1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Other Cryptocurrency

Discussion in 'General' started by MLyons, 6 Dec 2017.

  1. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

    Joined:
    25 Mar 2009
    Posts:
    19,737
    Likes Received:
    5,502
    Genuine question, how does everyone resolve the using energy to mine with the old 'try not to go out of my way to kill the planet using excess energy' ethos?

    It's probably the one thing that's stopped me TBH, the University of Cambridge reckon mining BC alone uses the same yearly amount of electricity as the Netherlands.
     
  2. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    Sounds to me like your antivirus might have deleted it. I just downloaded the Windows version, and the .exe is definitely there:

    upload_2021-3-11_11-21-57.png

    Same ways I resolved the same issue back when I used to do SETI@Home. The benefit, for me, outweighs the cost - in the case of SETI@Home it was the hope of finding ALIENS, in the case of mining it's the hope of having a little bit more cash.

    Further, my footprint is already pretty damn low. All my bulbs are LEDs, and I turn them off when there's nobody in the room. I keep the thermostat low, and I have an energy-efficient condensing boiler. Hell, if I'm on my own I'll usually just watch Netflix on my phone rather than turn the big TV on. I don't drive a car. (My wife does, but infrequently - especially over the last year or so!) I work from home, so there's no commute and no massive office to light and heat. I try to minimise disposable packaging, and what does come into the house I recycle. I try to buy environmentally-sustainable goods, where possible.

    I also use 100% renewable sources for my electricity. (In the usual roundabout way: my 'leccy comes from the grid, like almost everyone else's, but my billing provider guarantees that for every kilowatt-hour its customers draw it's putting at least that much in renewables back into the grid. Thus: my electricity is from renewable sources.) Others in this thread have gone a stage further, using excess microgeneration from solar panels - which is "use it or lose it."

    My GPU is currently drawing 125W, which is about 120W more than it would be drawing if I weren't mining. That's not a huge amount: when I moved into this house I replaced a 500W halogen floodlight that was on a timer, running about 12 hours a day, with a 50W LED running on a PIR sensor. Over ten years, that's nearly 22MWh I've saved on that change alone. 125W is nowt compared to that.

    Would my footprint be lower if I didn't mine? Sure. But I would have a much bigger positive environmental impact if I gave up eating meat, but I justify chowing down on steak 'cos it's really, really tasty...

    The trouble with these studies is they make a lot of assumptions. The first is that the energy is wasted, which is a hard sell even if you think Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are worthless in and of themselves. The vast majority of energy that goes into mining cryptocurrency is from renewable generation, and is of the use-it-or-lose-it type. Do you know what happens when a wind turbine is generating too much electricity for the grid to use? You can't just turn it off, so you shunt the excess off into a honkin' gert resistor and bleed it into the environment as heat.

    A computer is, in effect, a device which turns electricity into heat with the byproduct of some zeroes and ones coming out of the other end. Replace the resistor with a computer and have it use the excess to mine Bitcoin, and you've turned what would have been wasted energy into value.

    There are people doing the self-same thing in hydroelectric dams (which, again, you can't just turn off in the middle of operation), and in this very thread there are people using excess microgeneration from solar panels. The system incentivises such: the less you're paying for your electricity, the more profitable your mining is (and the longer you can run your mining hardware before the amount you're earning is below the cost of the electricity you're using.)

    There's also the idea of making the waste output of the miners, which is heat, have value too. I've seen projects where miners are used to pre-heat water before it goes into a home heating system and to heat a greenhouse. If you're spending 2kW on mining cryptocurrency but aren't spending 2kW on electric heaters, you're literally burning 0W of additional energy - and you're getting paid for it.

    Now, there are other ways to drop the cost of your electricity. Like, say, hacking into a bunch of someone else's servers and desktops and installing a cryptominer. And, yes, there are people doing that, too. And, yes, the same incentive for running on renewables applies to running on someone-else's-electricity. That's not great.
     
    Last edited: 11 Mar 2021
    adidan and B1GBUD like this.
  3. MightyBenihana

    MightyBenihana Do or do not, there is no try

    Joined:
    8 Sep 2011
    Posts:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    117
    Yep, when i pause the AV and then download it, it is there. Thank you.

    When I try to run it though it sasys something like "can't start miner. No pool was selected" Yet if I just run the .bat file I am mining with nonopool. Sorry for all the questions, but what have I missed?
     
    Last edited: 11 Mar 2021
  4. Arboreal

    Arboreal Keeper of the Electric Currants

    Joined:
    21 Jan 2011
    Posts:
    5,399
    Likes Received:
    1,631
    Surely 12.21 micro Satoshis?

    Dave, go and get another 12-13 micros, and at the same BTC value you'll have earned a whole pound for free!
     
    David likes this.
  5. David

    David μoʍ ɼouმ qᴉq λon ƨbԍuq ϝʁλᴉuმ ϝo ʁԍɑq ϝμᴉƨ

    Joined:
    7 Apr 2009
    Posts:
    17,419
    Likes Received:
    5,791
    My 2070 super is sitting around 42MH, pulling ~125W

    The card isn't super hot - average temp is in the mid-high 50's
    1.221 Mega Satoshis

    Pfft, I'm at nearly £2, mate!!!111one
     
    Last edited: 11 Mar 2021
    Arboreal likes this.
  6. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    Have you read the instructions? Specifically, "Examples?"

    You can't just double-click the .exe - it's a command-line application, and it expects you to tell it what you want it to do at the command line. That's what the .bat files are for: open one in Notepad, and you'll see it's loading the .exe with a bunch of switches telling it what to mine, where to mine, and so on.

