Book Image

Bitcoin Essentials

By : Albert Szmigielski
Book Image

Bitcoin Essentials

By: Albert 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 (15 chapters)
Bitcoin Essentials
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Best practices when mining with FPGAs


Let's look into the recommended things to do when mining with FPGAs. Mining is fun and it can also be profitable if several factors are taken into account.

Make sure that all your FPGAs have adequate cooling. Additional fans beyond what is provided by the manufacturer are always a good idea. Remove dust frequently, as a build up of dust might have a detrimental effect on cooling efficiency and hence, mining speed.

For your particular mining machine, search online for all the optimization tweaks to get all the hashing power that is possible. However, due to a large variety of mining machines, we cannot provide all the possible tweaks in our book.

When setting up a mining operation for profit, keep in mind that the electricity cost will be a large percentage of your overall cost; hence, seek a location with the lowest electricity rates. Think about cooling costs; perhaps it will be the most beneficial to mine where the climate is cooler.

When purchasing FPGAs...