Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison. The Ultimate Cryptocurrency Mining Guide | CryptoEvent. io. Best mining GPU 2020: the best graphics cards for mining cryptocurrency | TechRadar

Top Cryptocurrency Mining Software

Is Bitcoin Mining Profitable?

Interest in compariskn has surged since 2015 as bitcoin has seen its value rise from about $300 per coin to a peak of about $20,000 per coin in December 2017, then dropping to about $8,000 per coin as of November 2019. Other cryptocurrencies have seen similar surges and dips in value. Nearly 3,000 cryptocurrencies are listed on investing. com, but two of the most popular alternatives to bitcoin include ethereum ($145 per coin, $15 billion market cap, as of Nov. 2019) and litecoin ($45, $2.9 billion).

While buying on an exchange like Coinbase is usually bircoin simple and allows you to buy fractions of cryptocurrencies, there are those who prefer to mine their coins. The best option likely depends on individual circumstances.

Mining Profitability

Mining cryptocurrency seems like a no-brainer. Set up a computer to help solve complex math puzzles and you are rewarded with a coin or a fraction of a coin. The first bitcoin miners were able to earn coins relatively quickly just using what computing power they had in their homes.

By 2019, comparrison mining has become a little more complicated and involved. With bitcoin, the reward is halved every four years. On top of that, serious miners have built huge arrays to mine, making it harder for smaller miners to compete. Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison can join a ultimat mining pool to be Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison effective, but that comes with a fee, reducing your profits.

No matter what you decide to mine, you have to account for your setup costs, including, in some cases, graphics cards that can cost upward of $700 apiece.  It’s possible to put together bitcin basic rig for some of the less popular cryptocurrencies for around $3,000. However, some miners spend more than $10,000 on their rigs.

On top of building your rig, you also need to realize that you are going to be using quite a lot of power. If you have high power rates, you could end up spending quite a lot to Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison coins—especially bitcoin. The electricity cost involved in mining a single bitcoin is more than $3,000 in the cheapest states. For compaeison with higher electric rates, you could spend more than $6,000 in electricity to mine Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison single bitcoin. With the cost of one coin hovering at $7,000 as of December 2019, the energy costs alone don't make it ultiimate it.

A less powerful rig mining alternative ultkmate could save you money. Even so, it can take several weeks, or even months, to recoup your original investment and become profitable.

Cloud Mining

Cloud mining involves purchasing time on someone else’s rig. Companies like Genesis Mining and HashFlare charge you based on what’s called a hash rate—basically, your processing power. If you purchase a higher hash rate, you are expected to receive more coins for what you pay for, but it will cost more.

Depending on the company you choose, you might pay jltimate monthly fee, or you might pay according to the hash rate. Some companies also charge a maintenance fee. In general, cloud miners that allow you access to bitcoin come at higher rates.

In some cases, you might be required to sign a year-long contract, locking you in. If the value of the cryptocurrency drops, you could be stuck in an unprofitable contract.

However, at least with cloud mining, you don’t have to worry about power consumption costs and other direct costs related to doing all of minung mining with your own rig.

The Long View

Investing in expensive equipment and spending in excess of $3,000 in energy bills to mine bitcoi bitcoin only makes sense if you believe the price of bitcoin will rise beyond the $3,000 to $4,000 range.

Buying bitcoins with hope of their value rising is equally risky. The market for cryptocurrencies is young, Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison for every analyst who sees great potential, there is another who expects the market to go bust.

Banks such as JP Morgan still view cryptocurrencies as unproven and likely to Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison in value. Benoit Coeure, a rgi member with the European Central Bank, argued in January 2018 that cryptocurrencies could prove to be a good system for cross-border payments as long as mkning is an understanding of how to "control these gateways between the shadow-currency universe and the regular financial system." Less than a year later, he referred to miniing specifically as the "evil spawn of the financial crisis," while still uotimate the mlning potential of cryptocurrencies.

Bottom Line

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain a high-risk, high-reward investment with little consensus about the economic roles they will play Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison the coming years.

Some crypto miners instead opt for other currencies. Some other cryptocurrencies are worth very little in U. S. dollars, but it’s possible to use what you mine Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison convert it into fractional bitcoins on an exchange, then hope that bitcoin gains in value.

As it is, depending on what you mine, it can take several months before your cloud mining investment becomes profitable.

Navigation menu

Jordan Tuwiner Last updated July 3, 2019

Hobby Bitcoin mining can still be fun and even profitable if you have cheap electricity and get the best and most efficient Bitcoin mining hardware.

Bitcoin mining is competitive. It’s not ideal for the average person to mine since China’s cheap electricity has allowed it to dominate the mining market. If you want bitcoins then you are better off buying bitcoins.

Bitcoin Mining Hardware Comparison

What is an ASIC Bitcoin Miner?

Since it’s now impossible to profitably mine Bitcoin with your computer, you’ll need specialized hardware called ASICs.

Here’s what an ASIC miner looks like up close:

Originally, Bitcoin’s creator intended for Bitcoin to be mined on CPUs (your laptop or desktop computer). However, Bitcoin miners discovered they could get more hashing power from graphic cards. Graphic cards were then surpassed by ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits).

Think of a Bitcoin ASIC as specialized Bitcoin mining computers, Bitcoin mining machines, or “bitcoin generators”.

Nowadays all serious Bitcoin mining is performed on dedicated Bitcoin mining hardware ASICs, usually in thermally-regulated data-centers with low-cost electricity.

Don’t Get Confused

There is Bitcoin mining hardware, which mines bitcoins.

There are also Bitcoin hardware wallets like the Ledger Nano X, which secure bitcoins.

Check Profitability

You can use our calculator below to check the mining hardware above. Input your expected electricity price and the hash rate of the miner for an estimate.

Hash Rate:

Bitcoin Price ($):

Power consumption (watts):

Cost per KW/h in $:

0

Profit / day

$0

Mined per day

0 BTC

Mined per day

$0

Electricity costs per day

0

Profit / month

$0

Mined per month

0 BTC

Mined per month

$0

Electricity costs / month

0

Profit / year

$0

Mined per year

0 BTC

Mined per year

$0

Electricity costs / year

Profitability Factors

The Bitcoin price and the total network hash rate are the two main factors that will affect your profitability.

Our calculator is more accurate than most others because ours assumes the 0.4527678% daily increase in network hash rate. This has been the average daily increase over the past 6 months.

Most other calculators do NOT include this metric which makes mining appear way more profitable than it actually is.

The Bitcoin Price

Bitcoin mining is a booming industry, but the Bitcoin Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison increasing can help make up some of Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison losses.

The Bitcoin price is increasing at an average of 0.3403% per day over the past year. Try messing with the calculator using different prices.

Know your Competition

It may seem easy to just spin up a miner.

But you NEED to take a look at just how serious mining is.

The video below offers an inside look at one of China’s largest mines.

How to Find the Best Bitcoin Miner

There are some important factors to look at when determining which Bitcoin mining ASIC to buy:

Hash rate – How many hashes per second can the Bitcoin miner make? More hashes cost more, which is why efficiency is crucial.

Efficiency – You’ll want to buy the most efficient bitcoin mining hardware possible. Right now, this is the Halong Mining Dragonmint T1. Since miners use a large amount of electricity, you want to buy one that converts the most amount of electricity into bitcoins.

Price – How much does the bitcoin miner cost? Cheap mining hardware will mine less bitcoins, which is why efficiency and electricity usage are important. The fastest and more efficient mining Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison is Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison to cost more.

Don’t try to buy a miner based on only price or only hash rate. The best ASIC miner is the most efficient bitcoin miner. Aim for value.

VPNs for Mining

As a Bitcoin miner, you may also want to look into getting a VPN.

