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This makes me sad because it reminds me of something similar I just went through. For the last few years, I've been running >120k gpus to mine ETH. Before we t

This makes me sad because it reminds me of something similar I just went through. For the last few years, I've been running >120k gpus to mine ETH. Before we turned them off after ETH switched to PoS, I tried really hard to find an alternative workload for them. A large number of the GPUs were based on the PS5 chip, which is an APU (CPU+GPU) and ran as blade computers. It is actually a pretty power efficient chip, but the blades themselves are little use for anything that requires a lot of networking or data (they are diskless and ipxe boot a custom ubuntu). I found a professor who's been doing research on various planetary data crunching efforts and we got his software (I think based on BOINC) running on these blades. His software is analyzing data from telescopes to look for binary quasars. We crunched the numbers from our proof of concept and estimated that if we dedicated all the GPUs I have of that class, to this one task, that a 1 year of computation would be done in 1 month. At least two people have received Nobel's based on similar findings. The problem was finding funding to pay for the operating expenses, megawatts of power, so it never got off the ground and the hardware has been turned off and decommissioned. Such a bummer.

esperent 4y ago
> I've been running >120k gpus to mine ETH So when the sea levels rise and destroy my home, I'll know who to blame. Thank you.
- yieldcrv 4y ago
  for a fraction of a percent of the problem that isn't even in use anymore? misdirected angst
  - esperent 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - latchkey 4y ago
      Ever travel to SE Asia? There are millions of kids that go to gaming centers. They are rooms in shacks, full of computers and they sit there 24/7 playing games online. They are burning electricity non-stop and this is majority coal based energy.
    - yieldcrv 4y ago
      “I cant believe you used energy in a way I disagreed with two years ago” never really seen that in another context
- latchkey 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - jeromegv 4y ago
    That hydro that went to you couldn’t be shared to the connected network and they had to power the rest of the network with gas instead. Unless you built your own dam, which I really doubt you did. Also unused hydro accumulates in the lake, so it’s not like hydro was wasting away and needed to be used.
    - latchkey 4y ago
      The only users of the power in the area are data centers. The power goes directly there. The same data centers you're using to access services on the internet. There is more than enough hydro in the area so they don't have to turn on the gas. Very large river based hydro and the dams were built long ago.
      - bunabhucan 4y ago
        I don't know if you know this but electricity can travel through conductors to other places.
        ifni 4y ago
        Not everything is connected to the grid, you know. Here's an example of a single hydro dam a LONG way from the grid which (pre-Cryptocurrency gold rush) had 12 MW of unused power generation capacity plus they were talking up the possibility of adding an additional 20 MW of generation. https://www.hydroreview.com/business-finance/boralex-acquires-145-mw-ocean-falls-hydro-station-in-bc/ https://www.hydroreview.com/business-finance/boralex-acquire... It's not going to be the only one.
        esperent 4y ago
        > It's not going to be the only one. It probably is the only one, or at least an unusual outlier.
- pxmpxm 4y ago
  At 1-3mm year, I am highly confident you'll be long dead before that happens. 120k gpus is like what USD50mio capex at least? Did you even get any of that back w/o accounting for electricity?
  - latchkey 4y ago
    Oh yea, but we wasted it on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35206003 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35206003
recuter 4y ago
> The problem was finding funding to pay for the operating expenses, megawatts of power, so it never got off the ground and the hardware has been turned off and decommissioned. Such a bummer. You ran 120,000 graphics card to mine ETH and didn't end up with lambos or like... ether.. to donate to the professor along with the hardware?
- yieldcrv 4y ago
  anybody running them would have the same operational costs, probably far higher since miners gravitate to the lowest cost power source
  - recuter 4y ago
    He couldn't even donate 120 out of the 120k cards and one lambo? I'm beginning to think this whole crypto thing is sus
- moralestapia 4y ago
  Yeah, that's either a typo or bull ... or maybe one of the top 5 ETH miners is among us.
  - latchkey 4y ago
    Nah, while this was a large operation, there were much much larger ETH miners.
    - moralestapia 4y ago
      Wow.
- latchkey 4y ago
  Hookers and blow actually. Space dust.
  - recuter 4y ago
dools 4y ago
Fucking hell crypto is such a colossal waste of resources
- latchkey 4y ago
  In comparison to everything else, it is tiny. All of banking could be significantly automated to the point that we don't need to build physical buildings all over the planet and stuff them full of humans who drive their cars to work every day to take your money and write it down on a ledger. Talk about absurd. Remember also, this equipment is being turned off because ethereum has grown to be more efficient. It is now proof of stake instead of proof of work and it has been a relatively huge success. Over night, this single change wiped out every single GPU mined network out there by removing all the profitability. That was the plan from day one and I'm glad it worked!
  - dools 4y ago
    The financial system has put a lot of effort into automation obliviously because it means they make more money. So to the extent that they could be automated, they are automated and will continue to increase the level of automation. It’s also not a reasonable comparison because banks do something useful (even if I think they could be much better regulated and are too profitable and shouldn’t be running the payment system). Crypto does nothing useful, it’s like an online casino, or an online game. Do you know any online games that consume anywhere near as much hardware and electricity?
    - latchkey 4y ago
      > So to the extent that they could be automated, they are automated It still isn't enough and is a huge waste of energy and resources. > Crypto does nothing useful, it’s like an online casino, or an online game. For me, it is extremely useful on a daily basis. > Do you know any online games that consume anywhere near as much hardware and electricity? All of them. ETH has switched to PoS and no longer consumes so much energy. It also had the side effect of destroying profitability for the majority of the other GPU mined coins, and thus the hashrate on those networks have dropped off considerably (or been replaced with ASICs).

