This should be called GlobalWarming@Home because it's so inefficient; it's literally 200x slower than a GPU. The generated BTC are probably worth less than the electricity consumed.
Someone on the bitcoin forums[1] has a killawatt meter and measured the difference between idle and 100% CPU. We did the math and for his computer, if the cost of electricity is under 14.1 cents per kWh (and you have your computer on anyway), it's profitable to use my CPU miner.
Yes, it is slower than GPU mining. I meant this to be more of an introductory easy to use miner to get people interested without having to download anything or configure anything. So it is slower than GPU, but you can generate a usable amount of BTC to play around with
I wonder, what's the math behind the electricity use of an idle CPU vs a CPU at 100%?
I've been thinking this over for a while. Right now, the general consensus is that the price of bitcoin will end up being related to the cost of electricity for computing, and in the long run transaction fees will have to go up or down to make that happen.
I think this will change.
When you have negative externalities like this, where people don't pay for electricity (they're renting, or in a condo/apartment building that has electricity included) or even free CPU power, as in an office, then the economics change. The price of bitcoin won't be tied to the price of electricity/CPU power, it will be tied to the cost of running a website like mine that lets people take advantage of free CPU power.
Yes, I think there will be a "base" of miners who basically have zero marginal cost, then a certain number of "suckers" who think that they'll make money even though they won't, and then "serious" miners whose number will vary according to profitability. Ultimately the base + suckers is probably enough to keep Bitcoin working in some form.
Even if they are, it's not worth it. Using my laptop CPU, I can expect to get a payout of about 0.0003 BTC in an hour and half. Using my gpu at home, I get about 1.25BTC/day.
Comments
This should be called GlobalWarming@Home because it's so inefficient; it's literally 200x slower than a GPU. The generated BTC are probably worth less than the electricity consumed.
Someone on the bitcoin forums[1] has a killawatt meter and measured the difference between idle and 100% CPU. We did the math and for his computer, if the cost of electricity is under 14.1 cents per kWh (and you have your computer on anyway), it's profitable to use my CPU miner.
[1] http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=8780.msg127782#msg1...
Yes, it is slower than GPU mining. I meant this to be more of an introductory easy to use miner to get people interested without having to download anything or configure anything. So it is slower than GPU, but you can generate a usable amount of BTC to play around with
I wonder, what's the math behind the electricity use of an idle CPU vs a CPU at 100%?
Unless your office is paying for the electricity ;)
--edit-- Really? I'm getting downvoted for a valid point?
True.
I've been thinking this over for a while. Right now, the general consensus is that the price of bitcoin will end up being related to the cost of electricity for computing, and in the long run transaction fees will have to go up or down to make that happen.
I think this will change.
When you have negative externalities like this, where people don't pay for electricity (they're renting, or in a condo/apartment building that has electricity included) or even free CPU power, as in an office, then the economics change. The price of bitcoin won't be tied to the price of electricity/CPU power, it will be tied to the cost of running a website like mine that lets people take advantage of free CPU power.
Yes, I think there will be a "base" of miners who basically have zero marginal cost, then a certain number of "suckers" who think that they'll make money even though they won't, and then "serious" miners whose number will vary according to profitability. Ultimately the base + suckers is probably enough to keep Bitcoin working in some form.
Even if they are, it's not worth it. Using my laptop CPU, I can expect to get a payout of about 0.0003 BTC in an hour and half. Using my gpu at home, I get about 1.25BTC/day.
I'm curious, is your computer usable while you're using your GPU for mining? Or do you have a 2nd graphics card dedicated to mining?
I tried out GPU mining but my computer was unusable while it was running.