You can never have enough security when it comes to bitcoin. Using a VPN adds an extra layer of security.

Learn About VPNs

Bitcoin Miners for Sale on eBay or Amazon

If you’re a hobby miner who wants to buy a couple rigs for your house, eBay and Amazon both have some decent deals on mining hardware.

Used Bitcoin Mining Hardware for Sale

Both new and used bitcoin mining rigs and ASICs are available on eBay. One may want to buy used ASIC mining hardware on eBay because you can get better prices.

EBay’s customer protection ensures you’ll get a working product. Other bundled equipment may be included with your purchase depending on the seller.

We recommend purchasing the Dragonmint or the Antminer S9.

Hardware Profitability

You can use a bitcoin mining profitability calculator to determine your estimated cost of return on your mining hardware.

Be sure to take electricity costs into account. Most mining hardware appears profitable until electricity costs are accounted for.

Most Efficient Bitcoin Miners

Good Bitcoin mining hardware needs to have a high hash rate. But, efficiency is just as important.

An efficient Bitcoin miner means that you pay less in electricity costs per hash.

To improve your efficiency, there are also companies that will let you order hardware to their warehouse and run the miners for you.

You could also cloud mine bitcoins. But both options are a lot less fun than running your hardware!

Bitcoin Mining Hardware Companies

Halong Mining – Halong Mining is the newest mining hardware company. They have the best miner available. Unfortunately, they already Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison out of their first batch but a new batch should be available for sale soon.

Bitmain – Bitmain makes the Antminer line of Bitcoin miners. Bitmain is based in China and also operates a mining pool.

BitFury – BitFury is one of the largest producers of Bitcoin mining hardware and chips. Its hardware is not available for purchase.

Bitcoin Mining Equipment

In addition to a Bitcoin mining ASIC, you’ll need some other Bitcoin mining equipment:

Power Supply Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison Bitcoin rigs need special power supplies to funnel Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison use electricity efficiently.

Cooling Fans – Bitcoin hardware can easily overheat and stop working. Buy a sufficient amount of cooling fans to keep your hardware working.

Backup generators – You may want generators as a backup in case your main source of electricity goes down.

You can find Bitcoin mining equipment for sale on eBay.

Bitcoin Mining Without Hardware?

It’s still technically possible to mine bitcoins without dedicated mining hardware.

However, you’ll earn less than one penny per month. Mining bitcoins on your computer will do more damage to your computer and won’t earn a profit.

So, it’s not worth it unless you’re just interested to see how the mining process works. You’re best bet is to buy dedicated hardware like the Antminer S7 or Antminer S9.

USB Bitcoin Miners

USB Bitcoin miners are available to buy, but they don’t really generate any significant profits.

They’re a good choice if you just want to fool around with Bitcoin mining and miners like the Antminer S9, S7, S5, Antminer R4, SP20, and Avalon6 are too expensive for you.

You should buy one to learn how mining works, but other than that don’t expect much! If you are serious about making profit then check out better Bitcoin mining hardware.

You can always check the profitability of a USB miner using our mining calculator.

Don’t Get Confused

There is USB Bitcoin mining hardware, which mines bitcoins.

There are also Bitcoin hardware wallets like the Ledger Nano X, which store Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison are USB type devices that have completely separate functions!

Bitcoin USB Miners Comparison

ASICMiner Block Erupter USB 330MH/s Sapphire Miner

The Sapphire Block Erupters were the first Bitcoin USB miners. They have 330 MH/s of hash power which would net you less than $0.01 per month.

It may be a good choice just to see how mining works, but like with most USB miners: do not expect to turn a profit.

GekkoScience Compac USB Stick Bitcoin Miner

The GekkoScience miners is just slightly better than the original block erupters.

It will net you about $0.15 per month, which is more than a dollar per year! The company claims that the device runs completely silent. It works with just one USB port.

Avalon Nano 3

Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison Avalon Nano 3 is a 3.6 GH/s miner, which will earn you about $1 per year. No fan is required and it just plugs into your USB port on any computer.

Bitmain Antrouter R1 Wifi Solo Bitcoin Miner

The Bitmain AntRouter isn’t exactly a USB miner, but it is similar. It’s Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison cost, but with that you get a low GH/s at just 5.5 GH/s which is a little over $1 per year.

The plus side is it works as a wireless router, so you can do some mining while providing internet for all your devices.

21 Bitcoin Computer

The 21 Bitcoin Computer isn’t the typical USB Bitcoin miner. It does, however, plugin to your computer via USB. In terms of $ / hash Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, it’s not a very good choice.

But since it’s still technically a USB miner we have included it in this list.

If you’re not impressed, we don’t blame you! USB Bitcoin mining was only profitable when Bitcoin was in its early years. If you just want bitcoins then invest in serious mining hardware or just buy bitcoins.

Halong Mining

The world of crypto was in disbelief when Halong Mining, a new ASIC startup, announced their brand new Dragonmint Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison. Halong claimed it to be the most powerful – and efficient – Bitcoin mining ASIC on the market. If they delivered on their promise, Bitmain’s reign as king of ASIC developers would come to an abrupt end.

Unsurprisingly, many prominent members of the Bitcoin community were in disbelief, as cryptocurrency in general has been plagued by fake startups and ICO scams.

In an effort to build trust with their potential buyers, Halong Mining released videos of their ASICs running as advertised. Moreover, they claimed that $30 million dollars was invested in research, development, and prototypes.

Their first batch of Dragonmint T16’s was set for shipment in March of 2018. As the deadline crept up, the world patiently waited for the much anticipated release.

If Halong Mining really did produce the most efficient SHA-256 miner to date, the startup would prove their skeptics wrong and dethrone Bitmain, a company only concerned with their monopoly on the market.

After prominent members of the Bitcoin community doubted Halong’s legitimacy, including Cøbra, the company proved them wrong. Miners shipped as described, and Halong delivered – Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison literally – on their Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, the creator of Slush Mining Pool and the TREZOR hardware wallet, claimed on Twitter the miners are legitimate. Halong Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison has earned their keep, finally viewed as a reputable company after months of speculation and debate.

Over 100 individuals took part in the development of the chip, including BtcDrak, one of the leading pseudonymous Bitcoin core developers. According to Bitcoin Magazine, BtcDrak Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison project is motivated by, and driven to help facilitate greater decentralisation in Bitcoin mining at all levels, and make SHA-256 great again.

Dragonmint T16 vs. Antminer S9

The Dragonmint T16 was Halong Mining’s first ASIC to hit the market. Boasting 16 Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, it is the most powerful ASIC miner. Additionally, the T16 is remarkably power efficient, consuming a mere 0.075J/GH. Moreover, the Dragonmint T16 utilizes ASICBOOST, an exploit of Bitcoin’s algorithm which improves efficiency by 20%.

Compared to Bitmain’s Antminer S9, which consumes 0.098J/GH, the Dragonmint T16 is not only more powerful, but Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison efficient as well. The difference in power consumption seems small. However, when mining on a large scale, every bit of saved electricity counts.

What do you get when you combine power and efficiency? An incredibly profitable ASIC! The T16 is 30% more efficient than its competition.

Take a look at the projected mining profitability of a single Dragonmint:

Note that is appears profitable even with high electricity costs Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison per KW/h). With $0.03 / KW/h it’s even more profitable:

The T16’s new Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison chip design is largely responsible for the ASIC’s notable improvements over Bitmain’s S9.

Although the Antminer S9 still yields a decent mining profit, it is no match for Halong Mining’s Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison chip, the Dragonmint T16. Hashrate and power consumption are the primary factors in mining profitability, next to electricity cost – Halong Mining’s Dragonmint T16 is clearly superior Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison Bitmain’s best ASIC miner.

