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Showing 7 of 7 results by Shadow Wizard
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Board Beginners & Help
Re: Maximum number of Mhash to solve a block.
by
Shadow Wizard
on 07/07/2011, 20:48:05 UTC

Also, solving a block by hand means that you need to calculate sha256(sha256(block of transactions + nonce)) where the hash conforms to the current difficulty... Keep in mind that all miners (combined) are currently trying 11197.84 GHashes/sec. It would take longer than the rest of your life to complete by hand.

sha256(sha256(block of transactions + nonce))
Can you explain exactly what that is,or where to go to find out.
And as far as longer then the rest of my life, I am quite aware.  It is just I find knowing how to manually do it is understanding it.
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Topic
Board Beginners & Help
Re: Maximum number of Mhash to solve a block.
by
Shadow Wizard
on 07/07/2011, 19:23:58 UTC
"If my computer gets an average of 250Mhash/s, what is the maximum amount of time it would take me to solve a block, and get 50 bitcoins?"

An infinite amount of time.  Since your 250Mhash/s currently accounts for 1/44124th of the network, you have a 1:44124 odds of solving any particular block.  However, your odds do not automatically get better with time.  

To give an example of this, if you were playing a lottery that had one-in-a-million odds and you played the lottery a million times, you are not guaranteed to win even once.  On the other hand, you might win twice or even more.  It just depends upon luck.  

If you're interested in the really complicated math you can figure out exactly your odds of solving a block on any particular day, week or month - but with your hash rate I'd suggest that if the difficulty were to stay the same (which it won't) you'd solve a block every 10 months on average.

You'd be much better off to mine with a pool, and get smaller, more regular payouts.  I recommend Triple Mining as one of the best smaller pools out there; the link is in my sig.
I did not know that.  So if I understand you correctly, although every block has a solution, it is theoretically possible (Although insanely unlikely) that a solution will never be found?
Or does this mean that I can never be given my "Own" block to solve, and there will always be others working on it even if I am solo mining, thus it is guaranteed that the block will eventually be solved, but whoever solves the block gets all the bitcoins?

Now that we have broken the ground on how this works a bit, is there a place I can go and read a bit about this more technically, but written for the average joe to understand.  Basically I am not looking for the information on where a block comes from, and exactly how you go about solving it so that I could in theory, if I had nothing better to do with my time solve a block by hand. (Yes, I understand this is absurd, but if I know enough how to do it on paper, despite the fact it may take me the rest of my life to do but a single hash, or not, I will understand exactly how it works.)  Its more for curiosity.
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Topic
Board Beginners & Help
Re: Gotta be the DUMBEST Bitcoin question EVER!
by
Shadow Wizard
on 07/07/2011, 05:59:48 UTC
Actually I would have to say the dumbest question ever would be, "I am trying to find a bank that will give me my bitcoins because I would rather carry around a bunch of coins then keep it on my computer.  Can you tell me what bank I can go to to get my bitcoins?"
Sorry, couldn't resist
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Topic
Board Beginners & Help
Topic OP
Maximum number of Mhash to solve a block.
by
Shadow Wizard
on 07/07/2011, 05:55:40 UTC
Please keep in mind I am very new to this.
Lets assume solo mining.
To 'dumb it down' to my understanding when you mine bitcoins are you given a mathematical problem to solve, and exactly when you come up with the answer is a bit random.  You could solve the problem within seconds, or you could try every single possible combination, and only hit the correct answer on the last possible 'guess'  This would be the least amount of Mhash's VS the most amount needed.
So here is the question.  Is there a place I can go to find out, and what are currently the maximum amount of hashes required to solve a block?

This thread is not about understanding how any of this stuff works, its to answer the simple question, "If my computer gets an average of 250Mhash/s, what is the maximum amount of time it would take me to solve a block, and get 50 bitcoins?"
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Topic
Board Beginners & Help
Re: What "speed" should I be mining bitcoins? It seems slow. What am I doing wrong
by
Shadow Wizard
on 04/07/2011, 18:38:53 UTC
Thanks.  Will even help me is deciding on a new video card.
God I hate ATI

How much do you want to spend?
Dollar for dollar the best cards I can think of that come to mind...
Hd 5770: less than $100. Generates 200mh/s easily enough.
hd 5830: Between 100 and 200. Generates 300mh/s or more.
Hd 5870: If purchased for less than $200. Generates 360+ mh/s.
The hd 6950's are around 200 dollars after rebates from XFX, those put out about the same hashes at 5830's

Now, if like me, you find a 5850 or 5870 for less than 200, pick it up asap.

You should overclock them all. Even a bit. It gets you more for your money.
I am glad you asked.  Been looking for one.  The issue is I can only take a single width card.  So the question is, what can I get in single width, that will give me 150+, for under $150?
Oh yes, it also has to be a current production card.
Post
Topic
Board Beginners & Help
Re: What "speed" should I be mining bitcoins? It seems slow. What am I doing wrong
by
Shadow Wizard
on 04/07/2011, 16:03:24 UTC
what's the average speed that people can mine bitcoins?
Thanks.  Will even help me is deciding on a new video card.
God I hate ATI
Post
Topic
Board Beginners & Help
What "speed" should I be mining bitcoins? It seems slow. What am I doing wrong
by
Shadow Wizard
on 03/07/2011, 04:15:11 UTC
I have just started with bitcoins and bitcoin mining.  I have set up GUI miner on 2 systems, one with dual GeForce 9600's and one with a GeForce 350m  I have both machines connected to deepbit, and running CUDA miners.  I am getting about 14-15 Mhash/s.  But I have seen screenshots of people getting 10X that.  Is my machine really that "Crapy" for mining?  Or are there some settings that need to be adjusted, and what are they?