How to start mining Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies
What type of hardware and software is needed to start mining cryptocurrencies?
Mining is the act of securing and confirming transaction on the blockchain this means that without mining many coins would not exist today, and they would not be able to function the same way they do today, in this article, we will explain what type of hardware and software is needed to start mining cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and others. We will keep our focus on Ethereum in this article just because this coin has been the most profitable to mine for the past four years.
Hardware
Ethereum is currently mined by GPUs and ASICs, while the GPUs are available for everyone to buy, ASICs are more scarce and harder to find so in this article we will focus on GPU mining.
Let’s take a look at what type of hardware we need to buy in order to start our mining rig.
- Motherboard — a motherboard that supports six or more GPUs is preferred
- CPU — find the cheapest CPU compatible with the motherboard
- GPU — try to find the best hashrate/power/cost, 5700 is an excellent choice
- PSU — do not skimp on the PSU it’s the most important piece of the mining rig and will need to work 24/7 so buy a PSU with good reviews and ratings
- Risers — buy any riser of your choosing and avoid if you can use SATA risers but if you have to use them that’s fine also
- USB drive or HDD/SSD — a cheap 8 GB USB drive is ideal but any Hard Drive or SSD will serve just as well
Software
When it comes to software you probably think Windows is the way to go but in reality, Windows will give miners a lot of headaches and problems with random blue screens and reboots and even occasionally reboot because of updates. When I started mining I used Windows for a few weeks and have been hell because of lack of control and problems with drivers and reboots.
After the first week, I was already done with Windows and was looking for alternatives until I found Simple Mining a Linux based OS that allows miners to manage their rigs from any place in the world either from a computer or phone and check information in real-time such as the temperature of the GPU, hashrate and many other important stats.
Wallet and pools
Another big part of mining are the payments, for every submitted share you will get paid by a pool and when you get to a minimum amount it will be transferred to your wallet.
When it comes to pools we recommend that you always use a big pool with lots of miners and hashrate, this allows you to have a steady payout and not be influenced by luck. If you pick a pool with a low hashrate or just a few miners finding a block will depend on luck and your payouts will also be either very good with many payouts or you can have payments vary randomly.
As for wallets we recommend that you pick a secure wallet and avoid using any type of online (HOT) wallets, please avoid using any app that stores your wallet or any exchange as your main wallet, if you want to use these type of wallets please use them only as temporary storage and keep your mined coins in a safe hardware wallet such as Ledger or Trezor.
Others
When we start mining we have to consider a few more things, although these will be used from time to time only. One of those things is a monitor and a keyboard, these are needed especially when trying to set up the motherboard bios settings or having to troubleshoot the rig, these are not essential, but they are needed in some cases.
Lastly, a small and important part is a screwdriver not only to tighten screws in place but to start the rig as it can be used to short the two pins to start the motherboard because mining rigs do not have a power on/off button.
