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Briefly profitable alt-coin mining on Amazon through better code

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Re: Briefly profitable alt-coin mining on Amazon through better code

#31

Post by ugexe »

HorizonXP wrote: post #7

I'm currently doing this right now with 30 instances. I'm currently operating at about 7 MH/s. At current rates, it's not exactly "profitable", but I'm using up some AWS credit that I have. I don't intend to sell the LTC until it hits about 40 or maybe 50, but in any case, it's still all profit for me, other than the fact that I lose out on the AWS credit for other uses. Edit: I'm also not paying $6/hr... That would…

Everyone is using $100 ec2 credits for coin mining, that's why everyone is overpaying for spot price at the moment

Re: Briefly profitable alt-coin mining on Amazon through better code

#32

Post by throwaway0094 »

Aqueous wrote: post #5
throwaway0094 wrote: post #4

So: 1.5 weeks of work. $50-$75/mo/instance. x20-60 instances. Worked for 3-4 weeks. If we assume the most optimistic parameters: $75 * 1mo * 60 instances = $4500 in profit for 1.5 weeks of work, or a rate of ~$156k/yr. Edit: It looks like I misread his revenue numbers for profit. Oops! Even lower margins: "My gross revenue was about $1000, and I paid Amazon $500 of that." $500 for 1.5 weeks' work is only $17k/yr rate…

Well, if he just leaves this running, assuming the same level of profitability it is 17k a year of passive income...definitely worth keeping up if possible. as the exchange rate goes up it should become even more profitable.

As others have pointed out, this is not remotely passive.

Re: Briefly profitable alt-coin mining on Amazon through better code

#33

Post by Aqueous »

throwaway0094 wrote: post #32
Aqueous wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if he just leaves this running, assuming the same level of profitability it is 17k a year of passive income...definitely worth keeping up if possible. as the exchange rate goes up it should become even more profitable.

As others have pointed out, this is not remotely passive.

With enough automation it could become passive. Then again with enough automation everything becomes passive.

Re: Briefly profitable alt-coin mining on Amazon through better code

#34

Post by mrb »

KVFinn wrote: post #18

Is it just a quirk of the GPU architecture that Nvidia can't mine as well as AMD or it a problem with their cards?

See "Why are AMD GPUs faster than Nvidia GPUs?": https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Why_a_GPU_mines_faster_than_a_CPU...

Source: I wrote the above wiki section. I am a developer who wrote a Bitcoin miner in assembly (ATI CAL IL) back in 2010.

Re: Briefly profitable alt-coin mining on Amazon through better code

#35

Post by daniel-cussen »

jordanthoms wrote: post #29

I've been mining on my AMD 290x for the past few days - I brought it for gaming, so I don't need to get a return on the hardware, and the heat generated is useful too - it keeps my apartment a little warmer. Looking at a profit of around $8 per day at current difficulty, which is a pretty cheap heating solution!

That's how I looked at it. Buy a nice graphics card for gaming, use it for gaming and computational experiments, and have it mine while idling to regulate the heat in my apartment for cheap, or even at a small profit.

Re: Briefly profitable alt-coin mining on Amazon through better code

#36

Post by throwaway0094 »

Aqueous wrote: post #33
throwaway0094 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As others have pointed out, this is not remotely passive.

With enough automation it could become passive. Then again with enough automation everything becomes passive.

I don't think it would, actually. Enough people are willing to mine for a loss and the difficulty rises with availability of cheap hardware that it never becomes profitable. OP only made a (slight) profit because they could temporarily make renting a miner cheaper than the payout. This was temporary and now the market is back to status quo.

Maybe OP could automatically run his miners when such situations arrive, but I think it's unlikely to net anything like $17k/yr.

Edit: sliverstorm described this way better than I could.

Re: Briefly profitable alt-coin mining on Amazon through better code

#37

Post by throwaway0094 »

daniel-cussen wrote: post #35
jordanthoms wrote: post #29

I've been mining on my AMD 290x for the past few days - I brought it for gaming, so I don't need to get a return on the hardware, and the heat generated is useful too - it keeps my apartment a little warmer. Looking at a profit of around $8 per day at current difficulty, which is a pretty cheap heating solution!

That's how I looked at it. Buy a nice graphics card for gaming, use it for gaming and computational experiments, and have it mine while idling to regulate the heat in my apartment for cheap, or even at a small profit.

Might kill the GPU faster than gaming alone, unfortunately[0].

[0]: http://yarchive.net/comp/linux/cpu_reliability.html

Re: Briefly profitable alt-coin mining on Amazon through better code

#38

Post by sliverstorm »

throwaway0094 wrote: post #28
qq66 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also don't need to sing in the shower. You can leave the shower earlier, hire a TaskRabbit to sing for you instead, and if you value your time correctly you should come out ahead.

Yeah, but I don't recommend singing in the shower for 1.5 weeks while your employer is paying you sick leave ;-).

I also definitely don't recommend you moonlight flipping burgers while your employer is paying you sick leave.

Re: Briefly profitable alt-coin mining on Amazon through better code

#39

Post by sliverstorm »

Aqueous wrote: post #33
throwaway0094 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As others have pointed out, this is not remotely passive.

With enough automation it could become passive. Then again with enough automation everything becomes passive.

The problem is with cryptocoins, the window of opportunity is always small, short, and never comes again- you have to find an entirely new window.

Much like with most forms of arbitrage, and exploitable patterns in the stock market. You discovery the opportunity, you make a little $$, and the hole quickly closes as everyone else capitalizes on it too.

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