future3OOO
commented
1 year ago The premise in PoW mining is to get as close to a the thermodynamic limit as possible and ASICs are the best way to achieve that. However, with the progression of GPUs and no further known develop of Grin ASICs, GPUs could now ( or soon) better reach that limit.
All Grin mining software is outdated, built on solvers that are not optimized for new Gen hardware. I've been wondering for sometime if we're already at the point where new gen GPUs provide better efficiency than current gen ASICs? This is not a question of if, but when. Based on the current climate it also seems unlikely that new Gen ASICs will be shipped anytime soon.
For reference, on specs a G1 mini produces ~0.01GPS/W. A G1 has better efficacy, but no one is going to run one of them in their house and no hobbyist is going to pay the full cost either.
Speaking with @Lolliedieb he mentioned that "I am pretty confident that with a completely rewritten solver a RX6900 could reach 1.2 g/s and a 4090 certainly about 2 g/s when well done"
I've then asked about wattage and he's said "180W (that 6900XT) / 280W (the 4090) maybe? For the first rounds we need quite some core and memory, therefore can not go too deep with the settings. On AMDs it massively helps though that we can control voltage down manually"
For reference, if a 6900XT could achieve 1.2GPS @180w, then Grin would be the most profitable coin to mine on that GPU- The same will likely be applicable to other new gen GPUs aswell.
No miner dev has bothered to release new public software, because, there's currently no incentive to do so. Grin's block subsidy is so small in $ terms that it would take years for them to recoup the time spent in miner fees
However, If for example someone could design a new solver that achieved better efficacy than a G1 mini, then would it be worthwhile considering whether a bounty should be created and open for the first developer who achieves this?
Negatives:
- If more GPUs switched over and started mining Grin, then price could fall, because, it might create additional selling pressure( if new miners dumped more Grin than current miners).
- If price remains stable and network diff goes up, then Grin might not remain the most profitable coin to mine, therefore few miners will consider switching over.
Positives
- Creates a fair market. knowingly having outdated public mining software is dangerous and creates a potential unfair advantage, since selfish miners could be running their own private software. Sure, this a risk for any PoW, however, it's different in this case since we can already make the strong assumption that publicly released mining software can be significantly optimized*
- Creates a stronger network
- Creates new interest in Grin- Grin's monetary policy is designed for miners in the sense that Grin's emission today is the same as it was when it launched. A new influx of miners could help the market better appreciate this design.
*Question: Does not addressing this potentially undermine Grin's "Fair" emission premise?
Solicit suggestions for agenda items for the Governance meeting to be held on Tuesday July 18 @ 15:00 UTC in grincoin#general channel on Keybase. Please comment to provide topics or suggestions. (Meeting can be followed on @keybase-ro channel - GRIN community discord server via GRIN discord bridge).
To Do List.
Proposed Agenda
Suggestion for procedural changes related to CC payments.
For BTC txs: Community support > CC Payment approved by alteast 4/6 in public CC chat > PR submitted > tx drafted> CC signing the tx > PR merged.
For Grin txs:
Community support > CC Payment approved by alteast 4/6 in public CC chat > PR submitted > PR merged by the CC member who made the payment. **Since the grin wallet is not multi sig it's harder to keep track of, so the person making the payment needs to be the one who seeks approval to merge.
Discussion: Bounty for new GPU solver with better efficancy than a G1 mini.