My way to be a farmer of magical internet money #7
*If there are actually people here who are looking forward to a new part every day, I hereby apologize to you very much. I just wasn't in the mood yesterday.*
Where did we go.. Oh right, new hardware, 5 plots and the anticipation to look at my PC again .. By the way, here is a current picture, without RGB bling, but look how wonderfully the new RAM goes with the old bling bling RGB 20% more FPS RAM .
So I was back on the PC and was looking forward to starting new plots soon.
Well, I was able to get rid of that tremendously. The progress of my plots was about 1/8. WHAT? My mood was completely in the bucket. That really can't be true now
I got pissed off and wondered what the hell I could have done wrong again. I can tell you that now, but it shouldn't solve my problems anyway.
The guides I have already mentioned several times are intended for Linux systems and are also described accordingly. Linux is about 10% faster than Windows, but I could live with that. At this point in time, Linux wasn't an alternative for me. Not because I am not familiar with it, I simply did not feel like it.
In any case, the plots are started there by script, which I could theoretically do with Windows as well. However, the GUI is implemented wonderfully and again, I don't feel like using a script.
Now it could actually be a bit confusing if you read and understand the scripts, but the GUI works a little differently. With the script, the plots are started with a time delay. In other words, Plot1 starts at 2:00 am, Plot2 starts at 3:00 am, etc. In addition, you can set as many repetitions as you want so that you practically don't have to do anything and can leave the PC running for days.
I deliberately didn't do this repetitions because I wanted to perfect everything first, but Indeed I forgot to stagger the plots and started all at once.
I should also keep a little lesson in mind. In fact, I had learned this lesson a long time ago, but somehow I was unfaithful to myself.
**Believe. Nothing. You. Find. In. The. Internet.**
Meanwhile 24 hours have passed since I started the plots and the progress was around 50%. Great, I thought to myself.
The investments have really paid off and as everyone knows by now, whoever wants to get rich has to spend money (senselessly)!
The Chia team had meanwhile published an update for the GUI and promised that the plots would be 10% faster and I .. yes I was not able to do anything, because I should wait another 24 hours until the Plots are finished.
So I have now spent total **x** on new hardware and increased my efficiency from 5 plots per day to 2.5 plots per day! **YOLO! I am the best.**
My way to be a farmer of magical internet money #6
Now for the first time there is a small leap in time, it should be 3-4 days. I used the time in which I waited for my new RAM and the NVME disk to take a closer look at everything.
**Why actually more RAM?**
Pretty simple calculation. A plot needs about 3.8GB and 2 threads of the CPU. That was such a generally accepted rule of thumb. Since my approach is based on the NUC build mentioned in the previous part, I would of course like to use my PC as well as possible and run 5 parallel plots. 5 x 3.8GB = 19GB. So my 16GB of RAM is not enough. Furthermore, it should be mentioned here that the main memory should not be used to the full. The operating system and other processes in the background also access it, just look in the idle task manager how much memory is being used and add 1-2GB. Then you are definitely on the safe side.
**Why an NVME SSD and not a cheaper SATA SSD?**
Again, this should be pretty self-explanatory. The process of plotting is a symbiosis of the computing power of the CPU, the main memory and the speed of the hard drive and I had already been able to collect small successes with my regular SATA SSD.
**Is there anything to consider when choosing a hard drive?**
Usually no normal desktop PC hard drives are recommended but for servers. These server disks have a significantly longer life expectancy, specified in writing cycles for SSDs in particular. I shouldn't care about the lifespan at first, and I've also limited myself to buying from Amazon. Personally, I just buy from Amazon.
So we hold on. As fast as possible, NVME recommended. Is there anything else to consider besides the lifespan? **Nope.** (Oh.. really?)
A little digression about my PC. My system is not yet capable of PCIe 4.0, “only” PCIe 3.0 - but this should not pose any major problems with my configuration.
In any case, the time had finally come, my delivery had arrived. The NVME M2 slot on my mainboard sits directly under the graphics card. So the graphics card has to go.
For some reason this had gotten so jammed that I finally lost my patience and had to use brute force. Then the grid nose came towards me. Anyway, works without it - I'll put it back in at some point.
So here I was. Upgraded to 32GB RAM and a 2TB NVME. Full of anticipation, I started 5 plots and let my PC do it. I should switch on my monitor about 5 hours later the next time.