ASICs’ Impact on Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin is based on blockchain technology, a decentralized platform which takes power away from a central authority and gives it to the average person. Sensitive information is stored on the blockchain rather than large data centers, and is cryptographically secured. A vast amount of people, known as miners, all work together to validate the network, instead of just one person or government.

In the beginning, CPUs were used to solve cryptographic hash functions, until miners discovered that GPUs were far better equipped for mining. As block difficulty increased, miners turned primarily to GPUs.

Eventually, technology was developed solely for mining, known as ASICs, or Application Specific Integrated Circuits. Their hashrates are significantly higher than anything GPUs are capable of.

With stellar performance comes a high price tag – the best ASIC chips will run you a few thousand dollars each. Upon creation, Bitcoin blocks were confirmed by the average person using their desktop – once ASICs hit the market, things changed.

How?

ASICs rendered GPUs useless. ASIC developers, including Bitmain, granted early access to large mining cartels rather than the average person. Nowadays, a large majority of Bitcoin mining takes place in China where electricity is cheap.

Thousands of ASICs all mine simultaneously in a mining farm (large warehouse). Evidently, most people can’t afford just one or two of ASICs, not to mention thousands of them.

When ASICs hit the market, the blockchain’s validation process became more centralized than decentralized, as the majority of validation is done by a single mining company, rather than being spread out amongst many miners. Unfortunately, Bitcoin is no longer as decentralized as it was once intended to be.

Bitmain Antminer S7 Review

Pros

High 4.73 TH/s Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, and efficient at 0.25 Joule per GH/sReasonably priced at $440 new (plus shipping)Popular miner with plentiful guides and parts available

Cons

Eclipsed by 16nm miners (AntMiner S9) and forthcoming 14nm minersHigh power consumption of ~1350 Watts demands high-end PSUQuite noisy at 62dB

Buy Antminer S7 on eBay

The AntMiner S7: Bitcoin Mining Mainstay

Bitmain’s AntMiner S7 has proven so popular since its release in mid-2015 that it’s now reached its 19th batch of production.

The S7 assumed market dominance for good reason:

It offers a high hashrate for the amount of power it consumes.

If you view any modern industrial mining operation, chances are you’ll see racks of AntMiner S7s hashing away. The S7 is also a popular choice among hobbyist miners for its reasonable price and strong performance.

The S7 is powered by a 28nm BM1385 ASIC chip. 135 of these chips are spread across 3 boards and kept cool by dual fans (or a single fan in the case of a particular batch).

The strong metal casing features a tongue and groove system which allows for the neat arrangement of Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison miners.

Power Supply

Recommended for use with the S7 is Bitmain’s high quality 1600 Watt APW3 power supply unit, designed specifically for use with Bitcoin miners.

This PSU is highly efficient, losing only 7% of electricity between outlet and miner. The APW3 requires a minimum 205 Volts to function and does not ship with the necessary 16A power cord.

Although not cheap at $140 plus shipping, the APW3 is a good choice in terms of future Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison as it can also run the power-hungry AntMiner S9.

It’s also possible to use any ATX PSU of sufficient Wattage to run the S7.

The S7-LN includes its own PSU; a 1000W Enermax, rated Gold (above 80% efficiency). As the S7-LN only draws about 700W, this PSU has excess capacity even when overclocking the unit above its default 600M frequency.

It also adds quite a lot of weight to the unit, increasing its shipping cost.

While an integral PSU makes for a compact and convenient miner, there are few other reasons to recommend such a setup. The S7-LN also excludes a cord.

Price

Note: Before you buy an Antminer S7 make sure you Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison have Bitcoin mining software and a Bitcoin mining pool.

Shortly after release, the S7 was priced at nearly $2000, a little below the current cost of the S9.

It has since been discounted steeply and is available from Bitmain at $440 (when in stock), plus shipping. It can also be bought new at $545 or second-hand at $500 from Amazon.

Bitmain sells the S7-LN for $291 and Amazon has it going Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison $439 new or $409 used.

These prices can be expected to fall further as the S9 and other superior mining hardware becomes the new standard. It’s also possible to buy modded S7(-LNs) with upgraded efficiency Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison diminished noise and heat levels.

Bitcoins / Month (Profitability)

With Difficulty rising and the halving of block rewards imminent, the S7 is reaching the end of its profitability for those without access to cheap power… although Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison Bitcoin’s exchange rate rises sufficiently, the S7’s profitability may well be extended beyond expectations.

Using our Bitcoin mining calculator, we’ll take a peek at some likely returns for an S7 and S7-LN.

We’re assuming an average household Power Cost of 15c per kWh, a Pool Fee of 2.5% (as charged by AntPool) and a post-halving Block Reward of 12.5 BTC per block mined:

For greatly increased accuracy, perform your own custom calculation!

The results aren’t great:

$18 will be lost per month and $223 annually.

From this rough calculation (which appears not to factor in the Hardware Costs field), it’s clear that nobody who pays a regular price for their electricity will be getting rich off an S7.

With careful Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, it may be possible to profit from an S7 even at 15c power. This assumes that Bitcoin’s price doesn’t fall and Difficulty doesn’t jump… risky assumptions indeed!

The same calculations adjusted for the Hash Rate and Power consumption of the S7-LN produces slightly more encouraging results:

Only $6 is lost per month and $77 annually.

Power Consumption

The S7 draws a minimum of 1293 Watts at a room temperature of 25^C / 77^F. Naturally, the hotter the environment, the more energy the Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison will consume to cool the unit.

The S7 is twice as efficient as the S5 at converting all this energy into bitcoins; it requires a modest 0.25 Joules of power per Gigahash.

As mentioned, the LN (“Lite”) Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison draws only 700W. It likewise consumes 0.25 J/GH.

Setup

Both S7’s have DHCP capability, meaning they’ll automatically seek out an IP address to use.

Setting them up via the MinerLink GUI is a simple process, requiring only your mining pool credentials to begin mining.

The units will automatically begin Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison upon powering up, which can be helpful in the event of power failure. S7 connectivity is via Ethernet only.

Temperature

Both S7 versions will operate well below an ambient temperature of 40^C / 77^C. They are both cooled by dual 12038 Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison the room in which they’re placed cool and dry will extend the life of these miners. A dry basement is an ideal location.

Verdict: Is the S7 Right for You?

If you hope to make profit but can’t wait for the S9 (or other forthcoming miners from different companies) to become affordable, the S7 is likely your best option.

With access to inexpensive power and perhaps some intelligent tweaking, it’s possible that the S7 will pay for itself and become profitable.

The S7-LN is slightly more efficient and certainly better suited to the home miner who can’t tolerate a lot of fan noise or cable clutter.

Bitmain Antminer S5 Review

Pros

Low cost miner, with second-hand units available for under $200Relatively low power demand Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison 590 WattsGood for learning and experimentation

Cons

Noisy (~75dB) single fan design, although mods can quieten itSpec hashrate of around 1155 GH/s is low by today’s standards

Buy Antminer S5 on eBay

The AntMiner S5: Still Relevant to Modern Mining?

Bitmain released their AntMiner S5 Bitcoin miner in late 2014. At that time, it was one of the fastest and most efficient ASIC miners available, rivaled by the Spondoolies-Tech SP20.

However, the S5 has long since been surpassed by newer models.

As a product of a 28nm fabrication process, the S5 can’t be reasonably expected to compete with modern 16nm or 14nm ASIC designs in terms of hashrate Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison power efficiency.

Is there still Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison place for the venerable S5?

If you’re a hobbyist miner on a budget, with no interest in the profitability of transmogrifying electricity into bitcoins, then the S5 is worth considering.

