[read this] a beginner's guide to mining & rigs

[Strawberrry]

What is mining?

The concept of mining has become an extremely prevalent and prominent topic within the realm of cryptocurrency. “Mining” refers to the fulfillment of transactions for all of the users looking to send or receive a currency. These miners will produce a block for the senders to then complete the transaction. The producer of said block will receive a bounty of the cryptocurrency, bitcoins for example, as a payment for their service. The inception of mining granted a bounty of 25 bitcoins per one transaction block. This number halves with every 210,000 blocks that are produced throughout the globe. The transaction fees present in the block then gets claimed by the producers. This primary example of BTC transactions applies to all of the crypto operating through the blockchain. As the network continues to expand, the amount of coins will further decrease which causes mining to become much more difficult. With the mining becoming more difficult it takes more hardware and power that will simultaneously take a lengthier amount of time to mine.

What are “pools”?

In addition to the aforementioned concept of mining, this section devotes much of the attention to the idea of “pools” as well. A pool is essentially a place where miners will combine their power and rigs in order to fulfill the designated jobs at a much quicker rate. This rate will then produce a higher output for the pool where they will divide the profits earned. The increase of work will cause it to become more profitable in the end if individuals decide to pool together their hardware. You can likely find pools to join within a wide array of different forums. These forums allow members to meet other people who potentially take interest in pooling their hardware together in order to garner much more profit in the end.

Why is mining important?

Many of you are probably asking this question. Realistically, mining maintains the transaction database and essentially allows the distribution of bitcoins (or other cryptos) to be smooth and possible. The Bitcoins get created and distributed through the implementation of mining; over the next century (give or take), BTC will have a total market cap of 21,000,000 coins circulating in the market. This will be the cap for the specific coin and will assist in holding the value and a lack of market saturation. Those who contribute to the stability and operations of the network will be awarded payment in the currency that they assist. Say, for example, that a miner decides to dedicate their hardware solely to Bitcoin. That miner will be ρáíd in increments of Bitcoin as a reward for their work and investment into the process.



Table of Contents

First Post:

• What does it take in a person?
  
• Should you start mining?
  
• What characteristics should a miner have?
  
• Why is market knowledge important?

Second Post:

• Should you use mining programs?
  
• What are the costs of mining?
  
• What will you need to begin mining?

Third Post:

• Beginner Hardware
  
• Mining Software
  
• What should you mine?

Fourth Post:

• Is mining the future?
  
• How is the price of cryptocurrency determined?
  
• Is this fluctuation a positive?
  
• How will the coins stabilize in value?

 

[Strawberrry]

What does it take in a person?

Becoming a miner is definitely not for everyone. First and foremost, it takes a massive amount of both patience and dedication. You cannot and should not expect to receive a return on your investment immediately nor very quickly. The profit will not start rolling in immediately. One must recognize that you will be investing a decent amount of money without seeing any return on said money quickly. Generally speaking the return has been noted to take between 12-24 months depending on the amount invested and the specific currency that you focalize the mining on. Once you have established the settings and everything you will invest in, please take note of the electricity bill that you will need to pay in the future. Additionally, do not invest into the hardware if you are not going to be patient for the return on your investment or the profits in the end.

Should you start mining?

Ideally, mining is best to adopt early in the life of the coin. Those who get in early with the coins tend to make a nice and hefty profit from the mining and assistance with the transactions for the currency. It should be noted that mining does somewhat depend on the progression of the coin in the future as well. Early BTC miners can have millions of dollars worth of crypto at this point solely from the process of mining. I recall a story where a miner had discussed the fact that one of his mining computers was fried and he lost around 10,000 BTC. During the time of him mining those coins it was around $150 total for that bounty. A heft amount of profit can be produced from the investment of only a few hundred dollars into mining equipment.

What characteristics should a miner have?

• Patience - Mining will not get you immediate profit. Please do not invest into the equipment if you think it will.
  
• Dedication - It does take a good amount of time and money to see a return on your investment set in.
  
• Crypto Knowledge - Mining coins is important to maintain the blockchain. If you want to make a good amount of money from mining you should get into the coins you feel will be prosperous down the road.
  