***Oh .. little did I know ..***
My way to be a farmer of magical internet money #5
***OT:*** *Yesterday I got my first dislike, to be precise for # 4. Of course, this can have many causes, most of which I can live with. Still, it scratches my ego a little, as this (I think) is based on a misunderstanding. Therefore again clearly and understandable for everyone.*
*No, this is not a guide! No, you won't get rich (99%) with it! My parents gave me the name Steffen. My middle name is sarcasm, which I worked hard for myself. So please don't take everything too seriously. If anything, see this blog here as a little diary.*
Do you believe in fate? Me, yes. In fact, I am absolutely convinced that there are things like fate and karma. So how could it be otherwise?
When I woke up the next morning and looked at my PC, I had 2XCH in my wallet. I had clearly defeated the calculus of probability. That must be a sign.
So I looked around at Chiadecentral.com again and found this NUC Guide there. (https://chiadecentral.com/nuc-small-form-factor-plotting-build/)
No, I haven't bought a new PC. But I took this as a reference. The single-core performance of the i7 installed there is significantly higher than that of my Ryzen 2600, but the multi-core performance of my CPU is significantly higher and, on the whole, my system should be clearly superior to it.
So what are the major differences?
A 2TB NVME is installed there. More storage space means more simultaneous plots and an NVME should be significantly faster than my "normal" SATA disks. So I also ordered a 2TB NVME. You will find out which ones exactly.
The system has 32GB of RAM. My system is 16GB. This decision was not particularly difficult for me, after all, it is also an investment in the future. More memory never hurts. In addition, I use faster RAM, so it's kind of a win-win. I bought Crucial Ballistix, 2x 8GB bars with 3200Mhz. So I should have 32GB RAM with 3200Mhz in the future. This time I did without RGB lighting.
In the meantime I turned all them RGB LEDs off. Since I'm neither sitting at the computer nor have it in view, it doesn't have to look good on itself.
This brings us to the end of today's story. Until the next story (which will of course be published tomorrow) we will skip a few days until I have the new hardware in my hands.
Who should have been wondering how my last plot went? The speeds of the 2 SSDs were not affected by the additional plot on the HDD. The 2 SSD plots took about 10 hours, the HDD plot about 13 hours.
Unfortunately I can't remember how many plots I had until then.
Today I also published a story where I expressed my concerns about the current development.
*See you tomorrow.*
[EASTER SPECIAL] Is Chia moving in the wrong direction?
The main arguments of the Chia developers include the following: **decentralization**, **low-emission** "Mining" and the whole thing takes place under the slogan "**Green Crypto**".
****Decentralization****
The more individual users (and thus PCs) are connected to the Chia network, the more decentralized the network becomes. This should make sense so far. This was made very simple, just install the Chia software and your own full node connects to the network fully automatically. With every "plot" that you add to your farm, the network expands and you contribute a part to processing the transactions.
The ideal case would of course be that every user has a plot and thus the decentralization grows evenly with every new user. I have to admit that I don't know whether it would be enough to keep a full node running - but not a farm - in relation to decentralization. As far as I understand not, but I don't want to swear that. If we just take a look at these statistics, we immediately recognize **-->** *We are moving in the wrong direction.*
****Low-emission mining or "*********Do we already have a problem with Mining-Whales?*********"****
Anyone who has some free storage space (at least 360GB, to be precise) can participate in the farm. The chances of success naturally increase with more storage space made available. Is it now reprehensible to make more memory available? Basically not at first. Everyone wants a piece of the pie and no one complains about a larger piece. In real life, too, there are larger pieces of cake - and smaller ones. Does the baker have a right to get a larger piece? I would answer that with a clear yes.
But now we are already at a point where large industrial bakeries have been founded and make it almost impossible for the passionate little baker next door to sell his cake for a profit.
Not to forget all the energy consumed by this industrials, you won't reach this amount of plots in such a small time without using high-end hardware.
Is this a problem? I would like to answer this clearly with yes. Can I now reproach the industrial baker? No. These take a great financial risk, it is understandable that you want to be rewarded accordingly.
Who can I blame now? The chia developers. Already now - and we are still at the very beginning of the journey, we haven't even left our property yet - the numbers are absolutely frightening. Let's take a look at these statistics here.
This means that **2** industrial **farmers** already own almost **9%** of the **total amount of XCH** (and the trend is rising!). With the previous information, everyone should now be aware that this is absolutely not a good sign.
It is a slap in the face for all smaller farmers who will close both their full nodes and their farm in the near future.
This results in increasing centralization, as all the small farmers (bakers) leave us and the industry gains even more market share.
And here we are at a point where the developers have to step in. It cannot and must not be right that this project is already being exploited (and destroyed!) bby profit-driven financial sharks.
