How to mine ETH profitably if the memory capacity of your cards is 3GB or 4GB
By: Liliia Nik
Tags: Hiveos, Ethereum Mining, Eth, Mining, Ethereum

According to the Hive OS statistics, ETH is the most popular coin — at the moment, 67% of users choose it. Why? Everything is explained by the high and steadily growing cost of ETH (for a long time it was about $200, but now it has almost doubled), and the market capacity (the number of coins generated per day). Considering all these factors, ETH mining is beneficial for both the owners of large mining farms and “home” miners.

However, it is no longer possible to mine ETH on 3GB video cards. The reason is the constantly growing DAG-file, which is required for mining coins on the Ethash algorithm. It is loaded into the memory of the video card, and if its size exceeds its capabilities or the specified size of memory, it becomes impossible to mine the coin. 4GB cards are also at risk.

However, do not hurry up to get rid of them! It’s still possible to mine ETH with these cards, and we’ll tell you how!

Solution for the cards with 3GB memory capacity

It is no longer possible to mine ETH directly on cards with 3GB memory — the DAG-file is too large for them. But you can do the following: start mining another coin, and then sell what you mined in exchange for ETH. To make it easier for you, we’ve created the list of advantages and disadvantages of some coins that are still suitable for mining on cards with 3GB memory.

Bitcoin Gold (BTG)

Advantages:

This coin has no DAG-file. This means that on cards with a memory capacity of up to 3GB, it can be mined as long as the coin remains profitable;

Sometimes the coin is on the list of the most profitable cryptocurrencies;

A lot of trading platforms support BTG.

Disadvantages:

The project is rarely updated on Github;

The coin is associated with a number of major scandals — trading platforms suffered losses due to this and removed it from the list of supported coins.

How to mine: using Gminer, Bminer, or miniZ.

Algorithm: Zhash (other names: Equihash 144/5, Equihash-BTG).

Expanse (EXP)

Advantages:

Sometimes the coin is very profitable.

Disadvantages:

The coin project on Github is rarely updated, which raises doubts about its relevance;

Low trading volume;

You can sell this coin only on Bittrex.

How to mine: using Ethminer, PhoenixMiner, TeamRedMiner, or Claymore.

Algorithm: Ethash.

Metaverse (ETP)

Advantages:

The coin is supported by a lot of trading platforms;

High trading volume;

ETP is under active work on Github.

Disadvantages:

The cost of a coin fluctuates a lot — before starting mining, we recommend you to check the rate.

How to mine: using Ethminer, PhoenixMiner, TeamRedMiner or Claymore.

Algorithm: Ethash.

QuarkChain (QKC)

Advantages:

High trading volume;

The coin is supported by a lot of trading platforms;

The coin project is actively updated on Github;

QKC is often more profitable than many other coins.

Disadvantages:

The capitalization of the project is still relatively small, there are only two pools, and this raises doubts.

How to mine: using PhoenixMiner, TeamRedMiner or Claymore.

Algorithm: Ethash.

RavenCoin (RVN)

Advantages:

The coin periodically appears in the top coins in terms of profitability;

The coin is supported by many trading platforms;

Fairly high profitability.

Disadvantages:

Heavy load on video cards;

High power consumption (devices may overheat);

The complexity of the miner setup.

How to mine: using KawpowMiner, Gminer, T-Rex, TeamRedMiner or NBMiner.

Algorithm: Kawpow.

Callisto (CLO)

Advantages:

The coin is quite active on Github;

Fairly high trading volume.

Disadvantages:

The coin is accepted by a small number of trading platforms;

In terms of market capitalization, the coin is “falling” — very slowly, but steadily.

How to mine: using Ethminer, PhoenixMiner, TeamRedMiner or Claymore.

Algorithm: Ethash.

Beam (BEAM)

Advantages:

There is no DAG-file;

Large trading volume;

High developer activity.

Disadvantages:

The stability of mining depends on the optimization of the miner;

Mining efficiency is lower than on cards with 6GB of memory or more.

