Disclaimer: Every investment is a risk! Always remember to only invest what you can and are willing to lose. I’m not a professional in crypto currency, nor am I giving you any proven professional advice. Invest at your own risk.
After much effort to restrain myself … I’ve finally given in to the darkside. Yes, I’m reluctant to say I’ve been converted, and now it’s time to put my limited knowledge of crypto-mining in to action.
First off, I’m NOT going to spend or invest in thousands of dollars worth of equipment. If you have unused PC hardware laying around… then why not build a simple mining rig with it. All you need is a decent motherboard and a few graphics cards. True, it won’t be as effective as a dedicated machine such as a ASIC miner, but this will cost you a lot more. Even a cheap ASIC miner will cost you in excess of USD $800+ … and as mining gets more difficult, these ASIC miners will have a limited shelf life.
If you’re not in the “serious” business of crypto mining, but just want some spare cash every month, then put those unused hardware to work!
I’m going to use old or existing hardware that’s been laying around in my studio. Here’s a what I’ll be using.
- Intel Pentium G4560
7th Gen processor
- 170 motherboard
- 256GB SSD
- 2 x Crucial 4GB DDR4
ram
- GeForce GTX 1070
- GeForce GTX 1080
- Thermaltake 1275W PSU
(850W PSU
is ok for 2-3 GPUs)
Confused about Cryptocurrency?
Watch this video. Hopefully, it will make more sense after you watch this. It explains most of it in simple to understand terms.
When it comes to Bitcoin mining, perhaps, the most important terminology is the “Hash Rate” .
What is Hash Rate?
The hash rate is the measurement unit of the processing power of the Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin network must make intensive mathematical and cryptography related operations for security purposes. For example, when the network reaches a hash rate of 10 Th/s, it meant it could make 10 trillion calculations per second. Another factor associated with mining is the difficulty factor. With these two terms, you can estimate how much Bitcoin you can earn as a reward for mining.
You can do so over here – Bitcoin Mining Calculator
Part 1 – Temporary Setup for Testing
I wanted to see if it will work with 2 different GPUs (of the same platform). I installed one GeForce GTX 1080 and one GeForce GTX 1070 on to our test rig – all with standard air cooling.
It turns out, it worked great. Please take note, that both cards are plugged directly in to the full-length PCIE slots on the motherboard, so there shouldn’t be any issues. However, the dedicated mining rig that we will be building, will use PCIE riser cards instead – more on that later.
GPU-Z Infomation
This was taken when both GPUs are plugged in to the motherboard’s PCIE slots (full length).
NiceHash Miner (for mining Bitcoins)
Actually, you don’t mine Bitcoins with the NiceHash miner, but rather the user will be rewarded in digital currency (usually in Bitcoins) for contributing their hardware resources and power to complete the “block” in the network.
Select your GPU. Download and install NiceHash Miner. Create an account and wallet. And start mining Bitcoin! It’s really that easy!
Claymore Dual Miner (for mining Ethereum)
Mining for Ethereum is a little bit more involving. You need some go to download the Claymore miner from Github. Don’t worry about the title … it will worth for both AMD and Nvidia cards.
IMPORTANT: Don’t forget to get yourself a Ethereum Wallet address. Go here – https://99bitcoins.com/best-ethereum-wallet-review
Ok, now for some batch file editing …
Once you’ve downloaded and extracted the file, you’ll need to edit the batch file named “start_only_eth.bat”
- Replace with your Ethereum wallet address
- Name your machine
- Enter your email address (optional)
- Save the file (as .bat not text file)
- Double click the “start_only_eth.bat” file to start mining!
You can check the progress off your Ethereum miner by going to https://eth.nanopool.org/ and entering your Ethereum wallet address in the top right hand corner.
Temperatures at Full Load During Mining
As expected, full load GPU temperatures were high, but not alarming. Anything below 80 degrees Celsius is fine. We do recommend you add some additional fans for cooling.
Final thoughts
There’s been plenty of debate on crypto-mining, with many saying it’s bad for a number of reasons. These include … high electricity costs, risky investment (usually a 9-12 months ROI), prices of cryptocurrency are too volatile, and of course the shortage of GPUs (graphic cards), which gamers have been complaining about.
For me, I don’t see any problems with crypto-mining. I only wished AMD and Nvidia had done something about it and improved the situation, so that miners don’t have buy up all the graphic cards just for mining. If AMD and Nvidia could fast track the development (coming soon actually) of a GPU that’s dedicated for mining, then that would solve a lot of problems with graphic card shortages … and therefore bring a smile to the gamers, and or course ordinary users who just wants to upgrade their GPU. There, I’ve said my bit …
OK, back to mining. As you know, this is my first experience on setting up a crypto-mining rig (temporary machine), and I have to say it wasn’t that hard. Building the rig was EASY, installing the mining software was super simple for Bitcoin, but a little more involving for Ethereum. Now all I have to do is sit back and leave the machine on for 24/7 for a month!
Using just one GeForce GTX 1080 and one GeForce GTX 1070 … I’m getting around USD $6-7 per day*, that’s an extra $180-200 per month*. I’m planning to add 2-3 month graphic cards in the coming months.
*Figures may vary depending on your system’s configuration.
Disclaimer: Every investment is a risk! Always remember to only invest what you can and are willing to lose. I’m not a professional in crypto currency, nor am I giving you any proven professional advice. Invest at your own risk.
Advantages
- Re-used old or unwanted PC hardware
- Easy to setup. Start mining right away.
Concerns:
- High electricity bill
- Possible low returns
- Leave the machine ON 24/7
Where to buy the items used …
- Intel Pentium G4560
- 170 motherboard
- 256GB SSD
- 2 x Crucial 4GB DDR4
- GeForce GTX 1070
- GeForce GTX 1080
- Thermaltake 1275W PSU