****Conclusion****
So what can be done about it? As is so often the case, the answer is very simple. The amount of volume contributed per user / household is limited. This would be very effective in preventing having to see such statistics. As much as I give everyone a piece of the cake, but that 2 people own 9% of the total volume is simply wrong and far from the vision conveyed by the developers.
In the foreseeable future, mining pools will find their way onto the Chia blockchain. This is a positive development for all the smaller farmers, but unfortunately not a solution for the increasing centralization.
We can only hope that the developers act, otherwise I unfortunately don't see a green future for Chia. Unfortunately, it seems to me that it is precisely these large industrial farmers who are receiving significantly more attention from developers than all the others who contribute a large part to decentralization.
**We'll see where the journey goes**
My way to be a farmer of magical internet money #4
I was absolutely happy to see that the expected time to win a block (and thus whole **2XCH** - abbreviation of the CHIA Coins) was getting closer and I didn't worry about anything. However, the original thought did not let me go. I wanted to use my old raspberries again and not spend more money on hardware. Didn't it all start with that? Fuck it all.
Soon I'll be incredibly rich and won't waste any more thoughts on the rotten old raspberries.
Now the time had come when I discovered chiadecentral.com. A kind of fan page, a blog by and with Chia farmers. There are some guides for plotting in general as well as suggestions for a plotting rig. The more time I spent there, the more I felt like spending more money. After all, I want to get rich. And we already learned something. If you want to get rich, you have to spend money. Makes sense, right?!
But common sense suddenly came back. Maybe now I should finally read the CHIA Github Wiki in detail. So far I had only skimmed everything roughly and hadn't given much thought to it. I found terrible things there.
SSDs only have a very limited lifespan, in write cycles. ***That’s not that good*****.**
You should never use the hard drive on which your operating system is running. ***That is not good at all.***
I neither want to lose my data due to a defective hard drive, nor do I want to spend money again to buy new hard drives. I was caught in a dilemma. What I want? Become rich! What do I have to do for that? Spend money! Shit, again.
Leaving all this chaos out of the way, I had another problem. On Chiadecentral, 6 plots were created simultaneously with a similar setup while I already thought I was a big player with my 2 simultaneous plots.
What am I doing wrong? **RAM. To. Little. RAM.**
In addition, of course, my SSD problem still exists. What am I doing now? The question should keep me busy all night.
In the meantime I had plotted about 2TB and the display has shrunk to 20 days. One thing was clear, I have to get rich, fast. It was also clear that with my setup so far, I am not one of the slowest, but certainly not one of the fastest either. But if you want to get rich, you have to be quick.
So I set a goal for myself. If I get the first **2XCH**, I'll think about it again.
In the meantime, however, I got the glorious idea that I still have enough RAM to run 3 plots simultaneously without any problems. There was no more space on the SSDs and the HDD, but on the new external 12TB hard drive.
So from now on 3 simultaneous plots are running, whereby the 3rd will most likely take longer because no SSD is involved. I should find out.
**PS:** Fuck the spare part, I don't even know what I was looking for.
My way to be a farmer of magical internet money #3
My PC had been working ambitiously for a while now, but somehow it all took me too long. So it takes me years until the 12TB are plotted and I am overtaken by everyone else who, in case of doubt, even had a week's lead.
That's when I saw a comment on Reddit. Parallel plotting. Why the hell didn't I come up with that myself? Roughly 2 threads and 4GB of RAM are used per plot. The CPU has 12 threads and I also have 16GB of RAM. How stupid am i?
I couldn't wait for the plot to be finished and tested it out straight away. 2 plots in parallel, each with 6GB of RAM and 6 threads available. Hot! One plot ran on the Games SSD, the other on the OS SSD. Sounds like a damn good plan, I earned some self-praise for that. (*Oh yeah, is it?*)
It turns out that this process takes about 10 hours. 2 simultaneous plots in 10 hours, 1 single 8 hours? It was definitely worth it. The anticipation rose, and so did the plots. By now I had plotted a good 1TB and the display shrank from 2 months to 1 month. I got closer to ultimate wealth. Bit by bit.
But the real question is, what am I doing here anyway? And am I really doing this right? We will see.
**PS:** The spare part is still missing.
My way to be a farmer of magical internet money #2
New day, new luck. The setback is still deep, but at the same time it sparked my ambition. Time to get a little more technical.