Price

Note: Before you buy an Antminer S5 make sure you already have Bitcoin mining software and a Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison mining pool.

Used AntMiner S5s are available on eBay and Amazon in a price range between $190 and $299; most ship from America.

New S5s ship from Bitmain in China for $413, although there may be a waiting period before stock becomes available.

Remember to factor in shipping costs and possible customs duties.

Power Supply

The S5 will draw between 560 to 590 Watts at around 115 Volts. Any sufficiently-powered ATX Power Supply Unit will run the S5 without problems.

That means that your old PC power supply – or someone else’s second hand one – can Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison easily repurposed for Bitcoin mining.

Note that the efficiency of power supplies is rated as gold (10% of electricity wasted), silver (20% wasted) or bronze (30% wasted).

The efficiency of power supplies is a worthy topic of investigation for any aspiring Bitcoin miner; inefficient, unrated power supplies will waste electricity and create extra noise and heat.

A list of PSU ratings may be found here.

Recommended for use with the S5:

Ideally, get a PSU from the Corsair Enthusiast Series Bronze Certified PSU; either the 650 or 750 Watt model.

The 650W model is available second hand for a Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison over $100. Corsair has a good reputation among Bitcoin miners and other tech enthusiasts for building reliable hardware. The Bronze series offers good value.

One thing to note is that under-clocking the S5 is difficult without a special, 9 Volt-capable PSU.

Bitcoins per Month (Profitability)

Our Bitcoin mining calculator is helpful for calculating the profitability of any Bitcoin miner, based on relevant data.

Be sure to run your own calculations, using your local power rate, preferred mining pool and the price at which you intend to buy your S5.

The Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison site will automatically fill in the currentBTC-USD price, Difficulty and Block Reward.

Note that in July 2016, the Block Reward will halve to 12.5 BTC for every block solved.

In order to see any bitcoins from a single S5, you will need to join a Pool. The odds of solo-mining a block with a single or even several S5s are virtually zero.

The post-halving Reward, relatively expensive Power and AntPool’s Pool Fees are entered,

along with the current Bitcoin price and all the relevant stats of the AntMiner S5.

The results are, as expected, highly unprofitable:

Red bracketed numbers indicate negative returns.

Even if Bitcoin price were to double to a new all-time high around $1400, the Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison would remain negative.

However, if you’re able to bring your electricity Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison below 10c per KWh, you could just about break even at the current price of ~$700.

So, given a much higher Bitcoin price, cheap power, stable Difficulty and perhaps modifications to improve efficiency, profiting from a new or used S5 is not impossible…

Power Efficiency

The S5 will produce 1 Gigahash for every 0.51 Watts it consumes. This figure can be expressed as 0.51 J/GH.

The S5’s real power consumption, as measured by your electric bill, will vary depending on your PSU’s efficiency and the ambient temperature.

0.51 J/GH is a lot more efficient than the S3 (0.78 J/GH) but a lot less efficient than the more expensive AntMiner S7 (0.25 J/GH) or S9 (0.098 Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison models. Traditionally, each new BitMain miner series doubles efficiency.

It’s possible to upgrade the S5’s hashrate, primarily by increasing its frequency (aka overclocking) but this increases the miner’s power and cooling requirements.

There are ways, ranging from simple to extreme, to manage the overclocking burdens. Gains of up to ~400 GH/s are Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison but require serious effort. This video demonstrates oil immersion cooling.

Casing

The S5 is open at the top and bottom and the sides are constructed of Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison lightweight plastic.

This limits the placement of the unit and somewhat reduces its safety. One upside of the plastic casing is that the unit only weight 2.5 kg. / 6.5 lbs.

Noise

The noise from a stock S5’s 120mm fan has been compared to an industrial vacuum.

It’s definitely an unsuitable device to run in your living environment; it’ll drown out conversation and irritate people or pets.

The only solution is to replace the stock ~75 decibel fan with a quieter kind. Often a secondary fan is added to the back-end, where screw holes exist for this purpose.

Setup

The S5 will automatically search out an available IP address to use and features an intuitive control panel.

The MinerLink software will allow you to monitor the status of your miner(s), easily configure your mining pool settings, upgrade the device’s firmware and share access privileges to the miner over a network connection.

The MinerLink interface.

Temperature

Onboard temperature must be maintained below 80^C / 175^F. Keeping the onboard temperature below 60^C / 140^F will Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison the lifetime of the S5.

As with all miners, the lower the operating temperature, the higher they can be overclocked.

Verdict

The S5 is unlikely to ever turn a profit, so it’s hard to justify the cost of buying one new.

That said, a cheap, second-hand S5 in decent condition is a great tool for learning the ropes of Bitcoin mining.

It represents a low-cost introduction to the complex business of Bitcoin mining.

The S5 is also a good platform to experiment with hardware, firmware and software tweaks and mods.

At roughly one tenth the price of the cutting-edge Antminer S9, the S5 is cheap enough to try potentially damaging operations like over/under-clocking and immersion cooling.

S5 Compared to Other Hardware

Spondoolies SP20 Review

Spondoolies unfortunately shut down on May 4th 2016. In late 2014, they released the SP20. We are keeping the info here for historical purposes.

Spondoolies crammed a total of eight 28nm RockerBox ASIC mining chips onto 2 circuit boards within a compact form factor.

The SP20 is a neat miner, powerful Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison its low price with a size and noise level suitable for home miners.

The major drawback is its relative inefficiency. The SP20 draws a lot of power for its hashrate, which is low by modern standards.

Power Supply

Any ATX PSU of sufficient wattage (1200W+) will run the SP20 without problems.

In keeping with the SP20’s flexible design, you may also use dual lower wattage (750W+) PSUs to replace a single powerful PSU.

Bitcoins / Month (Profitability)

Unless you have free electricity, it’s highly unlikely the SP20 will ever pay for itself, never mind make a profit.

If we enter the SP20’s stats and some average costs into our mining profitability calculator :

The results are fairly poor:

Far less than a single BTC will be mined in a year, making the SP20 a waste of electricity.

Price

The SP20 costs in the region of $110 from eBay.

Casing

The SP20 has a solid, rectangular metal housing which is easy to stack or store.

Noise

The SP20’s 120mm fan is quieter than the models in either the SP10 or SP30 models. Although it get noisier the faster and hotter the SP20 runs, it’s quiet enough to run in a home.

Setup

Spondoolies’ user interface provides all the configuration settings and monitoring information you’re likely to need.

The SP20 simplicity itself to setup. The GUI Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison temperatures and hashrate for each individual chip, plus other vital info.

You can even use it to adjust voltages (within reason) on the board, to find that sweet spot between hashrate, power and heat.

The SP20 connects via Ethernet only.

Temperature

This unit should be operated in environments below 35^C / 95^F. Due to its high power consumption, it generates a lot of heat.

At high processing speeds, the heat will cause the fan to become much louder.

Verdict

The Spondoolies SP20 was a great mining device in its day. With the Bitcoin network’s current Difficulty, it Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison longer makes economic sense to run an SP20 given its low efficiency.

The AntMiner S5 is far more power-efficient and costs around the same. While more expensive, the Antminer S7 and Antminer S9 (or even the R4) both offer much more efficiency.

Unless there’s some specific hardware mod you’d like to perform with the SP20, it’s not a great purchase except as a piece of mining memorabilia.

Dragonmint 16T Review

Bitmain is regarded as one of the most influential companies Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison the ASIC mining industry. It is estimated that they have manufactured approximately 53% of all mining equipment.

Without including their mining profits, that’s around $140 million dollars in sales. These figures are staggering, but Bitmain’s monopoly of the Bitcoin ASIC market may come to an end, following the release of Halong Mining’s DragonMint 16T ASIC.

