AMD Mining Devices Making Millionaires Worldwide

US went off the gold standard in 1933....but yea, the 70s is close enough.
 
I've known about this for some number of months now. I just never did it because it seemed like too much of a hassle... and slightly shady. That and I'm not really dissatisfied with how much I'm making on my salary, to do this. I do have a left over 5850 HD from my old rig, but I gave that to one of my friends because I felt like he should game on a better GPU than some crappy integrated. I could take it back, but that would just be a bad thing to do as a friend.

Also, I'm not sure why people are buying the crap out of 7950's when you could get a bunch of 7850's or 7870's at a fraction of the price and save money overall. That's probably what I would do if I was going to hop onto this bandwagon. That being said with how many people are hopping on it now, for some reason my intuition tells me that there's going to be a wreck. I'm not sure why, and I'm not sure how, that's just what my gut instincts are telling me. If I was gonna do this, I should have done it before.
 
The risk to Ltc is the flood of coins being mined and sold to pay back the equipment of new miners. Will probably drop ltc value like a rock. Difficulty should spike also. If you are starting now, I'd say use what you have.

Or value will keep rising, who knows with this stuff!!!
 
Wish I had my bitcoin wallet from a few years ago. I would have around 5k now. Boooo
 
I agree with the 'it's a bubble' view, and like they say 'markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent'. My guess it will go for a while. I bet some Wall St. guys are all over this playing their usual games.
I just wanted some cards :(
 
Yakk said:
The risk to Ltc is the flood of coins being mined and sold to pay back the equipment of new miners. Will probably drop ltc value like a rock. Difficulty should spike also. If you are starting now, I'd say use what you have.

Or value will keep rising, who knows with this stuff!!!
Click to expand...

Here's my take, and this is as someone who is mining LTC.

IMO it's honestly a big bubble, LOL @ anyone who says differently. It will burst and my guess is that there will be another bubble within 6 mos - 1 year, here's why:
  • Litecoin halving should be in 2015, relevant for below part.
  • LiteCoin ASICS *are* coming: http://www.coindesk.com/asic-miners-litecoin-soon/ ASICs cost big bucks. They will take over the LTC network just like they did the BTC network. These "investors" will want to "make" their money back, couple this with the fact that ASICs for LTC will be out before the halving (unlike BTC) means that ASIC owners will be in control of a larger percentage of LTC than they are with BTC. They will artificially constrict supply to drive up prices.
  • Also, MT.Gox is (slowly) working on adding LTC as the second currency to their exchange. Even if it sound ridiculous, in the crypto-currency world, that's like being listed on the NY Stock Exchange. It will give LTC "cred", deserved or not.

Personally, I just cashed out some crypto, and bought a few more cards and enough funding to power them for 10-12 months. Even if I'm wrong I'm "up" the hardware and even on the power... but if I'm right... it will be a good day (for both me and Uncle Sam).

----------------------

Currently mining with:
1 x 280x
1 x 6950 (unlocked)
2 x 5830
3 x 5770 (adding 1 more)

I've been having good luck running most of the cards heavily undervolted at close to stock clocks. Keeping temperatures / power draw in check. On the 69xx/58xx servies I see to get the best results with a .85 core/memory ratio. On the 57xx I get the best khash at 0.75 ratio. I actually get lower k/hash by increasing one or the other and losing the ratio, more so with the 5000 series cards though.
280x I'm still experimenting with (arrived today) - getting ~600k/hash now.
6950U - 765Core/900 memory @ 1.049V - 395 k/hash (~140w power draw 2.82w k/hash)
5830s - 780Core/920 memory @ 1.070V - 280 k/hash (~115w power draw each - 2.43w k/hash)
5770s - 880Core/1180 memory @ 1.000V - 208 k/hash -(~80w power draw each - 2.6w k/hash)

Power draws are estimates from a kill-a-watt, Total full system power draws (without the 280x) was 740Watts. I haven't measured with the 280X yet since I don't have it tuned yet but I'd guess it would add another 300 watts total draw (it's in it's own box), the other cards are split into two systems. Older 5000 series cards are a greate way to go for mining still. The cost per k/hash is low (about half of a 79xx series card) and undervolted they are still fairly power efficient.
 
