My First Steps in Mining Crypto
I would like to participate more in the #TBT and #TBF, but I'm always scared when I have to dive into my backup HDD to search for old photos and memories... Not scared of what I will find there, but more afraid of the time I will spend, checking out thousands and thousands of old photos... But, I decided to do it today and tried to keep my focus... Just to come IN, take some photos, and run OUT!! 😃
Home. The place where WiFi connects automatically...😃
So, let's start from the very beginning, from the first two boxes that arrived at my home! The content of these two boxes was my first crypto investment (if we ignore that short BTC "excursion" from 2013 😂)... It was May 2017, a few days before that, I decided to start with Ethereum mining, and I ordered some computer components to create my first mining rig!
I was checking prices and availability (in those early days, you could find almost everything you needed for a rig, which wasn't the case later the same year!) and bought the first parts from PC Componentes (one of the most famous online PC (and not just PC) shops) and Amazon...
As for traveling, I didn't have a regular PC (still don't have one) for a long time... Only laptops, as they are more practical, as I can take "my life" with me wherever I go... So, I had to buy all components from scratch... You will notice that there is no motherboard in these photos, as I bought one earlier from eBay... As MB and CPU weren't that important for ETH mining, I got the cheapest which could support the newest GPUs (graphic cards)...
What was important was the power supply... Well, this one from the photo isn't the best quality, but 1000W was enough to power 6-8 GPUs, and it served me very well!
The Radeon RX 480 wasn't the best card at that moment, but it had the best performance compared with its consumption... The electricity in Spain wasn't (and it isn't) cheap, so I had to pay attention to that too... Two cards for "testing the water"...
As the "machine" doesn't need much HDD space, I bought the cheapest drive that I found on the market... I could go with the second-hand disc, but it wasn't worth the hassle...
Even in those days, you could buy the "mining rig set", or "body", but I didn't want to spend 100+ EUR on something like that... So, I checked the Internet and found ideas to DIY! As I like woodwork, I went shopping at the local shop...
Oh, I did mention power consumption, so I bought this meter to be able to see the real consumption while tweaking up the (future) machines...
RAM memory wasn't that important either, so I went for the best price-performance module that fits my motherboard...
Wood parts measures for the future rig
As I didn't have a second PC monitor at home, I had to check out how I could connect my TV to it... 🤣 (avoiding additional costs)
The first test, with only 1 GPU inside, finally worked out! Tweaking time! 😃
Now this photo can raise some questions... Why the f%$# do I need something this OLD for my rig? 🤣
Tbh., I think I found that computer behind the dumpster... 😃 You can't beat that price! So, I took 2 things out... One was the power button (as I don't have a PC case in my DIY rig, with buttons), as turning on the computer with a screwdriver is boring af after 10-20 times... 😃
...and the second thing was what you can see in the photo above... I cut out the metal part where you are fixing the motherboard... In that way, I made a bit of space between the hot MB and the wooden parts of the rig (just in case)... Plus, the MB was much better fixed!
Btw. the wooden parts under the metal are also "recycled" as they were on sale, by the dumpster too... 😃 I think they were parts of the old kitchen closet! 😃
The machine is completed, time to flash some GPU BIOSes to make them more effective for mining!
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And the machine is ready! Two cards are mounted, and the next step is to make them work together... 😃
The first calculation of profitability is there... What to do? To mine SOLO Ethereum, or to do DUAL mining and mine the SIA shitcoin too? 😃
As my wife wasn't thrilled with the idea of 2 powerful GPUs working and buzzing in the middle of the living room 24/7, I had to find a suitable place for the rig... The first attempt was to put it in the window of the storage room...
The issue was that my Internet router was in the opposite part of the apartment, and there was no way to take the cable through 3 rooms just for that... So, I made a first mistake and bought this TP-Link WiFi extender, which had one LAN out connector, ideal for the rig... But, these extenders in those days (and I think even today), weren't that reliable as they would lose connection, reboot when they wanted, or just get stuck...
checking the performance and temperatures...
New card arrived...
As the RX 480 wasn't the top card, I went one model up and bought these 2 RX 570 cards... Unfortunatelly, the PULSE edition from Sapphire wasn't as good as Nitro, and I didn't buy more of these in the future...