About the DragonMint 16T

Designed with brand new technology and boasting 16 TH/s per miner, the 16T is the most powerful and efficient Bitcoin miner to date. Halong Mining claims they spent $30 million dollars on research, development, and prototypes.

Halong Mining also noted that their miners take advantage of ASICBOOST, an exploit of Bitcoin’s algorithm which improves mining efficiency by 20%. The first batch of miners were announced and made available for pre-order in November of 2017, and are scheduled for shipment in March, 2018.

100 individuals were involved in the development of the chip, including BtcDrak, one of the most prominent pseudonymous Bitcoin core developers. He is shifting his attention to the mining hardware industry. After helping to set up the company, he claimed that the machines are around 30 percent more productive than the most proficient ASIC on the market, Bitmain’s Antminer S9.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, BtcDrak remarked:

We started a mining project with the aim to bring much needed competition to the market…We want to ‘make SHA256 great again.’

In an effort to validate their bold claims, the official YouTube channel of Halong Mining released a YouTube video showing the miner in action on November 22, 2017.

Their tests showed the miner achieving 16 TH/s, exactly as promised.

Price

Sitting at the hefty price of $2,729.00, the DragonMint 16T is far from affordable for the average person. Fortunately, due to the newly born rivalry between Bitmain and Halong Mining, the price will probably lower with time and competition.

The power supply for this unit is not included. Halong Mining recommends you use Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison of their power supplies and it’ll cost you $115.00.

In total, $2,844.00 is the price per miner. Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison sources claimed there was a minimum order of 5 chips, but according to Halong Mining’s FAQ page, this is not the case. You can buy one chip at a time. In comparison to the price of the Antminer S9, the DragonMint 16T is a better value.

Power Supply

The DragonMint 1600W power supply is strongly recommended, though not mandatory. Each miner requires its own individual power supply. They can be purchased directly Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison Halong Mining’s website.

Professional mining hardware runs optimally at 220-240V, hence why mining farms step down their own electricity supply to 220-240V. In any case, it would be a good idea to buy the DragonMint power supply.

Note that 220V current is only found outside of the US – American outlets are 110V by default. Unless you want to hire an electrician, you’ll have to buy a power supply rated at 110V such as the Rosewill 1600W 80+ Gold Certified power supply. These PSUs will get the job done, but they are not ideal for optimum mining performance.

Power Consumption

Thanks to the DragonMint 16T’s new DM8575 generation of ASIC chips, the 16T has become the most electrically-efficient miner on the market.

Consuming merely 0.075J/GH, or 1480W from the wall, the 16T is 30% more electrically-efficient than the Antminer S9. Keep in mind that exact power consumptions vary, especially depending on which power supply you are using.

Profitability

Halong Mining’s new ASIC technology is impressive. When compared to its closest competitor, the Antminer S9, the DragonMint 16T is the clear winner. It hashes at 16 TH/s, as opposed to the S9’s 14 TH/s. Moreover, the 16T consumes 0.075J/GH, whereas the S9 consumes 0.098J/GH.

The difference in power consumption is miniscule, but when it comes to large-scale mining, the 16T’s edge will drastically increase the Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison of a mining operation. This ASIC is profitable not only for mining on a large scale, but for the individual miner as well.

Take a look at the projected mining profitability of a single miner:

Note that is appears profitable even with high electricity costs ($0.12 per KW/h). With $0.03 / KW/h it’s even more profitable:

Each DragonMint 16T will generate about $1,500 per year (calculated with 1 BTC=$8,857.02). Mining profitability may vary. You can use this free profitability calculator to determine your projected earnings.

Is Halong Miner and Dragonmint a Scam?

There is been a lot of talk on Twitter that Halong Mining Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison a scam. It appears it is not, as many users are already claiming to have received their miners.

Slush, the creator ot Slush Mining Pool and the TREZOR hardware wallet, claims on Twitter that he has seen units and knows people who have had their miners delivered:

Here is another image of one of Halong Mining’s store. This is, apparently, a store in Russia.

Verdict: Is The Antminer S9 Outdated?

When the first batch of Bitmain’s Antminer S9 ASICs reached the eager hands of miners, they were all the rage. The S9 was renowned as the most efficient ASIC miner on the market. Many used the S9 as the industry’s golden standard.

Up until the launch of the DragonMint 16T, it was the golden standard.

But, now?

Things have changed.

Not only is the 16T more powerful than its predecessor from Bitmain, but also more efficient, and therefore, more profitable.

Ever since the announcement of the new ASIC, there was widespread speculation of Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison legitimacy – and rightly so.

The Bitcoin community has been plagued with small, phony companies manipulating images of preexisting antminers as a ploy to hype up their fake products. Nevertheless, Halong Mining is taking things seriously, and their first batch of miners have lived up to expectations.

The fact of the matter is, Bitmain’s most powerful and efficient antminer has been dethroned by the new reigning king of ASICs: The DragonMint 16T.

Conclusion

Bitmain has dominated the ASIC market since its inception in 2013.

There are a few other companies producing ASICs, such as Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, Avalon and Bitfury. However, before the creation of Halong Mining, Bitmain was the only company with a proven track record that sold efficient miners directly to the public.

Halong Mining has Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison potential to bring Bitmain’s monopoly to an end. Aided by BtcDrak, Halong has a bright future ahead of them. Now that Bitmain has noteworthy competition, it will be interesting to see how it affects the market.

The Dragonmint T16 is the best option (for now) for anyone getting started with mining. Halong Mining’s innovation should force other Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison producers to innovate and force other companies to release new miners with better efficiency. So whether you’re buying a miner now or soon, you’re likely to benefit from the development of this new miner.

Kupi Bitcoin Mining Made Easy – Microsoft Store – sl-SI

In this guide, we've covered everything from the bottom up so whether you're a beginner or a pro you should be able to glean some useful insight and learn something new.

It doesn't matter if you're planning to do mining using Linux, Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison or Windows. I've made sure to cover the steps for each. You will also find some great tips, tricks, optimizations, and solutions to common troubleshooting issues.

If you don't have time to read all of it today, then bookmark this page, or sign up to our email list and receive it as a free ebook!

If you're interested in privacy, then you should use a VPN when crypto mining. Take a look at our best VPN guide for a list of the fastest, most secure and private VPNs. 

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is an open blockchain platform similar to Bitcoin but with additional in-built flexibilities. With Ethereum, the blockchain can Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison considered to be intelligent thanks to the Ethereum Virtual Machine and Smart Contracts. Whereas with Bitcoin it's a glorified ledger.

Smart Contracts

With Ethereum you can execute code on the blockchain in a distributed way. These are called Smart Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison. These allow you to set up a system, whereby a person will only receive payment under certain conditions. As Ethereum grows, the scale and complexities of these contracts are expected to increase. Smart Contracts is what has given Ethereum such a solid footing, as with http://www. gridcoin. us/GridCoin, the blockchain has a functional use.

If you're interested in how Ethereum came about and wanted to find out more about it, then watch this YouTube video by COO, Stephan Tual.

Ethereum Mining Profitability

Before you determine if you should go on your Ethereum mining adventure; you'll need to decide whether it's going to be profitable or not.

While, on the surface, this is incredibly easy, as I'll show below, you must be aware that mining is very much like trading. Cryptocurrency prices fluctuate, Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison equipment might break, and so on. For example, when I started putting this project together, the rough number estimate was that I'd recoup my investment within six months. Now, with the same calculations, it would take eight months. The advantage of mining over trading is that coin prices can be somewhat more stable, and at the end of the day, you'll still have the equipment. Which, if you've chosen wisely, wouldn't have lost too much of its value.

