Going to give this a try... looks interesting!
http://www.overclock.net/other-software/1001123-earn-your-gpu-bitcoin-mining-guide.html
http://www.overclock.net/other-software/1001123-earn-your-gpu-bitcoin-mining-guide.html
Make money with your GPU?
- Thread starter SgtSpike
- Start date
It's definitely an odd project. Regardless, my 5770 will make about $3/day at the current currency price, and only cost me about $0.22/day in electricity, so I'm going for it. 
For those with a decent ATI video card, but not enough money to pay for VIP, getting bitcoins might be a viable way of putting some funds in your paypal account! Heck, at my current rate, I could donate for a VIP account every 5 days!
I'll also consider allowing people to donate bitcoins directly to get VIP access, then I will do the paypal conversion.
For those with a decent ATI video card, but not enough money to pay for VIP, getting bitcoins might be a viable way of putting some funds in your paypal account! Heck, at my current rate, I could donate for a VIP account every 5 days!
I'll also consider allowing people to donate bitcoins directly to get VIP access, then I will do the paypal conversion.
Wow, seriously? So you're completely off the grid then? That's pretty neat TBH. But yeah, definitely not appropriate for a project like this.
I'm considering purchasing a 5870 or three to go towards this project. If I was able to purchase 16 of them, it would replace my take-home income entirely. That'd be awesome, but I still wouldn't want to rely solely on that for income, given the potential volatility of the currency.
But yeah, definitely not appropriate for a project like this.I'm considering purchasing a 5870 or three to go towards this project. If I was able to purchase 16 of them, it would replace my take-home income entirely. That'd be awesome, but I still wouldn't want to rely solely on that for income, given the potential volatility of the currency.
So, a little update on this...
I started mining on April 27th with my 5770. After seeing how quickly I was generating bitcoins, I decided to go all-in, and I bought a couple of 5850's and a 5870. A couple of weeks later, I placed an order for 3 5830's.
So right now I have:
- My main desktop, mining with a 5850.
- A single core AMD desktop with a 5870.
- A quad core AMD desktop with a 5850.
- A dual core Intel desktop with three 5830's.
- A dual core Intel desktop with one 5770.
- A dual core Intel desktop with one 4650.
I figure the total electricity usage of all of these machines is about 1,580w, so it costs me $3.79/day for electricity to run them. I've been mining for 43 days (I think), so that makes the total electrical cost around $100 (not the full $163, since I wasn't actually mining with all of those cards this whole time).
Now, on to the exciting bits.
I've cashed out enough bitcoins to pay for all of this hardware (which, aside from what I already had, ended up costing me $1100. So that's $1100 worth of free computer hardware, which is awesome. I think I have cashed out 80 bitcoins so far, but I would have to double-check my records.
I have, currently, about 90 bitcoins saved up. When I started, each bitcoin was worth about $1.60. Now, each bitcoin is worth $28.75. Yes, that is an 1800% rise in value in 43 days. People are expecting even more valuation rise as bitcoins become more publicly accepted.
The depressing part about this is, if I had invested that $1100 into bitcoins themselves, instead of mining hardware, they would be worth over $19,000 now. But I couldn't afford to lose that money, so I couldn't invest it. Mining is a safe way to go, since even if bitcoins go bust, the hardware is still worth a good portion of what it was purchased for. Even still, my current collection of coins that I haven't cashed out is worth about $2,500. So I've made about $3,600 on it in 43 days, while spending about $1200. That's impressive return on my virtually risk-free investment!
What's even more impressive is the particular milestone I reached last night. I made more money in bitcoins in a 24 hour period than what my real job pays for an 8 hour day, by about $1.50.
The reason that bitcoins are highly sought after is that it is a decentralized currency with a limited number of coins that will ever be minted. The coins are minted through the mining process (what I am doing with my video cards), but there will never be more than 21 million of them. People like that it is decentralized, as the government can't manipulate the money supply to their advantage. People also like that it is limited supply, as that classifies it as a deflationary currency, which means that technically, as long as it is used by the same percentage of people worldwide, it will always rise in value proportional to population growth.
If you're interested, I suggest lots of googling, and also checking out www.weusecoins.com. It explains a lot about the currency and how it works. You can buy things online with it through a rep that will basically proxy for you in USD. So you pay him the bitcoins to purchase something, and he'll purchase it for you. I expect more such services to pop up for major retailers, and hopefully widespread acceptance of bitcoins.
Also, I created a forum dedicated to bitcoins. It can be found at www.bitcoinforums.net. I would appreciate more members, as it was just started a few hours ago and I need to get it going quickly!