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canna said:
Here's my take, and this is as someone who is mining LTC.

IMO it's honestly a big bubble, LOL @ anyone who says differently. It will burst and my guess is that there will be another bubble within 6 mos - 1 year, here's why:
  • Litecoin halving should be in 2015, relevant for below part.
  • LiteCoin ASICS *are* coming: http://www.coindesk.com/asic-miners-litecoin-soon/ ASICs cost big bucks. They will take over the LTC network just like they did the BTC network. These "investors" will want to "make" their money back, couple this with the fact that ASICs for LTC will be out before the halving (unlike BTC) means that ASIC owners will be in control of a larger percentage of LTC than they are with BTC. They will artificially constrict supply to drive up prices.
  • Also, MT.Gox is (slowly) working on adding LTC as the second currency to their exchange. Even if it sound ridiculous, in the crypto-currency world, that's like being listed on the NY Stock Exchange. It will give LTC "cred", deserved or not.

Personally, I just cashed out some crypto, and bought a few more cards and enough funding to power them for 10-12 months. Even if I'm wrong I'm "up" the hardware and even on the power... but if I'm right... it will be a good day (for both me and Uncle Sam).

----------------------

Currently mining with:
1 x 280x
1 x 6950 (unlocked)
2 x 5830
3 x 5770 (adding 1 more)

I've been having good luck running most of the cards heavily undervolted at close to stock clocks. Keeping temperatures / power draw in check. On the 69xx/58xx servies I see to get the best results with a .85 core/memory ratio. On the 57xx I get the best khash at 0.75 ratio. I actually get lower k/hash by increasing one or the other and losing the ratio, more so with the 5000 series cards though.
280x I'm still experimenting with (arrived today) - getting ~600k/hash now.
6950U - 765Core/900 memory @ 1.049V - 395 k/hash (~140w power draw 2.82w k/hash)
5830s - 780Core/920 memory @ 1.070V - 280 k/hash (~115w power draw each - 2.43w k/hash)
5770s - 880Core/1180 memory @ 1.000V - 208 k/hash -(~80w power draw each - 2.6w k/hash)

Power draws are estimates from a kill-a-watt, Total full system power draws (without the 280x) was 740Watts. I haven't measured with the 280X yet since I don't have it tuned yet but I'd guess it would add another 300 watts total draw (it's in it's own box), the other cards are split into two systems. Older 5000 series cards are a greate way to go for mining still. The cost per k/hash is low (about half of a 79xx series card) and undervolted they are still fairly power efficient.
Click to expand...

I think LTC bubble should pop relatively soon. I actually cashed in some coins also and have 2 more r280x cards coming to add to my venerable 5870 & 5830. I'll test some .85 ratios thanks! I get 280kh on my 5830, but at 850/1000 which is quite a bit higher. The 5870 at 407kh is still in a league of it's own (can reach +/-440 with a bit of juice). Hopefully can squeeze a bit more than 600kh per 280x, I'm aiming for at least 725 per card. If the scrypt ASICs get closer to release I'll probably grab a couple, but so far they are still promises & vaporware a la "Butterfly Labs". Depending on difficulty scaling maybe I'll build another mining setup, need time...
 
Yakk said:
I think LTC bubble should pop relatively soon. I actually cashed in some coins also and have 2 more r280x cards coming to add to my venerable 5870 & 5830. I'll test some .85 ratios thanks! I get 280kh on my 5830, but at 850/1000 which is quite a bit higher. The 5870 at 407kh is still in a league of it's own (can reach +/-440 with a bit of juice). Hopefully can squeeze a bit more than 600kh per 280x, I'm aiming for at least 725 per card. If the scrypt ASICs get closer to release I'll probably grab a couple, but so far they are still promises & vaporware a la "Butterfly Labs". Depending on difficulty scaling maybe I'll build another mining setup, need time...
Click to expand...



