Running a Full Node on Low-Power Devices

Thin clients rely on a server, so they totally depend on network speed. You can plug in SD cards and stuff to boost performance, and yeah, Raspberry Pi can handle it. But honestly, running a full node on desktops also needs a solid network connection. With thin clients, the system load is less, which helps save power. Setting up a full node with thin clients is cheaper, but I've noticed some downsides like server failures. Still not a ton of people using these devices for this.

For sure it's doable. But running a Raspberry Pi as a main server? Not ideal. It's pretty underpowered and honestly not that much cheaper than better options. No vulnerabilities, just a smaller computer. If you're going for it, get an HDD instead of an SD card. Constant writes will wreck your SD card and sync will be slow. Syncing on another machine first and then transferring helps, but setting it up on a Pi? Major hassle.

Check this out: https://someforumlink.com Can you run a node? Sure, but be ready to tinker a lot. Should you? If you wanna learn and geek out, go for it. But no, you don't need it just to transact.

Bitcoin Core still works fine with just 2GB RAM and a single thread if you’re using terminal only. Might need to tweak mempool size and dbcache for decent performance, but that’s it. The kernel uses about 256MB, so recompiling doesn’t help much.

Yeah, the 256MB thing is from my experience with Linux. But Bitcoin Core itself eats up around half a gig after you start it up, especially as more blocks verify. It’ll struggle with my minimum RAM setup but will hang if there's not enough memory and swap kicks in.

If you turn off wallet features, it might work. I had Core running on a 1GB RAM VPS once. It was super optimized but struggled with IDB. The command line worked fine, no crashes, but you had to manage resources carefully. Raspberry Pi 4? Not great for syncing, even with multi-threading. Overheating like crazy.

I've had a few 'nodes in a box' like Umbrel and MyNode. They did overheat sometimes. Usually due to external stuff like a dead fan. But when it's open with a good heatsink, it runs fine. Biggest issue was bad power adapters, even from well-known brands.

I talked about a budget VPS provider a while back. Cost me about 50 cents for full IBD with pruning. They throttle CPU, but it keeps you from getting kicked. It just slows down unless you pay more. VPS prices are falling fast, so I doubt memory will be an issue soon.

Anyone tried running Core with bare minimum RAM? I’ve got 4GB, and it’s painfully slow at times. Startup checks for recent blocks can take ages. I can’t imagine someone running it with 256MB. Honestly, 1GB should be the minimum.

Yeah, I saw your thread. Throttled CPU seems common. Some people mentioned providers warning about upgrading or risking termination. But if you’re okay with lesser-known providers, some offer over 500GB for under 20 bucks a month.

I started with Bitcoin 8 years ago. Ran a backup version of Core on a netbook with 2GB RAM but gave up cause it was too slow. Now I'm happy with 8GB, but more is always better. Is that HDD or SSD? Makes a big difference.

This year memory usage from unconfirmed transactions hit an ATH. Frustration with Ordinals lasted for months, not just a week like in 2017. Right now, I’m using 300MB of my 300MB limit, purging low-value transactions. Remember when it was 1 sat/vb for quick confirmations? Good times.

I tested moving chainstate to SSD, and it changed everything. Never looked back, though I still have blocks on HDD. You can limit CPU load on cheap VPS with cputool, but it varies based on the VPS type.

My go-to for price/performance is Racknerd. They have better deals on Lowendtalk than on their site. Ramnode is solid too but at a higher price. Both accept Bitcoin.