What equipment you need to mine cryptocurrency
Before you can start mining cryptocurrency, you need to set up some mining hardware. To start with, as recommended by https://xtrgatescam.com/, you need to buy cryptocurrency mining hardware.
Different types of virtual currency may require different hardware for best results. There is hardware optimised to handle cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and bitcoin-cash.
But for cryptocurrencies without dedicated hardware, such as Ethereum, Zcash or BitcoinGold, graphics processing units (GPUs) are good enough for transaction processing. Of course, GPUs are still quite slow for individual mining, especially compared to dedicated farms. For example, if you want to mine bitcoins with a GPU, you can wait years before mining a single bitcoin.
Where to buy
GPUs are available at shops selling computer hardware. As mining became more difficult, cunning coders started using graphics cards. They provided more hashing power, which is the speed at which the user mines.
So crypto mining software was written (in other words, algorithms were developed) optimised for the processing power of GPUs, so that they could mine much faster than CPUs. These graphics cards are faster, but they still consume more power and generate a lot of heat. That’s when miners decided to switch to what’s called a dedicated integrated circuit or ASIC.
ASIC
The technology has greatly accelerated bitcoin mining while consuming less power. During the crypto hype, mining equipment such as ASICs become incredibly expensive. In early 2018, for example, it cost over $9,000 due to high demand. That’s why you need to think about the return on investment before engaging in mining. Sometimes just buying a cryptocurrency makes more sense than mining it.
Software
Cryptocurrency mining software controls the actual process. If the user is a solo miner, the software connects their machine to the blockchain so that it becomes a mining node. If mining is done through a pool, the software connects to the mining pool.
The main purpose of the software is to ensure that the mining equipment works in conjunction with the rest of the network, and to get the work completed by other users on the network. It also shows statistics such as miner speed, fan speed, hashing and temperature.
Again, you need to look for the best software at a time when you’re ready to get started. Here are some popular ones:
- CGminer – one of the oldest and most popular examples of bitcoin mining software.
- Ethminer is the most popular software for mining Ethereum. It supports GPU hardware such as Nvidia and AMD.
- XMR Stak – can mine cryptocurrencies such as Monero and Aeon. It supports CPU and GPU hardware.
You can choose the best software by reading online reviews about their features, reputation and ease of use.
