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At a time of global crisis, a pandemic and a generally unstable political and social environment, cryptocurrencies have shown remarkable stability. Furthermore, the pandemic-induced economic recession has played into the hands of the industry not only by attracting professional cryptocurrency traders, but also by reviving mining as a means of generating passive income.
Unsurprisingly, countries in political and economic distress have seen a boom in purchasing GPU cards in recent months. In the Abkhazia region, where all crypto activities have been illegal since 2018, citizens spent more than $ 500,000 on mining equipment over a six-month period.
Another factor that has worked to further popularize mining is the strong prices of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin (BTC) grew by nearly a third, while Ether (ETH), the most popular currency for mining, added $ 150 to its price, and the decentralized frenzy has caused gas tariffs to reach unprecedented levels.
So here’s how to design a cryptocurrency rig and exploration to figure out if you need to, given all the associated risks.
Components for mining rigs
A cryptocurrency mining rig consists of a computer that has many graphics cards but no monitors. Computer cases are filled with GPU cards, a power generation unit, motherboard, and cooling system. If a monitor is connected, it can become a normal computer where a user can open a browser or play their favorite video game.
The rig is connected to the internet and, therefore, to the blockchain network. The network works alone to conduct monetary transactions using the power of graphics cards. To be more precise, a mining rig consists of:
- A normal motherboard, which has the ability to connect to a variety of GPU card connectors.
- A hard disk drive, or HDD, with 100-250 gigabytes of memory to house the cryptocurrency wallet, with an Ether wallet typically taking up 25GB and a BTC wallet requiring 50GB or more.
- Several GPU cards, which are the most important components in a rig because they are the foundation that defines the cryptocurrency that a user will mine, along with their future profit and timeline.
- A unit of power generation. A rig with four GPUs often requires more than one power supply. Usually, miners have a few 750-watt units plugged together.
- A power supply for GPU cards. Video cards are connected to the motherboard using special extension cards called “risers”. There are many different types and models of risers, but the 006 PCI-E 1x version is the most popular.
- One power switch.
- One cooling system and it is preferable to have several cooling devices to provide additional airflow.
Another important detail is the frame for the rig. It is better to make a wooden or aluminum frame. The size of the mining rig will be slightly larger than its frame due to the protruding parts, adapters and a cooling system. For example, a seven-GPU rig will be approximately 21 inches (53 centimeters) wide, 12 inches (30 centimeters) deep and 12 inches (30 centimeters) high.
Once you have purchased all the components of the rig, it is time to design it, a rather simple task for a person who has experience with computer hardware. Also, there are many guides on YouTube.
When a rig is ready, all that needs to be done is to install some software, i.e. choose a program to extract your preferred currency. Another way is to find a mining pool, which is a popular way to mine, as it is becoming more difficult to do it individually due to the increasing complexity of cryptocurrency mining. There are also some tools such as TeamViewer, for remote control, and WatchDog, which automatically restarts the system if the program crashes.
The best GPU cards
As a rule, a rig should include four to seven video cards – this is a number that will not go beyond the framework of a stable operation, although there are exceptions. Miners can connect 10 to 15 GPU cards to a motherboard, but seven is the optimal number because Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system can only detect this number of cards. But there is a solution: specialized mining software based on the Linux kernel. In that case, the key is to choose the right motherboard, such as an ASRock Pro BTC + series or similar.
Determining which GPU cards are best for mining is not that simple, as the answer only depends on how much money the miner has. In general, it doesn’t make much sense to buy the more expensive and powerful GPUs for the price of two or three slightly weaker ones, as there is a greater chance that the cheaper ones will bring greater benefits due to their low power consumption and initial cost.
The highest income in mining is currently achieved with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and AMD Radeon VII cards, but it is more profitable to build a mining farm with the AMD Radeon RX 580 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super cards, as they will pay much faster.
Related: The best crypto-mining graphics cards to achieve great success
It should also be borne in mind that it is possible to flash AMD RX series GPU cards by changing the working time of the RAM, reducing the core and overclocking. Programs like MSI Afterburner and Sapphire TriXX can help make these manipulations, which will help GPU cards achieve maximum performance during the mining process.
