the hypothesis that everyone, including myself, considered most probable has come true: I am not able to make any improvements to the mining algorithm. amen.
Yes, it was a foregone conclusion, to quote NotFuzzyWarm's first response:
I should also add that despite after more than 10 years of some very bright minds working on this <drum roll please> there are no faster/better ways to process sha 256 hashes. Doesn't mean there isn't some as yet undiscovered methods to do it but - it also means it is pretty bloody unlikely.
Certainly companies investing tens of millions of dollars in this area have not missed out on a potential 30-40% process improvement.
But the important thing is that you have been able to form your own opinion through experience, that you have tried, and tested. This is very good for you and always interesting to follow.
I enjoyed reading your topic, and wish you all the best for the future @Sha256explorer