How Much Can I Make Mining Ethereum

Beginner’s Guide to Ethereum mining

By: Steven Hay | Concluding updated: 12/12/22


Important update:

For our readers who are looking to make a profit with crypto, we recommend looking into Ethereum staking as an alternative for mining.

Ethereum mining is no longer possible; Ethereum moved into a PoS algorithm in 2022, which rendered mining obsolete. Two staking alternatives we recommend looking into are CEX.io and Binance.

The article below is kept for historical purposes and
will no longer be updated.


Getting started with Ethereum Mining is pretty easy. All yous need is a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and you can beginning generating Ether. In this mail I’m going to cover what Ethereum mining is in a nutshell and what you need to do in order to mine Ethereum profitably.

Ethereum Mining Summary

Ethereum mining is the procedure of maintaining the Ethereum ledger through solving circuitous mathematical problems. Different Bitcoin mining, Ethereum mining tin can exist done with a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) simply.

How to Start Mining Ethereum

  • Step 1 – Install your GPUs and fix up your estimator
  • Step 2 – Go an Ethereum wallet (Mist or MyEtherWallet)
  • Step iii – Join an Ethereum mining pool
  • Step 4 – Commencement mining!

That’southward it! If you want a detailed explanation about Ethereum mining keep on reading. Hither’s what I’ll cover:

  1. Ethereum Mining in a Nutshell
  2. Is Ethereum Worth Mining?
  3. Is Ethereum Mining Profitable?
  4. Choosing your Mining Hardware
  5. Operating System Requirements
  6. Step by Step Guide for Mining Ethereum (PC Only)

    • Install Drivers
    • Get a Client (advanced)
    • Get a Client (beginner)
    • Download Miner
    • Windows Settings
    • Join a Mining Puddle
    • Outset Mining
  7. FAQ
  8. Decision

Don’t like to read? Watch the video version of this guide:


1. Ethereum mining in a nutshell

At its core, Ethereum works very similar to Bitcoin. It’s a decentralized ledger that is verified and updated past participants of the Ethereum network.

Ethereum is requires mining just like Bitcoin. The but way to update a new block of Ethereum transactions is by mining that block. The all-time way to understand Ethereum mining thoroughly is to read (or watch) our guide on Bitcoin mining.

However, while conceptually the two are much alike, there are significant technical differences. Some are more obvious; for example, Ethereum blocks are added every 15 seconds (on average) while Bitcoin blocks which are added every 10 minutes (on boilerplate).
As a advantage, Ethereum miners receive 2 ETH plus all transaction and code-processing fees (aka gas) contained in their block, plus a possible bonus for any uncles they include.

As for the mining algorithm, Ethereum uses a hashing algorithm known as Ethash which is different than Bitcoin’s hashcash. Ethash is incompatible with the special hashing hardware (ASICs) adult for Bitcoin mining.

Moreover, it’s a memory-hard algorithm; meaning it’s designed to resist the development of Ethereum-mining ASICs. Instead, Ethash is deliberately best-suited to GPU-mining.

Hashrate, Difficulty and Price

Bold the amount of hardware dedicated to Ethereum mining is rising, why aren’t blocks beingness mined ever more than rapidly. How come the average xv 2d block fourth dimension remains abiding?

The answer is Difficulty.

By automatically adjusting the computational difficulty of solving a block, the Ethereum blockchain is able to maintain ~15 second intervals. You’ll notice Difficulty closely tracks hashrate.

The adjacent obvious question is what drives changes in hashrate and difficulty in the first place?

The answer is price!

As can be seen in the prototype below, hashrate has followed (with some observable lag) the ETH cost:

eth price

Chart of Ethereum’south U.s. Dollar value, courtesy of Trading View

Having said all that, it’s of import to know that Ethereum is planned to move from a proof of work system that requires mining to a proof of stake organisation that renders mining useless. It’s unclear when this change volition happen exactly.


2. Is Ethereum Worth Mining?

Well, hither are some adept reasons to mine Ethereum:

  • Mining can be a swell way to subsidize the purchase of a new, high end GPU (or ii or three…).
  • As Ethereum is hands traded for Bitcoins (BTC), it’s a cheap way to slowly build up a holding position in Bitcoin.
  • ETH can as well be sold direct for cash on several major exchanges, such as CEX.io, Kraken, Gemini and Coinbase.
  • Mining tin can be a cheap entry ticket to the Ethereum markets, loved by traders for their high volatility. If you’re a skillful and / or lucky trader, you can maximize your profits.
  • Edifice a large ETH position now, in the Proof of Piece of work mining phase, will enable you to earn interest on your holdings if / when Ethereum switches to a Proof of Stake.
  • If yous believe in the Ethereum concept (despite the failure of the DAO and doubts regarding the viability of Ethereum’due south approach), you can back up and proceeds a voice in the Ethereum network through mining.