Calculate your expected hashrate and Payout

First, you must calculate how much your hashing power will be. If you already have some GPUs that you're planning to use, then you can use Google to find out its hash rate. Alternatively, you can use a site such as CryptoCompare to determine what the best value for money GPU is. However, I've not yet found a database with a full list so you may wish to start your own excel file and compare the hashrate you get per dollar spent. GPU prices can also vary significantly, country to country, so make sure you take this into consideration as well.

I've chosen to go with the RX480 as it's expected to give 25MH/s at stock settings with a price Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison $200. Therefore, I'm paying $8/MHs, and the aim is to get this price as low as possible. Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, if you see second-hand GPUs where you're paying less than that, then they might be worth Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison high consideration.

Based on your hashrate you can use CoinWarz to calculate your expected payout, this would be 4.2Eth/month at the moment. This is worth approximately $42 at the moment.

Calculate your Electricity Cost

However, once you have your GPU cards, they will need power. Therefore, the second most important factor is how much your card will consume, and how much you'll need to pay for this. In order, to calculate this, you'll need to find out how much power it uses and how much you need to pay per KW/h. These are respectively 150W and $0.10 per KW/h for me. To calculate the cost peer hour, just convert W to kW (by diving by 1000) and multiply together, so for me the rig would cost 0.15*0.1= $0.015/hour to keep alive. This amounts to $0.36/ day or $10.80/month.

Calculate your Profit and Loss, and Return

So now you know how much money you're making and how much you're spending. With the above numbers, I'll be making $42-$10.80= $31.20 a month with one RX480.

The calculations neglect the electricity used by the other computer components, but these are usually negligible, especially if you have multiple GPUs in Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison single rig. In my case, I am mining with multiple RX480s, and expect to generate around $200 a month. Since all the equipment cost me $2000, I will break even after ten months, and make $400 profit or 20% by the end of the year.

Ethereum Mining Hardware

To start mining, all you need is an incredibly simple computer. You will need a mouse, a keyboard Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison a screen for it as well, but this is only required for the setup, so you should be able to use any existing ones that you may have.

Below, I have outlined the considerations you need to keep in mind when choosing these base components and the popular options for each. You can use a website such as PCPartPicker to ensure that the parts you have chosen will work together. Also, if you'd like you can Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison complete CPU, RAM and Motherboard bundles from gpuShack.

Motherboard

The motherboard is the most important aspect of any mining rig. The reason for this is that it needs to be able to support all of your GPUs. If you only plan on having one or two, then Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison not so important. However, most people will aim to maximize and have 6 GPUs in a single rig. There are very few motherboards that will support the running of 6 GPUs. The big advantage with mining is that you can run the GPUs from x1 PCIe slots, so you don't need to find a motherboard with 6 x16 PCIe Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison the mining 'craze' has started, ASRock has produced motherboard aimed exactly at Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison. It's for this reason that arguably the best, and most popular motherboard to buy is the H81 Pro BTC or the H97 Anniversary.

Other popular motherboards are: Gigabyte GA970, Gigabyte 990FXA, MSI Z97 Gaming 5 and the Biostar TB85. You can also find further recommendations here.

CPU

When choosing the CPU, you only need the bare minimum. I wouldn't recommend getting the absolute cheapest, but one or two points above. The reason for this is that some extra processing power is useful when setting up and makes reboots slightly quicker. Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison chose to go with the Intel Celeron G1840.

RAM

Again, you will need the bare minimum, 4GB will do. I chose to go with 8GB just in case. Also, if you're going to be doing solo mining, it's a good idea to have as much as possible at the start as this will make syncing the blockchain a lot faster. Of course, once that's finished, you can remove the excess.

GPU

I've outlined choosing the GPU above. Currently, the RX480s are one of the most popular mining cards, but if you look around the Ethereum Forums, you'll be sure to find plenty of more recommendations.

PSU

To calculate the size of the PSU you require you will need to add together the power requirements of all of your components. A site like PCPartPicker will do this for you perfectly. Add 20% on to the required as a safety factor. Also, make Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison you're using a high-quality, well recognized, and high-standard PSU, as if it blows, you could say goodbye to some very expensive equipment.

Harddrive

For the hard drive, using an SSD is essential. While SSDs are more expensive, you will only need a 16GB one, which will set you back less than $30. If you're planning to solo mine, it's recommended that you buy a 32 or 64GB one, but again this will only be a few dollars more.

Other Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison from the main components, you will also need GPU risers. I'd recommend getting USB powered 1x to 16x risers, which you can get from Amazon, for a few dollars. With some motherboard models, you will need to short some pins for the motherboard to recognize the riser.

It's also recommended that you buy some additional PCIe to Molex (or SATA) connectors so that you can connect the risers to different rails on your PSU. Again, you can find these on Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, and will only cost a few dollars.

On the whole, your hardware, excluding GPUs, shouldn't cost you more than $500, and the large part of this will be your PSU. Below is a recommended purchase list from Amazon. The total without the GPUs comes to $472.21. While with 6 RX480s your total cost would be $1702.15 sans shipping costs.

Ethereum Mining Guide

So now that we have covered profitability and hardware, it's time to get mining.

However, even with mining, there are three important considerations to make: operating system, solo or pool, and mining software.

Which OS to choose?

When it comes to choosing your Ethereum mining operating software, there are three main contenders: Windows, Linux, and ethOS. If you're a Mac Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, it Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison possible, but it's advised for numerous reasons.

Windows

If you're used to Windows and haven't ever gone near Linux, then stay with Windows. Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison you're planning on using 6 GPUs, then Windows 10 is recommended as it has support built in naturally. Windows 7 & 8 will require some playing around with. If you are used to commanding line style systems, and mining will be the only aim of the rig, then I'd highly recommend looking at ethOS.

Additionally, Windows has the benefit of more universal support and, generally speaking, better overclocking tools. Furthermore, accessing it is an absolute ease with something like TeamViewer. It does have the downside of slightly more complicated setup but nothing too difficult, especially Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison you don't plan on tweaking the GPUs performance.

Furthermore, if you're only looking to mine Ethereum as a hobby with your normal PC, then MinerGate allows you to do this extremely easily.

EthOS

EthOS is a stripped-down version of Linux (Ubuntu 14.04 to be specific) that has the simple aim of mining Ethereum (and a few other cryptocurrencies). Not only is it incredibly easy to set-up, but it's also easy to use and maintain. I've also noticed that it runs more optimally than Windows. It does have the downsides that you won't be able to use your rig for much else, Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison most people don't tend to, anyway. Furthermore, remote access is only through SSH so you should be comfortable with not having a GUI. However, for $39, it's a no-brainer in my opinion.

Linux

Some mining enthusiasts swear that Linux is the best operating system for mining. While this used to be the case, there are stronger disagreements on the topic than previously. While I do prefer Windows, Linux does have its advantages and being a slimmer system it can have its upsides. Furthermore, Windows usually comes with a price tag, so if you're looking for a free option, then Linux is the one for you.

Solo vs. Pool Mining

When it comes to Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison mining, the situation is very similar to a real mine when you consider each GPU to be a person that is mining.

Solo Mining

Solo mining is when you mine by yourself. The advantage of this is that anything you find is completely yours to keep. Unfortunately, if you only have a few miners, it might take a very long amount of time to find "gold." Furthermore, the frequency of finding gold can also vary extensively. You may have a week where you hit gold thrice, but then nothing for a whole month. Clearly, if you have a lot of miners (GPUs), then the outcome will be more stable, but below 1GH/s mining rate, Solo mining is not advisable if you want a Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison return. If you're not worried about shifts in when you find Eth, then Solo Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison is a good option above 100Mh/s as you do not need to pay fees to anyone.