Electricity involved
In over 10 years, the mining industry has gone from something incomprehensible and rather cheap to a professional and high-tech enterprise that implies high barriers to entry, not only for equipment but also for its maintenance.
After purchasing mining equipment, paying the cost of electricity during its operation becomes the main expense that directly affects profitability. The energy consumption of a mining platform consists of the following components:
- GPU cards, depending on power and mining algorithm, consume between 360 watts and 1500 watts for a six to seven-card rig.
- The motherboard, power supply unit, HDD and RAM consume up to 100 watts.
- The cooling system uses 20 watts to several kilowatts when using air conditioning systems.
So how can a miner reduce the cost of electricity? The main consumers of electricity are GPU cards, and with the right settings, electricity consumption during mining can be significantly reduced. For example, when mining Ether, the main thing is to overclock the video memory. The most optimal operating mode for GPU cards is the core voltage setting of around 830 to 850 millivolts for AMD cards and 650 to 850 millivolts for Nvidia cards. Lowering the voltage on the board core, in addition to reducing energy consumption, decreases the amount of heat, which has a beneficial effect on the equipment.
Power generation units can also use less energy if they have a “gold” certificate, which means they save a large amount of electricity (around 15%) compared to power units that do not. Another way is to change the HDDs to solid state drives, which will increase the load speed of the operating system and reduce the power consumption of each rig by five to 15 watts. In addition, modern RAM (DDR4 or DDR3L instead of DDR3) and processors can reduce consumption by another 10-20 watts.
A miner can also reduce consumption even through slightly more complicated ways, such as finding cheaper electricity rates, such as installing drilling rigs where reduced rates are provided for consumers with electric stoves or electric heating and lower nightly prices. If possible, miners can even contact a power plant that generates electricity to find out if it has excess capacity. Some miners can set up their own solar or wind farms and use them for mining, but not everyone can afford such an investment.
Cloud mining
Bearing in mind the unstable situation of the economy, some may want to join the crypto mining community but cannot due to the associated high upfront costs. This is where “hosted mining” can come into play, where cryptocurrencies are mined via a remote connection to equipment that has been leased. Philip Salter, chief of operations at Genesis Mining, a hosted mining provider, told Cointelegraph:
“As mining is becoming more competitive, margins are shrinking and it is more difficult for domestic miners to compete. Miners have to get every drop of efficiency possible, and that means ramping up the operation (economies of scale) and doing it somewhere where electricity is insanely cheap. […] Cloud mining seems like the only viable option for many. “
Hosted mining begins with a user choosing a compute provider. They then enter into agreements with the company to connect to its equipment. After paying for the computer capacity, miners are given access to remote mining of cryptocurrencies via rented equipment. Hence, users only need a computer and a fast internet connection to function. Hosted mining fees are charged according to the agreements established between the parties.
This type of mining has a number of advantages, such as not requiring start-up capital, not having to connect the equipment yourself, no maintenance and electricity costs, the ability to disconnect from work at any time and not needing special technical knowledge and skills.
There are also risks in cloud mining, mainly because, like any young industry, many dishonest actors try to steal the funds of ignorant users. So, when choosing a platform, users should take the time and carefully study its history and reviews.
Also, hosted mining brings lower income than mining using your own equipment. However, this is a possible option for those who really want to get involved in mining because, in any case, nobody will give up an opportunity for passive income, even if not too significant.
Build it yourself
In summary, it can be said that mining seems to be an interesting way to make some income today. If hosting mining is inconvenient for some reason, setting up a personal rig isn’t too difficult. This will require an initial investment and some time to understand how the system works.
Randy Ready, CEO and chief technology officer of Mining Rig Rentals – a hardware mining rental platform – thinks building your own system is definitely more interesting, adding, “I suggest using a small rig and potentially getting bigger once you get there. you are familiar with mining and have a stable profit. “
Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any product content on this page. While we aim to provide you with any important information we may obtain, readers should do their own research before taking any action related to the company and take full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered investment advice.
