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Coin mining

cycaduk

cycaduk

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 17, 2017
3
2
Hi all,
I have a collection of Mac pro's and wondered if I could use them to mine cryptocurrency?
The models I have are:
a 3.1 with an apple 5770 1GB video card
three 2.1s each with Sapphire Radeon 5770 1GB video cards
three 1.1s with stock 256MB video cards.
About 150GB total Ram split between the machines.

The 3.1 and 2.1s are running ElCapitan, the 1.1s are running snow leopard.

As I understand things the main hardware requirements to successfully mine cryptocurrency are cheap electricity, fast internet and a powerful graphics card or cryptocurrency mining card.
So I guess the questions are:
Do you think any of these machines could mine profitably?
If so, would I be better putting two 5770 cards in the 3.1 and one of the 2.1Mac pro's.
Is it possible to run the mac pro's with a KVM switch so I do not have to have multiple monitors?
 
I'd also like to add on Ethminer with a R9 280x on High Sierra I wasn't getting nearly what I thought should be the expected hash rate.

Are you looking to mine for fun or for profit?
 
Useless cards, even with free power. Anything below AMD GCN1 (7xxx) and Maxwell on Nvidia is worthless unless you have free power and an insane need for heat.

You also want to mine on Linux or Windows, not OSX, for mostly driver reasons and very limited (if any outside BIOS/EFI mods on the GPU) overclocking/undervolting options.

Internet speed is not relevant at all either.
 
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No, you *mine* in a literal sense - depending on currency by GPU power or by memory speed of the VRAM. Thus you use up to full TDP, if not more on overclocking, of your GPU, and generate heat.

Thus, your return highly depends on speed of your GPU, which depends on age and technology it uses. Newer GPUs are smaller process (16,14,12nm DIE) and more efficient backend tech (like Vega/Volta, HBM/HBM2, GCN4 with RX cards) and thus use less power, while still providing more mining power.
 
Hi and thanks for the info
. I was looking to mine for profit, and electricity via the wind turbine is free, but of course if it is all going to power a mac pro or three, I can't use it for other things.

If I went for a proper mining card (actually three per machine) does anyone have a recommendation?

I think i missed the boat with Bitcoin, but there are other newer currencies, will the same software work for mining any currency?

The current alternative will be taking the 1.1 boxes to the scrap metal merchants for their aluminium.
 
if you relay care about mining it's probably best to look in to it yourself and find a dedicated bitcoin forum.

from my understanding after some research you simply compare the hash rate of a card to the price of the coin to your electric costs and see how it looks.

id asume if your relay going to spend 300-1,000 on GPU's and bits then it's worth just piking up a i3 and mobo which is a known good setup for mining as any efficacy in electrics is profit

ps id assume the macpro's are not the best setup for it and a bare mobo with a i3 will give better results but i may be wrong
 
William_si said:
No, you *mine* in a literal sense - depending on currency by GPU power or by memory speed of the VRAM. Thus you use up to full TDP, if not more on overclocking, of your GPU, and generate heat.

Thus, your return highly depends on speed of your GPU, which depends on age and technology it uses. Newer GPUs are smaller process (16,14,12nm DIE) and more efficient backend tech (like Vega/Volta, HBM/HBM2, GCN4 with RX cards) and thus use less power, while still providing more mining power.
Click to expand...

Forgive me, but this is deep S**T to me. I was seriously thinking I could set up an account to purchase.
And I was wondering why I had to get bitcoin first, then sell it to buy a different crypto currency.
My only working computer is my iPad Pro, and evidently that isn’t going to cut the mustard.
My other non working computer is my 2009 Mac book pro.
 
Foggydog said:
Forgive me, but this is deep S**T to me. I was seriously thinking I could set up an account to purchase.
And I was wondering why I had to get bitcoin first, then sell it to buy a different crypto currency.
My only working computer is my iPad Pro, and evidently that isn’t going to cut the mustard.
My other non working computer is my 2009 Mac book pro.
Click to expand...

Just buy some and think of it as an investment.
 
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Foggydog said:
That’s what I was thinking of doing but unless I’m missing @William_ si says that is needs to be mined. So now I’m somewhat confused.
Click to expand...

No. Anyone can purchase Bitcoin, or any of the other cryptocurrencies. Get yourself Coinbase, or any other wait from the app store, and buy some Bitcoin. I've been happy with Coinbase.
 
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AlliFlowers said:
No. Anyone can purchase Bitcoin, or any of the other cryptocurrencies. Get yourself Coinbase, or any other wait from the app store, and buy some Bitcoin. I've been happy with Coinbase.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I will look into buying some.
I was actually looking into buying Cardano but I still think I need a full computer to set up an account.
I’m just using my ipp 12.9 outhere on the road. Can I use this? Or do I need a computer with a file system as well as a proper driver?. Thx
 
cycaduk said:
Hi all,
I have a collection of Mac pro's and wondered if I could use them to mine cryptocurrency?
Click to expand...
Here's a bitcoin mine - to show the scale involved.

07-bitcoin_farms[1].jpg

More images at image search for bitcoin farms.
 
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Foggydog said:
Thank you. I will look into buying some.
I was actually looking into buying Cardano but I still think I need a full computer to set up an account.
I’m just using my ipp 12.9 outhere on the road. Can I use this? Or do I need a computer with a file system as well as a proper driver?. Thx
Click to expand...
You would find your answer much quicker if you just did the research yourself. Buying almost all crypto can be done using your phone, iPad, computer, etc. It only takes a quick Google Search, "how to buy cardano".
 
Blaze4G said:
You would find your answer much quicker if you just did the research yourself. Buying almost all crypto can be done using your phone, iPad, computer, etc. It only takes a quick Google Search, "how to buy cardano".
Click to expand...
My thought is this: If he's unwilling to research the subject matter then he really needs to stay away from it.
 
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The current cryptocurrency craze appears to be somewhat similar to the dot.com boom. It’s the shiny thing sitting on top of a new tech financial ledger system called the Blockchain. You are not actually mining bitcoins or other cryptocurrancies but are being rewarded for maintaining the integrity of the Blockchain ledger.
 
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anyway financial advice on investments is best done with an accountant or investment adviser than a macpro support forum.

if you have free electricity then run them and get what you can, if not then you relay need to look in to it.
 
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orph said:
if you have free electricity then run them and get what you can, if not then you relay need to look in to it.
Click to expand...
Even free electricity has a terrible cost....

Today, each bitcoin transaction requires the same amount of energy used to power nine homes in the US for one day.
...
By July 2019, the bitcoin network will require more electricity than the entire United States currently uses. By February 2020, it will use as much electricity as the entire world does today.

https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin...yand-its-carbon-footprint-just-keeps-growing/
Click to expand...
 
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Foggydog said:
How about if you two cannot be poliite, then just keep your mouth shut,
Or be mature and answer my question like @aliflower did.
At least I’m asking questions.
[doublepost=1513555145][/doublepost]

Thank you.
Click to expand...
It's not about being polite it's about being real. if you're going to invest you need to do your own research and not get caught in the hype. But if you want someone to spoon feed you and perhaps unknowingly feed you incorrect information than doing your own research then go ahead. This is exactly how amateurs lose money.

If you don't want to take the real advice and take heed with what I am saying then I can't help anymore.

As I said earlier...you could have easily searched how to buy cardano and you would have gotten your answer. P.S. you can't buy cardano on coinbase.
 
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