Thanks for the info. Maybe this system is not good for mining after all.
Just for clarification - if I run the command
start /DC:\bitcoinx\poclbm_py2exe_20110428 poclbm.exe --user=user1 --pass=password --device=1
I do see hash rates of ~5.7 MH/s
When I run the command
start /DC:\bitcoinx\poclbm_py2exe_20110428 poclbm.exe --user=user1 --pass=password --device=1 -w 512
I see hash rates of ~ 4000000 kh/s, which I assume equals 4000 MH/s or 4 GH/s. However, I get a ton of "warning, job finished, miner idle" messages.
If you can shed some light on this, that would be appreciated.
Thanks.
The Quadro FX-580 gets a hash rate of 5.7 MH/s according to
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison, which is less then most of the new, cheap CPUs. You may find that you are paying more for the electricity than you will get for the coins.
At the current difficulty, according to
http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php it will take an average of 1009 days, 14 hours and 17 minutes to generate a 50 BTC block. I think your electric costs for the 3 years will outweigh the value of the bitcoins you eventually get.
Using my simple spreadsheet that calculates profitability, if the bitcoin price stays at $3.50 you will have an annual income of $60 and an annual electric bill of $300.