From the author: As you know, mining depends on the performance of the equipment. However, there are many different builds or single products to loot. Especially when it comes to XMR, which is less demanding on device power. Today you will learn what equipment is used for Monero mining benchmark, and how such a standard is determined.
What is a benchmark
Many of you may have heard this definition, but did not understand what it means and how to relate it to cryptocurrencies. Translated from English, this word means “standard”. Thus, when using this word with some noun, this product is called the main reference.
If you are tied to technology and programming, then a benchmark is the best test of hardware performance. In the case of cryptocurrencies, this will be checking mining equipment. Accordingly, the benchmark of any cryptocurrency is most often used to determine the best graphics card or ASIC for mining that coin.
Recently, this phrase has been applied only to ASIC miners or large farms. However, the latter are created from video cards. Moreover, cryptocurrencies such as Monero can be mined on weaker hardware, so it is worth knowing the best performance of single devices.
Benefits of Monero
There are no such problems on the Monero network. The team's unconventional approach is to use Ring Signatures and Stealth Addresses for fungible Monero coins.
The mechanism of closed addresses means that a participant has one public address that can be transferred to someone, all others are closed or private. The Monero address subsystem uses two such keys: viewkey and spendkey.
A private spendkey is used to sign transactions, just like Bitcoin. A private viewkey will help you view transactions associated with your Monero address. Ring signatures hide the real inputs of transactions, leaving no way to determine the ins and outs of the links in the block chain. The mechanism uses the CryptoNote protocol, it is simple and complex at the same time. Without prior preparation, groups of equal users (rings) are randomly created, and only one of the group signs the action so that later it will be impossible to find out who exactly signed.
Equipment indicators
The mining performance test displays the final result over a certain period of time. Since the main task is solving blocks through the transfer of so-called balls, the main criterion will be their number.
In the future, this will help determine how long it will take the system to independently solve one block at the current complexity. In addition, if you work in a pool, the number of transferred shares also affects the receipt of a reward.
However, this result is not an indication of the performance of the video card or CPU. It comes directly from the performance test, appearing during the operation of the equipment. It depends entirely on the capabilities of the system.
It’s worth saying right away that for mining Monero (XMR) it is very important to have good RAM. The specific model does not have much influence on the change in efficiency. Here you need to choose according to the principle “the better the device, the more benefits.”
Thus, the impeccable leader today is Hyper X Fury DDR4 from Kingston. In addition to it, the same RAM, but at DDR3 speed, as well as Samsung DDR4, Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4 and Corsair Vengeance DDR4 have good ratings.
What to look for in a video card
The developers made sure that video cards were slightly unloaded when mining Monero. They succeeded, thanks to which you can use weaker equipment and still get a good profit. However, the choice of GPUs is very important since they are at the core of solving the functions of cryptocurrency blocks.
Video memory capacity is important for many cryptocurrencies because it allows you to store more information from a block. However, this is not the case with Monero, since a large amount of data is stored in RAM. However, it is advisable to have at least 2–4 gigabytes for stable system operation.
When it comes to memory speed, there are no exceptions. It is preferable to choose DDR5. They themselves have some of the best performance, but in addition, such video cards have an excellent balance between resource consumption and mining efficiency. Also, HBM is a good option, but they require a lot of electricity.
The next indicator is power consumption. As you understand, when mining blocks, the equipment operates at high speeds, which requires a lot of kilowatts of energy. Therefore, it is very important to choose a product that, together with others, requires a small amount of resources.
It is also worth paying attention to the cooling system. In fact, when mining Monero this is no longer so significant, since a significant part of the load on the video card is reduced. Therefore, it not only does not overheat, but will also last longer. However, it is better to have good coolers in case of an emergency than to put out fires later.
Disadvantages of the Monero cryptocurrency
As usual, the weaknesses are associated with the main strengths:
- The unique cryptocurrency code creates an information block of enormous size. Its volume is many times larger than blocks of other coins, which does not prevent Monero blocks from being created faster.
