Should I be running 1 or 2 threads when I use the 270x? Also which algorithm is best for this card ?

depends... do you have a 2GB or 4GB...

2GB use 1 thread
4GB use 2 thread

I've found -a 1 to be the best but some folks say they've tried the others and have different results, so the best thing to do, try each one for a half hour and see which one did best for you...

Quote from: bytemaster on February 24, 2014, 06:57:18 am

Quote from: Centaurus on February 24, 2014, 06:52:52 am

I there any internet speed requirement for mining purpose?

Is 1Mbps (128 kBytes/s) enough?
Is 10Mbps (1.25 kBytes/s) better or needless?

Thanks!
I am planning to build my first rig 

No speed requirements, but mining PTS is not going to be profitable.

Thanks bytemaster;

Can you show me where I am wrong?
According to this post fast AMD OpenCL PTS miner released: "...The performance is 3100+ c/m on a R9 280X..."
According to this site PTS difficulty estimate: "...Daily earning @ 3100 cpm: 0.3411 PTS..."
This is 10.233 PTS/month
According to this site Protoshares (PTS): 1PTS = 15USD
This is 153.50 USD/month

The R9 280X price is 500 USD (here in my country)
Electricity cost is about 20 USD/month

153.50 - 20 = 133.50
133.50 x 4 = 534.00 USD
Seems that will break even in 4 months, but I am not considering increments in the difficulty factor (just because I dont know where to look for this information).

That is assuming todays difficulty and pricing... 24 hours ago the difficulty was half what it is today... so profits were twice as much... in a few days difficulty might double again so cut your profits in half after that first week alone... and who knows where te future will go... it is a fun gamble though, just stick to the one card you use for gaming, and let it mine when not in use... investing more is almost a death trap, unless you can find the next crypto that will shoot up and get in before it does... remember BTC one day was $1000 each, today it seems to be $560 so the future is no guarantee when people predicted BTC would hit $10,000 this year easy... who knows...

Quote from: Darkbane on February 24, 2014, 05:29:25 pm

[W]hile I understand its a trust game, isn't their social consensus for the community better realized and backed if they were a non-profit held to a different standard? it would further expand their abilities and mission statement, while giving protection to us as well...

I will have to let bytemaster comment on the Social Consensus and its relationship to a government-registered corporation, whether for-profit or non-profit.

However, what protect to the BitShares community need or can be given, considering that the software is to be released into the wild?

Well the company is stating that this software has more meaning because its backed by the company, which is funded directly by us, so in theory while they are still operating it has more meaning even when released because they are able to develop and further it along... even when released, it will still come with legally binding usage restrictions... think of the gnu public license... you may use this software under these terms and conditions... its free to use, but it must be used within this scope allowed... hence their idea to get PTS/AGS holders shares of any coin or business using it, legally CAN be enforced by them in a court of law since they released the software with the license agreement... they don't have to charge to have legal ownership or rights to prosecute miss-use of it... otherwise microsoft would sit back and let folks write all their software for them, compile it with their own name and call it window 9... that would be illegal use of the freely distributed software, unless the author said a for-profit commercial company may repackage and sell it freely...

my goal is to make sure this company sticks around for more than a short time period.. because I do believe it adds value if they can sustain themselves and the software in the future... which in turn benefits all of us... however they are putting that in jeopardy which in turn puts the community in jeopardy and in turn risks our investment that was exchanged to them and that they freely took under the terms issued once, changed once, issued again, and now slightly modified since...

remember... there was no AGS not to long ago... thats why we all went for PTS... now that has since changed...

Quote from: Darkbane on February 24, 2014, 04:48:56 pm

this leads me to another series of questions... is the companies intention to spend every penny they receive in calendar year 2014, leaving no money leftover for future development in 2015? if that is the goal to escape taxation, what happens to the company and the software in 2015 when there is no longer any backing of all this behind it, which as stated gives value to everyone involved...

Non-profit organizations are required to spend what they receive. 501(c) status in the USA is not a license to accumulate untaxed donations.

As for "the goal to escape taxation," spending $1 foolishly in order to avoid 40¢ in taxes is foolish.

I absolutely agree with you on both statements... however the non-profit status gives them a period of time to spend that money on the community... so money raised this year can be spread out over multiple years to sustain the ongoing project... however NOTHING prevents them from spending all the money to avoid taxes, nothing also prevents them from spending it any way they see fit which might not benefit the community either... with non-profit status they would come under legal scrutiny for most of the money to go towards the community... while I understand its a trust game, isn't their social consensus for the community better realized and backed if they were a non-profit held to a different standard? it would further expand their abilities and mission statement, while giving protection to us as well...

