling 100 amps+ would quickly melt.  Some quick numbers.  The transformer is rated at 45KVA so at 5% inefficiency and peak load ~2.5KW would be converted into heat.  Heat output on the transformer would be more than 10x 5970s.

Optimally the best thing for you would be a high efficiency 5KW 480VAC to 12VDC powersupply.  You could power an entire rack of GPUs.    Then just run the low wattage mixed voltage components off some low wattage ATX PSU units.  Now if you found and rigged that you might be a serious miner.

b) 480V three phase is 480V leg to leg and 277V to ground. If you want to run 277V, you would need to have a 4-wire service.  The kind of tr

[Isepick]

You might be a serious miner:

-If you pulled two 10/2 cables across your attic and wired that up to a 60A breaker because you are already using up ~60A on your existing farm and you want to expand.
-If you mine inside your house in South Florida with >5Ghash in the summer
-If you convince your significant other that 87F is an acceptable indoor temperature...in January.
  -And further convince her the hair dryers(4x5970) on the kitchen table are actually making enough money to be worth the heat and noise.
-If it is cheaper for you to go home early from work to find out why your farm went offline than it is to stay at work for another few hours.
-If mining is a job, not a hobby

All that is some of my personal experience. Depending on your house wiring, you start finding out about power problems at about 3-4Ghash (I think, that was awhile ago). By the time I hit 5Ghash I had extension cords coming from all areas of the house. I'm at 10 Ghash now, and while I know I have more than a lot of people, I know there's some dudes with a *lot* more than that. The longest my A/C has been off since last March was when I was pulling those 10/2 cables into my main service panel (about 2 hours).

[eviltt]

You might be a serious miner:

-If you pulled two 10/2 cables across your attic and wired that up to a 60A breaker because you are already using up ~60A on your existing farm and you want to expand.
-If you mine inside your house in South Florida with >5Ghash in the summer
-If you convince your significant other that 87F is an acceptable indoor temperature...in January.
  -And further convince her the hair dryers(4x5970) on the kitchen table are actually making enough money to be worth the heat and noise.
-If it is cheaper for you to go home early from work to find out why your farm went offline than it is to stay at work for another few hours.
-If mining is a job, not a hobby

All that is some of my personal experience. Depending on your house wiring, you start finding out about power problems at about 3-4Ghash (I think, that was awhile ago). By the time I hit 5Ghash I had extension cords coming from all areas of the house. I'm at 10 Ghash now, and while I know I have more than a lot of people, I know there's some dudes with a *lot* more than that. The longest my A/C has been off since last March was when I was pulling those 10/2 cables into my main service panel (about 2 hours).

how much is power down there?

[Isepick]

about $.125/kWh

[eviltt]

about $.125/kWh

not too bad.. im on a multi tiered thing.. pay different rates at different times of day.. it ends up being like 7.3 cents pr kwh...

[TheHarbinger]

Consider I'm living in a country where -20 is common in January.

-If you can heat your feets with your mining rig, you're just starting.
-If you can heat a room with your mining rig, you have a nice hobby.
-If you're starting to save on heating because you heat the house, you're serious dude.
-If you can heat a whole 4-story house, with people keeping the windows open because it's too hot, and having the oil company giving you refunds on your heating bill, I believe it is the point where you are "respectable".

seriously, i have only had to turn on the heat once for this winter, and it's because the internet was down!

Wish I had yall's problem. I have only been able to shut off my A/C for one day this Winter.

I hear that.  Florida only has two seasons, unlike the rest of the world.  Hot, and "Damn Hot".  Middle of "winter" and it's going to be 83F today.

[malevolent]

seriously, i have only had to turn on the heat once for this winter, and it's because the internet was down!

Same here but it happened to me twice so far

[shata]

Id say I agree a dedicated rig with 1g/hash thats pretty respectable and decent size investment for average person. Im sitting at 460mh/s But im looking at upgrading my rig to 5870s soon and moving 5830 to new rig.

[shata]

seriously, i have only had to turn on the heat once for this winter, and it's because the internet was down!

lmfao, same here I actually opened my window 1inch to cool the room. Stays 70F in room with outside temp in 40s or bit lower....haha

[TheHarbinger]

seriously, i have only had to turn on the heat once for this winter, and it's because the internet was down!

lmfao, same here I actually opened my window 1inch to cool the room. Stays 70F in room with outside temp in 40s or bit lower....haha

Can you send some of that 40F weather down here to Florida please, I'm tired of running my A/C in the middle of winter.

[kpriess]

The repectable miner is the one that can get the most hashing power for the least wattage and make it stable enough to run it without hiccups; that person deserves respect..

[malevolent]

I would say a 'respectable miner' is someone who can makes enough bitcoins (minus electricity, hardware depreciation, time) to support himself in the country he is currently residing in.

[Joshwaa]

seriously, i have only had to turn on the heat once for this winter, and it's because the internet was down!

lmfao, same here I actually opened my window 1inch to cool the room. Stays 70F in room with outside temp in 40s or bit lower....haha

Can you send some of that 40F weather down here to Florida please, I'm tired of running my A/C in the middle of winter.

Ditto! All the way to South Florida.

[DeathAndTaxes]

I would say a 'respectable miner' is someone who can makes enough bitcoins (minus electricity, hardware depreciation, time) to support himself in the country he is currently residing in.

Wow then there are likely 0 respectable miners.

[malevolent]

I would say a 'respectable miner' is someone who can makes enough bitcoins (minus electricity, hardware depreciation, time) to support himself in the country he is currently residing in.

Wow then there are likely 0 respectable miners.

I am not saying it is someone who solely relies on income derived from mining but someone who's mining profits are enough to make a modest living had he not had another job; in many ex-USSR countries this could be as little as $200-300 a month, especially if that person is sharing a two-bedroom flat with 3 other people and rents a basement or a garage for his rigs for something like $10-20.

[JWU42]

I would say a 'respectable miner' is someone who can makes enough bitcoins (minus electricity, hardware depreciation, time) to support himself in the country he is currently residing in.

Wow then there are likely 0 respectable miners.

    

[The-Real-Link]

You guys are good .  Had me laughing at a lot of these points.  Gotta crack the room window here for sure.  My main system is fine by itself but I have one more miner here with 2 5970s that's being relocated soon.  With that cranking 24/7 too, I do have to vent the room sometimes. 

At least it's only been in the 20s-30s here in Michigan in winter.  I'd hate to know how hot this room would get in summer.

[cbeast]

At the price/difficulty levels currently, I only keep my miners running to add heat this winter. I have no plans to upgrade from the old 5830s.

[kjlimo]

At the price/difficulty levels currently, I only keep my miners running to add heat this winter. I have no plans to upgrade from the old 5830s.

Think you'll expand to FPGAs?