BEGINNERS GUIDE TO MINING
Because mining is ever-changing in difficulty and in hardware etc. We have decided to offer some information to help you get started. If you are already mining then all of this is probably just a repeat of what you already know, but feel free to check out some of the links... who knows maybe there is a better program here than what your already using... then again... maybe not.
What is mining?
WARNING: Mining coins can take you deep into the rabbit hole!
Mining is the term used when you use hardware (like your pc) to solve algorithmic equations. Let's take bitcoin for example. Think of the bitcoins like gold in the middle of a large rock. The rock would be the equations. You can use your hardware to solve these equations (mine) to get to the coins. Since bitcoin is a currency, there needs to be some kind of control on how much is generated. This is done by increasing the difficulty of the equations. As time goes by the mining process becomes more difficult. This makes mining a block on your own a very long process. So to mine coins faster you can join a mining pool. A mining pool is a group of people all working together to mine the same block. Once the block is solved the amount of coin is divided among the miners according to how much work you contributed.
Mining is the term used when you use hardware (like your pc) to solve algorithmic equations. Let's take bitcoin for example. Think of the bitcoins like gold in the middle of a large rock. The rock would be the equations. You can use your hardware to solve these equations (mine) to get to the coins. Since bitcoin is a currency, there needs to be some kind of control on how much is generated. This is done by increasing the difficulty of the equations. As time goes by the mining process becomes more difficult. This makes mining a block on your own a very long process. So to mine coins faster you can join a mining pool. A mining pool is a group of people all working together to mine the same block. Once the block is solved the amount of coin is divided among the miners according to how much work you contributed.
How much can I mine? Will I make a profit?
There are several ways to mine. You can use your pc's graphics card (GPU) or processor (CPU). You can also purchase hardware designed specifically to mine. The better your computers hardware the faster you can mine. The speed at which you mine is your hashrate. Here is where it gets tricky. Mining is hard on your computer so you need to figure out if it is worth it to you or not. When you mine it can use your computers maximum amount of power. This wears out your hardware and uses more electricity. You will need to use a mining calculator to determine if you will make a profit or not click here to see a dogecoin calculator. You may need to find some information like your hashrate, how many watts your pc uses and what electricity costs in your area. Then you can see what kind of profits you can make if any.
What do I need to make a profit mining?
There is tons of hardware that you can buy to increase your hashrate. Again you will need to use a mining calculator to determine your profit range and break even point. Hardware ranges anywhere from a few dollars to thousands of dollars. Take into consideration that not all hardware will mine any type of coin. Some coins are designed to not be compatible with ASICS (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit). Do not just dive right in and spend thousands of dollars thinking that a massive hashrate will earn you big bucks. This should be a well planned investment. As always do your homework.
Cloud mining is another alternative to buying hardware. Just pay for some hashrate and put it to work right away!
Click here to check out our cloud mining page.
Cloud mining is another alternative to buying hardware. Just pay for some hashrate and put it to work right away!
Click here to check out our cloud mining page.
Which coin should I mine?
There are over 300 types of cryptocoins and growing fast! Mining some coins is different from mining others. The code the coins use is different between types of coin. To name a few, bitcoin uses SHA-256, dogecoin uses SCRYPT, vertcoin uses SCRYPT-N. You need to know which program to use to mine which coin. A lot of the programs run in a similar manner so once you figure out how to use one you should be able to adapt to using others. You should determine which coin you want to mine then get the proper program. Below I will show you how to mine dogecoin using cgminer. The walk-through below will help you get started in the right direction and hopefully show you the ropes.
Let's mine some dogecoin to get the hang of it.
Now that you get the basics here is a walk-through to get you started mining. This is intended to get you headed in the right direction.
- First you will need a wallet before you can do anything. Go dogecoin.com and follow the instructions there to download a wallet for your type of operating system e.g. windows, mac etc.
- Now its time to join a pool. let's go to coinking.io and register a new account. Once you have registered. You will want to add your wallet to your account. Under the account tab click on the wallets button and add your wallet to the dogecoin column.
- Now we need an application that will tell our computer to start mining. click here to download cgminer v3.7 (note: do not use cgminer 3.8 and up unless you are using an ASIC. version 3.8 and up have removed GPU and scrypt support.) You may need to configure your antivirus to allow this program. It most likely show up as a trojan virus. If you use an antivirus like mcafee you will need to turn off real time scanning. This will be a .zip file. Create a new folder on your desktop and label it cgminer. Extract all the files from the zip file into the new file you just made on your desktop.
- Now that we have all the tools, we will need to set up a file that will tell your pc to start mining. Click here to get to the workers page on coinking.io or click account then workers. Click add a worker. Name your worker. When your worker shows up click the "Generate config." button on that worker. This will take you through several steps to set up a command file. For this one we will pick ''mine a specific coin'' next, pick ''dogecoin'' from the drop down list. Next, select your operating system. Now we will pick my GPU because it is more powerful and uses less power. Then you will select your gpu model. Finally your pre-configured command will download. Go to your downloads folder on your pc, and move the file over to the cgminer folder you created on your desktop.
- Finally double click the file you just moved into the cgminer folder and a command window will pop up and you will start mining dogecoin!
IF FOR SOME REASON THIS DOES NOT WORK FOR YOU. THEN YOUR ANTIVIRUS MAY BE BLOCKING YOU. YOU MAY NEED TO TURN OFF ANY LIVE OR REAL TIME SCANNING ON YOUR ANTIVIRUS. STILL HAVING TROUBLE? GO BACK TO YOUR DASHBOARD AT COINKING.IO AND CLICK ON THE ''IRC CHAT'' TAB AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN. THE ADMINS IN THE CHAT ARE QUICK AND VERY HELPFUL.
Now that you have mined a few coins and have an idea you can play around on coinking.com and mine some other coins. This will give you a general idea if mining is something you are interested in.
Now that you have mined a few coins and have an idea you can play around on coinking.com and mine some other coins. This will give you a general idea if mining is something you are interested in.
- Is mining not right for you? Then lets take a look at EXCHANGE! Buy cheap and sell high! Kind of like stocks... but not!
- Not interested in buying coin? Then check out the free FAUCETS that give out FREE COIN. You will have some coin in your wallet in no time!
- More of a risk taker? Then take that free coin you just got from our faucet lists, and WIN some more at our GAMES page!