3. Is Ethereum Mining Profitable?

With a clearer understanding of Ethereum mining and important concepts similar Difficulty, it’southward time to perform some economic calculations.

This step is very important and you should not skip it. While mining earns money information technology also costs money and if you make the incorrect decisions you lot may end upwardly with negative ROI (i.e. paying more than you earned).

Luckily, we created an Ethereum mining profitability calculator so it is fairly piece of cake to discover out if you’re going to be assisting or not.

Difficulty Factor
Hash Rate
ETH/Cake Reward
ETH/USD Exchange Rate
Puddle Fees %
Hardware Cost (USD)
Ability (Watts)
Power Cost (USD/kWh)
Duration Adding Estimated Profit in USD
Bear witness Details

Hide Details

Pure Earnings in ETH:

Puddle Fee in ETH:

Earnings After Fee in ETH:

Earnings in USD:

Power Cost in USD:

Earnings After Ability Price in USD:

Earnings After Hardware Cost in USD:

In the calculator fill in the information as follows:

Difficulty Cistron, Block reward and  ETH/USD rate:
These fields are updated automatically. You lot tin enter your ain values manually to simulate scenarios.

Hashrate, Power (Watts):
Utilize this table to find the parameters per your GPU’s make and model. Make sure the hash charge per unit measurement is identical between the tabular array and the calculator i.e. MH/southward, KH/south etc.

Pool Fees % (optional):
Enter your mining fees if you’re mining via a mining pool (usually run effectually 1% plus a ane ETH payout fee). Go out this blank if you’re mining on your own (not recommended)

Hardware cost (USD):
Put here (in USD) how much you lot paid (or about to pay) for your GPU and any other mining equipment.

Ability Cost (USD/kWh):
Enter your electricity cost, every bit appears on your utility bill. Use this listing for the USA or this list for elsewhere in the globe.

The profitability output volition appear beneath the calculator equally you enter the values:

*In the example higher up I used a 1080Ti GPU with a residential power toll of 20 cents per kWh, with no mining pool. As can be seen in this instance, this setup volition brand me lose coin, even after a year of mining…

Most chiefly, information technology is crucial to understand that difficulty and price are variables i.eastward. they can and volition probably change significantly over time. The profitability score y’all get is only true to the moment of calculation.

Profitability Warning

Ethereum is scheduled to switch to a Proof of Stake model at some unspecified date, meaning it will no longer exist mineable. Earlier any serious outlay of capital, further research into Ethereum’s prospects is warranted.

While GPUs may be set to mining other coins and their costs partially recouped through resale, GPUs depreciate rapidly. This is especially true of cards that are used for constant, intensive work of mining.


4. Choosing your Mining Hardware

Experimentation with various GPU selections in the estimator volition reveal a bill of fare with the best cost to performance to power consumption combination (expressed equally MH/due south per Currency Unit). Keep in mind that AMD cards outperform NVidia for cryptocurrency mining purposes.

The card should take at to the lowest degree 3 gigs of RAM or it won’t be able to properly mine Ethereum. This is due to the growing DAG file (directed acyclic graph) used in the Ethereum Proof of Work hashing process.

For a complete list of Ethereum mining hardware read this post.


5. Operating System Requirements

This guide covers using Windows 10 (brand sure information technology’s 64 bit). At that place are also various distributions of Linux that can be used (not covered hither). Windows is the easiest to configure and get up and running fast. There is no Mac version at this time.

At that place could be a very lengthy post on all the hardware requirements and considerations, but to encompass the important things at a loftier level, hither are some primary considerations for building a mining rig:

  • You want to get a motherboard with enough PCI-East slots to support the number of cards y’all are running.
  • If using more than than one GPU, you’ll want to get a powered pci-e riser for each additional GPU
  • For Power Supplies, you lot want to double cheque that your PSU has enough connections to support the number of GPU’south you are running and plenty overall wattage to back up your total system ability draw (and to give yourself some buffer of at least 10-15%).
  • You desire to get a elementary low end CPU and at least 4GB of RAM. Make sure your motherboard, CPU and RAM are compatible (i.east. LGA 1151 motherboards demand an 1151 socket CPU, and DDR4 RAM / LGA 1150 motherboards demand an 1150 CPU and DDR3 RAM)
  • Don’t forget a power button!  Selection upwardly a elementary PC ability button switch which connects onto the headers of the motherboard so you tin can turn your system on/off
  • A standard keyboard, mouse and monitor are needed.  If managing your rig remotely (non covered hither in this beginner guide) yous volition desire to get a headless HDMI dummy plug to plug into your rig and then it boots into Windows properly for remote access.

