Posts Tagged ‘GPU mining’

Download the Latest CUDAminer Nvidia GPU Miner Software

8, Feb 2014

cudaminer-scrypt-mining-nvidia-gpu

While GPU mining still does work better on AMD-based graphics processors using OpenCL, the latest versions of the CUDAminer software intended for use on Nvidia-based graphics cards has gone through a good performance optimization and it makes mining with CUDA a good option if you have some spare and unused Nvidia GPUs. The fact tha there are still shortages of the Radeon R9 280X graphics cards on the market – the all-round best performer for Scrypt GPU mining makes the alternative to mine coins with Nvidia GPU a decent alternative. Of course the price/performance ratio of an Nvidia GPU versus and AMD GPU for mining is still in favor of AMD graphics. You can expect to get about 550-560 KH/s from a stock (non overclocked) Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Ti graphics card, while the same performance is easily achievable with a much cheaper stock AMD Radeon R9 280X card. If you however have a watercooled 780 Ti and overclock it well, you might be able to reach hashrate close to about 900 kHash/s according to the author of the software. Regardless, if you already have a CUDA-capable graphics processor why not put it to some mining work to get some extra crypto coins, it also makes for a good option to try out new pools or alternative cryptos…

One of the best things about the CUDAminer software is that it automatically detects the best settings for your graphics card, so that after yo run it the software can squeeze out the maximum mining performance automatically for you. This takes the guesswork and a lot of time spent for testing different settings, though you can still do that if you wish to fine tune things. One of the still missing important features from this miner is the failover pool switching to backup pools in case of a problem with the current mining pool. CUDAminer already has support for scrypt mining with N=1024 (LiteCoin and many, many other scrypt clones like DOGE for example), scrypt-jane mining (Yacoin and several clones), scrypt mining with larger N (VertCoin) and the recently released MaxCoin mining (SHA-3 i.e. Keccak256). So you will be up to speed even with the latest alternative crypto currencies such as VertCoin and MaxCoin that have generated quite some buzz in the last few days. Below you can download the latest binary for windows of CudaMiner or you can compile it yourself from the (source).

Update: CudaMiner is now an old and non supported anymore miner for Nvidia GPUs, you should switch to the more recent and supported ccMiner instead in order to get better support, including for newer mining algorithms and coins, as well as faster hashrates for your Nvidia-based GPU mining rigs!

– Download the latest CUDAminer 2014-02-28 Nvidia GPU mining software…

Download cgminer 3.7.3 karloth with GPU support for Windows

6, Feb 2014

cgminer-3-7-3-modified

If you are mining Scrypt crypto currencies such as Litecoin or maybe DOGE, then you are most likely using cgminer as a mining software or something that relies on cgminer as a backend. The author of cgminer (Con Kolivas) however seems to have decided to continue support of cgminer only for ASIC mining for SHA-256 cryptos such as Bitcoin and version 3.7.2 is the last one for cgminer to support GPU mining for scrypt crypto coins. Furthermore the windows version of the last cgminer to support GPU mining has been removed from the official download location, you can however download cgminer 3.7.2 with GPU support for windows here.

More importantly, there are already some alternatives that are based around the original source code of cgminer 3.7.2, but add extra features and offer improvements that are not found in the original software. One such version based on cgminer 3.7.2 is Martin “Kalroth” Danielsen’s cgminer 3.7.2 that he calls cgminer 3.7.3 in order for the users to be able to differentiate between the original and his version. In cgminer 3.7.2 kalroth (cgminer 3.7.3) he has made changes to the visual interface to make it more user friendly and functionality that can help you squeeze a bit more performance out of your GPU mining hardware. Some of the notable differences include support for multiple pool load balancing, implementation for idle state for GPUs when there’s no work, two additional modes for controlling intensity – xintensity and rawintensity for additional performance, faster failover pool switching back delay and interface improvements such as uptime status or percentage of rejected shares and so on. Definitely something to try and see if you like this version of cgminer better than the original 3.7.2.

– You can download cgminer 3.7.3 karloth with GPU mining support for Windows OS here…

Choosing a Good Motherboard for a GPU Mining Rig

3, Feb 2014

asrock-pro-btc-motherboards-gpu-mining

Due to the demand for GPU mining rigs for cryptocurrency generation that are capable of powering more than 2 video cards (what is normally enough for gaming needs) some motherboard manufacturers have come up with specialized products especially for GPU mining needs. One such brand is AsRock that already has two specialized motherboards designed for GPU mining rigs and though the company uses Bitcoin mining all over these products, they are essentially for Litecoin and other scrypt-based alternative cryptos. Nowadays there is no more point in mining for Bitcoin with GPUs, you need to use specialized Bitcoin mining ASIC devices (for other SHA-256 cryptos as well), however scrypt mining and Litecoin in particular is still mineable with GPU. And a lot of people are still building new GPU mining righs with multiple video cards for mining Litecoin, so AsRock’s products can be ideal for these needs.

AsRock offers 2 models of specialized GPU mining rig motherboards, one is the cheaper AsRock H61 Pro BTC, designed for Intel Socket 1155 processors and the other one is AsRock H81 Pro BTC, designed for use with Intel Socket 1150 CPUs. Other than the use of different processors these two motherboards are pretty similar in what they offer – support for up to 6 video cards, though you will need to also use PCI-E x1 extenders to attach all of the video cards to the motherboard and you will also need a special rig designed to contain the 6 video cards. These motherboard also have additional 4-pin molex connectors that you need to connect in order for the motherboard to supply enough power to the video cards over the PCI-E slots.

Also if you plan on using all 6 PCI-E slots with GPUs you may need to be careful what OS you are going to be using in order for the operating system to be able to see and use all of the cards at the same time. Linux is a good option for 6 cards at the same time, and there are specialized Linux distributions available for mining rigs. The problem with Linux however is that the control of voltage of the GPUs may not work with all video cards, in fact with most you my have trouble changing the voltage of the GPU, though the clock frequencies are accessible and you can change them for better performance and higher hashrate. So also do have that in mind when building a GPU mining rig.


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