Author

Topic: The ever-increasing level of difficulty (Read 754 times)

newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
October 29, 2013, 05:34:14 AM
#10
I really wanted to have a go at mining, even just from a hobby type position, just to contribute.

But it increasingly looks like it is not worth it.

The 300GH/s rig I was thinking of going halves in with a pal seemingly now has a good chance of only producing a small fraction of what it would produce in coins at this very moment.

sr. member
Activity: 322
Merit: 250
October 28, 2013, 09:44:52 AM
#9
At a difficulty rising by about 30% each time, reckon you'll be looking at 0.008 a day in 6 months. Depressing, but no one knows for certain!

No, its rising at 40% each time now....
legendary
Activity: 3164
Merit: 2258
I fix broken miners. And make holes in teeth :-)
October 28, 2013, 09:06:37 AM
#8
There is also the concept of the "dollar auction" aspect to mining; if it no longer becomes profitable you still have a sunk cost, so you continue mining to *minimize* your loss.

Thus difficulty goes up as long as people think they can minimize their losses by mining. Which causes losses to continue to go up.

Moral: People are really bad at math....
legendary
Activity: 3472
Merit: 4801
October 28, 2013, 08:58:40 AM
#7
So, does this mean that as difficulty increases with time, we may very well see a point where the rate of blocks found drops to below 6 per hour and thus difficulty will then remain the same or fall?

Is that how it may work?

Yes.  But it is extremely difficult (impossible?) to predict when that will happen.
newbie
Activity: 9
Merit: 0
October 28, 2013, 08:44:31 AM
#6
I believe it can also adjust the production rate down, if needed.

I hear a lot of doom and gloom about production rates skyrocketing... something doesn't sound right. I believe that as long as people are making money they will continue to mine, right? And if not, they will stop and the difficulty will reduce? Maybe the point here, is that if it does continue at this rate, with this next generation of miners, sounding obsolete before they have produced... it might be better to wait for the next round of ASICS (or whatever technology usurps it.. quantum? LOL)

/4
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
October 28, 2013, 06:28:03 AM
#5


Thanks for the link, the list is a bit outdated since most rigs are cheaper now.

I had no idea - that just what I came across in the last day or so.

In the meantime...

Found this statement on Reddit:

Quote
The difficulty changes to keep the block production rate steady. Anything quicker than a rate of 6 blocks per hour for the 2016 block period will result in a difficulty increase.

So, does this mean that as difficulty increases with time, we may very well see a point where the rate of blocks found drops to below 6 per hour and thus difficulty will then remain the same or fall?

Is that how it may work?
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
October 28, 2013, 06:15:04 AM
#4
How much would a 300 GH/s miner cost?
Around $2500.00

Am looking for a link to mining rigs and cost etc now (thought I had it bookmarked).

Edit: found it...

http://mining.thegenesisblock.com/
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
October 28, 2013, 05:58:30 AM
#3
At a difficulty rising by about 30% each time, reckon you'll be looking at 0.008 a day in 6 months. Depressing, but no one knows for certain!

That's a huge drop from the 0.385 quoted by the bot for today's difficulty level.

Phenomenal.
newbie
Activity: 11
Merit: 0
October 28, 2013, 05:56:31 AM
#2
At a difficulty rising by about 30% each time, reckon you'll be looking at 0.008 a day in 6 months. Depressing, but no one knows for certain!
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
October 28, 2013, 05:42:54 AM
#1
I posted this on IRC earlier but got no reply.

I asked the bot what a 300Gh/s miner would produce:

Quote
The expected generation output, at 300000.0 Mhps, given difficulty of 390928787.638, is 0.385932066658 BTC per day and 0.0160805027774 BTC per hour.

I then asked:

Quote
say around 2.6 BTC per week. What did 300 GH/s produce 3 or 6 months ago and are we able to work out or predict what it will produce in 3 or 6 months time?

Any ideas? What did 300Gh/s get you in the past and what will it get you in the near future in the way of mined coins?

 Huh
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