The Beginner's Guide to Ethereum Mining (2024)

Why You Should Mine Ethereum?

Ethereum (ETH) is ranked second, based on market capitalization after Bitcoin, which makes it highly profitable when speaking of mining, and it’s tradeable in almost all exchanges worldwide. The coin itself (also called Ether) has a high price, while the platform it’s created upon further increases its value, by enabling the creation of dApps and smart contracts.

Ethereum, as a well established crypto currency, is already used as payment method in many institutions and is expected to keep evolving. Having in mind the huge development team behind Ether and its prospects for the future, it bodes well for the currency and we can expect to see even higher coin prices in the future. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to say, that it’s a good investment. Miners in turn, receive a reward when mining Ethereum for their computational power, so you can expect a steady income should you choose to mine.

Best Way to Mine Ethereum

We’ve reached an important point in this review – learning how to best acquire Ethereum. Now, mining Ethereum is done through a mining rig with GPUs or with an ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) miner from Bitmain. Ethereum can be mined with every recently released GPU, but if you want to make profit, you’ll need to setup a GPU mining rig or get your hands on some ASIC miners. Both ways are almost equally profitable.

No matter which one you pick, we would recommend joining a mining pool, where you cooperate with other miners to find blocks faster and receive proportional reward for the work you have done. Mining in pool can also guarantee you will receive stable income, all for the price of a small fee (0% – 3%).

Lastly, if you aren’t a tech savvy, then cloud mining might be the best choice for you. We are going to explain it later in our Ethereum cloud mining section.

What do You Need to Start Mining Ethereum?

Now, let’s see what you need to mine Ethereum. Firstly, you must have at least a computer. A stable internet connection with low latency and unlimited traffic is also crucial for your mining. Your machines are running 24/7 and you always need access to the blockchain, while low latency helps you not to miss out on a reward, by sending a completed block as fast as possible. You can measure the latency using any ping tool directed to mining pool’s IP address or hostname.

If you don`t have access to unlimited internet, we recommend that you have at least 15 GB data/per month for each machine. Also, take into consideration the total power consumption of your equipment, otherwise you may damage your electricity network. If you don’t have compatible wallet yet, you can check the official Ethereum Website for the latest download of the official wallet.

What Else You Need to Consider?

You should plan well where you’re going to store all machines. Every worker consumes a lot of electricity and produces a lot of heat and noise. Therefore, we recommend that you pay attention to the following:

For more information, visit our hardware/cooling solutions web page.

Which Ethereum Mining Hardware to Buy?

Currently the Ether mining process is performed by powerful GPUs and ASIC miners from Bitmain. The hash rate of one ETH ASIC (Antminer E3) is 180MH/s, which is also the total average hash rate of one well optimized mining rig with 6 GPUs (ex. one RX 580 produce around 30 MH/s).

In this table, we compare the performance and the price of only one ASIC miner with a couple of GPU`s.

Remember that for a GPU mining rig, you need to calculate the power consumption of all the graphic cards and the rest of the computer components (around 50W).

With the help of the Ethereum mining calculator you can determine, approximately, the mining profit you can achieve. Don`t forget that the price of the coin is unpredictable, and your profit can change significantly in any direction.

Setup and Configuration of Hardware and Software

In this section we’ll go over the setup process in both cases – mining with ASIC and with GPUs. We will guide you through all the steps of connecting and configuring your gear, up to the point where you’ll be mining. Check the ultimate Ethereum mining guide to start mining immediately:

1. Let`s start with the configuration of the ASIC miner.

Ethereum Cloud Mining

Cloud mining will allow you to rent the hardware, while the electricity and maintenance costs will be covered by the provider (for a certain fee of course, which you’ll either have included in the contract or it would be withheld from your earnings). If you’re looking for the “easy way” to start mining Ethereum, that is the direction you should follow. When doing your research, you should take into consideration the following important criteria:

• 01. Reputation of the cloud mining provider
• 02. The mining algorithm you want to mine
• 03. How much mining hash power you want
• 04. How long the contract period

Now, let’s have a look for a reputable provider and sign a contract based on the chosen parameters.

• Hashflare
• IQ Mining

If you need more detailed information, visit our cloud mining page.

Ethereum Mining Calculator

This is one of the most important topics to discuss, because the first question of each miner is “How much money can I earn from mining?”. Our Ethereum mining calculator will give you detailed information about profitability and earnings.

You must enter the values for hash rate, power consumption, pool fee and the price per kw/h to calculate your mining profitability.

For cloud mining you only need to enter your hash rate and the pool fee.

After the calculation is done, you will receive info about your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly income.

Disclaimer: The result applies only for the moment of the calculation according to the current difficulty of the network and the actual price of the Ethereum. Your profit may be volatile as the coin price fluctuates.

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