Author

Topic: What affect the chances of finding a block ? (Read 1834 times)

legendary
Activity: 2156
Merit: 1131
September 09, 2013, 02:09:09 AM
#3
Thank you for your very complete answer crazyates.
legendary
Activity: 952
Merit: 1000
September 07, 2013, 10:33:39 AM
#2
internet connection : The faster you get the block infos, the less idle your miner is. The faster you send the solved block, the less likely it turn to orphan. What is the effect of a small ping ? What is the effect of a fast internet connection ?

- A stable internet connection is required, but it does not need to be fast.

nodes : Does it improve you connection with the network ? The more the better ?

- Connecting to more nodes just increases the relay speed that a transaction propagates through the network. It doesn't affect block generation, except to make sure that you have an up-to-date transaction list at all times.

active connections :  Does it improve you connection with the network ? The more the better ?

- See above.

location : If I am located far from away from most other peers of the network it should affect my connection so it lower my chances to find a block.

- Location shouldn't matter, except that it might take longer for a transaction to get send your way. You can find a block in the mean time, tho.

hash rate : We know that the more hash rate you have, the faster you solve block but the question is : Is it truly proportional ? If you are too slow compared to the other, isn't impossible to solve anything ? The greater my hash rate is, the more efficient I get ?

- Hashrate is the biggest factor on this list. Any hashrate is technically capable of finding a block, no matter how big or small. If you're on a rPi hashing at a few KH/s or an ASIC farm at a few TH/s, every hash has a possibility of solving a block. And yes, hashrate is directly proportional. It averages out to something like this: You will get 1 diff1 share every minute for every ~72MH/s you have. So if you have 7.2GH/s, you will get 100 shares per minute. 7.2TH/s and you will get 100,000 shares per minute. A difficulty of 86.9M means it will take (on average) 86.9M diff1 shares to eventually find a block. Of course it could be vastly lower or higher, and will be different for each round, but that's an average. The point of all this is: The bigger your hashrate is, the more shares you will find, and the better odds you have of finding a block.

process priority : On Windows I can change the process priority, if I put my miner on high, is it better than low ?

- This can sometimes make a minor difference on a mining software, but the difference is usually negligible. It might now hurt to try, but don't expect any drastic improvements.

system : Am I faster on Linux than Windows because it is more secure and stable ?

- Windows and Linux mine at the same speed, if all other variables are equal. If you're using the same drivers, OCL runtime, CGMiner version, and settings, then it will be the same. For ASICs, it matter even less. Since the hashing is done on the USB device, the OS just has to communicate with it, and you're set. Again, there's really no difference between Linux and Windows.

TL;DR Some of those factors have to be true (stable internet, at least some active connections, etc), but the biggest factors in finding a block are A) Hashrate, and B) Network difficulty.
legendary
Activity: 2156
Merit: 1131
September 07, 2013, 04:36:45 AM
#1
Apart from what everyone knows : difficulty and hash rate.

What are the other factors that affect the chances of finding a block ?
How can you improve your chances ?

Let me list some random factors and comment about it :

internet connection : The faster you get the block infos, the less idle your miner is. The faster you send the solved block, the less likely it turn to orphan. What is the effect of a small ping ? What is the effect of a fast internet connection ?

nodes : Does it improve you connection with the network ? The more the better ?

active connections :  Does it improve you connection with the network ? The more the better ?

location : If I am located far from away from most other peers of the network it should affect my connection so it lower my chances to find a block.

hash rate : We know that the more hash rate you have, the faster you solve block but the question is : Is it truly proportional ? If you are too slow compared to the other, isn't impossible to solve anything ? The greater my hash rate is, the more efficient I get ?

process priority : On Windows I can change the process priority, if I put my miner on high, is it better than low ?

system : Am I faster on Linux than Windows because it is more secure and stable ?


PS : If you are not interested in the question, no need to comment anything. Thanks.



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