esperent 4y ago

> I've been running >120k gpus to mine ETH So when the sea levels rise and destroy my home, I'll know who to blame. Thank you.

yieldcrv 4y ago
for a fraction of a percent of the problem that isn't even in use anymore? misdirected angst
- esperent 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - latchkey 4y ago
    Ever travel to SE Asia? There are millions of kids that go to gaming centers. They are rooms in shacks, full of computers and they sit there 24/7 playing games online. They are burning electricity non-stop and this is majority coal based energy.
  - yieldcrv 4y ago
    “I cant believe you used energy in a way I disagreed with two years ago” never really seen that in another context
latchkey 4y ago
[flagged]
- jeromegv 4y ago
  That hydro that went to you couldn’t be shared to the connected network and they had to power the rest of the network with gas instead. Unless you built your own dam, which I really doubt you did. Also unused hydro accumulates in the lake, so it’s not like hydro was wasting away and needed to be used.
  - latchkey 4y ago
    The only users of the power in the area are data centers. The power goes directly there. The same data centers you're using to access services on the internet. There is more than enough hydro in the area so they don't have to turn on the gas. Very large river based hydro and the dams were built long ago.
    - bunabhucan 4y ago
      I don't know if you know this but electricity can travel through conductors to other places.
      - ifni 4y ago
        Not everything is connected to the grid, you know. Here's an example of a single hydro dam a LONG way from the grid which (pre-Cryptocurrency gold rush) had 12 MW of unused power generation capacity plus they were talking up the possibility of adding an additional 20 MW of generation. https://www.hydroreview.com/business-finance/boralex-acquires-145-mw-ocean-falls-hydro-station-in-bc/ https://www.hydroreview.com/business-finance/boralex-acquire... It's not going to be the only one.
        esperent 4y ago
        > It's not going to be the only one. It probably is the only one, or at least an unusual outlier.
pxmpxm 4y ago
At 1-3mm year, I am highly confident you'll be long dead before that happens. 120k gpus is like what USD50mio capex at least? Did you even get any of that back w/o accounting for electricity?
- latchkey 4y ago
  Oh yea, but we wasted it on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35206003 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35206003

recuter 4y ago

> The problem was finding funding to pay for the operating expenses, megawatts of power, so it never got off the ground and the hardware has been turned off and decommissioned. Such a bummer. You ran 120,000 graphics card to mine ETH and didn't end up with lambos or like... ether.. to donate to the professor along with the hardware?

yieldcrv 4y ago
anybody running them would have the same operational costs, probably far higher since miners gravitate to the lowest cost power source
- recuter 4y ago
  He couldn't even donate 120 out of the 120k cards and one lambo? I'm beginning to think this whole crypto thing is sus
moralestapia 4y ago
Yeah, that's either a typo or bull ... or maybe one of the top 5 ETH miners is among us.
- latchkey 4y ago
  Nah, while this was a large operation, there were much much larger ETH miners.
  - moralestapia 4y ago
    Wow.
latchkey 4y ago
Hookers and blow actually. Space dust.
- recuter 4y ago

dools 4y ago

Fucking hell crypto is such a colossal waste of resources

latchkey 4y ago
In comparison to everything else, it is tiny. All of banking could be significantly automated to the point that we don't need to build physical buildings all over the planet and stuff them full of humans who drive their cars to work every day to take your money and write it down on a ledger. Talk about absurd. Remember also, this equipment is being turned off because ethereum has grown to be more efficient. It is now proof of stake instead of proof of work and it has been a relatively huge success. Over night, this single change wiped out every single GPU mined network out there by removing all the profitability. That was the plan from day one and I'm glad it worked!
- dools 4y ago
  The financial system has put a lot of effort into automation obliviously because it means they make more money. So to the extent that they could be automated, they are automated and will continue to increase the level of automation. It’s also not a reasonable comparison because banks do something useful (even if I think they could be much better regulated and are too profitable and shouldn’t be running the payment system). Crypto does nothing useful, it’s like an online casino, or an online game. Do you know any online games that consume anywhere near as much hardware and electricity?
  - latchkey 4y ago
    > So to the extent that they could be automated, they are automated It still isn't enough and is a huge waste of energy and resources. > Crypto does nothing useful, it’s like an online casino, or an online game. For me, it is extremely useful on a daily basis. > Do you know any online games that consume anywhere near as much hardware and electricity? All of them. ETH has switched to PoS and no longer consumes so much energy. It also had the side effect of destroying profitability for the majority of the other GPU mined coins, and thus the hashrate on those networks have dropped off considerably (or been replaced with ASICs).