A helpful site for identifying how many half dozen or 8 pin PCI-East power connections your GPU volition require is Realhardtechx.com and to get a sense of your overall system power draw, you lot tin can use outervision.

Pro tip: If building multiple rigs stick with the aforementioned brand Power Supply Unit (PSU) every bit you can use extra cables on your other systems if needed (east.g. I use simply EVGA G2 PSU’s then if I take actress VGA, sata or molex cables from one build I tin can use them on another build).

Equally long as your organization meets the general requirements and has at least one GPU with at least 3GB of RAM, you can mine Ethereum. Some Gaming laptops do have high end cards, but with the considerable heat generated from mining there could exist other impacts to your laptop and so it’south best to get with a desktop build.

Virtualized environments that you can hire unremarkably practice not have enough powerful defended GPU in them, or are simply not profitable if they do.


6. Stride by Pace Guide for Mining Ethereum on a PC

I’m going to presume y’all’re running Windows and then we’ll focus on mining Ethereum on that platform.

The whole procedure of getting a wallet setup, downloading your miner, configuring things in Windows and setting up your batch file to run should take less than 10 minutes.

Step one: Install Drivers

AMD GPU’due south:
Become to amd.com then choose “Support & Drivers”.

Enter your GPU information and click “Display Results”

AMD Driver

Click the Download push for the current driver. Alternatively,  cull “Download Previous Drivers & Software” on the right hand side to choose older versions. This is recommended since some driver versions are known equally bang-up for mining (based on your cards) eastward.g.:

  • R9 and older – use fifteen.12
  • RX 4XX Serial – apply sixteen.9.2 or 16.10.3
  • RX 5XX Series – every bit these are newer I’d recommend going with current driver for now

AMD Driver2

Nvidia GPU’due south:
To become the latest Nvidia GeForce drivers get to https://www.geforce.com/drivers. Enter your card info and click “Start Search”. Download the current commuter version from the results.

Nvidia Driver

Install your GPU Drivers like you usually would (Next, next, Ok, etc.) and reboot. You know your GPU’s are recognized correctly if you become into Device Manager (search in Windows search bar) and you don’t see any warning marks on your GPU’due south. It should await something like this:

GPUs in Device Manager

Some miners have had success installing all GPU’s at once and so installing the drivers. Others prefer a different method in which they install a unmarried carte first, install the drivers and close downwards the arrangement.

While the system is off they install the residuum of the GPU’southward. Once done, they turn it back on and let them all be recognized by Windows. Find that you’ll probably feel the system lagging and experience some flickers or brief black screens while each menu is detected by Windows.

Bottom line, I’ve had success both ways, then if you lot come across an event with one method, simply delete the drivers and try the other method. If y’all exercise need to remove your drivers, utilise the DDU (Display Commuter Uninstaller) plan from Guru3d.com to remove everything cleanly and then start over.


Notation:
Steps ii-4 explain how to download the official Ethereum wallet, but that would crave you to await for the full Ethereum blockchain to sync. To skip this and get going much faster, jump down to step four (easy) and create a wallet using MyEtherWallet instead.


Step 2: Become an Ethereum Client (advanced)

For a deeper explanation of how Ethereum wallets piece of work make sure to watch our Etherueum Whiteboard Tuesday episode almost Ethereum wallets.

In this guide I will bear witness you how to install Mist, with its friendly and familiar GUI:

mist

The Mist package contains the Ethereum wallet which you’ll need to receive whatsoever mining profits. Mist as well includes an Ethereum browser with various functions, such equally messaging, a social network and tutorials.

As a tip, these tutorials and the social network are helpful learning resource. Don’t be scared to ask the Ethereals if yous experience difficulty with whatever part of this procedure.

To download Mist, head over to https://github.com/ethereum/mist/releases and select the most recent release:


Ethereum Download

Select the latest release, it’ll take the highest number:
Choose mist
 Roll down to the Downloads. You can cull Mist or the standalone Ethereum wallet.


download file

Choose a memorable download folder for the “Ethereum Wallet” zippo file. Extract information technology with a suitable file extraction tool, and notice to which folder it was extracted to. Navigate to the new folder, locate and run the Ethereum app.

Download the Blockchain

The next pace is only to wait, equally the Ethereum blockchain downloads and syncs. It’s a really big file then this process may take a while…

When it completes, spend a few minutes to familiarise yourself with the Mist app; the interface is adequately self-explanatory. The app isn’t yet fully polished so wait a few bugs.