How to mine: using miniZ or lolMiner.

Algorithm: BeamHashIII.

ZelCash (ZEL)

Advantages:

There is no DAG-file;

Relatively large trading volume;

Large selection of pools.

Disadvantages:

The coin network is relatively small, which can lead to a drop in profitability even in case of a small “influx” of miners.

How to mine: using miniZ, lolMiner or Gminer.

Algorithm: ZelHash.

Haven Protocol (XHV)

Advantages:

There is no DAG-file;

Quite good trading volume;

Consumption is lower than on Ethash;

A good alternative for AMD cards.

Disadvantages:

Not always the best choice in terms of profitability for Nvidia cards.

How to mine: using XMRig, CryptoDredge, or TeamRedMiner.

Algorithm: Cryptonight Haven.

Super Zero (SERO)

Advantages:

Good choice of trading platforms;

The price of the coin periodically increases;

The coin is mined well on Nvidia cards.

Disadvantages:

The coin is mainly supported by Chinese trading platforms and pools.

How to mine: using NBMiner, Gminer, TTminer or SeroMiner.

Algorithm: ProgPoW.

Zano (ZANO)

Advantages:

The price of the coin periodically increases;

The coin is mined well on Nvidia cards.

Disadvantages:

Trading is concentrated on Stex;

High centralization on one pool (>90%).

How to mine: using NBMiner, Gminer or TTminer.

Algorithm: ProgPowZ.

SnowGem (XSG)

Advantages:

There is no DAG-file;

The price of the coin periodically increases.

Disadvantages:

Trading is concentrated on Stex;

The coin network is small, which can lead to a sharp drop in profitability even in case of a small “influx” of miners.

How to mine: using miniZ, Gminer, Bminer or lolMiner.

Algorithm: Zhash (Equihash 144/5).

Nimiq (NIM)

Advantages:

There is no DAG-file;

Good trading volume on the KuCoin trading platform;

The profitability is sometimes comparable with Ethereum.

Disadvantages:

A short perspective for mining due to the expected transition of the coin to PoS this fall;

High centralization on the Icemining pool;

The commission of pools and miners’ devfee can be up to 4–5% in total.

How to mine: using NoncerPro-CUDA, nq-miner, CryptoDredge, SushiMiner, or TeamRedMiner.

Algorithm: Argon2d.

Solution for the cards with 4GB memory capacity

The solution described above for 3GB cards is also suitable for 4GB cards. That is, you can simply switch to another coin with a suitable DAG-file size and sell it in exchange for ETH. But there is also another solution that is applicable in case you use PhoenixMiner.

The thing is that this miner has a -rvram parameter that determines the amount of memory that cannot be used for mining. By default, the size is 128MB for Linux and 384MB for Windows. By disabling this memory separation, you can get additional space for mining ETH. To do this, open the miner .bat file, find the -rvram parameter and set the value to 1. As a result, the parameter should look like this: -rvram 1.

In the case of TeamRedMiner, everything is even easier — you won’t have to configure it further. With it, you can still mine ETH (and even ETC for a while) on cards with 4GB of memory.

Why is it profitable to mine ETH on the Hiveon pool?

It is better to mine ETH on the Hiveon pool, and here is why:

The payout model is PPS+ (you will get paid for each valid share, which will make your income more stable);

The pool fee is 0%;

You won’t have to pay for transactions — we do this for you;

Pool servers are located in North America, Asia, Europe, and Russia — this guarantees the efficiency of mining;

On the Hiveon pool you can mine both ETH and ETC;

Paid users of the Hive OS management and monitoring system can pay for it using the commission for mining ETH or ETC on the Hiveon pool. The commission is 3%, but if you have more than 50 devices, you will get a discount.

As you can see, 3GB and 4GB cards can still be useful for mining ETH, so don’t rush to throw them away. Instead, mine other coins and sell them, or try allocating more memory for mining ETH.