Cryptocurrencies

[ComputerRepairTech]

At this time cryptocurrency trading is the easiest form of trading, I think thats because so many young inexperienced traders are in that market and they don't automatically assume that when trump says something wreckless that its time to sell before everyone else does. Heck if they see a decent volume coin dropping fast they buy with the assumption its going to go back up and because of that it usually does go back up.

 

[Moltuae]

Have you claimed your BitCoin Cash yet? I still need to do it.

Done it now. I wanted to confirm that I had access to my share of BCH, especially now that the price is rocketing upwards.

It was pretty straightforward and painless, though a little nerve-wracking transferring all of my BTC to another wallet.

You just open Electrum, create a new wallet (File -> New) then send all funds from the old wallet to an address on the new wallet. Download and run Electron Cash (on a different machine), create a new standard wallet and enter the old Electrum wallet seed.

 

[Moltuae]

Finally got around to finishing and photographing my latest mining rig.

My aim was to make something robust, easily repeatable, stackable and (reasonably) compact. I intended it as a 4-card rig but I've squeezed a 5th card into this one for now, which is pushing it a bit on a single 1200W PSU. There's room for a second PSU though if necessary.

It's relatively portable and easy to carry (guessing it probably weighs about 15Kg). The black acrylic sheet panels give it a little protection and, along with the rear (filtered) fans, help to project most of the heat forwards to allow it to be used as a space heater.

I've also added a WiFi adaptor to enable it to be used anywhere there's a power outlet. I expected poorer performance mining over WiFi but there seems to be negligible difference compared with Ethernet. I do have 3 UniFi WAPs in the house though so that probably helps.





More photos to follow (forum seems to have a 10 attachment limit per post) ...

 

[Moltuae]

 

[Moltuae]

 

[AML]

Very Nice ... what did it cost you all together

 

[Moltuae]

Not too sure yet. I'm going to compile a parts list and cost it properly when I have time.

The aluminium extrusion was the value stuff (5mm slot) and I used about 6 x 1M lengths (about £30). I would guess there's about £30 worth of fixings and about £10 for the fans. The (optional) acrylic panels adds roughly another £25 and there's a 30mm x 5mm aluminium flat bar that helps supports the GPU risers that adds another fiver ...ish. So in total I would estimate roughly £100 (~$130) for the frame (including the side panels).

The rig is presently running 4 x 1080 Ti cards + 1 x RX 480. Making a little over £10 per day ...

 

[AML]

Might turn into an interesting side business for some that want to have you build them.

 

[timeshifter]

Have you compared the temps of the cards with and without the side panels?

 

[Moltuae]

Have you compared the temps of the cards with and without the side panels?

Yeah. The difference is negligible. I'm running the fans at a moderately high speed though and the 1080Ti cards I'm using are the single fan type that throw all of their heat out of the connector end. Running the fans faster helps heat the room and, at the speed they're running, it's still quieter than a typical electric fan heater.

 

[Moltuae]

A good, well-informed article I thought ...

It's Time To Take Bitcoin And Blockchain Technology Seriously
Article Link: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4100587-time-take-bitcoin-blockchain-technology-seriously

• Writing off recent developments in Cryptospace as "Tulipmania" illustrates a profound ignorance of the powerhouses that Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and other leading crypto projects have become.

• Innovation in this space is significantly outpacing Silicon Valley. ICO investment now exceeds VC capital investment.

• Financial expertise can actually work against you when Finance is the sector being disrupted.

...If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to convince you, sorry.
- Satoshi Nakamoto, July 2010, Price of Bitcoin: $0.08

No, it's not Tulipmania.
No, it's not a Ponzi scheme.
No, it's not a fad.

No, it's not the second coming of the Dotcom Bubble. Nor is it the unnerving doomed-to-fail libertarian economic experiment we all remember (and I wrote extensively about in 2013)

 

[MudRock]

I definitely feel decentralized currency is the future. I think there is a lot to change and progress for it to be able to become mainstream and as ubiquitous as VISA/MC/Interac (Biggest challenge would be instant or near-instant transaction verification), but considering banks are starting to use it to move sums of cash internationally, tells you there is a path already.

Edit: And really, to a bank, their infrastructure cost would go down drastically (Heck, it would likely pay for them to invest in reviewing code and helping keep the platform safe too.)

