Topic: Why is everyone all about mining pools?? (Read 1038 times)

not better, just steady.

I created a new thread with the instructions so this one is not cluttered.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/how-to-solo-mining-infinitecoins-for-fun-and-profit-417973

Pools are always better than solo mining, this is just because you will find blocks more frequently and depending on the pool type, you will not lose anything with this.

Windows 7 with CGminer 3.7.2 (or whatever the last one was that supported GPU mining).

What OS are you using?

IFC, actually. Thank you

Any coin in particular? I could write one up.

I would say 40 is the max diificulty to mine solo with 1500kh/s. u may hit a block in 2 days on a average.
Use a mining calculator like http://www.coinwarz.com and calculate using your hasrate. Choose a coin in which you would hit a block with 2 to 3 days average.

the conf file is in the same folder as the wallet.dat file

really depends on your hashrate vs network hashrate.

what difficulty level would you say is to high to solo mine efficiently

Did you put the conf file in the folder where the blocks/wallet etc are stored? So NOT in the folder where the qt.exe is.

I keep trying to make the conf file, but I keep getting an error about needing to set an rpcpassword. It gives me a random password to use and then nothing else. I have tried to delete and redo the conf file, but it keeps happening.

And also your cpu usage 'll also increase when mining solo... 40% on my i5. So more power consumption

yeah.. running 2 different machines, both 2.2 mh/s machines (3 asus r9 280x apiece)
one on multipool, or a few different ones, and the other one mining the same coin solo.

We will use diamond as an example. on any given day I could expect to mine between 25-30 dmd solo with difficulty going anywhere from 2-7 during the day.
at the same time I would pool mine on multipool one day, and try various other ones on different days, and would consistently end up with about 10-14 per day, with the same hash power as the solo machine. So there's my analysis... consistently mined at least half of the solo machine, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, but average about half.


do you use cgminer?
I can help you out.. normally when you unzip your coin of choice it will end up in your c:\users\yourname\appdata\roaming folder
if not, move it there (after unzipped)

inside that folder you will make a txt file, called xxxxcoin.conf (replace the xxxxcoin with the coin name you want to mine) make that folder open as a txt document.

in the op for new coins, there usually a config section, we will use digibyte as an example: but this is what goes in that conf file that goes in the coin folder listed above

DigiByte.conf:

    rpcuser=**YourUsername**
    rpcpassword=**YourPassword**
    rpcport=14022
    port=12024
    server=1
    daemon=1
    addnode=74.208.230.160
    addnode=31.220.25.91
    addnode=184.155.218.183
    addnode=24.119.23.61
    addnode=70.196.193.231
    addnode=198.98.118.241
    addnode=142.4.204.115
    rpcallowip=localhost
    rpcallowip=ip address of the 2nd machine

You would obviously replace the username and password with ones of your choosing.

you will also need to add lines like this to that list of lines above if you have one or multiple machines

for the "host" machine that is running the wallet: add the blue line.
if you have more than one machine and want to solo "pool" (for lack of a better term, you would add the one in red)

right click the qt.exe file for your coin and send it to desktop, right click the shortcut and go to properties, and at the end of the target line enter -server, save and close.

once that is done openup the xxxcoin qt file and let it sync (may take awhile)

*if need be, we can get into using a 2nd machine to mine solo on a local lan or "pool" for lack of a better term in another post.

Now onto cgminer. inside the cgminer folder where the exe resides, you would create another txt file, named xxxcoin.bat (click ok on the file namechange warning)
right click that file and select edit: then copy/paste your cgminer settings into that file **making sure your username and password match the ones in your coin.conf file**

(this is a generic example, I'm sure you have your own settings)

cgminer --scrypt -o http://192.168.x.x:3334 -u [YOUR USERNAME] -p [YOUR PASSWORD] -I 20 -g 1 -w 256 --thread-concurrency 24000 --gpu-engine 1050 --gpu-memclock 1250 --gpu-vddc 1.087 --temp-target 70 --auto-fan -s 5

the part in red would be the host machine ip (the one with the wallet) and port #'s as listed in the conf file you created earlier, or you can just put localhost:122345 (whatever the port # is)
the part in green would be your username and pw located in your .conf file (minus the brackets)

save your xxxcoin.bat file and right click it, and create a shortcut to desktop.
make sure your wallet is running and synced, double click your .bat and you're off and running.

the cool thing about this is you can copy/paste it for pretty much any scrypt coin, just change the node and port info, and make sure the new files are in the correct locations (folder for new coin type, cgminer)

Solo is good with small difficulties, but you'll hate the time when it takes 3 or 4 days to find a block, which becomes orphaned 

I have tried solo, but don't understand the steps for it. I tried doing it and tried making .conf files, but I haven't found a tutorial that spells it out in plain language for the less-than-savvy miner.

Can you detail your math or analysis that results in your conclusion "cut your profits in half"?

not me, solo is the way to go.

Now I understand that pools are a necessary evil when difficulties get high, but personally I don't like them. For lower diff coins, why does it seem that everyone is dead set on pool mining?
You are basically cutting your profits in half by pool mining when you can solo a low diff coin and actually end up making more.

I guess I just don't understand why I read so many posts saying you need to spend more time pool mining, join a pool, etc etc.
Why would you voluntarily cut your profits in half? Wouldn't you want to maximize your mining time if at all possible?

Am I missing something here?