Advertisement Gaming computers are some of the most powerful consumer PCs on the market. Though beefy dual-processor workstations exist, they’re for work rather than play. People who buy a powerful computer for personal use usually do. Cryptocurrency mining saves you money, saves the planet, and can make you money.

The trick is to maximize your hash rate per watt or reduce your system’s overall energy footprint. Here are the components and configuration settings needed to maximize your computer’s energy efficiency for mining the cryptocurrency. Ethereum Mining Precursor There are two approaches to reducing power costs when mining Ethereum (or any cryptocurrency): • You can reduce the total wattage consumption of the system. • You can maximize the amount of cryptocurrency mined relative to its power consumption. Both design styles end up looking very similar to one another. That’s because cryptocurrency mining focuses on two parts: the graphics card and the power supply.

The rest of the computer can be little more than scrap heap pulls. Let us begin with the most important component: the Over the last five or more years, there have been a number of different terms swirling around to describe computer hardware. Some of those terms include but aren’t limited to APU, CPU, and GPU. Parts for Building Your Ultra-Efficient Miner Energy-Efficient GPUs The most energy efficient GPUs around come from Nvidia. Unfortunately, Nvidia GPUs aren’t quite as good at solving cryptographic hashes as AMD hardware. More or less, if you want energy efficiency (without paying a fortune for a 1070 or 1080), your only option is an AMD graphics card. The most energy efficient of these is the AMD Radeon RX 460 or RX 470 (or the pricier RX 560 and RX 570).

The RX 470 pulls around 145 watts, with the recommended power supply for it producing around 350 total watts. The RX 460 on the other hand, uses a total of 75 watts.

How to mine Ethereum in 5 min. And have found an effortless way to start mining it quickly on. //dwarfpool.com/eth and in ‘Worker stats’ enter your wallet. Mining Ethereum can be done in a variety of ways. How to choose a GPU to mine Ether with? Or the graphics card that is the most power efficient.

That makes it easier to deploy on single-card mining rigs. The hash rate of the RX 460 is reported to be around 11 mega-hashes per second (MHS). With a “peak” wattage consumption of 75 watts, that translates to 0.147 MHS/W.

The 470 produces a hash rate of around 25 MHS with a power consumption of around 120 watts for 0.208 MHS/W. Of the two, the 470 offers better efficiency per watt. But the 460 is easier to deploy on low-cost, low-end systems. And the 470 costs a great deal more on secondary markets. More or less, the 470 is running for well over, whereas you can still get a 460 for around $100. Note: The more RAM, the better the hash rate of the card.

If you can get more RAM, do it. The RX 460 Is Easier to Power GPUs like the RX 470 require additional power from either a 6-pin or an 8-pin connector, supplied by your power supply unit (PSU).

Unlike the 470, the 460 draws so little power that it can operate entirely off the power supplied by the motherboard’s PCIe connector (which maxes out at around 75 watts). That means you don’t need an eight or 6-pin connector, so it can almost certainly operate off the energy supplied by what’s known as a picoPSU: a tiny, fanless, highly-efficient PSU. Energy-Efficient Power Supply The power supply determines how efficiently a computer pulls current from the wall socket. Unfortunately, the standard PSU converts from wall current ( Alternating Current, also known as AC) to Direct Current (DC) at around 70 percent efficiency.

That means 30 percent of the power pulled from the wall gets turned into waste heat. Fortunately, a variety of PSUs can convert at 80 percent and higher.

When certified by the organization, a power supply unit receive an efficiency rating which varies depending on the load of the unit. The ratings vary between 80+, 80+ Bronze, 80+ Silver, 80+ Gold, 80+ Platinum, and 80+ Titanium. At the highest end of the spectrum, PSUs produce above 90 percent efficiency at all loads, but they tend to cost a fortune. I prefer using what’s called a picoPSU. A picoPSU generally supplies power somewhere under 200 watts.

It also tends to offer higher efficiencies than standard power supplies, at around 80 to 90 percent efficiency. If you’re using an RX 460, you can get away with a picoPSU. The model I recommend is the. The XT includes a 4-pin CPU connector. 160 watts 12V DC output £40.15 On the downside, you can’t just slap a picoPSU into a case without making modifications.

For example, I had to run the DC power jack through my case’s three-pronged female port. On top of that, picoPSUs usually only support a single SATA-powered device.

If your case places its storage drives in odd places, you might also need an extension cable. The Motherboard and Processor There is only one requirement for the motherboard: it needs to support a full-size GPU. The processor doesn’t matter. I would normally recommend using an Intel Atom motherboard. Unfortunately, no consumer-class Atom board offers full-sized PCIe x16 ports. Also, there’s some confusion regarding how much power the PCIe slot produces. According to its specifications, a can deliver around 75 watts.