Pool Mining

With Pool mining, many miners join forces in an effort to find the coin. The Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison coins are then equally distributed between the miners, though with some pools the ratios can vary on a few factors. However, you do need to pay a small fee (usually less than 1%) to the pool operator for maintaining the service. The upside is that you'll have consistent payout and thereby make money related calculations more accurate.

If you're reading this guide, you probably want to mine on a single rig, so I'll primarily cover Pool mining, but will touch upon Solo mining as well.

Ethereum Mining Pools

Http://ethereumpool. co/ - 0.8% fees. Payouts released 2 times a day for balances higher than 0.5 ETH. http://dwarfpool. com/ - 2% fees. Payouts released 4-6 times a day for balances higher than 1 ETH. http://weipool. org/ - 0% fees. Payouts released every 24 hours for balances higher than 1 ETH. http://ethpool. org/ - Predictable Solo Mining pool. 0% fees. Payouts after 10 confirmations. More info on @dr_pra comments below. http://nanopool. org/ - PPLNS 1% fees. Payouts released 2 Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison a day for balances higher than Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison ETH. https://www. alpereum. ch - 0% fees. Payout every 30 minutes for balances over 0.2ETH.

Requires registration

Https://eth. suprnova. cc/ - 1% fees. Payouts are up to the miner (Manual or Automatic from 0.01 ETH).

Mining Software

Going back to the analogy of real-world mining, in cryptocurrency mining you can use different tools to find the gold, so-called mining software. Each mining software has evolved over the years, but some have developed more than others. The primary contenders for Ethereum mining are Claymore and Genoil.

Geth

Geth is the original software from the Ethereum team. If you wish to solo mine, this will be your best option. It's simple and straightforward to use. It can also create your wallet for you, but as discussed below, you should get Mist/Ethereum Wallet as well if you prefer a GUI option.

MinerGate

MinerGate isn't recommended if you plan to have dedicated mining rigs. If, however, you wish to mine on an existing computer as a hobby, or out of interest, it's perfect.

While it does take a fee from your mining, it's GUI is quick and simple to use and once install you can be mining instantaneously. It also has some challenges that encourage you to mine, and if you're an absolute beginner, then the simplicity of this software will have you jumping for joy. If simplicity is something you prefer, then NiceHash is also a very solid option.

Genoil

Genoil Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison a continually developing and very optimized miner for Ethereum. It runs smoothly, and you can get up and running with it very quickly. Personally, I've had a few issues with DAG generation, but a few tweaks quickly solved this. If you're only planning on mining Ethereum, then Ethminer by Genoil is a strong contender.

Claymore

Personally, I've found Claymore to be the strongest and best all-round miner. It's easy to set up, I've never had any issues with it, and it has a ton of added functionality (e. g. fan management), that I haven't seen with other miners. It also has the bonus that it can mine two coins at once, which some people have found very useful to optimize their income. There have been reports of anywhere between 3 and 10 percent extra income.

For each operating system, I will give the setup instructions for the preferred miner.

Ethereum Wallet

Once you start mining, you will also need to keep your Ethereum in a safe location. This is possible in two ways, a local wallet or an online wallet. A local wallet has better safety as it always remains in your control. However, if you do use a local wallet, then either install it on a computer that's not your miner or regularly transfer funds elsewhere. The reason for this is that should your computer crash; it could be hard to recover any Ether that is kept on there.

Mist / Ethereum Wallet

Mist and Ethereum Wallet are the official developments by the Ethereum team. While at the heart of it it's straightforward to use, it does pack a lot of extra features. Since it's integrated with ShapeShift, you can also accept payments from Bitcoin Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison altcoin accounts as well. It also allows you to develop Ethereum based apps and Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison - a. k.a. Smart Contracts.

Geth (with Etherwall)

Geth is the underlying code for the Mist wallet and is the core service for syncing the Ethereum blockchain. Unfortunately, it is a Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison service, which can make it hard and annoying to use. http://www. etherwall. com/Etherwall adds a GUI front-end to it, making it easier to use.

My EtherWallet

MyEtherWallet is an open-source client-side Ether wallet running on Javascript. MyEtherWallet makes it easy to create secure wallets without the command line or the need to run an Ethereum client on your computer. By running MyEtherWallet on an offline computer, Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison can create secure paper wallets for your ether holdings.

Ethereum-Wallet. net is a similar development that is also worth taking a look at.

Poloniex and Kraken

Poloniex and Kraken are online cryptocoin trading platforms. You can use the deposit addresses there to transfer any Ether you make directly there.

Windows

So now that I've discussed all the prerequisites, here are all the steps that you will need to start mining on Windows.

1. Install Windows and C++ Redistributables

This is pretty much a given. However, I thought I would mention it as it's always best to start off with a clean installation. If you're using more than 4 GPUs, then Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison recommend using Windows 10, or you will need to do some tweaks. If you're going to use Windows 7 or 8, then also install the 6xGPU Mod software. An important fact to remember with fresh installations is that you should disable your computer from ever going to sleep or hibernating.

You Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison also need to install the C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio.

2. Download Drivers and Packages

Download the drivers and control packages for your GPUs. While it is possible to have a rig with both Nvidia and AMD GPUs, this is ill-advised as it can lead to several issues.

For NVidia install the 347.52 driver and the latest OpenCL CUDA package, which is CUDA 8.0 at the time of writing.

For AMD,  install Radeon Software Crimson Edition 15.12 and the OpenCL SDK Package. Depending on your GPU, this might not be the correct driver. So if you're having issues, check the Ethereum Forum for advice.

3. Install Additional Software

Before you start mining, it's recommended that you install some additional software that will help monitor and optimize the performance of your system.

Display Driver Uninstaller. DDU helps create clean uninstalls of display drivers. This can help if you are having issues with the video drivers. In Windows 10 it also disables the automatic display driver updates that can cause compatibility and mining issues.

GPU-Z. GPU-Z is a tool for monitoring the stats of your GPUs and displaying core details about it. You can easily plot the stats, and log/export them should you wish to.

TeamViewer. If you're planning on remotely accessing your rig to monitor it and control it, then the free version of TeamViewer will be the easiest to use.

Overclocking Tool. If you're planning to optimize the performance of your rig (which you should be), it's recommended that Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison get an overclocking tool of some kind. Most GPU manufacturers will provide one for you to use. Also, depending on which mining software you will use, you will need it to control the fan speed on the GPUs. Furthermore, AMDs new WattMan has proven to be a very well designed software tweaking your GPU settings.

4. Set-up your Wallet

Decide on which service you would like to use for your wallet, and sign up for it. I've created a Poloniex account, as I plan on doing some trading with the Ether I mine to try to further increase my profits. Make a note of your address. It should look something like this: 0x7b5eff562ee17b9e27a7af6afc26944266c8b025.

If you want Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison local address, then download the Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison wallet, let the blockchain sync and create your account there. Alternatively, download Geth, and save it to a folder such as C:Ether. Then type "geth account new". Whichever method you go for, make sure that you save your password with a secure software such as KeePass.

5. Set-up Geth (Optional for Solo Mining)

If you'd like to Solo mine, you will need to be in sync with the blockchain. To do this, you will need to download Geth and save it to a folder such Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison C:Ether. Then open a command prompt, and navigate to this folder using the cd command. First, if you're not using a local wallet, you will need to sync the blockchain. The quickest way is using the command:

Geth --fast --cache=1024 --jitvm console

The cache value is the amount of RAM you have, 1GB in the example above. The more RAM you have, the faster you can sync the blockchain.

In Notepad create a file with the below text and save it as a gethsync. bat, in your Ether folder. Launch this bat file every time before you start mining. You can also create a shortcut to it on your homescreen.