Finally, if you didn't know this already, you can donate to the server with bitcoins. Right now, it'd be about 0.55 bitcoins for VIP, and 1.1 bitcoins for VIP gold. So get mining!
I started mining on April 27th with my 5770. After seeing how quickly I was generating bitcoins, I decided to go all-in, and I bought a couple of 5850's and a 5870. A couple of weeks later, I placed an order for 3 5830's.
So right now I have:
- My main desktop, mining with a 5850.
- A single core AMD desktop with a 5870.
- A quad core AMD desktop with a 5850.
- A dual core Intel desktop with three 5830's.
- A dual core Intel desktop with one 5770.
- A dual core Intel desktop with one 4650.
I figure the total electricity usage of all of these machines is about 1,580w, so it costs me $3.79/day for electricity to run them. I've been mining for 43 days (I think), so that makes the total electrical cost around $100 (not the full $163, since I wasn't actually mining with all of those cards this whole time).
Now, on to the exciting bits.
I've cashed out enough bitcoins to pay for all of this hardware (which, aside from what I already had, ended up costing me $1100. So that's $1100 worth of free computer hardware, which is awesome. I think I have cashed out 80 bitcoins so far, but I would have to double-check my records.
I have, currently, about 90 bitcoins saved up. When I started, each bitcoin was worth about $1.60. Now, each bitcoin is worth $28.75. Yes, that is an 1800% rise in value in 43 days. People are expecting even more valuation rise as bitcoins become more publicly accepted.
The depressing part about this is, if I had invested that $1100 into bitcoins themselves, instead of mining hardware, they would be worth over $19,000 now. But I couldn't afford to lose that money, so I couldn't invest it. Mining is a safe way to go, since even if bitcoins go bust, the hardware is still worth a good portion of what it was purchased for. Even still, my current collection of coins that I haven't cashed out is worth about $2,500. So I've made about $3,600 on it in 43 days, while spending about $1200. That's impressive return on my virtually risk-free investment!
What's even more impressive is the particular milestone I reached last night. I made more money in bitcoins in a 24 hour period than what my real job pays for an 8 hour day, by about $1.50.
The reason that bitcoins are highly sought after is that it is a decentralized currency with a limited number of coins that will ever be minted. The coins are minted through the mining process (what I am doing with my video cards), but there will never be more than 21 million of them. People like that it is decentralized, as the government can't manipulate the money supply to their advantage. People also like that it is limited supply, as that classifies it as a deflationary currency, which means that technically, as long as it is used by the same percentage of people worldwide, it will always rise in value proportional to population growth.
If you're interested, I suggest lots of googling, and also checking out www.weusecoins.com. It explains a lot about the currency and how it works. You can buy things online with it through a rep that will basically proxy for you in USD. So you pay him the bitcoins to purchase something, and he'll purchase it for you. I expect more such services to pop up for major retailers, and hopefully widespread acceptance of bitcoins.
Also, I created a forum dedicated to bitcoins. It can be found at www.bitcoinforums.net. I would appreciate more members, as it was just started a few hours ago and I need to get it going quickly!
Finally, if you didn't know this already, you can donate to the server with bitcoins. Right now, it'd be about 0.55 bitcoins for VIP, and 1.1 bitcoins for VIP gold. So get mining!
Forgot to mention... you can check current market rates at www.bitcoincharts.com. The top one, mtgox, is the main exchange that people use.
coffeejunky
Server Moderator
This is starting to look interesting. Tried out a bitcoin miner on my pc (only a lowly HD4850 :/). Get about 83 MHash/s when using the GPU and CPU. Not sure if this will work out to be worth it. Electricity is kinda expensive in the UK. Awesome that it is outperforming your income for now though 
83MH/s is good for about $129/month at current difficulty and price rates. Not bad, and unless your electric rates are higher than I've ever heard of anyone paying, you'll come out ahead.
http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php
http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php
coffeejunky
Server Moderator
Okay I worked it out. Our leccy is $0.34/unit. So thats $2.77/day to run a 350w rig (I have factored in efficiency of the PSU). If I use just my GPU (55MHash/s) then I would get $2.82/day. Factor in CPU usage too and that is $4.20/day. Hrm, barely works out. The HD5x series seem to produce the best value for money, but I'm not sure I want to gamble on the money actually holding its value (particularly as nosey US senators want to shut down Bitcoin already) enough to actually buy a better GPU, lol.
Also do you mine locally or use a pool?
Also do you mine locally or use a pool?
Wow, those electric rates are insane. The only place I've heard of that is more is some places in Cali, but the rates I've heard about from the UK have generally been $0.12 to $0.16.