That should be enough to handle the 75-watt draw of the 460, but some 460 manufacturers include an optional 6-pin connector — for added safety. Fortunately, a handful of AMD motherboards include full PCIe slots and low-power processors. AMD released two different lines of processor that offered a winning combination of low power consumption, low cost, and a full PCIe slot: the This article covers the various components, with suggestions, for building an AM1-based media center or office productivity desktop. And a series of motherboards with soldered-on processors. Of these, I prefer the — but these tend to be hard to find and overpriced.

Fortunately, the AM1 platform provides similar low build cost and low power consumption. For example, you can find an for around $35. And the costs around $25 with Prime shipping. (WHQL) Windows Hardware Quality Labs Certified, Windows 7, 8, 10 Support. CE/FCC/Earp/Up Certification £24.25 The Rest of the Computer The rest of the computer doesn’t matter much. In general, you want a case that can adequately cool either an RX 460 or RX 470 — but GPUs include their own cooling mechanism.

The basic idea behind a case is that it shouldn’t impede the GPU’s ability to cool itself. Some people even choose to do open air builds.

An extreme few daisy chain together multiple 470 GPUs on Ikea storage shelves! Sample Build: Super Low-Energy Ethereum Miner Here’s what my ideal build looks like: • Motherboard + CPU: ECS KBN-I/2100 ($60 via ) • GPU: XFX 4 GB RX 460 () • Case: RAIDMAX Elements ($30 via ) • PSU: 160XT picoPSU rated for 180 watts with adapter () • RAM: Crucial DDR3 1 x 2 GB DIMM () • SSD: DREVO X1 Series 60 GB SSD () Total wattage consumption: 100-120 watts Estimated hash rate: 11 MHS/S Hashes per watt: 11 MHS/100 W = 0.10 MHS/W A slightly more expensive miner would differ in its PSU and GPU, but otherwise should look identical. Instead of using an RX 460, it might use an RX 470 (or even 480). Unfortunately, the prices of higher end cards has gone through the roof.

I wouldn’t advise anything beefier than a 460 — just enough to get your feet wet mining crypto without costing a fortune in build costs and power. The SSD will ensure that this system is fast to boot and configure, and you could double the RAM by purchasing two 2 GB DIMMs instead of one. This would slightly increase the hash rate for very little additional cost.

Configuring Your Miner: Undervolting Your GPU Like with CPUs, you can reduce the voltage supplied to the GPU and decrease the power consumed and waste heat produced. Whether or not there’s a trade-off depends on the silicon lottery. Most discrete graphics cards can Would you believe that many computers and smartphones can run cooler and consume less power? A trick exists, called undervolting, which can increase your CPU's efficiency with few drawbacks. If performed right, devices generally produce.

Slightly without losing anything. However, a small number become unstable, even with a slight undervolt. You won’t know until you try. If you have an AMD card, it works like this: install. Run it, and then go to the Gaming Tab: Choose Global Settings: Choose the Wattman tab and scroll down until you reach the entry for Voltage Control (mV). From within this menu, you can reduce the voltage. However, keep in mind that your GPU draws a different voltage at each frequency.

Personally, I use a 100 mV undervolt at each frequency. So, for STATE 1 through 7, I reduce the voltage by 100. The lowest it can go for the RX 480 is 800, so you’ll notice that the first two entries are at 800: If this makes your system unstable, Radeon Settings will automatically reset to the default voltage. There is virtually no risk of permanent instability. In the worst case scenario, you can simply remove your graphics card. Should You Build an Energy-Efficient Ethereum Miner? I’d say only as an experiment.

The technology behind Ethereum, a big leap over Bitcoin’s underlying technology, may one day prove to be valuable. But cryptocurrency is so ridiculously speculative, it’s only worth taking a moderate risk on.

I wouldn’t invest thousands into mining unless you really have thousands to spare, and make sure you’re before spending any money. Do you have an Ethereum mining rig? Has it made a return on its investment yet? Do you have any tips and tricks you can share? Let us know in the comments section below! Hi Al, sorry for the delayed response! The kind of monitor that you use depends on the video out on the motherboard.

For the AM1 platform, I believe the standard video outs include HDMI, VGA, and DVI. For this kind of build, though, you will likely want to buy a second-hand or reduce price monitor. This is something you will probably end up running headless (without a monitor) so you could probably just use whatever you have on hand. I'm not sure about the other parts that you're speaking of. For maintenance, dust filters are always nice to have, since they reduce the amount of cleaning required.

For the most part, other than the possibility of needing extension cables for the SATA or MOLEX plugs, you shouldn't need any special parts. Hi Elmer, unless you are using the six pin connector on a discrete card, it will pull wattage from the PCIe slot -- and you will overdraw if you use more than one RX 460. Can You Mine Dash DASH With A Raspberry Pi there. I apologize for not making this clearer.

To others who are reading this comment, this tutorial is for a single slot miner. A single slot miner has an overall lower footprint, both in terms of power draw and overall cost, compared to a multi-GPU miner. They are cost-effective only for those who want to get their feet wet since the cost of entry is fairly low. I would recommend the AM1 platform over the ECS KBN board. You can do a lot more with the AM1 platform once you decide to retire the miner. Hi Kannon, Awesome beginners build guide for an energy efficient mining rig!