Set your Wallet

Open the Ethereum wallet and generate a new business relationship and contract based wallet. This wallet will comprise the payout accost to which you’ll receive mining rewards from your pool or straight from the blockchain.

Ethereum accountAdd together your new business relationship, give it a memorable mining name. Store the password deeply!

add wallet

Afterwards generating the Business relationship, add a wallet and write down or copy to a text file the unique address. This address will start with the characters “0x”. It’s necessary for receiving ETH mining rewards!

A Note on Geth:

Mist also contains Geth, a popular command line interface. You lot may choose to get only the latest Geth app for your system, it’southward able to perform all the functions of Mist (and more) from the control line.

Geth (an abridgement for “go-ethereum”) allows your miner to interact more straight with the Ethereum network, merely requires some programming knowledge.

As you become more adept in Ethereum mining and coding, Geth will get more useful to you, but for now this is not recommended as the easiest path to getting started with Ethereum mining.

Step 2: Get an Ethereum Client (beginners)

If you lot want to skip the long time information technology takes Mist to download the Ethereum blockchain caput over to MyEtherWallet.com

Please beware of phishing websites. Always triple-check the domain. The existent site is MyEtherWallet dot com.

Enter a strong password and click “Create New Wallet”:

MyEtherWallet Step1

Download your “Keystore File” and click the “I empathise. Continue.” button.

MyEtherWallet Step 2

Save the private key provided.

A good practice is to open a notepad and enter in your info – password, private key, and your Ethereum address (which y’all’ll go shortly). Save that text file along with your Keystore File, in an encrypted file (using WinRar or similar program).

Afterwards, shop a re-create of that on a USB drive or deject drive and delete the private files (storing only the encrypted file digitally).

MyEtherWallet Step 3

Click on Relieve Your Accost and so select the “Keystore File” radio button. Click on “Select Wallet File”, browse to your recently downloaded Keystore File (which starts with “UTC…”) and select it.

MyEtherWallet Step 4

You’ll and so exist prompted to enter your password again

MyEtherWallet Step 5

Once unlocked you tin can whorl downward and run into “Your Accost” – this is your Ethereum Wallet address that we will use for mining. Salve it to a divide notepad text file and save it on your Desktop for easy admission

It’s okay to share this accost as this is how people volition send you Ether and how you will receive your mining payouts, but never share your Individual Fundamental!

MyEW5

Step three: Download Miner

We are going to be using the very pop Ethereum mining software called Claymore Miner.

Go to Claymore’s original Bitcointalk thread and download the electric current version from the Google or Mega download links he provides (don’t use other people’s links). The current version as of the time of this writing is xiv.6 and you’ll want to get the Catalyst and Cuda version (not the Linux version).

Note, when downloading the Claymore Miner, Windows may issue a alarm, but if you lot used Claymore’due south download link you lot can ignore this.

Once downloaded, extract the folder to your Desktop for easy admission.

Stride 4: Windows Settings

Some settings should be modified in Windows to get yous ready for mining:

First, y’all don’t want your figurer to go to Sleep as it will interrupt your mining so become into your Power Settings and set up it to “Never” turn off/sleep.

Next, Alter your organization page file and manually fix information technology to 16384 MB (this is 16GB).

To minimize the disruptions to your mining and settings you may want to too disable Windows Updates. If you lot feel more secure leaving them on, you can do so and just understand there are very frequent updates that sometimes reboot your system without your involvement and therefore finish your mining.

Finally, if you are running Windows Defender or some other anti-virus program, add an exception to information technology and so that it does not flag the Claymore mining executable “EthDcrMiner64.exe” as a virus or endeavour to disable/delete information technology.

Pace 5: Bring together a Mining Puddle

The adjacent step is to set up puddle-mining, as solo-mining is unlikely to make y’all whatsoever Ethereum unless you have a warehouse total of GPUs.

Your get-go step will exist to choose an Ethereum mining pool. There are plenty to cull from merely I recommend Nanopool or Etheremine. The dwelling house page or help section of a mining pool site most likely contains instructions on how to mine on their pool using the pop Claymore miner.

For the purpose of this guide we will use Etheremine. Directly on the home page of Ethermine.org you’ll see a department called “Stratum mode using Claymores Miner”. Open your Claymore miner binder on your desktop, correct click on the text file called “Beginning” and choose “Edit”.