You gotta cool off those cards... Fans added... 😃
After maybe a month from the very beginning, I decided to move the rig out of the apartment, to the terrace... It was June, and the cards were too hot inside, so I put them outside where it was their permanent place (for the summer)... At that place, I had 2 full rigs (10-12 cards) at the end of the summer...
When winter came, I moved them back INSIDE the apartment and used them as a heater! Believe me or not, I think that we didn't use additional heaters that winter... It was a bit noisy, but you get used to it... Especially when you know that this thing "PRINT" crypto day by day!
Maybe all this looks a bit ridiculous, childish, or awkward, but all this made a big difference in my life... And it was a helluva crypto adventure that still lasts!
I hope you liked this blast from the past post...
Thank you for your time.
--ph--
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I wouldn't consider such an experience ridiculous and childish, awkward yes due to the technical difficulties but a hell of an experience it must have been, I have always been interested in crypto mining but have never gotten to give it a try, probably will eventually. Thank you for sharing about your experience.
It is a bit too late for that kind of crypto mining... But, it's not too late to get involved in running a node for DPOS blockchains, like HIVE... or doing other ways of crypto accumulation, again... like HIVE, where you earn by creating content...
Thanks for your kind words! Happy to see that you liked the post!
Thanks for your curation, @tahastories1! Appreciated! 🙏
Oh man how much time did it take to do all of this? A celeron, it feels like ages passed
I find it hilarious the scene of it put outside the house and then inside as a heater😂
Did you sell the eth in the end to repay costs?
You mean, how long did I mine crypto, or how much time did I need to create that 1 mining rig? I was mining until the moment ETH went to POS, and creating this 1 rig didn't take too much time..
I did sell a lot of ETH to buy more GPUs... At the end of my mining journey, I had over 25 GPUs... But, most of the investment actually went from the mining earnings as ETH had a huge pump that year...
Time to build the rig!
Lol 25 GPU, my wife would kill me if I did that
heheheh... unfortunately, crypto mining is not profitable to do it anymore... except if you have your FREE electricity...
Hehehehe... If it would bring you 1-2K EUR per month, maybe she would forgive you... 🤣
That's true, electricity has become sooooo much more expensive now... I don't know Spain but here it's like 5x than before covid
It was expensive even when I was mining, so more or less the same as now... I remember having some crazy bills... lol...
Nice. Recycling memories. 😎👍
Indeed! As I like to poke around PC hardware, that was my "dream job"... Unfortunately, it didn't last after ETH went to POS...
Go on with it, why don't you? If Hive goes ahead in this direction, every application or service will require its own miners or nodes. Supposedly, even the Raspberry Pi and the like are enough for some...
Actually, in those days, I was using a Raspberry Pi to turn on and off my mining rigs over the Internet... 😃
My brother, who is a computer and mobile phone technician, always had this dream, but first, it was a big investment that he and I couldn't afford, and second, living in Argentina, the power went out often, so we gave up on that venture. Although I don't know much about technical things, I heard about the things you mention from my brother. The story is great, great... I didn't know anything about cryptos until after the pandemic, when I was looking for an extra way to make money... if that's how it was... a long journey to get here... but always creating content... YouTube, LBry, Cos, and finally here.
Tbh, what I showed in this post was financed from my pocket, but the rest that came after (a lot more rigs) was financed by earnings from mining... So, I suppose that if your brother went in a few months before me, he could probably have resources to grow even faster, with less initial capital... But, those are just assumptions...
It wasn't just about money, it was about having the conviction to invest time and money into something that was very much unknown in those days...
Interestingly, I wasn't in content creation at all... When GPU mining stopped, I was searching for other ways to accumulate crypto... and LBRY was on my list too... I have published a few videos there too... It's a pity that they were sued and pushed under the ice... :(
At that time, my brother and I couldn't do anything about it. It was a failed project, but your post reminded me of the idea.
Lbry... yes, it was sued by the SEC and lost, but I have to investigate because I think they are looking for ways to monetise the content. There have been changes.
Solar power banks/UPS?
