Ethereum mining software – a program that allows you to use the power of equipment (video card, ASIC) for mining of virtual ETH coins. The software functionality simplifies the work of a cryptocurrency participant, helps to set up equipment and control the cryptocurrency mining process. The question is what program to choose for Ethereum mining, what are the nuances of the software. Let’s talk about this in detail.
Why do I need mining software
Ethereum mining involves performing calculations aimed at finding a hash and obtaining the next blocks in the blockchain chain. As a result, the miner receives a reward of 2 ETH coins. To get the maximum result, the crypto network participant must have powerful equipment at his disposal – a farm on new graphics processors or an ASIC.
Ethereum mining program – software “sharpened” for the extraction of virtual ETH coins. Its task is to ensure the operation of equipment (“hardware”) used to perform the aforementioned task.
Software developers offer additional features that increase the convenience and efficiency of mining virtual coins. The auxiliary software options include:
- Improving the performance of the GPU (if available). It is about increasing the GPU hashrate to get more profit.
- Regulation of the used hashrate.
- Monitoring parameters on video cards, ASIC-miner or other equipment used.
- GPU temperature control.
The Ethereum mining program guarantees maximum performance from the equipment used. To avoid unnecessary time and money costs, the miner should carefully approach the choice of hardware and software for the extraction of virtual coins (the total earnings depend on this).
How to choose Ethereum mining software
Choosing which program to mine Ether, you should pay attention to several criteria:
Algorithm
Ethereum cryptocurrency runs on Ethash, so software compatibility with this algorithm is important. For comparison, Bitcoin mining requires software that runs on SHA-256. The mining program should be “tailored” for the extraction of a certain cryptocurrency (the software may also work simultaneously with several coins).
The maximum hash rate
You should select software taking into account the capabilities of particular hardware. If the graphics processor produces 37 Mh / s, a program capable of processing up to 40 Mh / s is enough. If a user installs multiple GPUs, the requirements for a cryptocurrency mining program also increase. If you choose the wrong program for Ethereum mining, the effectiveness of mining decreases. Using such software may lead to overheating or failure of the equipment.
Type of cryptocurrency mining
In the case of Ethereum, mining is available using farms on GPUs or ASICs. Previously, CPUs were used, but with increasing difficulty of the crypto network, the efficiency of mining on CPUs also decreased (it became zero). The program used should work with ASIC or GPU.
The ability to mine multiple virtual coins
The situation in the cryptocurrency market is constantly changing. The software used must have sufficient flexibility to switch to the extraction of another cryptocurrency if necessary. The more options software offers, the better.
Auxiliary options
For convenience, many programs provide some additional functions, including monitoring the temperature of the equipment used, cryptocurrency mining in the background (allows you to perform other tasks while the Ethereum mining software extracts cryptocurrency), GPU acceleration, and others. In some software, automatic selection of algorithms for performing calculations, switching between the equipment and so on is available.
Top Ethereum mining software
Claymore Dual Miner
This is Ethereum mining software, as well as Ethereum Classic. The killing feature of the program is the possibility of setting up dual mining for the simultaneous mining of two coins. The developers charge a fee of 1% but in time the program is running. So, from 60 minutes of mining, about 1 minute 10 seconds is taken by developers.
The main features of Claymore:
- Joint work of AMD and NVIDIA on one farm (installation of 6 or more video cards is allowed).
- Ease of use after making the initial settings.
- The minimum threshold for transferring earned coins is from 0.05 ETH.
- The ability to control from a distance (using the JSON protocol).
Many people of the mining community consider this is the best Ethereum mining program.
EthMiner
Choosing which program to get Ethereum, you can pay attention to EthMiner. The software is specifically designed for mining Ethereum on next-generation NVIDIA GPUs. The software has console management, which creates certain difficulties for beginner miners. Interaction with EthMiner is established using the terminal and by making changes in the bat file.
The software is suitable for users who have experience in working with console programs. A feature of the software is to increase the performance of old GPUs, which allows you to increase the profitability of mining virtual coins.
CGminer
CGminer is one of the most productive cryptocurrency and ethereum mining programs. It is designed specifically for advanced users and has a wide range of features and settings. Configuring such a miner for beginners will be quite difficult due to the lack of a graphical interface. All values will have to be entered manually. But despite this, if you figure it out, CGminer will provide you with a lot of opportunities for more profitable mining.
The features of CGMiner include:
- Possible overclocking of a video card;
- Works through a proxy server;
- It is possible to adjust the power of the cooler;
- Disables idle workers.
PhoenixMiner
Developed by a team of anonymous programmers, PhoenixMiner was released as a competitor for Claymore Dual Miner. PhoenixMiner can be launched either using the command line options or without them using the configuration file.
There is also an additional configuration file called “epools”, which is a list of Ethash pools that the miner uses. The miner offers a low fee for developers and supports both AMD and Nvidia video cards.
The main features:
- The dev commission is 0.65% which is the minimum today among competitors.
- Supports graphics cards from both leading manufacturers – AMD and Nvidia.
- Saves time creating a DAG file (devs support almost all ethash cryptocurrencies, so there is no need to spend time creating a new DAG file).
- Demonstrates higher stability on earlier versions of video cards compared to Claymore.
Supports secure pool connections over SSL. - Starting from 4.0b, dual mining is available.
WinEth
WinETH is one of the most accessible mining software for Ethereum today. No wonder why this software is popular among Ethereum miners who don’t have enough experience. It is based on ETHminer and brought a simple and user-friendly interface and an intelligent configuration algorithm, which can help users slightly improve mining efficiency based on current hardware.
Miners can run WinETH when the HDD is idle or when the PC is booting. This makes GPU mining more efficient and profitable.
The drawback is that WinETH is only available on Windows and that developers charge 1% of mining revenue.