Personally I really like Monero for the fact that it is completely anonymous and CPU mining is actually worth it. Currently on all of my CPUs I mine XMR. So here is a step by step guide to mining XMR with your CPU on Windows.
Step 1: Get a Monero Wallet
MyMonero
Make sure you save the string of words it gives you because this is basically your password. Once you have this you'll need to copy your XMR address.
Step 2: Download and extract xmr-stak-cpu
xmr-stak-cpu download link
Choose this one: xmr-stak-cpu-win64.zip
Step 3: Decide how many threads you should use
To do this find out how much cache your CPU has and how many cores it has. So I have a CPU that has 4mb cache and 4 cores. In order to figure out how many threads you want to use you want to divide your cache by 2mb. So this CPU should use only 2 threads because 4mb/2mb=2.
I also have an AMD FX-9590. This has 16mb of cache and 8 cores. You would think that I should be using 8 threads, but that isn't the case. If the amount of threads you should be using is equal to the number of cores you have subtract 1. We don't want to use every core. So I mine with 7 threads on this chip because 16mb/2mb=8 and we have 8 cores so we subtract 1 and are left with 7 threads.
Step 4: Edit the config file
Click here to look at my config file. You will notice the section under 'cpu_threads_conf' is where you will put how many threads to use. This file is set up for 7 threads so remove as you feel necessary. Also you will need to scroll down and change the wallet address to your wallets address.
Step 5: Load Huge Pages
If you open up the config file you will notice a section outlining how to enable huge pages on Windows. But if you are lazy here is a pastebin link to what to do. At the end it will ask you to reset your computer.
Step 6: Start up XMR-STAK-CPU
Navigate into your xmr-stak-cpu folder and double click on the 'xmr-stak-cpu' executable file.
Congradulations!! You are now mining Monero on your CPU!
If you have any other questions feel free to ask me!
I LOVE Monero
It's one of the best!
What is the power consumption like when mining monero?
It depends on whatever you are mining on and how many threads you use. If you want to calculate this you can google an equation on how to work out the power consumption
This was very helpful information on how to maximize the efficiency of your mining! I had no idea that the amount-of-cache/2 should be the amount of threads used. For the record, we are referring to the L3 cache, correct?
As a general rule of thumb: Cryptonight, the PoW hash Monero uses, needs a 2 MB scratchpad in fast memory, so you will want to have all your mining threads able to keep their scratchpad in cache. So the optimal number is likely to be your cache size divided by 2 MB (eg, if your cache size is 4 MB, then 2 threads). If that number happens to be higher of equal to the number of cores you have, then keep it to the number of cores minus one.
If you use the machine for other things at the same time, you will need to decrease that number, and by how much will have to be determined by testing.
In any case, you may want to test a number of configurations, testing is quick and easy, and will uncover any deviation your hardware may have from that rule of thumb.
And L2 I believe.
Interesting, are you sure it is L2 ? only because my current cpu (i7-3720QM) says 6MB L3 cache while only have 256kb of L2 cache per core, 4 cores being 1MB total. This is why it seems confusing because even before knowing all of this information I was mining at a decent speed using varying cpu threads.
Maybe it is L3. The best way is to just test it out by swapping up the config file to see which amount of threads gives you the best hashrate
I have one question for you regarding the config file setting up with the miner. My question is just when connecting the worker to the pool for supportxmr.com
If you mine for another pool just copy the pools URL and port number and replace it where I had mine.
Hey I am interested but have no clue on the technical side! Is there a good video that can walk me through this process? Great Post!
Also, can this be done on a laptop or desktop only?
I haven't tried it on my laptop, but I'm sure it would work. If you want a super super simple miner there is Minergate. Here is their site.
I could probably make one tomorrow.
Thank you for this post..
You are welcome, I'll be posting one later on how to CPU mine it on Linux.
thanks looking forward to start mining some cryptos
You are very welcome!
What is the Mh/s for CPU power ? Thanks for this post.
My fx-9590 gets around 350-415 H/s. So like $1.50 a day. I think that CPU is around 3-4 years old too.
Thanks for this example . Gives a better picture on mining.
How profitable it is regards to power supply have you done that ?
For me it's like $1.20 a day including electricity.
Nice job man keep mining ! And monero is a great coin to do that.
Nice information.Thanks for sharing.
Can i use this to a low spec pc ? (intel core 2 duo cpu)
You can, you might not get much though.
Should i use one core for mining (as described above) ?
You would edit the config file to only have one core.
Monero just doubled in price to $120 :)
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@jimbojones/exclusive-monero-just-hit-usd120
Hi Josh! Deposit on a wallet is automatic or how it works?
Thanks for this, there are a few altcoins I am interested in however I need a base coin to mine with my legacy equipment at home. Not looking to take over the world just learning to participate in the Cryptocurrency revolution. Perhaps Monero is that coin!
Nice run down
Bitchen Monero.