Yes, the 5XXX series are the best, but they're also getting extremely pricey and hard to find. You can't find a 5850 for less than $250 now, even though I bought mine for $140 a month ago. You can't find a 5830 for less than $150 now, even though I bought mine for $99 a few weeks ago. It's craziness...
I mine with deepbit. I've tried a couple of other pools, but none are as rock-solid reliable as deepbit. It just works, and I like that. Mining solo is for the gamblers though, unless you just really have a TON of GH/s.
DrMadFellow
I'm out, come find me elsewhere.
I've tried to use the program... but I just don't get it, makes no sense to me.
DrMad, try taking a look at http://www.weusecoins.com/ - they'll probably do a better job of explaining the whole thing than I would.
DrMadFellow
I'm out, come find me elsewhere.
I started there. The explanation on how to mine is seriously lacking in detail.
Oh.
In a nutshell:
- Register at deepbit.net
- Make sure you have video card drivers that support OpenCL. Download the latest if you're not sure.
- Download guiminer
- Run guiminer
- Select deepbit from the dropdown, and enter your account settings from deepbit.net
- Click "Start Mining"
Should be good to go!
In a nutshell:
- Register at deepbit.net
- Make sure you have video card drivers that support OpenCL. Download the latest if you're not sure.
- Download guiminer
- Run guiminer
- Select deepbit from the dropdown, and enter your account settings from deepbit.net
- Click "Start Mining"
Should be good to go!
NZ_Forever
One of the "original PvP terrorisers"
Wow, those electric rates are insane. The only place I've heard of that is more is some places in Cali, but the rates I've heard about from the UK have generally been $0.12 to $0.16.
Yes, the 5XXX series are the best, but they're also getting extremely pricey and hard to find. You can't find a 5850 for less than $250 now, even though I bought mine for $140 a month ago. You can't find a 5830 for less than $150 now, even though I bought mine for $99 a few weeks ago. It's craziness...
I mine with deepbit. I've tried a couple of other pools, but none are as rock-solid reliable as deepbit. It just works, and I like that. Mining solo is for the gamblers though, unless you just really have a TON of GH/s.
This is starting to look interesting. Tried out a bitcoin miner on my pc (only a lowly HD4850 :/). Get about 83 MHash/s when using the GPU and CPU. Not sure if this will work out to be worth it. Electricity is kinda expensive in the UK. Awesome that it is outperforming your income for now though
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Wow, seriously? So you're completely off the grid then? That's pretty neat TBH.
I'm considering purchasing a 5870 or three to go towards this project. If I was able to purchase 16 of them, it would replace my take-home income entirely. That'd be awesome, but I still wouldn't want to rely solely on that for income, given the potential volatility of the currency.
I understand none of this lol
lordikon
Video Game Programmer
I get that I can make money off of it. I don't get why someone would pay me to run a program. What do these companies get out of it? Are they just farming out calculation work to be done by the masses?
There's no company - it's completely decentralized and open source. A difficulty factor helps release only a set number of coins (goal of 7,200/day) to make sure that the currency doesn't hit wild supply inflation. You don't get money for it either, you get bitcoins. But people value bitcoins, because they believe it is an up-and-coming currency, so they'll pay USD for bitcoins.
The program itself just looks for a hash below a certain goal (the difficulty factor). So the hash of a given combination of block number, transactions, a nonce, and a random number must be below 00000000xxxxxxxxxxx, or something to that effect. Basically, it takes quadrillions of hash calculations before a computer randomly stumbles on the right one, below the difficultly level.
The reason that mining is so important is that it prevents someone with a supercomputer from having more than 51% of the computing power and being able to calculate blocks faster than the network, thus able to forge its own blockchain and doublespend coins. As long as no single person (or collaboration of persons) controls more than 51% of the computing power, there is no risk of any kind of counterfeiting or forgery.
So mining is a paid activity for two reasons: 1) It's important to have as much computing power as possible to secure the network. 2) It's a good way to release coins into the environment slowly.
The program itself just looks for a hash below a certain goal (the difficulty factor). So the hash of a given combination of block number, transactions, a nonce, and a random number must be below 00000000xxxxxxxxxxx, or something to that effect. Basically, it takes quadrillions of hash calculations before a computer randomly stumbles on the right one, below the difficultly level.
The reason that mining is so important is that it prevents someone with a supercomputer from having more than 51% of the computing power and being able to calculate blocks faster than the network, thus able to forge its own blockchain and doublespend coins. As long as no single person (or collaboration of persons) controls more than 51% of the computing power, there is no risk of any kind of counterfeiting or forgery.
So mining is a paid activity for two reasons: 1) It's important to have as much computing power as possible to secure the network. 2) It's a good way to release coins into the environment slowly.