Quote from: Darkbane on February 23, 2014, 02:14:52 am

this leaves more legal questions since they are actually calling us "shareholders" in this announcement...

Considering that the product is called 'BitShares' this should be no more problematic than 'Disney Dollars', 'Dollar Rent-a-Car', 'Dollar General' stores, etc., none of which is controlled by the Federal Reserve System or the US Treasury Department.  Likewise, Federal Express is not operated by the Department of Transportation, and Royal Crown Cola is not owned by the House of Windsor.

Quote from: Darkbane on February 23, 2014, 02:14:52 am

which brings into question this whole "donation" thing even more (not just legally with the "stockholders/donators", but what about the IRS come tax time, this is taxable income to them)...

Corporate taxes in the USA are paid on profits. Expenses incurred in the development of BitShares, including salaries, travel, and marketing, are subtracted before taxes are calculated.

Quote from: Darkbane on February 23, 2014, 02:14:52 am

...this is a huge can of legal worms that could cause the entire value to be expunged by a large lawsuit or FTC investigation... this is what worries me... they are muddying the waters SO much calling things by different names every step of the way as if they are trying to legally sidestep something to create a legal barrier for which they have flat out broken wide open... I wish they would just call the apple an apple... so we can have clarity about buying oranges here...

If it turns out that the term 'shareholder' should be changed to 'BitShareholder', 'stakeholder', 'sponsor', or whatever, Invictus Innovations can issue a clarification.

With regard to donations to for-profit entities, ten minutes of searching online turned these up:

"For-Profit Charity"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For-profit_charity

"For-Profit Charities"
http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/faculty/2006/09/forprofit_chari.html


"Philanthropy Google’s Way: Not the Usual"
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/technology/14google.html

"The Reasons for For-Profit Philanthropy"
http://www.brooklaw.edu/newsandevents/blslawnotes/2010-2009/fall/googleforprofitphilanthropy/page3.aspx


"Five Ways to Realize Profits and Missions"
http://blogs.hbr.org/2009/10/five-ways-to-realize-profits-and-missions/


"Canonical Opens Donations for Ubuntu, Lets You Put Money for a Mobile Version"
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Canonical-opens-donations-for-Ubuntu-lets-you-put-money-for-a-mobile-version_id35383

My problem being, their intermixing of the words, does not leave a clear and concise term for what it is you are receiving... are you a donator... are you an earner... are you an investor... are you a shareholder... are you a competitor... they have intermixed all of these terms and each one has different legal liabilities...

absolutely a for-profit company may accept donations... however they are taxable income but being represented as a donations... in MANY of the 50 american states, you MUST follow certain procedures and statement when you make that claim, you must supply notice that is it not deductible on the persons side because they are not a non-profit organization, some states say you must inform people the donation can be taxed by the IRS, and some states have all sorts of other goofy laws... so I am not challenging if they can accept this money, I am challenging the problems that may arise as a result of HOW they have taken this money...

they have left the door wide open to interpretation by not clearly defining within each states regulation what must be stated to people exchanging this "commodity" to them means... they've simply called it 5 different things on their AGS page... thats a serious issue for the community because this was promised to develop our community... which is the premise we all "donated" with... would people donate $20 million dollars if they knew $10 million could be given to the government... which seems to be the very "beast" we are trying to avoid with decentralization... would people donate if they knew their money would not be put towards them... would they donate if they knew this was a for-profit business that has no legal obligation to the community, where-as a non-profit would have stronger regulations preventing some expenses deemed inappropriate that a for-profit is not held to the same standard...

what they SHOULD be doing is saying you are a customer, who is buying this product, and this is the price... by having "donations", "competition", etc etc... they are opening the door to allowing someone else to decide in a court of law what it truely represents versus clearly defining it and protecting our community... thats my issue...

corporate taxes are not purely based solely on profits... there are many taxes they must pay along the way including payroll, healthcare, etc etc that will be taxed irregardless of profit along with state local and other federal taxes... the health affordable care act alone introduces dozens of new taxes you can't escape... and depending how employees are classified as independant contractors or not, even more taxes... they may release "bounties" but even some of those could be taxable depending on the terms of the contract work the individual could be seen as an employee under certain terms... there are a whole host of taxes you can not escape so some WILL be paid no matter what... it also depends how this is structured, is this actually incorporated or are they "doing business as" under the CEO's social security number which opens the door to even more taxes and liabilities...

also the "product" is not bitshares... people are buying/donating/earning/competing for AGS shares, which give a dividend payment of bitshares... you see where that muddies the water between stockholders and investors too now... the only way to obtain AGS is to exchange a commodity of some form for it, and as a result you are given something else that has other meaning and value... that alone very well could be a representation of an IPO under the securities and exchange commission...

