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Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

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Re: Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

#31

Post by soheil »

varenc wrote: post #26
toomim wrote: post #2

> Is it worth it? > Um. Not really. At current Ethereum prices (2021-02-26), it generates $0.14 of profit per day. It’s still a profit, but very miniscule. The real question is if it makes more money than it costs in electricity. Apple claims it uses 39 W max. That adds up to 0.936 kWh of electricity per day, which we can approximate at 1 kWh. Electricity prices range from ~4¢ to ~20¢ per kWh in the USA, which means…

The 39W max draw probably assumes the display is on? Will probably draw less in clamshell mining mode.

Hmm what if you have the speakers on max volume with pretty much all the other sensors all maxed? Here are a few I can think of: keyboard backlight, wifi, bluetooth, accelerometer, speakers, mic?, camera, proximity sensor, touch id, maxing out CPU, GPU, ML engine, SSD, ram, typing on the keyboard, using the trackpad. Using those all at once must surely draw more than 39 W if not then not using most of them must also mean it probably draws a lot less than 39 W during normal operation.

Re: Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

#32

Post by lunixbochs »

ianai wrote: post #23
supernova87a wrote: post #18

I thought the main strengths distinguishing the performance of the M1 were the idle power chips that saved a lot of energy, and the shared CPU/GPU memory. Am I remembering that right? Do either of those things equal better intensive mining efficiency, much over a dedicated traditional rig, where you're flat out all the time and emphasizing GPU?

No, and Apple even tells you that when they indicate the processor is geared toward running simplified AI for applications purposes and not meant for training new models. Mining coins seems clearly more like training new models.

The neural engine for simplified AI models is separate silicon from the GPU.

Re: Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

#33

Post by jointpdf »

varenc wrote: post #26
toomim wrote: post #2

> Is it worth it? > Um. Not really. At current Ethereum prices (2021-02-26), it generates $0.14 of profit per day. It’s still a profit, but very miniscule. The real question is if it makes more money than it costs in electricity. Apple claims it uses 39 W max. That adds up to 0.936 kWh of electricity per day, which we can approximate at 1 kWh. Electricity prices range from ~4¢ to ~20¢ per kWh in the USA, which means…

The 39W max draw probably assumes the display is on? Will probably draw less in clamshell mining mode.

Tired: carbon clams ingesting solar energy (tiny plants) and outputting pearls

Wired: silicon clams ingesting solar energy and outputting dogecoin

Re: Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

#34

Post by dcolkitt »

ianai wrote: post #4

Quick, rough calculations suggest to me that the RTX 3080 is about what you need to turn a profit - based on 200k annual revenue you need 600k in hardware. Three years to pay itself off - about the lifetime of the hardware, my guess. That's if you could find the hardware - and I didn't include stuff like motherboard/rack/etc. If it's that hard to make a profit on the RTX 3080 then I doubt the M1 Mac Mini was ever in…

You're not taking into account the higher block rewards in the current environment. The base reward is 2 ETH per block, but the the gas fees have been averaging near 3 ETH per block. Most of the mining calculators don't take this into account.

To be fair EIP-1559 probably turns on in July. So that's going to cut block rewards by a lot.

Re: Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

#35

Post by n3k5 »

varenc wrote: post #26
toomim wrote: post #2

> Is it worth it? > Um. Not really. At current Ethereum prices (2021-02-26), it generates $0.14 of profit per day. It’s still a profit, but very miniscule. The real question is if it makes more money than it costs in electricity. Apple claims it uses 39 W max. That adds up to 0.936 kWh of electricity per day, which we can approximate at 1 kWh. Electricity prices range from ~4¢ to ~20¢ per kWh in the USA, which means…

The 39W max draw probably assumes the display is on? Will probably draw less in clamshell mining mode.

> The 39W max draw probably assumes the display is on?

No, this is the number for the Mac Mini, which is the obvious choice if you wanted a machine for maxing out an M1 24/7. (The Air peaks at about 30W, which it can't sustain for long unless it's in a rather cold environment.) So it has nothing to do with the display's power consumption.

Maxing out just the GPU while the rest of the machine isn't doing much would get you well below 39W, though.

Re: Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

#36

Post by kube-system »

CallMeMarc wrote: post #11
ogre_codes wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Varies greatly based on state or even county. Hundreds or maybe thousands of utility districts each with a unique set of regulations and resources.

Is there any state or nation wide search for good utility prices? We've got Check24[1] in Germany which basically is a no brainer to find good price for stuff like this. [1] https://www.check24.de/strom/

The approach to utility regulations varies a good bit by state, and things are always changing so I doubt there’s a good lookup beyond the data the federal government collects.

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/

Although, the states that are “energy deregulated” will often have a marketplace type website where you can compare suppliers. In those states, the utility commission sets rates for your local utility to run the transmission and local distribution wires, but allows you to choose which supplier generates the power on the grid on your behalf.

Really, the best way to figure out utility rates in the US is to check with that state’s utility commission or directly with the utility that provides physical infrastructure in a particular area.

Re: Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

#37

Post by bitexploder »

jointpdf wrote: post #33
varenc wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 39W max draw probably assumes the display is on? Will probably draw less in clamshell mining mode.

Tired: carbon clams ingesting solar energy (tiny plants) and outputting pearls Wired: silicon clams ingesting solar energy and outputting dogecoin

One has high meme potential. One is a bunch of carbon.

Re: Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

#38

Post by speedgoose »

toomim wrote: post #2

> Is it worth it? > Um. Not really. At current Ethereum prices (2021-02-26), it generates $0.14 of profit per day. It’s still a profit, but very miniscule. The real question is if it makes more money than it costs in electricity. Apple claims it uses 39 W max. That adds up to 0.936 kWh of electricity per day, which we can approximate at 1 kWh. Electricity prices range from ~4¢ to ~20¢ per kWh in the USA, which means…

And you don't take into account the environmental cost.

Re: Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

#39

Post by tshaddox »

speedgoose wrote: post #38
toomim wrote: post #2

> Is it worth it? > Um. Not really. At current Ethereum prices (2021-02-26), it generates $0.14 of profit per day. It’s still a profit, but very miniscule. The real question is if it makes more money than it costs in electricity. Apple claims it uses 39 W max. That adds up to 0.936 kWh of electricity per day, which we can approximate at 1 kWh. Electricity prices range from ~4¢ to ~20¢ per kWh in the USA, which means…

And you don't take into account the environmental cost.

But precisely as much as you don’t take into account the environmental cost of every other unit of electricity you use.

Re: Mining Ethereum on M1 Mac GPU

#40

Post by em3rgent0rdr »

toomim wrote: post #2

> Is it worth it? > Um. Not really. At current Ethereum prices (2021-02-26), it generates $0.14 of profit per day. It’s still a profit, but very miniscule. The real question is if it makes more money than it costs in electricity. Apple claims it uses 39 W max. That adds up to 0.936 kWh of electricity per day, which we can approximate at 1 kWh. Electricity prices range from ~4¢ to ~20¢ per kWh in the USA, which means…

Though capital costs can be ignored if this is something the user already purchased.
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