 

[Moltuae]

but considering banks are starting to use it to move sums of cash internationally, tells you there is a path already.

Edit: And really, to a bank, their infrastructure cost would go down drastically (Heck, it would likely pay for them to invest in reviewing code and helping keep the platform safe too.)

The problem is, while the banks seem to recognise the potential, they want to make their own blockchains, which misses the point entirely. A bank-controlled blockchain ledger would be highly centralised, devoid of the major advantages of a distributed blockchain ledger, making it open to corruption and attack. I like the irony though: Banks are effectively working to promote the very thing that may one day replace them.

 

[HCHTech]

I've also added a WiFi adaptor to enable it to be used anywhere there's a power outlet.

That's a good point. I've seen very little network traffic on my rig, I guess it's only reporting results. Part the challenge is figuring out where to put the darned thing, so wifi really expands your options.

I've got a few questions on your build:

What motherboard/cpu combo are you using? After looking at way too many, I accidentally ended up with a motherboard that had LED lighting embedded. Have to watch out for that in the gaming market, I guess - lesson learned for the next one. I'm using a Celeron 3930, I think, and the cheapest 4Gig stick of DDR4 I could find.

That is some power switch - did you mount it to that front panel or is it just hanging over the edge there? Since I used aluminum angle for my frame, so I just drilled out a couple of holes to mount a power switch and led I took from one of the graveyard machines I had. Your solution makes a more-professional look, that's for sure.

That framing material really makes the rig look professional. Nice work! Do you provide kill-a-watts with the machines for customers? In the hobby market, I imagine that would be wanted. For investors, not so much.

I see you're on the newest Nicehash client. I read the following in their blog:

"You are free to choose between NiceHash Miner 2 (NHM2) and NiceHash Miner Legacy (NHML). NHM2 is a new and redesigned version of the original NiceHash Miner, built with full automation, simplicity and long-term support in mind. On the other hand NHML is intended for experienced advanced users who want the quickest updates and highest hashrates, but are also are okay with some customization of the software and taking care of some manual settings of the miner and operating system middleware."

(emphasis mine) Which made me wonder, how much higher are the hashrates on the legacy software compared to the newest one? In the end, I loaded the new one because I definitely don't want to tinker with the thing - the less I have to touch it, the happier I am.

Last one - for machines you make for customers, do you run Windows? I imagine that would make it easier to understand for them, but adds to the cost because of the license, and then you would probably want AV.... I was thinking that if I started offering machines, I would build in the price of RMM & MAV - not sure. Mostly, I really want to write a newsletter article about it, but have been holding off since I know that would generate some interest, and I'm not ready for that yet.

 

[MudRock]

The problem is, while the banks seem to recognise the potential, they want to make their own blockchains, which misses the point entirely. A bank-controlled blockchain ledger would be highly centralised, devoid of the major advantages of a distributed blockchain ledger, making it open to corruption and attack. I like the irony though: Banks are effectively working to promote the very thing that may one day replace them.

Do you think banks will go away however?

I think you did answer your own statement. Why are they making their own blockchain? They feel threatened. However, if every bank makes their own blockchain, than there is no benefit. If I was Bank X, and wanted to transact with Bank Y, I'm not going to use Bank Y's blockchain, nor is Bank Y going to jump on Bank X's blockchain. And even if banks make their own internal international blockchain, it is still not going to work, because they are simply going to game each other rather than using it to transfer cash and store cash.

I don't see banks changing to blockchain for a while. But I don't believe that will eliminate banks; Only put banks on level playing field. Banks will still still exist for loans, depositing and withdrawing, etc. Won't matter how 'advanced' we get, people won't put all their trust into chain, and people will still want an easy access to chain. I could see new features show up in banks though, such as cold storage and such.

 

[Moltuae]

Do you think banks will go away however?

I think you did answer your own statement. Why are they making their own blockchain? They feel threatened. However, if every bank makes their own blockchain, than there is no benefit. If I was Bank X, and wanted to transact with Bank Y, I'm not going to use Bank Y's blockchain, nor is Bank Y going to jump on Bank X's blockchain. And even if banks make their own internal international blockchain, it is still not going to work, because they are simply going to game each other rather than using it to transfer cash and store cash.

