Before you start cryptocurrency mining, you need to figure out which mining device to use, what software to use, and choose the most profitable pool. Using a video card to get virtual coins is not so difficult, especially if you learn how to use the available tools correctly.
After the miner is installed and correctly configured, you will no longer have to make efforts to make a profit. In addition to the video card, you can also mine on the processor and on special ASIC devices for mining.
Features of mining on video cards
If you decide to mine using a video card, then you need to choose the best. So, AMD is releasing its video cards with a special infrastructure that is prone to mining, as opposed to Nvidia cards, which have a very low hashrate, which makes them not very convenient for mining. The best Nvidia cards give less than 1/2 megache. Laptops are even less suitable for crypto mining due to their hardware.
For full mining, you will need a desktop system and necessarily high-quality cooling. A video card or several, if mining is performed on several cards, must correspond to the motherboard, and it, in turn, must have as many PCI-E connectors as there are video cards.
To achieve the best cooling, it is recommended to remove the protective covers from the system unit.
Before acquiring equipment, it makes sense to first weigh your capabilities and calculate future mining profit on special calculator sites.
Preparing for mining on a graphics card
To do this, you will need:
- desktop computer;
- video cards (better AMD);
- motherboard with the required number of PCI-E ports;
- mining software (it is better to use the recommended BFGminer settings).
Perhaps the most important thing in mining is software. The best option is to use BFGMiner. This is a type of console program that is controlled by entering commands. It is worthwhile to understand how this software differs from the rest, and what are the subtleties of setting BFGminer so that the mining process is the most productive.
BFGMiner – mining program for using GPU (graphic cards)
BFGMiner has a distinguishing feature that sets it apart from other similar programs. This is the ability to interact with FPGA devices. In addition to the ease of setting up BFGminer, this feature makes it the most popular among not only experienced miners, but also beginners.
The distinctive features of BFGMiner include:
- performance, which is significantly higher than that of similar programs in terms of hardware resources used;
- mining can be done on different devices - on processors, video cards and special ASIC devices;
- it is possible to fine-tune BFGminer;
- the speed and frequency of operation of coolers of the cooling system can be controlled by the user.
The most current version of the program is 5.4.2, which is presented by the developer for free download on the official website.
Setting up a program for mining on video cards
Before starting mining, you should have a cryptocurrency wallet, which you decided to mine and register on a suitable pool.
After that, you need to download the latest version of the program from the developer's site bfgminer.org. Different video cards require different distributions. For AMD, one and the other for Nvidia cards. BFGminer, the settings of which are also on the site, is best downloaded from there. It should be borne in mind that some antiviruses perceive such programs negatively.
Unzip all received files into a separate folder on your PC. In the same folder, you need to create a file with the extension “* .bat”, in which BFGMiner startup parameters will be set. You can give the file any name, the main thing is not to forget later what kind of file it is. The extension must be “* bat”.
Example * bat file for mining on BFGMiner
bfgminer - s crypt - ostratum + tcp: // the address of the pool site is indicated: port number - p password - u login —Sopencl: auto - intensity9 - w 512
This example should be changed, specifying instead of them and at the same time setting up BFGMiner 5.4.2:
- pool address - the pool on which it was decided to engage in mining;
- port number - the pool used for operation (usually its number is indicated depending on what is being mined and how many cards are used);
- password - usually the one specified during registration on the pool is taken (they try not to change it);
- login - also from the pool (miner registration number);
- intensity can be specified in the range from 1 to 20 - it depends on the type of device used for mining. It is recommended to select this value empirically.
After completing these steps, the configuration of BFGMiner 5.4.2 can be considered complete.
Mining on AMD and Nvidia Graphics Cards
BFGMiner is essentially a fork from the CGMiner program, which is distinguished by the absence of a graphical shell and therefore is not very popular among beginners. However, if we talk about achieving the highest mining efficiency, with the correct configuration of CGMiner for mining, it is easy to increase it a lot. In addition, together with CGMiner, you can install CGWatcher - a graphical shell, which will make working with the program much easier.
Designed for experienced users, CGMiner provides many settings for pools and supports the ability to significantly overclock the video card. Using CGMiner it is possible to get a much higher MH / S indicator than with other programs using the CryptoNight algorithm.
It is recommended to use the CGMiner miner with video cards from AMD, which is focused on them, because it does not perceive CUDA technologies. If during the setup and the first start-up, an inscription like “bfgminer 5 4 setup amd no device” appears in the console - this means that the miner is trying to use a non-AMD video card and you should check the equipment.
If you intend to use graphics cards from Nvidia, then it is advisable to use Claymore's Dual Miner. This program allows you to control the frequency of coolers and can significantly overclock the video card.
CGMiner - parameters and settings
CGMiner can be downloaded from the official Bitcointalk Developer Forum. It constantly has the latest version of the program, in addition, on the forum you can find answers to questions on setting up the miner and working with it. Managed by CGMiner through commands. Just as in the case of BFGMiner, the “* .bat” file is created in the folder into which the program is unpacked, in which all the necessary settings are written. This eliminates the need to configure the miner at each start.
Example file for CGMiner:
cgminer --scrypt -o
stratum + tcp: //east1.us.stratum.dedicatedpool.com: 3351 -u user.1 -px
cgminer - path to the launch file
scrypt - mining crypt algorithm
o - pool address
sratum + tcp - Data is taken on the pool from the "Getting Started" section.
u user.1 - login on the pool and name worker
px - password for worker
Intensity is a key indicator that ranges from 1 to 20 and which affects the speed of the miner. Too high a rate can adversely affect the mining speed, as the available memory may run out and the mining speed will decrease. In the worst case, the number of HW errors and incorrect calculations will increase. If the intensity is not set at all, then CGMiner itself will begin to set it dynamically, trying to take into account the possibility of comfortable work on the computer.
Thread-concurrency - the characteristic is responsible for the most effective amount of calculations that the scrypt algorithm can perform. By default, it is configured to maximize the use of multi-threaded shader units of the video card that it has. This value should be a multiple of the number of shader units of the video card. If “thread-concurrency” is specified, then “shaders” can be excluded from the file. It is better to experimentally find out the best value for the video card to get the best performance.
GMiner and Decred mining on AMD and Nvidia graphics cards
Recently, version 5.3.6 of git-tpruvot was released for CGMiner, which allows mining Decred using both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs. The developer announced that this version will work better than the official CGMiner fork for DCR. The new fork has support for two protocols for the adoption of the ball - the official getwork and the more advanced getwork via stratum.
The miner works with video cards from AMD, and on the NVIDIA GPU (using OpenCL, not CUDA). Monitoring NVML only works in the 64-bit version. Miners mining cryptocurrency on AMD video cards do not experience any problems with the transition to the new version. In addition, using pools with Gatework support through Stratum, there is an opportunity to get better results when mining Decred.