    But don't just double-click a .bat file blindly: they're pre-filled-in with someone else's details. You'll be mining, alright, but the proceeds will go to the developer, not to you. You need to edit the .bat file and put in your own wallet address, worker name, and so on.

    (I don't bother with the .bat files - .sh files on Linux - I just do it straight at the command line. But the .bat files are there to make life easier for you.)

    Doesn't matter what you click on, though, you'll never see a graphical program pop up - apart from the monitoring web server I screenshotted earlier.
     
  7. B1GBUD

    B1GBUD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Accidentally Funny

    Joined:
    29 May 2008
    Posts:
    3,557
    Likes Received:
    558
    Pahh, bloody numbers fail me again.
     
    Arboreal likes this.
  8. MightyBenihana

    MightyBenihana Do or do not, there is no try

    Joined:
    8 Sep 2011
    Posts:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    117
    Oh no, don't get me wrong, I have been reading around this for a few days before I started. I have modified the .bat file with my address, name, checked the pool etc. It seems to be working now though so I will see how the next couple of days go. Thanks for the help, I know it can be annoying when dealing with noobs and I am certainly that in this area.

    I am finding claymore a lot more user friendly so I have switched to that.

    Currently testing the GPU for overclocking with MSI Afterburner. Getting 41.2 MH/s on avergage at the moment with GPU mem temps around 76-77 degrees and GPU temp at around 63 degrees.
     
    Last edited: 11 Mar 2021
  9. Arboreal

    Arboreal Keeper of the Electric Currants

    Joined:
    21 Jan 2011
    Posts:
    5,399
    Likes Received:
    1,631
    Don't spend it all at once! :hehe:

    Just be careful when you hit 1.21 Giga Satoshis, that your card isn't running over 88' C!
     
    David likes this.
  10. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

    Joined:
    25 Mar 2009
    Posts:
    19,737
    Likes Received:
    5,502
    @Gareth Halfacree thanks for that.

    I mean we're on a green power setup (i know it ain't necessarily all green entering the house but ya know) and actually the heating aspect is one not to be sniffed at.

    I could convince myself that it'd be a good way to heat the loft room up in the winter months.

    My question was more of a help me convince myself more than anything else tbh :)
     
    Gareth Halfacree likes this.
  11. MightyBenihana

    MightyBenihana Do or do not, there is no try

    Joined:
    8 Sep 2011
    Posts:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    117
    So far got it to 41 MH/s with GPU 138W, GPU Temp 52-53, Mem temp 64-65. That's better, and quieter.
     
    Last edited: 11 Mar 2021
  12. MightyBenihana

    MightyBenihana Do or do not, there is no try

    Joined:
    8 Sep 2011
    Posts:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    117
    Also, what is everyones understanding of RJVX12?
     
  13. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

    Joined:
    15 Aug 2007
    Posts:
    11,987
    Likes Received:
    706
    I have script to make my computer only mine while there's excess solar electricity generated by my roof-top solar PV.

    So it's either me earning a few extra pennies, or zero earning for me and the grid has to find ways to soak up everyone's excess solar production.

    For you, I would say it is okay as long as you are paying for renewable electricity.

    The way I see it: It is beneficial to push up the proportion of payment for renewable electricity. As higher percentage of electricity payment is aimed at renewables, the more renewables will be installed to meet the demand.

    If you can be bothered, keep an eye on https://gridwatch.co.uk/ Stop mining as fossil fuel mix increases. Good rule of thumb is to not waste electricity (mining) between 4-8pm.
     
    adidan likes this.
  14. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

    Joined:
    26 Aug 2014
    Posts:
    5,206
    Likes Received:
    2,446
    It's all very well paying for renewable electricity, I do too via Bulb, what you get is whatever is being supplied to the grid, regardless of how it is generated.
     
  15. Goatee

    Goatee Multimodder

    Joined:
    19 Apr 2015
    Posts:
    2,611
    Likes Received:
    1,296
    This is how I see it too.
     
  16. MightyBenihana

    MightyBenihana Do or do not, there is no try

    Joined:
    8 Sep 2011
    Posts:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    117
    Out of interest Goatee, what are you mining with to get that rate?
     
  17. Goatee

    Goatee Multimodder

    Joined:
    19 Apr 2015
    Posts:
    2,611
    Likes Received:
    1,296
    3090FE - it would be sat doing nothing if it wasn't mining, as I'm waiting for a new case for it.
     
  18. MightyBenihana

    MightyBenihana Do or do not, there is no try

    Joined:
    8 Sep 2011
    Posts:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    117
    That explains it then, lol.
     
  19. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,085
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    Yes, but also no. If I take a £5 note to the bank and deposit it into your account then you go to the bank and withdraw that £5, you don't get the same physical note - but I still gave you £5, and the £5 you hold "is" the £5 I gave you.

    Same with 'leccy. If I take 5kWh out of the grid and use it, and my supplier puts 5kWh of renewables into the grid as a result - then, effectively, the 5kWh I used "is" the 5kWh of renewables. Sure, they're not the same electrons, same as it weren't the same scrap of paper with a picture of the Queen on it in the first example, but that's semantic niggling.

    It's a scam. Don't touch it with someone else's bargepole, let alone your own.
     
    Last edited: 11 Mar 2021
    wyx087 likes this.
  20. adidan

    adidan Guesswork is still work

    Joined:
    25 Mar 2009
    Posts:
    19,737
    Likes Received:
    5,502
    Now a solar powered setup would be ideal.
     

Share This Page