What you need to know about Ethereum mining

Ethereum mining is possible in a number of ways ranging from the passive to active alternatives:

Crypto mining is a new money-making frontier without much risks involved. And while Bitcoin is becoming less profitable to mine by the day, Ethereum is still a solid choice. It gives solid returns (assuming the price of ETH doesn’t change too much!). Today, let’s see how we can have a setup for Ethereum mining!

First, get your Mining Setup Together:

Mining basically means running an algorithm again and again until you find the “solution”. Once said the solution is found, you are paid by the system with Ethereum

Mining can become computationally expensive and can be demanding on CPU or mining hardware. To have a chance of mining and therefore earning, a decently powerful computer setup is the absolute minimum. More power would potentially mean more earnings on average.

In the case of Ethereum, it pays out 5 ETH roughly every 15 seconds to whoever solves the mining algorithm (though this may change in the future when Ethereum switches over to a Proof of Stake algorithm)

So,first step would be to get a computer and/or graphics card setup. A standard, absolute minimum setup consists of 6 video cards. These should be a minimum of 3GB, and a motherboard with 6 PCI slots minimum. The other crucial parts would be a CPU, Memory of at least 4 GB, a decent power supply capable of handling of 80% of the output capacity, and a 60 GB hard drive.

It’s also recommended to connect the rig to the Internet via a wired Ethernet cable connection; WiFi isn’t really recommended. The above rig is optimized for Ethereum mining using the current algorithm and mining difficulty. It collects a decent 0.5 ETH per month but, as is with cryptocurrencies, things change fast.

Second, get a Digital Wallet:

For you to earn and use cryptocurrencies, you need a digital wallet. Wallets are nothing more than placeholders where your coins are stored online. You have tons of choices in this area, with many different factors too big to cover in this guide.

Once you have a wallet, it’s time to decide:

Second, do you Mine Alone or join Mining Pool?

Mining at it alone sounds like a great idea. The reward is much bigger and it’s all yours. However, this only works if you consistently beat thousands of others in solving the algorithm first. Trust us, with those odds, it won’t happen very often

To successfully solo mine, you will need an upwards of 100+ graphics cards at your disposal. Not to mention taking the brunt of the enormous electricity costs, taking care of heating problems and ventilation, and the huge upfront cost of buying the hardware. Solo mining is possible and, yes can be rewarding, but you need to know what’s in store here.

Mining pools are a collection of mining rigs which combine their hash rates together for a better chance of mining Ethereum coins. With crypto mining pools, you get a steady income even if you mine a block by proxy. It’s all about a collective group effort.

There are lots of factors you should consider before joining a mining pool. The size of the pool, or the number people joining, is an important consideration. More people in the pool means there’s a bigger chance of mining a block and getting a reward. On the flipside, however, the payout per person gets smaller, since it gets split between more people.

It might be worthwhile to try different pools to see which one you like best. But here are some we recommend

NiceHash is a relatively easy to use and quick to set up mining pool to join. The nice thing about it is that it automatically searches for the best algorithm or cryptocurrency to mine, not just Ethereum. This can give more value for your rig in the long run. It should be noted that NiceHash also pays in Bitcoin, regardless if you were mining Ethereum or something else

To join, you first need to download the AMD or Nvidia program installer from their site. This application will scan your hardware setup and install software as necessary. Afterward, you enter your Bitcoin wallet address. It should be noted that you need a BItcoin wallet setup before joining NiceHash. Else, you won’t get paid. Once entered, click on the benchmark button and start another scan. You’re then ready to mine

NiceHash runs at an overall hash rate that is 20% less. This might seem concerning, but the switching feature more than makes up for this, as it can potentially up your profitability than just focusing on one coin alone.

Another option is Nanopool. It is currently one of the largest mining pool joinable with 130,000 active members and counting. Nanopool also pays out to miners who are close to solving the algorithm, so that’s nifty as well. It charges a fee of 1%. Similar to Nanopool is Ethermine, which has a similar structure and fee.

For mining software, we recommend Claymore Dual Miner. This allows you to mine two different coins at the same time. This works brilliantly for mining Ethereum and another crypto coin. Since Ethereum is more memory intensive, the processor can be used to mine for more processor heavy crypto coins. Thus allowing you to mine at twice the speed. Both Nanopool and Ethermine support Claymore.

Third, start mining!

Once you’ve installed your choice of mining software, just run the appropriate program and your computer will then automatically start mining. Remember to always keep the program running, preferably 24/7.

Fourth, check your earnings and profit!

After a while, you might want to check how much ETH you’re earning. To do so, you need to go to your mining pool’s website and type in your digital wallet address. You should be able to see how much ETH you’ve been earning thus far.

But earnings are different from profits. To truly calculate how much you are profiting, you need to consider electricity costs. To do this, you need to find out how many megahashes per second (Mh/S) your setup is contributing to the pool. Next, go to the numberous mining calculators available online. Supply the relevant information to see how much you’re really earning!

Improve your Results:

There are a lot of ways you can improve your results and therefore your profits. Techniques such as overclocking and undervolting are worth looking at. What doesn’t change is the need for constant learning and improvement in this area since changes come in very rapidly. You need to be on your toes if you want to keep the profits rolling in. Happy mining!

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