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

Benchmarks of mining speeds with different FPGAs


As we have mentioned earlier, the Bitcoin network hash rate is really high now, and even mining with FPGAs does not guarantee profits. This is due to the fact that during the mining process you are competing with other miners to try to solve a block. If those other miners are running a larger percentage of the total mining power, you will be at a disadvantage, as they are more likely to solve a block.

To compare the mining speed of a few FPGAs, look at the following table:

FPGA

Mining speed MH/s

Power used watts

Efficiency W/MH/s

Bitcoin Dominator X5000

100

6.8

0.068

Icarus

380

19.2

0.051

Lancelot

400

26

0.065

ModMiner Quad

800

40

0.05

Butterflylabs Mini Rig

25,200

1250

0.05

Table 4.1: Comparison of mining speed of different FPGAs