Can anyone recommend a good cryptocurrency to mine on commercial grade equipment? Before we begin, I should clarify that I don't even care so much about it being profitable - this is just for fun - I'm pretty new to this and just learning so I just want to get comfortable with the process.
I did look into mining STEEM. The minimum requirements are 8Gb RAM (16 preferred). I only have 4Gb RAM :/ Intel HD Graphics 4400 card clocked at 200MHz. The processor is a 1.80 GHz dual-core Intel Core i3-3217U.
I also have a smartphone, which has 3Gb RAM (Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 617, Octa-core; 64-bit, 4 x 1.5GHz + 4 x 1.2GHz).
I have tried mining other currencies, but as of yet have failed to successfully mine anything.
I run Linux Mint primarily, but also have a Windows 7 partition I use sometimes.
I've looked into Litecoin, Nyancoin, Solaris, and a few others. Solaris (XLR) especially intrigues me. The NIST5 algorithm claims to run the most efficient, lowest temperature mining there is. The currency itself claims to be fairly distributed and decentralized. [Solaris Website]
People who bought Solaris a month ago when I did will now appreciate their money being worth 3x what it was. [source] However, as always I should point out that this currency is highly volatile and trading at low volumes, so if you choose to get involved you may lose all of your principal and also even if you get substantial returns you may find it difficult to find anyone who wants to buy the currency.
My (lack of) progress so far: On my Linux Mint distro on the laptop I attempted to build and compile BFGMiner, Minerd CPU Miner, and CGMiner, with no success other than causing Cinnamon to constantly crash (another problem I desperately need help with because the forums are not being helpful! :/ )
I did join a pool for Solaris, so I have my login info and I've set up workers and all that. I still haven't for any of the other coins because I just want to pick one and stick with it!
Now, over on Windows, I did get a mining program up and running for Solaris. However, it didn't seem to be working. There was like an error or something where it kept coming back 100% bad blocks or something I forget the actual terminology but point being it wasn't working!
I have been actively petitioning the Solaris forums for help on these issues but they have not responded yet.
Then there's my Android phone. I did get a free app, called "miner", that says it will do scrypt (LTC, DOGE, etc), sha256d (BTC, etc), X11, cryptonight, and a number of others, but not NIST5.
I don't want to keep joining pools and making accounts and installing software for things I'm never going to use!
Please, if you have any advice to offer, which cryptocurrency should I attempt to mine and on which device???
Monero is very easy to mine. Download their GUI client and you're mining. Guides all over internet.
Thanks! Monero is one of my favorite coins! One of the few I really believe in as opposed to like because it makes me money and lets me buy things, lol.
Another one I hadn't even looked into because I just assumed it had been around so long and was so well established that it wouldn't be possible to mine from a home computer or phone.
I will definitely look into this!
Monero should be one of your favorites because it maintains fungibility. You can rest assured that every Monero will always be worth the same - this is because there is no way to "trace" a Monero's history as is possible with Bitcoin and most other crypto.
You can mine monero quasi-profitability using the CPU in your computer because the mining algorithm used by Monero is designed to resist ASICs like are used to mine Bitcoin. This is why using CPUs and GPUs are able to mine effectively.
Staring in July, you will have the opportunity to rent your computer for VIVAcoin or become a mint for us.
You can also participate to the ICO.
Download the white paper,
http://go.vivaco.in/ref/G6076511
Neat, I will look into that! I've been loving the STEEM community so far, I think this is a great idea and I respect and believe in what you guys are doing.
Thanks for taking the time to present me with this opportunity to get in early on another of your ventures!
Ethereum without a question... ONLY considering the here and now (with incoming diff. bomb and PoS). 6 x 480's @ 30mh/s each will net you probably a bit under 2 eth a week. Though, I hope that the ETC will be profitable to mine after ETH becomes undesirable to mine.
If your just trying to mine for fun on your home computer download the nicehash miner and see what it picks to mine for you. My guess is that it roughly selects something that mines the most for you (I'm assuming efficiency noyt considered :3).
Huh, I hadn't even looked into trying to mine ETH. I figured it was already too late and the mining would be too resource-intensive.
Man did you look at ETH prices this morning? Keeps going up and up!
Not to brag too much but I got in on ETH when it was still $12.
The reason I bring that up is because I'm concerned about how much higher it will go.
Like yes, ETH has been a good thing. ETH has resulted in some amazing growth and returns over the past few months... but is ETH going to continue to grow like that or is it about to level off and become just another strong stable currency that's a good place to store money long term but doesn't really ever go anywhere?
Since you mentioned ETC, I've been looking into that one again too. I'm kicking myself because I didn't think it would go anywhere and sold at almost no profit at all. Now it's like 2-3 times where it was a couple months ago. Perhaps ETC will turn out to be a decent currency after all.
Thanks for the recommendation. I will check out nicehash as soon as I get a free moment.