- Block size affects how long it takes for transactions to be confirmed. Since mining is carried out on the CPU and GPU, the system runs slower, but without overheating.
- The deep anonymity of cryptocurrency has become the reason for its use as a means of payment for dubious transactions. The coin's widespread use on the dark side has resulted in a lack of community acceptance for it.
Choosing the right processor
If you decide to start mining based on a central processor, then it will be a little more difficult for you due to the fact that they are much weaker in this regard. However, XMR can be mined on a CPU in a pool or through a full wallet.
You need to choose a processor with a large number of cores. The computer is designed in such a way that the load is distributed among several “centers,” which are the cores. The more there are, the fewer freezes the system will experience, which means mining will be more stable.
For a long time, it was “fashionable” to increase clock speeds when developing a new product. However, manufacturers realized that this was more expensive and less practical for the system, so they began to produce multi-core CPUs. However, they didn't forget about clock speed.
You should also not forget about this indicator, since it indicates the speed of completing various tasks. At the same time, do not be misled by the fact that the number of cores multiplied by the frequency of each will show the total frequency of the entire CPU. Because such a mistake can result in choosing weaker equipment.
To explain this, we can compare this to machines. Let's say a car is driving down the road at a speed of 100 km/h. But when 4 identical cars are traveling at the same speed, you do not say that they are traveling 400 km/h. You will say that there are 4 cars driving, each with a speed of 100. The same with the processor: if it has 5 cores of 5 GHz, then it has not 25 GHz, but five of five. But it still affects performance.
Some processors have hyperthreading technology. How does it work? Each CPU has a certain number of threads that cope not only with your tasks, but also with operational ones. When one of them is completed, the free thread moves on to the next one or helps another thread complete its task.
Accordingly, they are designed to increase the performance of the processor and the computer as a whole. This is more important than ever for mining as it is an ongoing task. Accordingly, the more streams can connect to it, the higher the production efficiency will be.
When mining Monero, it is very important to pay attention to such an indicator as L3 cache. It will store the calculation data of the previous block. Accordingly, the larger the L3 cache, the more it can store. Thanks to this, it will take less time to process the next blocks, which will relieve the system load and also get more money.
Features of the Monero cryptocurrency
Monero was created using revolutionary technology, as many developers of other cryptocurrencies have recognized. Not only senders remain hidden, but also recipients, amounts and transaction histories. Three key points demonstrate the main features:
- Decentralization - no one controls the currency alone, there is no center. There are no regulatory servers or regulatory bodies, the Monero network is regulated by an open network society. Therefore, decisions on the development of cryptocurrency, the introduction of new rules, even developer registration logs are openly published.
- Security – Monero cryptocurrency provides a high level of security; none of the existing digital currencies provides greater protection.
- Confidentiality – user anonymity is placed above all else. To achieve this, the Monero team has implemented its own developments, the main ones of which are ring signatures, private addresses and the interchangeability of cryptocoins. Initially, Spagni focused on the anonymity of cryptocoins. By 2014, all Bitcoin transactions could already be tracked by going through the chain of confirmed transactions. Now no one doubts the low degree of anonymity of the first cryptocurrencies.
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Just like with graphics cards, when choosing a CPU, it is very important to choose a product with low power consumption. The reasons are the same - you will pay less for electricity bills, which will directly affect the payback period and profitability of mining.
Comparison with Bitcoin
The problem with public Bitcoin transactions has become obvious. Bitcoin is not anonymous and never has been. By owning even one digital coin or part of it, you become a member of the network. Blockchain technology allows you to track everything that happens on the network, that is, it becomes possible to track all transactions. Passing on a Bitcoin wallet address to receive or send a payment opens the door to a “secret room” of storing completed transactions.
The owner of Bitcoins could not be sure of the confidentiality of information about his transactions for the purchase and sale of goods and services, transfers and stored amounts. Online exchange resources suggested using a one-time e-wallet address. It is recommended to indicate it as details for receiving money in a real wallet. This temporary address is generated by the exchange for one transaction only. After the successful completion of the transaction, it is destroyed and the connection with the real wallet is interrupted.
