Mining Machine Advice - Hardware Advice and Which OS is best?

[rcaruso90]

Hi All,

I'm very new to bitcoin mining. Right before i heard about BC and how awesome it is, i had ordered parts for a Hackintosh (a pc that can run mac). I would list all specs but from what i can tell GPU is the important factor. I have a "EVGA 01G-P3-N959-TR GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card" coming. I know that that's crap, but i don't game so a GPU wasn't my top priority. If it helps, i have as Intel Core i7-860 for this machine i'm building (It's the current LifeHacker.com hackintosh build if you want to see the rest of the specs).

Since i want to be able to run OS X I am thinking of upgrading to one of the ATI Radeon HD 5870 or 5770 cards that Mac Pro's can come with to ensure compatibility. (Specs for MP: http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html). Would this card be good for mining? I want the card to be able to pay for itself somewhat quickly if i were to sell the BC for dollars.

Also, for software, what is the best setup? I have access to a copy of win7, OS X 10.6 and, of course, different linux distros. If it's possible to get good results on OS X I would prefer that, but i am not unwilling to boot into another OS to make some digital bank!

Lastly, it sounds like pools are better than solo mining, whats the best pool in your opinion?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!!!


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Help a newb out! 17sLsrMDafh2WKGnWHZ4rZdqxTbAjLYB5r

[grue]

the best pool is either bitcoinpool, or btcguild, because they both have no fees. deepbit is the biggest, but it has 3% fee. personally, i wouldn't use deepbit because they're inching to 50% hashing power, which could compromise the network.

[rcaruso90]

the best pool is either bitcoinpool, or btcguild, because they both have no fees. deepbit is the biggest, but it has 3% fee. personally, i wouldn't use deepbit because they're inching to 50% hashing power, which could compromise the network.

Thanks! I looked at bitcoinpool earlier and they sound pretty good. Now i just need to get this new hardware built and running! I have a MacBook Pro now and I  didn't have any luck running Diablo Miner. Kept getting error messages. Hopefully this new machine will work.

Any tips on the hardware/software stuff?

I'd send you a tip but I have no BC yet (I promise i will when i get up an running)

[Jaime Frontero]

linux is the best OS for mining, but windows is better for serious overclocking.

a dual-boot system - set overclock rates in windows and then boot to linux to mine with the new settings - is best, if you're somewhat experienced with overclocking.  be careful with it though - you can toast your GPU without half trying.  i note that i've been quite happy with the slightly more constrained overclocking available using AMDOverdriveCtrl in linux only.

MacOS is... well... i'm not a fan - neither of the functionality, nor of the philosophy behind it.  YMMV.

[elrock]

With Mac OS, you're limited to DiabloMiner and I think just one other miner (can't remember the name, sorry).  Linux offers more options but you will be using its terminal application a lot.  (I'm primarily a Mac person but have set up a mining rig with Ubuntu.)

Here is a mining hardware comparison of the various GPUs on the market.  Looks like the 5870 may be your best choice for mining.

[Cryptoman]

a dual-boot system - set overclock rates in windows and then boot to linux to mine with the new settings - is best, if you're somewhat experienced with overclocking.

This requires finding a proper bios and re-flashing, in order for the settings to be available in Linux, correct?  I'm mostly interested in lowering my memory clock limits as my densely-packed miners are already running near their thermal limits.  AMDOverdriveCtrl won't let me go below 625 on some of my 5870s.

[rcaruso90]

So a couple more questions, how essential is overclocking?

and how quickly do you guys earn BC? I want to try to figure out how long it will take me to earn before i invest in a nicer rig.

Also, are all 5870's good, or are some better than others...?