I have read through it several times and finally purchased the parts you recommended. However, I am not sure what power brick/adapter I need to get to maximize the potential of the picoPSU you recommended: Your original link to amazon which included the picoPSU with an adapter is no longer available (404 page). Can you provide the optimal power brick adapter (link to product or recommended specifications) for use with the picoPSU 160xt in this build please? Much appreciated!

Georgio, thanks for your comment! I'm sorry that they no longer sell that particular PSU adapter combo. That is a shame about the barrel jack adapter. Because there are a lot of different sizes and shapes for barrel jack DC plugs. In general, all the picoPSUs that I've seen use the same connection standard which is 5.5mm outer diameter and a 2.5mm inner diameter IIRC. They do differ in their efficiencies, but in general, there are so many no-brand suppliers out there, it's better to just pick a reputable importer and buy from them.

My go-tos are QuietPC and MiniBox. But there are many other importers out there. So, more than likely, I would go with one of these: If you use the 160 XT, it can work with a mismatched adapter.

You can use any wattage adapter, provided it exceeds the wattage consumption of your entire computer while mining. But because your power consumption goes up dramatically when mining, you might want to go with the 160-watt adapter. The price is too high, though, IMO. These should be like 20-dollar units. Sorry about the multiple comments. We need better thread tracking. So first of all, you're doing it right.

By reusing old components, you keep your build costs low, which is the whole point of this exercise. Second, I can't think off the top of my head what might be going on. It's well established that the RX 460 can hit close to 11 MHS on a rig practically made from wet noodles. The hash you're getting is so ridiculously low, something is clearly off. And updating drivers is almost always the first thing to do. My best guess is that this is a Windows thing.

WIndows is a complete disaster back when I tried to mine Ethereum on it. The Linux/Ubuntu set up is infinitely easier. Hey there, thanks for reading!

And sorry for the late response! I wouldn't burden a laptop with the kind of thermal overhead that mining causes. It's just way too much wear and tear for a mobile device with a very low thermal envelope. PACcoin PAC Mining Gui more. But an external GPU using a USB interface? I've not heard of this and know nothing about it.

I know that the USB interface would cause a bottleneck on most kinds of GPU-related operations, but for some reason, mining doesn't seem to incur this kind of penalty. From what I know, you should be good to go if you know how to set up this kind of arrangement (I have no idea how). I have an old PC that doesn't have PCIe slots but has 4 USB's. I wonder what about if I use 4 PCI-E PCI Express X16 Extender and run the GPU's from the USB ports. Would it work?

Like this, I would need a smaller investment, just to start playing with it. Another idea is to use my own laptop (toshiba R700), at night, using the same USB extenders but maybe the laptop power is not ready to supply the GPU. What is your opinion on this? In the case that it would be advisable to use laptop, would this interfere with my normal working or would it be advisable to let it work only when I am not using the laptop? Thanks in advance dinis.

It depends on the difficulty level. I'm not sure where Ethereum is right now, but a megahash rate of around 25 is what most people were getting with IIRC an RX 470 and they were profitably mining a few months ago.

A hash rate of 11 MH/s isn't amazing, but it's almost half of an RX 470 (which sells for a ridiculous amount of money). You won't make any money unless Ethereum goes up in value vs your power costs. But using a build like this helps you keep the power cost and build costs lower than had you decided to get a 470 or 480. The problem is that motherboards with 2 x16 PCIe slots (either 2.0 or 3.0 should work) tend to cost quite a bit. Currently, I believe that people are buying older high end boards and using Celeron processors (which are the lowest tier for socketed processors) in order to get a board that's within an affordable price bracket. PCIe is an older socket, so in theory you should be able to go back pretty far and find something that works. Unfortunately, alt coin mining seems to have driven the prices on these boards up quite a bit.

If you can find them at all. They're sold out most places: The only sane option is the 460 at the moment, plus some weak hardware. I wouldn't even bother with using a dual GPU miner. And you believe that our current monetary system is based in reality? How is a $100 bill printed on paper (not backed by gold or any other valuable tangible object) any more 'real' than any of these cryptocurrencies? You do realize that every dollar the U.S.

Government prints is printed with interest, right? As in, the Federal Reserve prints our government the $1 and charges us interest (whatever the Fed Rate is). Where do you think that interest comes from? It's simply made up. POOF, out of thin air. Where do you think any of our money comes from? What to you makes the digital representation of money you see when you log on to your bank account online and more real than what a crypto investor/miner sees when they open up their digital wallet?

Thanks for the comment. I believe that Nixon ended convertibility into gold -- he did not end the relationship between the US's gold reserves and the dollar. The dollar is still backed by the tremendous amount of reserves held by the US government, which is why it's among the most stable currencies in the world. There is some debate over whether or not the US secretly sold off large parts of its reserves though -- but that's a separate discussion.

Some however, argue that gold is a great way to back a currency. It's actually a pretty inefficient system since we still make a lot of products with gold.