The times when GPU cards went insane and many people were interested in it as they thought to be rich by a short and easy way :)
Isn't it like that always? :) People jump on the train when it's almost over, and get burned out... When I was doing it, people said I'm crazy...
When it was already announced that ETH would go POS, I was going out slowly, and those who told me that I'm crazy in the past invested money to mine it... Of course, they got burned... 🙁
We never know the future, imagine him who bought pizza with BTC :)
My brother, you're not silly at all. In fact, I thought the whole post was genius, ha ha ha. Plus, it's clear that you had fun from the very beginning, shopping, trying things out, putting things together. I was really surprised, even though it was just a quick look at your old photo albums. 😅 It's so nice to look back and admire how far you've come. in fact, all that effort in the past is what makes us more comfortable today. As I always tell you, you inspire me a lot, and I love that you shared it on #TBT Thursdays. Sending you a big hug, bro!
😎 Quote of the Day:
It's always interesting to try to "decipher" how a certain event evolved and how we get to this point where we are... It's like rolling back the movie and trying to figure out the crucial points...
For example, if I hadn't gone into crypto mining, I wouldn't be here at all... As one after another, the events led me to this point... So, I'm grateful for this memory and the adventure that looked like nothing special, but turned out to be a very important action!
It's hard to realize those things in the present moment, but if we do our best in everything we do, we can't go wrong with the future! 😃
Running a simple mining rig allowed me to meet dozens of great people through my crypto, and recently HIVE, journey! 🍷
Haha we mined a little later than that and I remember I bought my daughters each one of those 580s to play games. Mainly so I could switch the miner on when they went to sleep ;)
Kept my basement dry and warm too even with only a couple gpus.
Hehehehe... Most of my cards were 580s, and I dived into the next gen too, but it was already close to the end of the mining era... Btw. nice "excuse" to buy those cards "FOR THEM", and not for yourself... 🤣
There was a "running joke" while GPU mining was popular about doing an ad like:
"Drying basement service, available! Call now!" 🤣
It sounds like an interesting experience. I guess things are always tedious when you first start off, but it led to where you are today.
It was risky to go into it, but it was a lot of fun! I don't regret it, and I'm grateful for everything that happened after!💪
A very detailed post on your adventure.
I will never dare put this machine inside my house as my wife will really kick me out.
Hahahaha... It looks like you are not alone... 😂
I think would change if those machines brought some money to the budget... And you would buy something with earnings for your lady... 😃 She would soften... 😃
😂😂😂
The setup looks so complex! Haha. Interesting share!
!LUV
Hehehe... It wasn't that complex and there were plenty of tutorials on the Internet... I loved it! 😃
You probably would have been better off, buying a 1,000 Coin Box of $1 U.S. Coins and waiting for the U.S. Monetary Correction...
hehehehe... Doubt in that... 😃
I could trade coins, that's true, but I doubt I would nail tops and bottoms (or even be close to them), as I was a newbie in those days... So, mining was like a slow accumulation...
Perhaps there has to be a part two to this story, you know: how the mining lasted, why you stopped, was is a successful experimentation, and what you could have made done differently?
I don't think it was a childish act, I think you actually wanted to be the first or the alpha pioneers and had great intentions to build something for your self, and you choose mining rather than maybe buying the eth from the market.
You also invested time in the calculations and mining details, and believe me, all that was some great efforts.
It's good to read. I've heard you saying you mined eth, but I didn't have the details until now.
I didn't plan to do the second part of the story, but I can do it here in the comments... :)
Mining lasted until ETH switched to POS, and it was very successful from my point of view... What could I have done differently? Probably mingle less into shitcoins and focus on even more mining, going more in at the first step, but that was impossible... as I didn't have more capital to invest...
This was more the question of profitability... I mined a lot more than I could buy from the markets... It was VERY profitable at the beginning... As I reinvested funds in more GPUs, I could grow earnings too... That wouldn't be possible if I were just buying from the market... without trading...
And if I traded, I would probably lose everything... 😂
@tipu curate
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Thanks for your curation! Appreciated! 🙏
Interesting, although, why wood? I'll use acrylic instead. Looks better and you can put some LED lights. Also is easier to mold, glue or cool.