I have LOTS of idle servers, should I mine?

[dac_2020]

While looking for an answer to converting a batch of TP-Link devices back to standard OpenWrt, I came across bitcoins and have become a little curious. This is obviously something which will make more sense to the average person once you've started doing it, then learning things one step at a time. The basic information is one thing but the deeper understandings obviously take some hands on time.

That said... I have a bunch of IBM blade servers which for the most part sit idle all day long. They server up mysql, web sites, email, things which aren't all that resource intensive. The servers pretty much sit idle most of the time and could be used for something else.

One thing which has become confusing to me is that people talk about USB as if USB is the only way to mine. I'm sure I am wrong about this but that is the gist of how it sounds to be so far.

Anyhow, if that is not the case... here is what I have.

I have a number of 2xduo 3.0 blades with 16GB of RAM and 2xquad/4xquad servers each with 16GB to 32GB of RAM. I also have several older CUBIX 8 blade servers which are only 758Mhz/512MB ram which are used only as fail over backups for low usage stuff.

The server room is always on 24/7, the stuff is running no matter what, the A/C, the power, all of those costs are already there whether I do something more with the hardware or not.

Much of this stuff is pretty idle and could be used for?

[-ck]

Leave it idle. For every thousand dollars of energy extra used you will earn one cent worth of bitcoin and the denomination of bitcoin will be so small you wont be able to spend it. Regular computer mining bitcoin died a long time ago. Leave it alone.

[cinnamon_carter]

do as you please

if i had resources like that i would at least run nodes for coins i believe in and probably mine some cpu coins

[chaosknight]

you can rent out those server and buy bitcoin with that money
it will better then mining bitcoin on those servers

[1echo]

i woul mine a bit with free servers

[Blazed]

Some CPU coins used to be pretty good profits (PTS) and a few others. Then trade them crap coins into BTC

[BTCish]

I would mine with those servers some cpu coins, they still can bring you some profit.

[darkaire]

You might fair ok with CPU coins, server processors perform pretty well it seems like, specially suited to intensive compute. These can be X11 coins like Darkcoin or others based on it, or something like Primecoin or a derivative. Though servers are also power hungry, you may not get back what goes in depending.

Though something much more useful would be hosting Bitcoin Core nodes, P2Pools, and other blockchain apps (though many are for testing only at the moment). There is more to the network than just mining itself, the more nodes the better. A core node and P2Pool can be set up in a few hours if you have any Linux experience.

[seriouscoin]

This is why i think BTC is FAR from being mainstream.... when we keep getting this kind of thread.

Someone always want to jump into btc thinking, its so easy to mine btc. If BTC can be mined with those CPUs do you really think its at the current price level right now? At least learn abit more about BTC economic b4 having this pipe dream of being rich.

Also for all "CPU coin" believers, the only ppl will be "rich" are bots operator. Good luck having that system as a viable currency.

[zetaray]

CPU mining is not profitable anymore, not even feasible in my view. You might earn more if you rent those servers  out.

[dac_2020]

@seriouscoin, it is too bad you see such posts as being negative and what you imply about my interests is completely wrong .

I said nothing about getting rich or having dreams. I only said I have a lot of hardware which for the most part sits idle and I would be interested in doing something fun with it, which perhaps makes me a few dollars. I doubt the return would be so large that it would pay for the costs but the network is always running 24/7 anyhow, with or without generating something.

Therefore, I thought I would ask in the forums because this is the best place to get real, up to date input and ideas. Reading about bitcoins for days would not teach me as much as getting a bunch of responses to a post would in hours.

Thanks to everyone for the input. I will look into hosting and some of the other things mentioned.

[dac_2020]

You might fair ok with CPU coins, server processors perform pretty well it seems like, specially suited to intensive compute. These can be X11 coins like Darkcoin or others based on it, or something like Primecoin or a derivative. Though servers are also power hungry, you may not get back what goes in depending.

Though something much more useful would be hosting Bitcoin Core nodes, P2Pools, and other blockchain apps (though many are for testing only at the moment). There is more to the network than just mining itself, the more nodes the better. A core node and P2Pool can be set up in a few hours if you have any Linux experience.

