Hey all! First off thanks for taking the time to read this. Its much appreciated
Let me first introduce myself. My names Ryan, and I've only just begun my journey into this growing world of bitcoins. About 2 years ago I remember hearing about all of this, and for the most part disregarded it. I found it a very interesting concept, but failed to jump into it due to my lack of knowledge, and no real interest in research. Boy... that was a mistake!
But I'm not going to kick myself too hard for past decisions, and focus on whats to come.
First off let me explain why I think bitcoin is a great thing. I love the fact of anonymity, and being able to control my own funds completely. The simple fact that I don't need to use banks, or filter my bitcoins anywhere if I don't choose too is fantastic. The basic principle of that idea is something I hold with the up most importance, and reflect those beliefs. I believe all currency should operate under those terms, but I also understand the value in today's current economy system.
Alright, so of course I have a few questions. I have just begun to dabble with mining. Over the past week Ive been pumping myself with as much information as I can within the world of bitcoin. Everything I love, but still a lot of things confuse me. I'm a technical person, so that aspect is pretty much covered. But I still have a few questions that I felt the community could assist with.
What I have been currently doingI opened up an account over at BT Guild, and wanted to test the waters. Since this is all knew to me, I'm not sure what the difference in pools are, so I just picked one. Seems to be working fine. My current hardware is next to nothing. Ive been using a ATI HD 6750 with GUIminer. Pulling about 130 Mhash/s. Nothing out of this world I know, but I really just feeling all of this out. I've been mining for the past 4 days with that card alone. I don't currently have anything else to use, so it is what it is
. Today I found out about Litecoins. This seemed interesting enough, but my research has pulled quite the mix love/hate for it. I just wanted to take a stab at it, and see what it yielded. Opened up a Pooling account over there at Pool-X.eu - I mine Litecoins with my AMD 8150fx 8core using ScryptMiner GUI at around 30-40 khash/s. Nothing phenomenal, but again just testing things out. Still very unsure if Im getting optimal preformance on any of this, but thats all the process of learning.
The Future, and ASICSo it seems Butterfly Labs is releasing ASIC mining devices soon. So they say anyways. This is where I draw a little confusion. Is this the way to go? Their listed hash rates seem to by far supersede the current GPU and FPGA setups. I figured I start off small, and order just 1 or 2 Jalapenos. Since Im still very new to this, I'm still unclear what I would be getting into. Im not even sure how these jalapenos work. To the best of my understanding its something you plug into a USB port, and mine away. But am I forced to mine in certain pools? Is there limitations. Certain software I need to run? I also can't help but wonder the turn around on these devices. They say 3.5GH/s per jalapeno, but if everyone's using them, how really efficient is that when the pools will be flooded with ASIC devices. Will that equate to about the same slow pace that I am currently getting with just my 1 GPU? Should I order 2-3 of them? Should I not order one at all? I don't want to invest over 1000 dollars quite yet either. I figure I'd start slow, and build from there. If the jalapeno did alright, then reinvest my current bitcoins. Any thoughts on this?
In a nutshellI just absolutely love this world of bitcoins. I want to help support it, and be apart of it. Im just still very new, and wondering how I should go about it. I'm guessing if I put in a order for the Jalapeno that I wouldn't see it until close to the end of the year. I don't see myself investing in GPU mining when ASIC seems to be the future, but if Im wrong here tell me why
. Overall it seems Bitcoin supersedes Litecoin, but I can see value in both. Any recommendations on better programs to use to mine other than what I have been using? Its definitly slow going due to my 1 gpu, and cpu. But Im looking at the future, and more just testing things out.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this! Any information, and a push in the right direction would be very much appreciated! Thanks again!
-Ryan