• Recognition - At this point in time, mining will not be a full-time job for anyone on here. Please, only pursue this as a form of side money or as a “hobby” so-to-speak.

Why is market knowledge important?

As previously noted, miners who enter the market early tend to make a significant amount of profit. It will not make a copious amount of profit through investing and mining solely into BTC. Quite frankly, mining ETH would probably be the smartest investment of hardware and time currently. Knowing the market is important for miners to decide which crypto to spend their hardware and investments on. If you choose the proper coin you can make tens of thousands of dollars as the value of the coin increases in the future. Realistically speaking, the investments will potentially pay off ten-fold down the road if a miner focuses his or her rig on the proper cryptocurrency.

 

[Strawberrry]

Should you use mining programs?

The discussion around specific mining programs is filled with extremely contrasting reviews. In the lightest terms possible, deal with caution when operating any of the mining programs. Reports have stated that many of these programs actually take entire control of the hardware and resources that an individual has invested into. Often times this control will result in taking the profit for themselves rather than giving it to the operator and investor. Similarly, most of the programs take some of the profit from your mining; you continue to pay all of the bills and for all of the hardware yet they manipulate your hardware and take portions of the profit made.

What are the costs of mining?

• Hardware - A home computer really will not cut it for mining. You need to invest into specific CPU’s and hardware.
  
• Electricity - If you try to run the hardware within your home, it will cost an arm and a leg for electricity costs. Please make yourself aware of the output you will be using prior to investing.
  
• Hardware Damage - When you turn the software on for mining, it will kick your hardware into overdrive. It will put everything full-blast and will require all fans to be running.

These things will come at a different array of prices. Everyone loves a bargain; however, I would recommend investing the big bucks right off the bat and getting all of the high end hardware and materials. If you don’t, it is pretty likely that your hardware will shit the bed whilst mining. You will have to replace it and purchase things multiple times with that mindset. Spend more money at the inception and avoid the problems and the necessity to replace the materials.

What will you need to begin mining?

• Coin Wallet - The wallet will hold all of the earnings you make from mining. I’d recommend keeping track of all transactions (most wallets do this for you).
  
• Software - You will need to get some form of mining software. There are a couple of free packages that include cgminer and stratum.
  
• Mining Pool Membership - This is a community where members who mine will band together and combine their hardware. This creates more profitability and income; although, it does require a split of course.
  
• Exchange - When you wish to sell your crypto you obviously need somewhere to sell the coins. Selling on HF or other exchanging forums will work just fine.
  
• Internet Connection - The better connection you have, the better off you will be.
  
• Air-Conditioning - Make sure that the place you establish your hardware setup. The last thing you want is to have your investment be destroyed due to overheating.
  
• Proper Hardware - This one is an obvious. You need the proper hardware that has the capacity to fulfill mining.

Beginner Hardware

• AntMiner S5 - This is the widely known entry level Bitcoin miner. Some have complained about how slow it is to profit because of how complex the hash is getting. Additional complaints have been about the heat and noise. Overall, it only costs a few hundred bucks which is why it is for a beginner.
  
• Avalon 6 - Not nearly as loud as the above hardware. The hash rate is reasonable but it does cost a decent amount of money. Some people have reported making a revenue of around .12BTC per month.
  
• AntMiner S7 - With a halving block reward people still make .15BTC per month. Pretty expensive for an entry level device. It is an older device being nearly 2 years old now.
  
• AntMiner S9 - Most advanced and “best” BTC miner to date. You can mine around .5BTC per month. Does have a decent amount of electricity costs and hardware costs.
  
• AntMiner R4 - Intended for hobby mining. People who want to operate their hardware and manage the mining from home should probably buy something like this. It can’t really compete with the S9 in regards to output. It has a specialized cooling unit which makes it a lot quieter in the realm of noise production.
  
• Avalon 7 - Latest BTC miner supplied by Avalon. Introduced in late 2016, has a quite low priced tag compared to most advanced machines. It is less powerful but is a good choice for those looking to be at the cheaper end of entry level mining.