I don't think I would want to host something where many people have to access my network but if it were something where my machines can process and it is mainly just data going in and out of my network, that might be suitable.

I am not too worried about the power costs because I already have to pay for it, whether I do something else with it or not, it still has to be up and running 24/7, year in and out. The connection to this particular network is pretty slow, maybe 2Mbs or so but other than a little down time now and then, it's very reliable, all on UPS, generator, etc.

And yes, I am technical enough to do most things and setting up new things with forums help until I learn it better as well, just like anyone else .

I would not mind knowing more about what I could do with the idle resources. I like having purpose and making a few bucks to recover some of the costs would be nice.

Besides... I like the idea of a democratic currency.

[tacotime]

We could use the hash rate on the Monero network.

[xstr8guy]

You might fair ok with CPU coins, server processors perform pretty well it seems like, specially suited to intensive compute. These can be X11 coins like Darkcoin or others based on it, or something like Primecoin or a derivative. Though servers are also power hungry, you may not get back what goes in depending.

Though something much more useful would be hosting Bitcoin Core nodes, P2Pools, and other blockchain apps (though many are for testing only at the moment). There is more to the network than just mining itself, the more nodes the better. A core node and P2Pool can be set up in a few hours if you have any Linux experience.

I don't think I would want to host something where many people have to access my network but if it were something where my machines can process and it is mainly just data going in and out of my network, that might be suitable.

I am not too worried about the power costs because I already have to pay for it, whether I do something else with it or not, it still has to be up and running 24/7, year in and out. The connection to this particular network is pretty slow, maybe 2Mbs or so but other than a little down time now and then, it's very reliable, all on UPS, generator, etc.

And yes, I am technical enough to do most things and setting up new things with forums help until I learn it better as well, just like anyone else .

I would not mind knowing more about what I could do with the idle resources. I like having purpose and making a few bucks to recover some of the costs would be nice.

Besides... I like the idea of a democratic currency.

There a huge difference in power usage between a server that is sitting idle and one that is hashing away at an algorithm. Your power bill would increase significantly.

[west420]

Leave it idle. For every thousand dollars of energy extra used you will earn one cent worth of bitcoin and the denomination of bitcoin will be so small you wont be able to spend it. Regular computer mining bitcoin died a long time ago. Leave it alone.

This assumes that he needs to pay for his own electricity, which is not necessarily true. It is hypothetically possible that the OP works for some company when his job is to oversee a large number of servers that happen to be idle (although the ethics of mining with your company's equipment is questionable).

The OP could also potentially "mine" bitcoin via mining various altcoins via a multi pool that mines scrypt or x-11 coins that would be substantially more profitable on an electric basis

[Rabinovitch]

Leave it idle. For every thousand dollars of energy extra used you will earn one cent worth of bitcoin and the denomination of bitcoin will be so small you wont be able to spend it. Regular computer mining bitcoin died a long time ago. Leave it alone.

Why not use these computational power for computations of BOINC projects? Rosetta@home, Test4Theory@home etc...

[dac_2020]

Leave it idle. For every thousand dollars of energy extra used you will earn one cent worth of bitcoin and the denomination of bitcoin will be so small you wont be able to spend it. Regular computer mining bitcoin died a long time ago. Leave it alone.

Why not use these computational power for computations of BOINC projects? Rosetta@home, Test4Theory@home etc...

I am hoping/wanting to put them to good use but also recover some costs. That said, I don't yet know what I will do, just looking for ideas which is why I thought I would post since everyone here is knowledgeable.

The point is that I am already paying for these costs so am looking for something interesting, profitable to some extent. I am not looking for a get rich quick scheme nor do I believe in overnight riches. Just makes sense to look.

[bbxx]

you can rent your rigs at betarigs and mine cpu coins when your power is not rented.

[moiraine]

You won't be able to cover power costs imo...renting them out and buying btc is your best bet

[FlashCrash]

You would make more money going into the hosting business and charging for website hosting than mining (or CPU coin mining)