Quote from: Darkbane on February 24, 2014, 03:24:52 am

Shouldn't we demand invictus become a legally registered non-profit organization before we start creating a pyramid of forks for them to get cash flow from again and again? I mean if we're about protecting the community, shouldn't we start with them to protect us?

I say this because currently... they are a for-profit company... which means all these "donations" get taxed... do you think its right for them to pay 40-50% of taxes on our donations... when if they were a non-profit they would not be taxed at that rate and more of our money would be used for us?

that one step alone could save millions over the course of a year with the amount of money they are getting...

The federal government imposes a tax on gifts larger than a certain amount. This tax is paid by the person giving the gift, not the recipient. The gift tax rules apply to gifts given by corporations. However, when gift tax is due on corporate gifts, it's not actually the corporation that's liable for paying the tax.

Individuals Only
According to the Internal Revenue Service, the gift tax applies only to "individuals" -- that is, people. Corporations do not pay gift tax, nor do other entities such as partnerships, estates or trusts. However, if a corporation does give a gift that qualifies for the tax, the tax still has to be paid by someone.

Paying the Tax
When a corporation gives a taxable gift, the stockholders of that corporation are liable for reporting and paying gift tax; each must file a gift tax return for his "share" of the gift. Tax law is essentially silent about how to divide up the responsibility, since corporations generally don't go around giving taxable gifts. Small-business corporations with just a handful of shareholders may be able to assess the responsibility fairly easily.

Related Reading: How Does a US Corporation Utilize Foreign Tax Credits?

Gifts Subject to Tax
Gift tax is assessed based on the total value of the gifts from a particular giver to a particular recipient. As of 2012, a giver could provide up to $13,000 worth of gifts to a recipient before the tax would apply. With such a limit, a business shouldn't have to worry about gift taxes for token gifts. Gifts to tax-exempt organizations, including charities, are not taxable

Bytemaster, once again I commend you guys on trying to find creative interpretations of the law, however you are not "accepting gifts"... you are taking "donations" in one statement, "earning" in another statement, "competing" in another statement, and then referring to the item in question as "shares" or an "investment"... that's the legal problem!

you can't just decide what type of taxes or product you want something to be and only follow that imaginary line, you have to follow what you're actually doing... either you're selling a product to customers, you're taking donations (which are not gifts), or you are having an IPO and selling off shares of invictus or a sub-company owned by invictus... creative interpretation does not allow you to bend rules, especially when during this "donation" phase you needed to comply with the laws of 50 american states and whatever international laws apply for each individual country where you accepted them from..

thats the issue...

everyone company in this country would consider every transaction a "donation" if they could skirt the IRS and call it a gift from their "patron"... so the problem remains as to how this will be classified in the eyes of the IRS... as of now its all a for-profit business model which will have substantial taxes due unless like you said, you spend every penny... this does not mean you WON'T have to pay taxes, it will be greatly reduced, but there will be significant taxes for payroll, healthcare, along with all the other normal state local federal taxes every business must pay... then it will come down to if employees are considered independent contractors or not, and there are very strict guidelines to determine if someone is or is not, and companies can pay a substantial fine for trying to skirt that law as well...

you see my issue is the fact you guys are "looking into non-profit" status means you are NOT getting the amount of legal advice and thought before all this is done, you're only doing it after you realize there very well are going to be issues, and that is what scares me with my "donations"... because THOSE donations could become property seized and distributed as a reward so they will not go for the true intention of developing this community as promised...

Shouldn't we demand invictus become a legally registered non-profit organization before we start creating a pyramid of forks for them to get cash flow from again and again? I mean if we're about protecting the community, shouldn't we start with them to protect us?

I say this because currently... they are a for-profit company... which means all these "donations" get taxed... do you think its right for them to pay 40-50% of taxes on our donations... when if they were a non-profit they would not be taxed at that rate and more of our money would be used for us?

that one step alone could save millions over the course of a year with the amount of money they are getting...

ok, share target updated.

also: if you see more stales instead of rejects than before (stales should be actually pretty rare) -> they are basically just rejects, i currently use the stale-value for statistical purpose to get a better understanding of the problem to finally fix it hopefully soon

what a difference the doubling of the difficulty makes... back down to 1.50% rejections or less...