Bitcoin mining with AMD video cards... Apr 10, 2014Dec 17, 2013 Can't find your answer ?Bitcoin provides a new approach to payments and, as such, there are some new words that might become a part of your vocabulary.Don't worry, even the humble television created new words!Address Bit Bitcoin Block Block Chain BTC Confirmation Cryptography Double Spend Hash Rate Mining P2P Private Key Signature Wallet A Bitcoin address is similar to a physical address or an email.It is the only information you need to provide for someone to pay you with Bitcoin.An important difference, however, is that each address should only be used for a single transaction.Bit is a common unit used to designate a sub-unit of a bitcoin - 1,000,000 bits is equal to 1 bitcoin (BTC or B⃦).This unit is usually more convenient for pricing tips, goods and services.Bitcoin - with capitalization, is used when describing the concept of Bitcoin, or the entire network itself.

"I was learning about the Bitcoin protocol today."bitcoin- without capitalization, is used to describe bitcoins as a unit of account."I sent ten bitcoins today.";it is also often abbreviated BTC or XBT.A block is a record in the block chain that contains and confirms many waiting transactions.Roughly every 10 minutes, on average, a new block including transactions is appended to the block chain through mining.The block chain is a public record of Bitcoin transactions in chronological order.The block chain is shared between all Bitcoin users.It is used to verify the permanence of Bitcoin transactions and to prevent double spending.BTC is a common unit used to designate one bitcoin (B⃦).Confirmation means that a transaction has been processed by the network and is highly unlikely to be reversed.Transactions receive a confirmation when they are included in a block and for each subsequent block.Even a single confirmation can be considered secure for low value transactions, although for larger amounts like 1000 US$, it makes sense to wait for 6 confirmations or more.

Each confirmation exponentially decreases the risk of a reversed transaction.Cryptography is the branch of mathematics that lets us create mathematical proofs that provide high levels of security.Online commerce and banking already uses cryptography.In the case of Bitcoin, cryptography is used to make it impossible for anybody to spend funds from another user's wallet or to corrupt the block chain.It can also be used to encrypt a wallet, so that it cannot be used without a password.If a malicious user tries to spend their bitcoins to two different recipients at the same time, this is double spending.buy bitcoin redeemable codeBitcoin mining and the block chain are there to create a consensus on the network about which of the two transactions will confirm and be considered valid.litecoin hostingThe hash rate is the measuring unit of the processing power of the Bitcoin network.litecoin club

The Bitcoin network must make intensive mathematical operations for security purposes.When the network reached a hash rate of 10 Th/s, it meant it could make 10 trillion calculations per second.Bitcoin mining is the process of making computer hardware do mathematical calculations for the Bitcoin network to confirm transactions and increase security.As a reward for their services, Bitcoin miners can collect transaction fees for the transactions they confirm, along with newly created bitcoins.bitcoin atm in sgMining is a specialized and competitive market where the rewards are divided up according to how much calculation is done.bitcoin norwegian studentNot all Bitcoin users do Bitcoin mining, and it is not an easy way to make money.ethereum gtx 1060Peer-to-peer refers to systems that work like an organized collective by allowing each individual to interact directly with the others.bitcoin mining software nvidia

In the case of Bitcoin, the network is built in such a way that each user is broadcasting the transactions of other users.And, crucially, no bank is required as a third party.A private key is a secret piece of data that proves your right to spend bitcoins from a specific wallet through a cryptographic signature.Your private key(s) are stored in your computer if you use a software wallet; they are stored on some remote servers if you use a web wallet.Private keys must never be revealed as they allow you to spend bitcoins for their respective Bitcoin wallet.bitcoin non vbvA cryptographic signature is a mathematical mechanism that allows someone to prove ownership.btc robot bitcoinIn the case of Bitcoin, a Bitcoin wallet and its private key(s) are linked by some mathematical magic.When your Bitcoin software signs a transaction with the appropriate private key, the whole network can see that the signature matches the bitcoins being spent.