Geth Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison. Set-up your Miner

For Windows, the Genoil miner has proven to be the most effective, and I'll show you how to set this up. However, if you're interested in other alt-coins, then you should also consider looking at Claymore miner.

Once you have downloaded Genoil, save and extract it to a suitable folder, e. g. C:Ether.

Open Notepad and create a file called genoil. bat with the following text, in the same folder. These settings will optimize your mining capability and launch the mining itself. Make sure to replace the pool and wallet address by what you're using. If you're Solo mining, then replace the last line by using the command "ethminer. exe - G".

Setx GPU_FORCE_64BIT_PTR 0

Setx GPU_MAX_HEAP_SIZE 100

Setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS 1

Setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT 100

G --farm-recheck 200 --cl-local-work 256 --cl-global-work 8192

Launch genoil. bat, and you will start mining. Every time you start it, there will be a small Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison where the system will say 0Mh/s as your hashrate. Do not worry. Usually, this means Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison your DAG file is still being generated. The more GPUs you have, the longer it will take.

7. Monitor your Rig

Once you're mining, make sure you watch your rig. The first 24-48hours are essential and will determine if your system is stable or not. If it runs without problems during that period, then you should be fine. I'd recommend staying within reachable distance of your rig during this time as all sorts of issues can occur, and if you're extremely unlucky, you could end up burning a building down.

You can remotely keep an eye Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison on your rig by checking it's hashing status on the pool of your choice and also by logging in using TeamViewer.

8. Improving Performance

If you wish to improve your hash rate, then read the section on this at the end.

Ubuntu

1. Install Ubuntu 16.04 and the AMD Driver.

Download Ubuntu 16.04 and install it. Once you're set up, download the AMDGPU-Pro driver, unzip and install that as well.

2. Install the Ethereum Software

First, you will need to add the repository. Use the commands below for this.

Sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ethereum/ethereum sudo apt-get update

Now install the software preferred Ethereum software, the miner, and Geth. These will help you with syncing with the blockchain and then starting to mine.

Sudo apt-get install ethminer sudo apt-get install geth

If you'd like, you can use Geth to create your wallet, but as discussed previously it's more ideal if you use an online wallet.

3. Benchmark and start mining

You can now test that your rig is mining using the first command, and then start mining using the second. It's a simple as that. If you want to use a pool different to Nanopool, then, of course, replace it with your chosen one.

If your having an issue with one of your miners, you can use the below commands to help you try and find which GPU is the problem

EthOS

EthOS is possibly the simplest way of setting up a mining rig and is my go-to option when creating a new one. While it does cost $39, the amount of time it saves on troubleshooting is more than worth it. Arguably, it's also easier and more streamlined to monitor as you can access it simply through SSH or look at your custom dashboard. You can read my review of it here, or head over to gpuShack to Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison it.

1. Purchase, Download and Install ethOS

Once you have bought a license, you will be given a download link. Download it, and install it according to their instructions on a small SSD.

2. Initial Boot-up & Set-up

When you first boot it up, you must have a single GPU connected to the x16 slot closest to the CPU. The initial boot up will take a few minutes. Once that's done, you will need to change the remote and local config files. To help with this, gpuShack has a fantastic knowledge base. Of course, if you haven't yet, then you will need to get yourself an Ethereum Wallet/ address.

3. Add GPUs

Add each GPU one by one, making sure that the system runs stable each time. By doing so, you'll ensure that the system recognizes each one Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, and if there are any Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, it will be easier to pinpoint.

4. Monitor your rig

To monitor your rig, you have two options. You can either log in through SSH or look at the generated stats panel. The stats panel has the advantage that it's a simple web page and you can easily view it from anywhere. SSH poses the advantage, that should you have any issues, you can easily remotely manage the system (as long as you're happy with Linux command line operations).

5. Improving Performance

If you wish to improve your hash rate, then read the section on this at the end.

6. Tips for ethOS

Change your password: Use the below commands to change both the root and main ethOS user passwords. This is important especially if you're planning to remotely access through SSH. Otherwise, your machine could be maliciously taken over.

Sudo passwd

Sudo passwd ethos

Set up SSH: If you're going to set up SSH, there are two important things you need to do. Firstly, set up port forwarding on your router, so that traffic redirects to your rig. Secondly, use the below commands, to change the SSH port to something different e. g. 2221. While this won't stop an attack if there is a port scan, it will reduce the possibility of an attack by a crawler. You can also consider using private & public keys to 100% ensure that only you can access the rig.

Sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Change the line that says '# Port 22' to 'Port 2221', or your preferred port.

Cloud Mining

It is possible to mine Ethereum, using online services such as AWS, or DigitalOcean. However, no-one has managed to make this real-time profitable, and you should only take this root if you don't wish to build your own rig and want to speculate on the pricing.

There are also Ethereum Mining Contracts such as by Genesis Mining. These companies provide you with your own dedicated mining rig, and you have to pay for this upfront. Again, unless you're speculating heavily on the pricing, these don't tend to be worth it.

General Tips Improving Mining Performance

Motherboard Settings

In some cases, your motherboard BIOS might not be set-up correctly straight away. If you're adding your GPUs one by one, and at one point your rig crashes, and you've eliminated GPU related issues, then it's likely that your motherboard is the issue. Have a look around the forums for help, but often you will need a few settings changing. Personally, I've had experience with having to disable switch off some BIOS features and altering allocations, but system setups vary largely so I would say Google is your best friend.

Fan and temperature: control and monitoring

Always, always make sure you have a system in place for monitoring your fans and temperature, and you can check on these remotely. If you're using Genoil, then the system will try Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison correct itself, and if you're using ethOS, it will shut down a GPU if there is an overheat issue. However, not all miners are created equal, and if you're not careful, you could burn your house down. This is one of the reasons why it's so important to monitor your rig continuously and ensure that it runs stable within the first 24 hours. Also, bear in mind the heat fluctuations during summer and winter months as those few degrees difference can have a huge impact.

Improving Performance

If you wish to improve Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison, you have two options: overclocking and custom BIOS. A custom BIOS usually has overclocking built into it, as well as a few other tweaks.

Overclocking: Overclocking is the simpler of the two methods. Windows and ethOS support these easily through Wattman and ethos-overclocking respectively. The general rule of thumb is that increasing the mem clock by 10% increases Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison hashrate by 10%. You can also change the core clock. However, this has a smaller effect. Also, reducing core clock can be beneficial because it can reduce your power use and while your hashrate will Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison slightly lower, you could be positive overall as Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison be using less power. The right core/mem balance will depend on your electricity cost and hashrate.

Custom BIOS. Custom BIOS' are trickier. While it's easy to use a tool such as AtiFlash to flash your GPU, keep in mind that it is risky. You will also need to find a BIOS that is suitable for your GPU unless you're proficient at tweaking it yourself with a tool like PolarisBiosEditor. However, this can have the largest gain. For example, for the RX480 a custom BIOS can raise its hash rate to 30Mhs+ which is a considerable 30% improvement!

Extra Fans. Especially if you have multiple rigs, then make sure you attach some additional fans to your case/ housing. Some people also use normal desk fans or in some cases high-power industrial fans. Check out my copper tube mining rig, to get some creative ideas about how to create a useful but attractive mining rig at the same time!

Ethereum Mining Conclusion

So that's it. I hope you enjoyed reading this Ethereum mining guide, now start building your rig so you can start mining as Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison as possible!

Have any feedback, questions, comments? Let me know in the comments and I'll make sure Ultimate bitcoin mining rig comparison keep this article up to date.

Written by: Peter Selmeczy

Peter is a full-time tech enthusiast and gadget geek. When not working, you'll find him playing with Lego or tinkering away on an RPi.

Liked it? Share it!

Recommended Reading