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Extraction
The extraction of cryptocurrency has become in many respects an industrial activity. But despite the concentration of hashing power, the increasing difficulty and decreasing returns, in some cases it may still be profitable to make coins as an amateur miner, probably the most honest way to earn digital money. Here is a guide on how to build a mining rig.
Read also: Iran to allow imports of mining hardware, Cyprus creates the Fintech hub
Is it late to start with Crypto Mining?
The reduced market capitalization of digital assets, compared to the historical highs of last year, has inevitably influenced the profitability of cryptocurrency mining. This is a fact, but there are still a number of other factors that can influence the result of mining: electricity tariffs, regulations, hardware prices and even climate, to name a few. Their weight in the equation can vary significantly in different places, from one jurisdiction to another.
In times when leading manufacturers of highly specialized equipment such as Bitmain and Bitfury are building ASIC chips and bitcoin mining equipment with ever increasing productivity and efficiency, some say that encryption in homes, basements and garages is a hobby that dies . Added to this are the GPU producers like Nvidia who lose interest in the encrypted segment of the market, the miners in Iceland who explore better opportunities in other sectors and the future of the amateur mining industry begins to look gloomy.
But this is not necessarily the case. There are a number of altcoins whose developers continue the struggle to maintain ASIC resistance. There are many countries where mining costs are relatively low: in some parts of Russia, for example, electricity prices are lower than $ 0.04 per kilowatt. For many fans around the world, home extraction is not a lost cause, not yet. Many of them can still support the family budget without huge expectations in terms of income and profits.
Setting up a home extraction system with GPU
Taking advantage of the crypto community, Decenter, a popular Russian platform supported by experts, developers and investors, answered many questions posed by cryptography enthusiasts. Recently, the information portal has published a guide for the construction of mining platforms that includes the basic steps to become an amateur miner. The outlet did its best to protect young aspirants from unnecessary expenses and help them make optimal choices, and eventually make a few dollars.
Rigid frame – Decenter experts recommend choosing an aluminum one. The metal is stiffer than wood, is not flammable and is a good conductor of electricity, which is a serious advantage because all components of the extraction system must be grounded.
motherboard – It should be able to support 4 to 8 video cards, which means it must have at least 4 PCI-E ports. Some of the most popular motherboards are based on P45, P43 and P35 chipsets – Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L and Asus P5Q Deluxe, for example. An inexpensive option is the Gigabyte GA-Z270P-D3 based on Z270 that powers up to 6 GPUs and costs less than $ 100. Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P is a good alternative for AMD fans, but it only supports 5 cards.
Processor – An Intel based Z270 configuration can be assembled with a Celeron G3900 processor (G3930) (~ $ 40) and CPU Core 2 Duo E7300 for P45, P43, P35 (~ $ 15) platforms. Athlon X3 445 is suitable for AMD platforms with 970A chipsets (~ $ 10). The multicore processors, such as the Intel Core i3, i5, i7 CPUs for Z270 chipset platforms are excellent for coin mining based on the Cryptonight algorithm like Monero.
RAM – Quantity beats quality here as productivity does not depend significantly on generation or price. At least 4 GB are required. The most common type these days is DDR3, which is also cheap at around $ 5 per gigabyte. It is important to ensure, however, that the motherboard supports it as some of the latest models do not. DDR4 is more expensive at ~ $ 40 – $ 50 for a 4GB stick.
storage – The hashing power of the mining platforms is not really influenced by the size and speed of the storage device. The system uses it to record logs occasionally. Any hard disk with a capacity of 50 GB will suffice. The purchase of an SSD is not justified as a good old HDD will do its job and you can have for as little as $ 10- $ 15 on the used market. Be sure to check the bad sectors before buying it.
Power supply – The unit must be 80 Plus certified, which means higher efficiency. Power supplies are generally classified as Plus, Plus Bronze, Plus Silver, Plus Gold and Plus Platinum and their prices depend on the class. Bronze and gold are considered optimal for mining purposes. The KCAS Aerocool feeders are in high demand on the market and their prices are on average around $ 45 per 600 watts. Corsair devices are the most common Plus Gold power supplies and start at $ 100 for 750 watts.
Video cards – GPUs or graphics processing units are by far the most important component of a cryptocurrency mining facility. Both Nvidia and AMD have their advantages and flaws. The main differences are related to mining efficiency in terms of hash rate and energy consumption that also depend on the algorithm of the extracted coin. Nvidia cards are generally easier to tune, less prone to cooling problems but require a little more energy. On the other hand, AMD GPUs are difficult to resell after a while because they are less popular with players.
Remaining far from the newest and most expensive solutions, the Nvidia GTX series offers good results when extracting Equihash coins like Zcash and Bitcoin Private. Ethereum and other encryption based on the Ethash algorithm work better with cards like RX580 that can reach over 30 Mhash / s, while the 6GB GTX 1060 can only make about 22.
Some of the most popular graphics chips currently used in the platforms are Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti (15-16 Mhash / s, 190 Sol / s, $ 180- $ 210), GTX 1060 6 GB (20-22 Mhash / s, 310 Sol / s, $ 350- $ 400), GTX 1070 (32 Mhash / s, 470 Sol / s, $ 550- $ 600), GTX 1080 Ti (50 Mhash / s, 750 Sol / s, $ 900- $ 1,000), and AMD – RX560 products (14-15 Mhash / s, 120-130 Sol / s, $ 150- $ 180), RX580 (30-31 Mhash / s, 290 Sol / s, $ 380- $ 400), Vega 64 (43 Mhash / s, 400 Sol / s $ 850 – $ 1000).
Do you think that the mines at home will remain profitable in the long term? Share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
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