Mining Software

• MinerGate - Desktop application for all popular operating systems. This is one of the few that allows mining of multiple different cryptocurrencies. It can mine Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, Dashcoin, etc.
  
• AlethOne - The first GUI miner produced for ETH mining. Meant to simplify the mining process for users that ore not programmers or comfortable with command line.
  
• MultiMiner - Another desktop application for crypto mining. It monitors on Windows, Mac, OS X and Linux. Allows switching between individual devices between Bitcoin and Litecoin. The application presents a screen for choosing the coins you would like to mine.

What should you mine?

• Bitcoin - Being one of the most reputable cryptocurrencies, it is likely that this will be the most desired coin to mine. As it gets more difficult to mine, the profit does continue to dwindle. It is one of the most promising at this exact time though.
  
• Ethereum - This is the “next BTC” according to many. It is best if you focus your mining rigs on this right now because it’d result in more profit in the long run (most likely). This will probably garner more money than mining BTC would.
  
• Most promising coins - As previously stated, those who are looking to mine should know a good amount about the market. It would be good to mine those coins that you think will be valuable in the long run. Once the coin continues to gain value, you will see a significant amount of profit in the end.

 

[Strawberrry]

Is mining the future?

Mining is not a get rich quick scheme. Please, do not invest your money into any of the hardware or necessary items if you think it is. It will be a lot more valuable to mine the relatively newer coins that are projected to be both promising and profitable down the road. Without the miners for these coins there would not be any crypto transactions at all; the blockchain quite literally relies on the mining to finish a block on the blockchain. Mining and crypto go hand-in-hand.

How is the price of cryptocurrency determined?

The price of a cryptocurrency remains dependent on quite a bit of different information. Liquidity remains as a common trait for the valuation of a coin. Presently the prices of coins tend to fluctuate quite commonly. Obviously the simplistic concepts of supply and demand apply to the marketing for their currencies. Most cryptos have a cap of production that will regulate and force a coin to maintain a certain value. Bitcoin, as previously noted, has a maximum of 21 million coins that can ever be produced.

Is this fluctuation a positive?

The question of how this fluctuation affects the marketability of cryptocurrency has become just as common as the fluctuations themselves. Many people are unsure of what exactly to focalize their mining rigs on because of these fluctuations. BTC is obviously the most popular and highest rated coin to date. ETH, on the other hand, is a decentralized and secure payment method that has been receiving quite a bit of attention throughout the market as well. The changing of values has caused people to have difficulty in choosing what to mine while also shooing some investors away due to the seemingly unstable market for the coins.

How will the coins stabilize in value?

The stabilization of coins will eventually occur; how long will it take is the real question here. The furthering of mining will likely lead to more stable prices. Similarly, when a coin reaches the set market cap it will quite possibly land at a more singular price with much smaller value fluctuations. Realistically, there is not any definite answer in regards to the future value of coins; it operates like any other investment.

Q/A

1. I looked on Bitmain to purchase the S9, but it was sold out. Is there anywhere else I can buy them with safety?

Realistically, I would recommend focusing more on mining ETH rather than BTC. It has gotten to the point where the investment for BTC has far out-weighed the return unless you have a significant amount of money and you join a pool. Although, you can find anything you are looking for on eBay and virtually any online seller. I haven't checked Newegg, however, they might have these things as well.

2. How exactly would mining work? After purchasing this, would I need to hook it up to a desktop or something, at which point that particular piece of hardware would act as the unit 'mining' these coins? Would my desktop suffer wear and tear as well?

You will need a hosting source, correct. I wouldn't recommend using your own desktop; although, it wouldn't suffer as much wear and tear as the particular device itself. Again, this is all dependent on the specific items that you purchase and use for mining.

3. Thoughts on Cloud-based mining (e.g. NiceHash)?

Cloud-based mining is a complete rip off. It is essentially a scam in my opinion.

 

[Tor666]

Anong date pinublish tong article ts?

 

[Sin20]

Thanks

 

[Strawberrry]

Thanks

welcome po, if gusto mo pang matuto abang2 lang hahhaha

 

[Lovelast]

saan po maganda mag mine ng ETH?