The PC I use for plotting is my "Gaming PC". It has been a little over 2 years old and is still serving me well, so far I have never had the urge to change anything. The following is installed
**MSI Gaming Pro Carbon x470 motherboard**
**AMD Ryzen 5 2600 CPU**
**16GB G-Skill 3200Mhz RAM**
**500GB Samsung 860 EVO SSD OS**
**500GB Crucial MX500 SSD Games**
**1000GB whatever HDD**
**Asus Geforce RTX2060 (nobody cares about that)**
My original plan was to plot on the MX500 and then store the finished plot on the normal HDD. That's exactly what I did until I realized that I wouldn't get very far and I finally want to get rich, fast. **How do you get rich quick?** Right, you spend money.
I had accepted that it takes around 8 hours to create a plot. After all, everyone else feels the same way! (Or?) I quickly realized, however, that I would not get very far with the 650GB of free space on my HDD. In addition, at some point it was about a RaspberryPi.
So I started looking to get as much storage space as possible for as little money as possible. Conventional HDDs turned out to be more expensive than I thought. 16TB are priced at around 300 €. Ok, I'll take 14TB. Ok, no, 12TB. Fortunately, a 12TB external USB hard drive from WD was on sale at Amazon for € 180. I'll take it!
Said and done. In the meantime, of course, I continued to plot with my PC.
The timing was perfect. The hard drive arrived just before my 6th plot was finished and the drive was full.
Of course, I immediately connected the external disk and started my next plot. My business is slowly getting started. Only 3 months to go until I farm the first block. Felt like a win!
But the journey is far from over.
My way to be a farmer of magical internet money #1
[DISCLAIMER] This not a guide! (yet) See it as a short story of me evolving and getting things right. This will consist of at least 6 parts, getting published daily. This first part you read here is already 7 days old. So if you want to get closer into CHIA, do your own homework or wait for the other parts to come.
Some time ago, when I was desperately looking for a replacement part that I am convinced is somewhere in the depths of my treasures, I noticed my large collection of Raspberry Pis. Unfortunately, these are now only gathering dust and have not been used for a long time. Why actually? I don't know, I guess I'm just lazy. That left me no peace. The little beasts always gave me a lot of joy and I was ready for a new project.
Since the magic of crypto currencies has now cast a spell on me, I started looking for useful uses in the crypto cosmos. I haven't found that much. Create a Bitcoin Node? Why should I do that? I have no idea, idea discarded. The day passed and in the evening I was gripped by ambition again. There must be something useful with which I can give the raspberries a new life. That's how I ended up with Chia.
Chia? Those are the weird seeds that had a huge hype some time ago with people who are crazy about weight loss. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a new blockchain called Chia. A project by BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen. Chia differs quite significantly from most other crypto currencies in one particularity. The "Proof of Space" protocol is used. I had never heard of that before.
Bitcoin is based on the "Proof of Work" concept. The work of the blockchain is taken over by means of GPU or CPU power. This requires very strong hardware and thus also results in a high power consumption, ergo high energy costs.
Then there is the “Proof of Stake” concept. Ethereum is currently working on changing its system from "Proof of Work" to "Proof of Stake". What exactly that is, how it works, I have no idea. I just don't care.
But now back to Chia. First I devoured their website, then on to Reddit and finally I found a kind of "fan project" for it, **http://Chiadecentral.com****.** For now, I will not go into the chia blockchain in any more detail. This is about farming Chia Coins in order to get incredibly rich, very quickly, preferably before Easter.
As is so often the case, I came to the party a little late, the Chia Mainnet was already online for 7 days at this point. But now quickly. What do you need to farm?
Powerful CPU? **Check**
Decent amount of RAM? **Check**
SSD? **Check**
HDD? **Check**
Well, finally got lucky! Neither do I need a solar system to pay the electricity costs, nor a sinfully expensive graphics card. What is the catch? There is no! (Yes / Yes…)
So, downloaded the software and off for it. I had read about plotting. That is probably necessary to be able to farm. Then we just plot. Plot on the fast SSD and farm on the HDD, easy. A plot file of approx. 110GB needs approx. 360GB during production?
Problem # 1. I didn't have that much space.
All right, then stuff will be deleted which I don't need one way or another. Done, done, started plotting. With big eyes I sat in front of the PC and waited for the "plot" to finally be finished. After 20 minutes and exactly 0% progress, I didn't feel like it anymore. I'll just let that thing do it and hit myself back on the couch. Of course it didn't leave me alone.
Time to dive a little deeper into the subject. I have to reckon with my setup in 8 hours, according to Reddit. All right, then we'll just wait. After what felt like an eternity, the process was actually over and I started farming straight away. Estimated time to win a block: 1 year. Crap.
My plan to be incredibly rich in the near future will have to be put a little behind.
**PS**: Of course I didn't find the spare part.
@k1ll1van1ll1
