So, you’re thinking seriously about cryptocurrency mining using a cryptocurrency mining computer?
Cryptocurrency mining is no longer easy. It has grown in popularity enormously, and become much more complicated, competitive, and harder to break even. Many mistakenly think it is an easy way to make money as long as they have a cryptocurrency mining computer.
This is no longer so. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the more important considerations you should review before investing in cryptocurrency mining.
Cryptocurrency Mining Is More Difficult
Back in 2009 when cryptocurrency mining took off, many people mined from their homes on their desktops. But the cryptocurrency mining world has changed markedly. The system has become more complicated and much greater processing power is required that normal desktops can no longer manage.
Cryptocurrency mining has also become quite expensive with a large capital outlay. Often it takes cryptocurrency miners more than a year to see a return on investment (ROI) for the rig hardware, software, power costs and ongoing maintenance.
This is the reason that so many cryptocurrency miners use centralised mining pools these days. This obviously comes with fees to factor into the equation.
Let’s deal with laptops as it’s a common question.
Cryptocurrency Mining On A Laptop
Are you able to use a laptop to mine cryptocurrency?
Yes, you can, but there is a big but. Laptops were not designed to work like a horse at full speed 24 hours a day. Unless you can afford a powerful (and expensive) top-of-the-range laptop, don’t use your laptop for cryptocurrency mining.
If you do, you will damage your laptop and possibly lose the use of it forever. Laptops also don’t have great cooling systems as everything is so compact, design-wise. Laptops are not designed for cryptocurrency mining.
Consider These Before You Start
Firstly, you will need a powerful central processing unit (CPU) with a “mighty” graphics processing unit (GPU). Running such a powerful and power-hungry system means you also need good cooling systems and need to choose between building a custom-made rig (a dying art apparently) or investing in an expensive pre-assembled rig.
Then there is the hashrate execution speed. The hashrate is the speed a CPU/GPU and the Application-Specific Integrated Circuitry (ASIC) chip takes to complete a task in the cryptocurrency code. This is what cryptocurrency mining is all about, it’s a race to get a NONCE code before anyone else to claim as evidence of your work. A cryptographic NONCE is a number that is used only once.
Crypto Mining Must Haves
Your GPU’s capabilities are extremely important for efficient mining. A powerful GPU enables a cryptocurrency miner to mine more in less time and to carry on doing it continuously. An added bonus of a powerful GPU is you can continue to conduct other tasks such as play games, use the internet and say edit images and videos.
As cryptocurrency mining uses so much power constantly, your system runs hot working at full speed 24/7. An excellent cooling system means your system won’t overheat and cause hardware and software failures. Generally, PCs should not run hotter than 60°C and there are a number of variants of cooling systems produced on the market today.
The best option is to run both a liquid and air-based cooling system. But they don’t come cheap. This is another reason many cryptocurrency miners use mining pools.
Your CPU also needs to be powerful rather than under-powered. Consider your rapid access memory or RAM capacity if you want to perform other computing tasks such as listening to music or live streaming. When playing the latest games, you may need at least 4GB of RAM, with some games even needing 16GB RAM if you have a medium-grade GPU.
Your system security should also be top notch as the last thing you want is hackers gaining access to your system and siphoning off your hard-won efforts.
So, good crypto-trading security software which also protects your system from malware and phishing is essential. This also has attached costs.
Then there is also the ongoing maintenance of the system (yes parts do need to be replaced) and this could be a problem in countries where availability is limited. If you have to wait for parts and are not online and mining, this will have a negative impact on your earnings.
The costs of electricity is also another consideration as cryptocurrency mining takes place 24/7, every day of the year and is power hungry. Countries such as China and India have much cheaper power while the average US citizen pays $112 per month for electricity.
Other Considerations
Additionally, it is an asset to be relatively computer literate and know how to use software, command lines, some coding and how to wire in replacement parts. Larger data mining pools actually hire staff to maintain thousands of machines running 24/7. Other crypto miners, such as hobbyists on the other hand, wish to participate to help support the network and keep their hand in.
Crypto Mining Is Possible But…
Cryptocurrency mining is not as easy as it used to be as the ecosystem has become much harder to crack, more complicated, and competitive, and comes with higher hardware and system requirements. Today, cryptocurrency is not undertaken on a whim. It requires careful planning and thinking about the future.
With hardware systems required to mine efficiently being quite expensive, there is the capital outlay to think of. You also need good intelligence, data about the best online pokies real money, and information pertaining to market trends and the future.
We hope this blog post has alerted you to some of the more important considerations when buying a crypto mining computer. There is lots to think about before you invest in cryptocurrency mining hardware and software. Now, it’s time for some homework.