I seem to get my best rates at .85 / .75 ratios respectively. 6950 needs a good dusting, my datavac should be here tomorrow :)
 
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Well this thread peaked my interest... I ended up putting cgminer on my PC and let it goto town the last day. I'm averaging 496KH/s with my old unlocked sapphire 6950 running at 940/1350/1.1... Here is the kicker... my XFX R9 290 should be here Friday! Hoping to get a nice increase from that... what I've been reading it looks like the 290 and 290x are the cats ass for this stuff.

Looking at the screenshots/info some of you have posted it appears as if you guys are running multiple different cards on one box.

So my question... I only have a 650w power supply... do you guys think that would be even remotely close to enough power to leave the 6950 in with my 290? If I underclocked the 6950? I assume it would be worth keeping them both in if I can make it work.
 
Fat chance with a 290 and a 6950 on a single 650 watt. Although if the rest of your system doesn't draw too much it might work.
 
Shyne151 said:
So my question... I only have a 650w power supply... do you guys think that would be even remotely close to enough power to leave the 6950 in with my 290? If I underclocked the 6950? I assume it would be worth keeping them both in if I can make it work.
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Calculating 650w at 80% efficiency leaves you with about 520w. The 290x on its own can use over 300 I believe, leaving 220w for the 6950 & rest of the system. I wouldn't, especially not 24/7.

In my case I'm running a 1300w psu and probably hitting just under 1kw Max draw. Running 24/7 is different from just hitting peaks which a good psu can absorb easier.
 
Is that how efficiency works ? I thought it met that to if its efficiency is 80% then if the computer needs 80 watts, the psu needs 100 from the wall
 
Brownstone said:
Is that how efficiency works ? I thought it met that to if its efficiency is 80% then if the computer needs 80 watts, the psu needs 100 from the wall
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Yes. If you need 300+250, wall draw will be approximately 700w at 80%. Which is why I wouldn't chance a 650w psu.

Edit: running 24/7 I keep a good safety margin.
 
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Thanks for the replies guys. I've literally been kicking myself in the ass since 2011 when I initially built the box and only got a 650w power supply. The box has three mechanical hard drives, an SSD, and five fans not counting CPU fans... so I doubt there is enough juice there. I probably should have just grabbed the EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G2 when it was on sale yesterday.
 
Brownstone said:
Is that how efficiency works ? I thought it met that to if its efficiency is 80% then if the computer needs 80 watts, the psu needs 100 from the wall
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The last time I checked, a good psu is approx 90% efficient.

However, psus are rated by their output ratings. Thus, they will draw more from the wall than what they show.
I'm running four 950w PCP&C psus that show I'm pulling about 1030-1050w from the wall using a low quality kill-a-watt meter. They've been running stable like that for 7 months.
 
J Macker said:
The last time I checked, a good psu is approx 90% efficient.

However, psus are rated by their output ratings. Thus, they will draw more from the wall than what they show.
I'm running four 950w PCP&C psus that show I'm pulling about 1030-1050w from the wall using a low quality kill-a-watt meter. They've been running stable like that for 7 months.
Click to expand...

Most PCP&C units, because the design is a lot older (2006 ish I think), are a bit less efficient, around low 80s % at high load like that, especially on US voltage. At 1050W AC from the wall, you're probably pulling 850-900W out of the unit at best. They're pretty well made though (again, the original ones, can't speak for the newest ones with OCZ influence) so they should cope fine.
 
samuelmorris said:
Most PCP&C units, because the design is a lot older (2006 ish I think), are a bit less efficient, around low 80s % at high load like that, especially on US voltage. At 1050W AC from the wall, you're probably pulling 850-900W out of the unit at best. They're pretty well made though (again, the original ones, can't speak for the newest ones with OCZ influence) so they should cope fine.
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The efficiency on my 950w psus was reviewed by hardocp and they reported 87% at full load
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/08/10/pc_power_cooling_silencer_mkii_950w_psu_review/4

That comes out to ~914W dc output with a load of 1050w at the wall.
Hardocp tested 995w and measured 1142w at the wall.

I'm running 4* radeon 7950's on each psu, with a platter hard drive and a celeron G1610 cpu.
50w system overhead from 920w output leaves about 218w per gpu.

This just so happens to be the magic number for the 7950's:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/01/xfx_radeon_hd_7950_black_edition_video_card_review/9

I've also researched Seasonic units and they're roughly 90% at full load as well.
 