This approach is good for single payments; for those who sell goods or services for bitcoins or other coins on a regular basis, temporary addresses will not save them.
Test results
So, now you know what exactly influences the interest in a particular product on the part of miners. However, any self-respecting company must conduct a performance test to use the product in different areas.
For example, for games or videos, the number of frames per second will always be an important result. The more there are, the more pleasant and easier it is for the user to play. In addition, the stability of the system and the intensity of the cooler are monitored. The faster it spins, the hotter the video card heats up. This determines the minimum and recommended requirements for games.
In mining, only one thing comes from all the above indicators - hashing (data processing) speed. It is by this indicator that the benchmark of a processor or video card for mining is determined.
In general, the average performance of video cards is about 25–30 thousand H/s. However, such products do not always make it to the top, especially in the case of XMR. After all, in addition to the hashing speed, the durability of the product and payback are also important. According to monerobenchmarks.info, the reference video card has only 3000 H/s.
History of origin
The XMR cryptocurrency first appeared in April 2014 as a fork of Bitcoin. However, soon the creator of Monero, Ricardo Spagni, decided that it was necessary to re-release it from zero. It was then that the modern name appeared - Monero (“coin” in Esperanto). Soon after the launch, mining software was developed. XMR mining uses the power of the GPU.
The adoption of the currency took place with great difficulty - opponents appeared quite quickly. Their main argument was that complete anonymity of users could lead to its use in illicit trade, such as drugs, weapons and others. However, there was another opinion that in fact the anonymity of Monero is not so high. Edward Snowden even called it “an amateur cryptocurrency.”
In September of the same year, the first hacker attack occurred. Fortunately, the main goal - the destruction of cryptocurrency - was not achieved. An investigation was later conducted, during which it turned out that the attackers were aware of the algorithms and source code used by Monero.
Due to a hacker attack, the developers did not have time to create a graphical interface for working with the currency - all operations were carried out through the command line, which caused indignation among many owners. However, at the end of 2014, the MyMonero web wallet was launched, which made the work much easier.
Many users believed that the developers were sitting on their hands and were not going to improve anything in cryptocurrency. In fact, the experts did a tremendous amount of internal work:
- prepared for integration with I2P;
- moved block chains to LMBD;
- speeded up the domain;
- developed multilingual support for mnemonic-seed;
- implemented accelerated synchronization of the block chain.
Work on implementing a user-friendly cryptocurrency user interface was resumed only in 2016.
Today, the story of Monero is not over - the currency continues to develop and conquers more and more new horizons.
ASIC selection
When Monero was developed, the team argued that creating an ASIC for mining this cryptocurrency was almost impossible. This is done in order to attract weaker miners and increase the availability of cryptocurrency mining, which will help the entire system work better.
However, this was just another marketing ploy. Anyway, it is a hashing algorithm that requires the use of some hardware to solve certain functions. Therefore, it is quite possible to create an ASIC, as Bitmain proved by releasing Antminer X3.
It cannot be called a benchmark, since today it is the only ASIC for Monero. However, it cannot be ignored because this product shows excellent results in XMR mining. And in terms of cost, it is not inferior to video card farms. When released, of course, the price was about 10 thousand dollars, but today it can be purchased for 2–3 thousand.
Where to buy Monero (XMR)
Now XMR is one of the second ten largest cryptocurrencies by capitalization. You can purchase a coin on more than 80 top cryptocurrency exchanges:
- Bitfinex
- HitBTC
- Binance
- Poloniex
- Kraken
- Bittrex
- Exmo
If you want to buy the Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency, but don’t know where to start, then we have instructions on how to buy any coins and altcoins for rubles and a list of the best cryptocurrency exchanges.
2017 was a successful year for the cryptocurrency, the price of Monero rose from $10 to $350. Prospects for 2022 promise smoother growth of 3-6 times. Mining promises to be successful, but not to the same extent as last year.