I don't see banks changing to blockchain for a while. But I don't believe that will eliminate banks; Only put banks on level playing field. Banks will still still exist for loans, depositing and withdrawing, etc. Won't matter how 'advanced' we get, people won't put all their trust into chain, and people will still want an easy access to chain. I could see new features show up in banks though, such as cold storage and such.

I think you're absolutely right. I don't think the banks will be going away any time soon but I do see their roles diminishing in the not-too-distant future. I think there will come a tipping point. And considering the present irreparable economic state of most countries, I think the migration from nationalised fiat currencies to a global digital currency may happen much sooner than we're expecting. If/when that happens, Banks will no doubt hang on to roles such as lending, but that role too could some day (in theory at least) be fulfilled by cryptocurrencies using automated Smart Contracts:

https://www.mortgagefinancegazette.com/features/blockchain-can-improve-mortgage-process-01-05-2017/

What motherboard/cpu combo are you using? After looking at way too many, I accidentally ended up with a motherboard that had LED lighting embedded. Have to watch out for that in the gaming market, I guess - lesson learned for the next one. I'm using a Celeron 3930, I think, and the cheapest 4Gig stick of DDR4 I could find.

I usually just pickup the cheapest CPU and motherboard combination I can find (that has the required number of PCIe slots). In that particular rig I've used an ASRock H81 PRO BTC motherboard, but only because I wanted to run 5 GPUs. I also used an Intel G3260 CPU (only because the cheaper Celeron CPUs were out of stock at the time of ordering). For 4 or less GPUs I've used the ASUS H81M-PLUS motherboard a couple of times recently.

That is some power switch - did you mount it to that front panel or is it just hanging over the edge there?

The power switch is just one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HG7HO22/
It's simply stuck to the acrylic front panel using a large Velcro pad.

Do you provide kill-a-watts with the machines for customers? In the hobby market, I imagine that would be wanted. For investors, not so much.

I don't, but that would be a good idea. I'm only building them for one customer presently and he's pretty tech savvy so he has his own power monitoring devices. He's not too concerned about power usage though since they generate a lot of the electricity on-site using solar and a large ORC generator. The rig in the photo isn't for him though. I built that one as a prototype that'll I'll be keeping for myself. I plan to make a parts list and produce a few more like that for myself and my customer.

I see you're on the newest Nicehash client. I read the following in their blog:

"You are free to choose between NiceHash Miner 2 (NHM2) and NiceHash Miner Legacy (NHML). NHM2 is a new and redesigned version of the original NiceHash Miner, built with full automation, simplicity and long-term support in mind. On the other hand NHML is intended for experienced advanced users who want the quickest updates and highest hashrates, but are also are okay with some customization of the software and taking care of some manual settings of the miner and operating system middleware."

(emphasis mine) Which made me wonder, how much higher are the hashrates on the legacy software compared to the newest one? In the end, I loaded the new one because I definitely don't want to tinker with the thing - the less I have to touch it, the happier I am.

That's actually the only rig I have the new version installed on so far. I'm just experimenting with it presently, though it seems to function at least as well as the legacy version. Like you, I'm not too concerned with tinkering features. I just want these rigs to be repeatable and reliable; the less maintenance and configuration work the better.

Last one - for machines you make for customers, do you run Windows? I imagine that would make it easier to understand for them, but adds to the cost because of the license, and then you would probably want AV.... I was thinking that if I started offering machines, I would build in the price of RMM & MAV - not sure. Mostly, I really want to write a newsletter article about it, but have been holding off since I know that would generate some interest, and I'm not ready for that yet.

I'm using Windows 10. The licence cost is negligible compared with the cost of the hardware (and will be paid for by a few days of mining) so that doesn't really concern me. I do mean to experiment with one of the Linux mining-specific distros but, to be honest, I'm no Linux guru. I do like Linux but my long-term experiences with it have never been great. I don't want to risk having a bunch of mining rigs with some issue I'm struggling to fix. I'm comfortable with Windows and I'm confident I can fix almost any problem quickly. Better the devil you know.

I'm not installing AV on the rigs (though Windows Defender and Windows Firewall are enabled). The rigs aren't being used for anything other than mining and they're on their own LAN subnet, both in my workshop and at my customer's site.

