Book Image

Bitcoin Essentials

By : Szmigielski
Book Image

Bitcoin Essentials

By: Szmigielski

Overview of this book

Blockchain is being billed as the technology of the future. Bitcoin is the first application of that technology. Mining is what makes it all possible. Exploring mining from a practical perspective will help you make informed decisions about your mining setup. Understanding what the future may hold for blockchains, and therefore for mining, will help you position yourself to take advantage of the impending changes. This practical guide starts with an introduction to Bitcoin wallets, as well as mining hardware and software. You will move on to learn about different mining techniques using the CPU, GPU, FPGA, and ultimately the ASIC as an example. After this, you will gain an insight into solo mining and pool mining, and see the differences between the two. The book will then walk you through large-scale mining and the challenges faced during such operations. Finally, you will take a look into the future to see a world where blockchain-based applications are commonplace and mining is ubiquitous.
Table of Contents (10 chapters)
9
Index

Pros and cons of GPU mining

Mining with GPUs has its advantages and disadvantages. Let's examine these in order to better understand if and when it is appropriate to use your GPUs to mine Bitcoin. As you may recall, in the beginning everyone used a CPU to mine bitcoins; then clever people figured out how to do it on GPUs.

Pros of GPU mining

GPU mining is the second step in the mining evolution (first there was CPU mining); it's very useful in the process of understanding mining. We strongly believe that every miner should try mining with a GPU to experience how changing different options affects the speed and efficiency of GPU mining. Most likely, you already have a GPU in your desktop machine. In the process of setting up the software, you will learn all the little tricks that are applicable to your hardware. You will also learn how the GPU compares to more advanced hardware, such as FPGAs and ASICs.

To summarize, we encourage you to try GPU mining for the following reasons:

  • If you...