Currently I have a computer with a graphics card so I can play some games. However as I am getting older I don’t play games that often anymore. Last month I was searching the web for articles about new computer hardware and read about mining cryptocurrency. I like to assemble computers so yesterday I bought a graphics card suitable for mining. I would like to spend my spare time on mining and trading cryptocurrencies. Maybe I can make some money out of it. This post is about my current computer, the parts I ordered and the cryptocurrency I am going to mine.
These are the parts installed in my current pc:
• MSI X99S GAMING 7
• Intel I7 5820k
• MSI GTX 750ti TWIN FROZR GAMING
• Corsair Carbide 200R
• Crucial 2x4GB DDR4 2133MHz
• Corsair CX430
• Corsair H80i v2
• Samsung EVO 850 250GB
• 4x 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm
My steps taken to decide which currency to mine:
- Watched some YouTube videos for more information about mining and the cryptocurrency itself. A big shout out to the channel Imineblocks. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjYHcWGAjUVqU49D2JOKD3w)
- Searched for websites with different calculators and the hashrate my current setup would provide. (https://whattomine.com/) (https://www.cryptocompare.com/mining/calculator/btc?HashingPower=4730&HashingUnit=GH%2Fs&PowerConsumption=1293&CostPerkWh=0.12)
- Decided which coin/coins I would like to mine.
- Bought myself a Kill-a-Watt meter.
- Started mining with some trial and error.
Because I had 7.1TB free HDD space, I decided to plot my drives and started Burst mining. I use the CPU burst miner because my graphics card is used to mine coins. Zcash is preferred because it is a more profitable coin to mine with a Nvidia graphics card in comparison to Ethereum. The pool I am using for Burst mining is pool.burst-team.us and for mining Zcash is zcash.flypool.org.
With my graphics card mining non-stop and my CPU searching for deadlines roughly every 4 minutes I am using an average of 130W.
130W (Power usage)
0.225€/kWh (Electricity cost Belgium)
0.702€ (Electricity cost over 24h)
1.10€ (Earnings over 24h)
0.398€ (Profit over 24h)
My current pc, not being really suitable for mining, isn’t making high profits. Yet I am very happy because my earnings are higher than my costs.
The next thing I did was looking for an upgrade so I bought following parts:
• 1x 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm
• Corsair CX650M
• Asus GTX 1060 OC 3GB
I bought an extra 2TB drive to get more profit with Burst mining because it uses little power and I think Burstcoin is a very interesting cryptocurrency. The beefier power supply is needed because the new graphics card draws more power. Last but not least, the new graphics card has a much higher hashrate for mining cryptocurrency. My parts normally arrive tomorrow, then I can start making higher profits.
I am not quite sure what to do in the future, invest in another graphics card or expand my storage for Burst mining? Feel free to answer my question or give some advice. If you want an update on the situation or a more detailed article about some specific topics, just ask in the comments.
Thanks for reading and have a great day.