Standards among video cards
As already mentioned, according to the Monero performance chart from monerobenchmarks.info, the best graphics card has 3000 H/s. This is the well-known XFX Radeon RX 550. It has 4 gigabytes of DDR5 memory and consumes 80W of power. This card works best with Windows 10 x64 and the XMR-Stack application, which allows combined CPU mining.
The average price of such a video card is 200–250 dollars. A couple of years ago on Monero it paid for itself in a month and a half. However, the events of the last year have radically changed the situation. The average period is about a year. However, this is still one of the fastest options. Moreover, this card will serve for a long time.
Next on the list is the RX 550 MSI Aero It. It has only 2 gigabytes of DDR3 memory, but mines at a speed of 2850 H/s. At the same time, it consumes 290W. The payback period for this product is not the fastest, but it has stability and a long service life. Despite the slight loss in characteristics, it is not much inferior to the previous version.
The third video card is a Gigabyte GeForce GTI 1050 OC with 2 gigabytes of DDR5 memory and a 128-bit bus. For mining cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Cash or Litecoin, it is considered one of the worst, but do not forget that the highlight of Monero is precisely the accessibility of mining. That is why it takes an honorable 3rd place among the standards, although it has only 336 H/s. The average price is $250, and the power consumption is only 75W.
Processor benchmarks
When choosing a CPU for mining Monero, they most often focus on the entire XEON line, as well as products from the I3, I5, I7 series from Intel and some products from AMD. The former have the highest ratings due to their high hashrate (as for a CPU) at a low cost.
According to monerobenchmark.info, the CPU benchmark for XMR mining is the Intel XEON e7-8867L. It has 10 cores and has as many as 40 threads, thanks to which it processes all tasks very quickly. The clock frequency of each core is 2.13 GHZ with the possibility of overclocking to 2.53.
One of the advantages is a 30 megabyte cache, which will allow you to temporarily store large blocks of data (one such block in XMR has about 2 MB) and very quickly solve the following tasks. This is the main highlight of this product, which made it a standard.
Among the disadvantages is that it costs about 4 thousand dollars. In addition, this processor is ideally compatible with the Ubuntu operating system. Of course, you can use it with Windows, but the performance will suffer a bit. However, it will still be the standard.
The next CPU, which is practically not lagging behind, is the AMD Epyc 7401p, which has 24 cores, each of which has a 2 GHz clock frequency (overclocked to 3). This processor has, please note, 64 megabytes of L3 cache, which will have a very good effect on the efficiency of Monero mining.
The advantages over the previous product, besides the cache size, are in cost. AMD Epyc costs about $1000. However, it consumes 170W of power. One way or another, the overall payback period will be less than that of the XEON E7. These two products occupy almost the same position in the ranking. Among the disadvantages is also perfect compatibility only with Linux systems.
Third place is occupied by the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950 X, which has 16 cores and 32 threads. What's remarkable is that the clock speed is 3.4 GHz and can be overclocked to 4.0 GHz, which puts it ahead of most other products. This processor has 32 megabytes of L3 cache. Power consumption - 180W. Perfectly compatible with Windows.
Monero Wallets
Cold and hot, online and paper - they all allow you to safely store, receive, send and exchange the Monero cryptocurrency. Access to your personal XMR wallet is open 24/7, all you need is a computer or smartphone. Monero Web Wallet is a web wallet for XMR. It is managed and owned by Riccardo Spagni, who is the lead developer of Monero. The wallet works like any account. You create an account and log in online so that you have access to your funds. MyMonero only encrypts your keys and stores the data on its servers. But he does not have access to your funds.
Monero Desktop is a desktop “wallet”, an official client of which it is a full-fledged node. It can also be downloaded from the official Monero website. USBCOLD WALLET - a “cold” wallet serves to ensure security. It will take 10 minutes to install and configure it. This is by far the safest place to store Monero coins.
MoneroAddress.org offers an offline wallet generator. There you can create a new “wallet” off-line. It is self-contained and does all the necessary calculations locally, so it is suitable for creating a new "wallet" on a computer that is not connected to the network. After going through all the steps, you can create a Monero wallet without risking your keys, and write down all the generated details on any medium.
