Pool vs. solo mining: Difference between revisions

From Bitcoin Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
← Older editNewer edit →
Mickey (talk | contribs)
2 edits
Hawks5999 (talk | contribs)
Editors
15 edits
Line 17: Line 17:
==Pros/Cons==
==Pros/Cons==


Pool mining is basically a collaborative effort towards discovering a block. For every Bitcoin server, not miner, the difficulty is increased. Solo mining can take ages and show no profitability unless you get extremely lucky and happen to discover a block after more than a month of non-stop mining. Solo mining had its time, but now it just isn't profitable enough to take seriously due to the difficulty of mining a block. Solo mining definitely still supports the Bitcoin network, but what would help more is buying, spending, or accepting Bitcoins in exchange for goods and service.
'''Pool Mining Pros:'''
Pool mining is a collaborative effort towards discovering a block.
Pooled mining tends to generate a steadier income.
There are some pools that don't have any fees.
Pool mining tends to generate a level number of blocks as pooled miners are attracted at a rate consistent with difficulty increases.


If you have a machine that outputs at least 5Ghash/s then you will have a chance of discovering blocks whilst soloing more often, and that can be more profitable for you if you are very lucky. However, due to lack of features such as long-polling, you will still often get a larger payout (before fees) from a mining pool.
'''Pool Mining Cons:'''
Pool mining can suffer interruptions from outages at the pool provider.
Pooled mining tends to generate a smaller income.
The smaller income is a result, among other things, of the fact that most pools take a percentage of the coins its workers have discovered.
If a pool cannot attract additional miners, or loses miners (e.g. due to policy or payout changes) the generation time increases along with difficulty.


Pooled mining will generate you a steadier, smaller income while solo mining with adequate power will generate large amounts of money with large amounts of uncertainty.
'''Solo Mining Pros:'''
Solo mining is less prone to outages resulting in higher uptime.
Solo mining tends to generate a larger income over
Solo mining doesn't incur any fees. For each discovered block, 50 BTC is paid to the miner


Most pools take a percentage of the coins its workers have earned, but there are some that doesn't have any fees whatsoever.
'''Solo Mining Cons:'''
Check out [http://eligius.st/ Eligius] for more information. Support this developing pool and generate a steady income even better than solo mining!
Solo mining tends to generate more erratic income.  
The generation of a block will tend to take several weeks with no payout.
Solo mining generates fewer blocks over time as difficulty increases.


==See Also==
==See Also==

Revision as of 20:22, 14 June 2011

Why You Are Here

You are most likely here because you have been asking questions on [1]#bitcoin-mining

What this topic discusses

The purpose of this page is to explain what the differences between pooled mining and solo mining. This Topic will give pros and cons of each, and explain at what point you would want to switch from one to the other.

What is Pooled Mining?

Pooled mining "pools" all of the resources of the clients in that pool to generate the solution to a given block. When the pool solves a block, the 50 BTC generated by that block's solution is split and distributed between the pools participants.

This means that you get "steady" payouts over time (ie 0.01 BTC per block that the pool solves, and the pool solves blocks ~30 min)

What is Solo Mining?

Solo mining means that you pool all of your resources into a private pool. When YOU solve a block YOU get 50 BTC.

This means that you get "unsteady" payouts over time (ie 50 BTC per block that you solve, and you solve blocks ~X days)

Pros/Cons

Pool Mining Pros: Pool mining is a collaborative effort towards discovering a block. Pooled mining tends to generate a steadier income. There are some pools that don't have any fees. Pool mining tends to generate a level number of blocks as pooled miners are attracted at a rate consistent with difficulty increases.

Pool Mining Cons: Pool mining can suffer interruptions from outages at the pool provider. Pooled mining tends to generate a smaller income. The smaller income is a result, among other things, of the fact that most pools take a percentage of the coins its workers have discovered. If a pool cannot attract additional miners, or loses miners (e.g. due to policy or payout changes) the generation time increases along with difficulty.

Solo Mining Pros: Solo mining is less prone to outages resulting in higher uptime. Solo mining tends to generate a larger income over Solo mining doesn't incur any fees. For each discovered block, 50 BTC is paid to the miner

Solo Mining Cons: Solo mining tends to generate more erratic income. The generation of a block will tend to take several weeks with no payout. Solo mining generates fewer blocks over time as difficulty increases.

See Also

Retrieved from "https://en.bitcoin.it/w/index.php?title=Pool_vs._solo_mining&oldid=10775"