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Fair enough, the newer ones are a bit better than I realised then. Depends how hot it gets, if it's within range and doesn't get hot you'll probably have no longevity issues with it.
 
Network difficulty has increased from 1500s to 1900+ in the span of five days
 
dook43 said:
Network difficulty has increased from 1500s to 1900+ in the span of five days
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The returns are definitely lower than they were.

http://dustcoin.com/


I wonder what you all are doing with the coins. If you are hoarding them when created it may not be such a big deal if just waiting and hoping for the prices to go insane like bitcoin. Litecoin seems to have a better chance at that being the number 2 crypto going.


If it's just about immediate returns, some of the other coins, while perhaps not as likely to stick around, give better returns on a day to day month to month basis. If you just want to pay for your equipment in the short term, some of those seem like better alternatives.

Your only risk is electricity.
 
Anyone else notice nearly all the 7950, 7970, 280X, 290 and 290x are sold out on newegg.
 
Lorien said:
Anyone else notice nearly all the 7950, 7970, 280X, 290 and 290x are sold out on newegg.
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luckily i got a 3rd 290 that will be here tomorrow.

so i have 1 powercolor, 1 sapphire and 1 xfx lol
 
This is making me happy, since people are now tossing their "outdated" NVidia cards.. :D
 
schizrade said:
This is making me happy, since people are now tossing their "outdated" NVidia cards.. :D
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i did that, i got rid of a 4gb 670 for 2 7950's and now ill have 3 290's sold 1 of the 7950's to pay for part of 1 or the 290's but i still have a 7950 i am going to put back in my main pc when i move the 290's into their own case so they can mine 24/7 without having to stop a card to play bf4 or use the pc for anything more than browsing
 
I wonder how this will play out by Saturday. I have two 7970s sitting in the basement waiting for the rest of my parts to come in :(. And to think that I wanted to do this build over thanksgiving too!
 
my 3rd 290 and z87 mb and rest of the stuff i need to set up a dedicated mining box will be here tomorrow so i am excited to finally get it out of my main pc
 
Has anyone tried middlecoin? I'm not sure if it is really worth it. I made about .899 LTC in ~1.5 days or so, and only got .019 BTC after about 32 hours or so. I guess it's a bit easier since I won't have to convert in BTC-E to BTC and then transfer back to coinbase, but still. I guess I'll give it 7 days and if I don't like it, back to LTC mining.
 
xIronCrossx said:
Has anyone tried middlecoin? I'm not sure if it is really worth it. I made about .899 LTC in ~1.5 days or so, and only got .019 BTC after about 32 hours or so. I guess it's a bit easier since I won't have to convert in BTC-E to BTC and then transfer back to coinbase, but still. I guess I'll give it 7 days and if I don't like it, back to LTC mining.
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I've been using it for the past 2 months. I've had low days of .002 to high days of .021 on a single 7950 on middlecoin. All depends on how much they exchange for BTC on any given day.
 
kirbyrj said:
I've been using it for the past 2 months. I've had low days of .002 to high days of .021 on a single 7950 on middlecoin. All depends on how much they exchange for BTC on any given day.
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Oh alright, that's kind of what I thought. Is the hash rate on there correct? cgminer tells me 1.145 mh/s, but I constantly get less on the website.
 
xIronCrossx said:
Oh alright, that's kind of what I thought. Is the hash rate on there correct? cgminer tells me 1.145 mh/s, but I constantly get less on the website.
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It all depends on the accepted shares on the website. My "hash rate" varies from 450 to 800+ and cgminer always says its at 620 on my computer. I would guess it averages out to the 620 I see in cgminer.
 
schizrade said:
This is making me happy, since people are now tossing their "outdated" NVidia cards.. :D
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Ya but probably the worst thing that can happen to Nvidia. When you buy that used Nvidia card it means Nvidia does not get any money (none of that money goes to their bottom line) and they effectively lost you as a customer since you won't be buying a new card directly from one of their AIB partners anymore.
Compare to what people are doing on the AMD side, they are buying *NEW* cards to the point of selling out so any new cards made available have a good chance of selling out.
 
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