Hello everybody!
First off, yes, this is my first interaction with BitCoin mining.
No, I am not a semi-autistic twelve year old barely able to function at basic tasks.
I am a semi-autistic seventeen year old with a very high IQ and a knack for patterns, computers, and grammar.
I have been building, repairing and just fucking around with computers since I was eight. Just got around to building one for myself (Money. Built plenty for clients)
Please do not dismiss this topic based on my age and my status as a BitCoin noob. I will pick up on it quickly, and if my torrent seed record is any indication, I will be contributing quite a bit (Over 120gb uploaded some months).
Now, I was doing a little bit of research on BitCoins before I actually started asking questions.
While I know I don't really need a lot of this hardware for a dedicated mining rig, I use my computer for gaming and just about everything else.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/m4xlPlease note that the second 8gb of RAM is not yet purchased, but is on the list, right after I upgrade from my 1984 IMB Model M and my $15 wireless laptop mouse.
This only matters for wattage calculation.
Operating systems I have installed: Vertex 4 / CavBlack: Windows 7 Ultimate. 80gb Scorpio Blue: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. 80gb Seagate Momentus (PS3 HDD): A broken copy of Mountain Lion.
CPU is overclocked to 4.6GHz.
The actual question:As you can see from
here, I would be making about ฿6.5 / $70 each month at 24/7, assuming the highly unlikely full system load.
Given that people are dicks and would just leave an old Pen4 running the mining on the CPU and taking a full share of the coins (Tempting, but no thank you. My old Pen4 is too loud to tolerate), would I be better off in a large pool (Like this one), a small pool of friends who would mine part-time, or better off on my own?
I figure at $70 a month (Probably closer to $50, since I could only definitely mine 18 hours / day, though I can mine and play Minecraft, which I find hilarious), I could pay off a second 7970 in ~seven months, but if I can make more from helping you guys out, I'm okay with that. Killer gaming system, pocket money, and my parents will blame the extra $20 per month on the new air conditioner.