However, there is no way for the world to guess your private key to steal your hard-earned bitcoins.A Bitcoin wallet is loosely the equivalent of a physical wallet on the Bitcoin network.The wallet actually contains your private key(s) which allow you to spend the bitcoins allocated to it in the block chain.Each Bitcoin wallet can show you the total balance of all bitcoins it controls and lets you pay a specific amount to a specific person, just like a real wallet.This is different to credit cards where you are charged by the merchant.With their recent jump in value Bitcoins are becoming more popular than ever.This sudden increase in popularity has created a gold rush causing everyone to gain interest in this new digital currency.While many people find it easier to simply buy Bitcoins others have discovered Bitcoin mining is a fun and challenging hobby.Mining for Bitcoins can be both fun, and profitable and it's actually easier to get started then you might think.In this hub I'll explain how to start mining for Bitcoins using your GPU and a program called CGMiner.

Have you heard of Bitcoins before?Yes, I've heard of them but I don't know much about them.Yes, I've heard of Bitcoins and have used them before.No, I have no clue what a Bitcoin is.See results Hardware RequirementsAMD Radeon video cards are the best GPUs for mining Bitcoins.Unfortunately Nvidia cards do not perform very well at all when it comes to mining when compared to AMD cards.If you already have an AMD Radeon 5800 or newer video card installed then you are in good shape to start mining for coins.I wouldn't recommend going out and purchasing a new video card just to mine Bitcoins with but if you need to replace an older card anyway you might consider purchasing a Radeon card instead of Nvidia Hardware.. With newer ASIC based Bitcoin miners hitting the market in the near future GPU based mining may soon be obsolete so be cautious of investing heavily in GPU hardware just for mining.Why MIne Using a GPU?GPUs are much better than CPUs when it comes to mining for Bitcoins due to the nature of their design.

Graphics rendering requires tons of mathematical computations which GPUs are specifically designed to do.Since Bitcoin mining also requires math computations (hashing) GPUs work very well for this purpose.While CPUs can also be used to generate hashes they are not nearly as effective as a GPU.Here is a popular analogy: A CPU is like a small group of very smart people who can quickly perform any task they are asked to do.A GPU is like a large group of dumb people who on their own are not very fast or intelligent, but they can be taught to do repetitive tasks, and as a group they can be more productive due to the sheer number of them.Create an Online Bitcoin WalletBefore you start mining for Bitcoins you will need to create an online wallet that will be used to receive and store Bitcoins.There are several places to create online wallets but I recommend using Blockchain.Blockchain allows you to create a free, and secure wallet that provides many useful features.To create a wallet click on the link labeled 'Create my free wallet'.

To set up the new account enter an alias (think of this as the username for the account), a secure password, and the capcha answer.Blockchain will generate a password recovery mnemonic, be sure to store this somewhere safe in case you ever need to recover access to your wallet.It's important to use a very secure password for the wallet.If anyone were to gain access to your wallet they could quickly steal all of the coins inside.Find Your Bitcoin Wallet AddressAfter creating the account log into the wallet using the identifier and password.The address of the wallet can be found on the main wallet home tab.The address consists of 27-34 alphanumeric characters.This address is what you will provide to people so they can send you payments using Bitcoins.Join a Bitcoin Mining PoolWhile it is possible to mine for Bitcoins on your own it is not something I would recommend doing.Solo mining requires an incredible amount of processing power which most people don't have access to.Pooled mining allows miners to group up to solve blocks and earn Bitcoins together.