Go to the Ethermine site, highlight and copy all the text in the showtime box under “So start your miners past…”

Ethermine Instructions

Depending on your location, you want to connect to the closest server to yous and update the server string of text for the server:

        :eu1.ethermine.org4444
      

To the most appropriate stratum server for you based on your location:

        Due north America (East): us1.ethermine.org:4444 or us1.ethermine.org:14444
        North America (West): us2.ethermine.org:4444 or us2.ethermine.org:14444
        Europe (France): eu1.ethermine.org:4444 or eu1.ethermine.org:14444
        Europe (Deutschland): eu2.ethermine.org:4444 or eu2.ethermine.org:14444
        Asia: asia1.ethermine.org:4444 or asia1.ethermine.org:14444
        
      

In this example I’ve updated mine for the US E Coast, so within your Text file you should now take:

setx GPU_FORCE_64BIT_PTR 0

setx GPU_MAX_HEAP_SIZE 100

setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS 1

setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT 100

setx GPU_SINGLE_ALLOC_PERCENT 100

EthDcrMiner64.exe -epool us1.ethermine.org:4444 -ewal <Your_Ethereum_Address>.<RigName> -epsw ten

  • Replace “<Your_Ethereum_Address>” with your Ethereum Wallet address (which starts with 0x…),copy that from your other text file and paste it here.
  • Replace “<RigName>” with any name you would similar to create for your miner.  We’ll utilise “MiningRig1” for our example, so you lot at present have:

setx GPU_FORCE_64BIT_PTR 0

setx GPU_MAX_HEAP_SIZE 100

setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS ane

setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT 100

setx GPU_SINGLE_ALLOC_PERCENT 100

EthDcrMiner64.exe -epool us1.ethermine.org:4444 -ewal 0x46064Df3e898488B19bC985A0973be51698bD6bb.MiningRig1 -epsw 10

Salve your file as Batch file with the bat extension. To do that, choose File > Save As and so in the box, choose a proper name for it and then blazon “.bat” subsequently the name. In the ‘Save every bit type’ box, make sure y’all select “All Files”, then click Save.

Congrats! You at present have a batch file ready to mine! Create a shortcut for the new Bat file and send information technology to your desktop. You can so delete the text file version of the file.

Saving Bat File

Step vi: Beginning Mining

Double click your Bat file to start the miner. The miner volition start, run the setx commands to gear up those environment variables, initialize each of your GPU’s, build the DAG file on each of your GPU’s and starting time hashing away. Let information technology run for almost 20 seconds and so click “s” to display your Hashing speed.

You lot can now apply this information in the Ethereum mining calculator once again to make up one’s mind a more accurate representation of your earnings.

To monitor your earnings on the puddle, go back to Ethermine.org and paste your wallet address into the Address window up at the meridian. Click the ‘Cheque Condition’ push:

Ethermine CheckStatus


7. Frequently Asked Questions

Can I mine with my CPU instead of a GPU ?

GPUs are then much faster, that CPU-mining is no longer profitable or worthwhile. Even entry-level GPUs are about 200 times faster than CPUs for mining purposes.

Can I use any ETH wallet address for mining?

You can use whatever ETH wallet address for mining, but some exchanges practice not let mining or practice not allow very small deposits so double check with the site if mining directly to a web-deposit address. If the wallets in this post don’t piece of work out for yous, y’all tin discover a consummate list of recommended Ethereum wallets here. Just make sure to cheque that the wallet you choose is suitable for mining.

What about deject mining sites?

Short Answer – Practise NOT buy into Ethereum cloud mining sites or related Investment programs.

99.ix% of cloud mining sites are Ponzi schemes or fractional reserve Ponzi’s. Even though there are a few that take been around a long time, at that place have been no tertiary party audits of the hashing power sold and profits are commonly very low unless you are promoting heavily and getting others to bring together in (some other red flag of ponzi related activity).

How Many Ethereum Can Be Mined?

Unlike Bitcoin, at that place is no limit to the amount of Ethereum that tin exist generated. Each day around 13,500 Ether are mined.


8. Determination

I hope yous found this guide useful!  If y’all run across whatever issues or have questions, delight comment beneath and nosotros will try to assistance.  Note, we are non covering more advanced steps of mining such as overclocking and undervolting, bios flashing, remote admission and monitoring, or Dual mining.

If interested in taking your mining to the next level from here, sign up for Crypto Mining Academy, where I get into massive depth and particular at every step of this process in a comprehensive class.  Happy Mining!



Ian MacpheeThis commodity was written with the assist of Ian MacPhee. For additional info my username is Techman34 (on the Ethereum forum) or contact me at [email protected]

Source: https://99bitcoins.com/ethereum/ethereum-mining/

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