 

[MudRock]

Smart Contracts:

https://www.mortgagefinancegazette.com/features/blockchain-can-improve-mortgage-process-01-05-2017/

Still some serious technical issues with them, based on user trust instead of chain trust, but again, progress will improve

ASUS H81M-PLUS

This is a KILLER durable board for cheap.

 

[HCHTech]

I've used an ASRock H81 PRO BTC motherboard, but only because I wanted to run 5 GPUs.

Yes, I looked at that one, I'm sure. It's a blur now, but I remember going for a socket 1151 motherboard because the socket 1151 Celerons were $35 compared to $65 for the 1150's. I probably paid more for the DDR4 RAM, though, so there you go. I built my frame to handle 6 cards, and I'm populating it over time so I can just do it out of cashflow and not have a one-time huge expense. I've got 3 cards in it now and it seems happy so far. One is the 1060 from my original dedicated mining desktop, and I added 2 1080s. D&H had a deal on 1070s a couple of weeks ago, so I ordered a couple, but they've been back-ordered, so I might pull the plug on those.

This is still a game for me, but I can see the potential here - especially if I can sell a few customers some of these. You need to have a good story, though, and ROI plus a good upside for profit has to be part of that story. We'll see how it goes.

 

[NviGate Systems]

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AkYr1ddI8vEhgYF6sP2LmqgbY0ASVQ

That is my semi final home rig. I took all my equipment home because the situation where I work is changing and power isn't good. At home I have a rough limit of 1500 watts, I estimate right now I am using roughly 1,000W give or take. The heat it produces is immense. At the moment due to space this is running in my bedroom, don't have anywhere else to put it. But I don't mind.

I looked at different cooling methods and am still experimenting. If you see my one photo of my RX480, that thing runs at a cool 65 degrees. The fan on there is amazing and does a good job of keeping it cool. Once my meter arrives and I know I can add another RX480, I will rig up the other one the same.

My R9 Fury's run at 79 degrees and I have 3 fans next to each one for extra airfow, but I may try something different. I ran my R9 290 Twin Frozr for a while but it was running hot. I have a room fan, and when I pointed that fan directly at the card, temps dropped to high 60's instead of 80+. So I may arrange fans to simply increase air pressure where the cards are designed to have air, and then run a few more as exhaust. Hard to say. At the moment I use NH Legacy, as you pick what you will mine. Also, some systems have issues where dual mining doesn't work or crashes, or you get mining but it is stuck at 0/GHS. So I use Legacy and tweaked everything so it runs good.

I run two boxes from Wyse Rx Series Thin Clients that use Sempron 210U. They have a 4X PCI-E, so with a riser they support a full GPU.

My main box is a ZOTAC ZBOX, which uses a PCI-E Mini to a eGDPU box, which connects to the PSU. So that system is the switch for them all. (In terms of card power) I found the Fury's if they are given power but not running do get very warm/hot, so the other systems do have to be booted once the Zotac starts. But it's nice because I don't have to wire multiple switches or worry about relays.

I estimated that my R9 Fury's (2) use 300 Watts each, and the RX480 uses 160-200W. So that's roughly 800 out of my 1000 W PSU. I think I should be good to add one more RX480, and if my overall draw isn't too much, I have a 620W PSU I can daisy chain and use for my R9 290. So in total I have 5 cards.

Each of the Wyse Systems runs maybe 10-20 W, but I will be measuring each system component one by one so I can get accurate results.

 

[Moltuae]

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AkYr1ddI8vEhgYF6sP2LmqgbY0ASVQ

That is my semi final home rig.

Cool. Is that an IKEA shoe rack?

Well that's certainly a super-cheap and easy solution. I'd be a little concerned about leaving it running unattended though with all that combustible material. Make extra sure you're not putting too many GPUs or risers on one power cable. I've seen overloaded connectors melt, leading to shorts and eventually fire. Might be a good idea to get a coating of flame-retardant paint on the rack.

Do you think banks will go away however?

I was just checking out some posts by Andreas this morning. Coincidentally he posted this relevant clip from one of his talks a few days ago:

He also posted this, referring specifically to 3 minutes and 51 seconds into the video (this link should go straight to 3:51 if the embedded link does not):

Cash is going to get banned. Digital money is inevitable. The question is, what kind of world do we want to live in?