Each miner that joins the pool earns shares for the work they contribute.Each time the pool finds a block (currently worth 25 BTC) the Bitcoins earned are divided among the users in the pool based on how many shares they earned in the particular round.There are many different mining pools you can join, each pool has their on pros and cons.As you learn more about Bitcoins you will be able to make a more educated decision of which pool is best for you.I recommend joining the Eclipse Mining Consortium because it has some great features and is easy to use.Creating an Account at EclipseMCThe process for joining most Bitcoin mining pools is very similar but in this guide I'll show you how to start mining with EclipseMC.The first step in joining the pool is to register for a new account.Add Your Bitcoin Wallet Address to Your Pool AccountAfter registering with EclipseMC log into your account and enter your Bitcoin wallet address into the account settings section.As you earn Bitcoins for the work you contribute to the mining pool EclipseMC will automatically send payments to your wallet.

Eclipse allows you to adjust the auto payment threshold to an amount you decide.The minimum payout is currently .02 BTC.If you prefer to receive less frequent , but larger payments you can increase the amount.I prefer to keep my auto payment set to .1 BTC but it is mostly a matter of personal preference.Be careful not to set the amount to high in case something were to happen to the pool in which case you could potentially lose your unpaid earnings.Creating a WorkerNext you need to setup a worker, click on the 'My Workers' tab at the top of your account.You will need one worker account for each copy of CGMiner you intend to run.Set a name, and a password to use for the worker.The notify field is the number of minutes a worker has to be offline for before a notification is sent to you.If you have measured the power draw and know your cost per kilowatt of electricity you can also enter it for the worker and Eclipse will generate some useful statistics regarding profitability of the miner.

If a worker requires more money to operate due to power costs than it earns then you may want to disable the worker.Download and Configure CGMinerAt this point you should have a Bitcoin wallet which is now associated with the Eclipse mining pool.Which means you are finally ready to start actually mining for Bitcoins!There are several different Bitcoin mining clients available but I will be showing you how to use CGMiner.CGMiner is a GPU/FPGA bitcoin mining program written in C. It is compatible with both Windows and Linux operating systems.Among the great features of CGMiner are support for overclocking, hardware monitoring, fan speed control and also remote interface capabilities.To get started with CGMiner download the latest version of the application.Currently the latest version is 2.11.4 so Windows users should download cgminer-2.11.4-windows.zip.Extract the Contents of the ZipfileAfter downloading the compressed zip file open the archive.Inside the archive you'll find a folder called cgminer-2.4.11-windows.

Move this folder to C:\ and rename it to cgminer.You should end up a with a folder called c:\cgminer , the contents should like like the image below.Create a Batch File to Launch CGMinerSince CGMiner is a command line utility the best way to launch the application with the appropriate settings is to create a batch file.The simplest way to create a batch file is by using Notepad in Windows.Open notepad and paste in the command below, change the username and password to match the one you created in the EclipseMC account settings.. :8337 -u accountname_worker -p password -d 0 --auto-fan --gpu-memclock 300 If you have two video cards in your computer add '-d 1' to the command.:8337 -u accountname_worker -p password -d 0 -d 1--auto-fan --gpu-memclock 300 Save the Batch FileAfter you've modified the command line to suit your needs save the file using a .bat extension, this will allow the file to be executable.Make sure you set the 'save as type' to 'all files' otherwise you could end up with a .txt file instead of a batch file.

You can save the batch file at any location you want, I placed mine on the desktop so it can be easily accessed.Launching CGMinerOnce the batch file is in place you are ready to start mining for Bitcoins using CGMiner.Double click on the batch file to start the miner.If you're batch file works CGMiner launch, connect to the mining pool, and start mining for Bitcoins.Each of the GPUs detected by CGMiner will be lised in the second section below the summary.The current hash rate for each card will be displayed in Mh/s (Mega hashes per second).As you can see below my pair of ATI Radeon 5800 cards are generating a total of about 700MH/s.Troubleshooting CGMinerIf you're unable to get CGMiner working here are some common things you should check first.Install the latest version of the video card drivers Try launching cgminer from the command prompt instead of the batch file to check for error messages.Double check the worker name and password entered in the batch file.EclipseMC workers will usually be similar to accountname_workername but don't forget to include the portion before the underscore.