Video cards of the 1060 3 GB series are “out” of mining. Mining most popular, profitable coins on this “prehistoric” video card is no longer possible, since the video memory is only 3 GB!
Yes, of course everything was heading towards this, but was everything so bad? Should we give up and throw away the Nvidia 1060 3 GB version?
The most important question that worries users of these video cards is what should they mine now? Is there still profit at 1063? Is it worth buying/selling them?
We will answer all these and other questions in this article. You will also learn about a small life hack on how you can mine Ethereum on 1060 3 GB video cards.
subscribe
Best cryptocurrencies to mine on 1060 3GB: quick answer
As we already said, there are not many profitable coins left to mine on the 1063. Below we have compiled a list of profitable coins that can still be mined on a 1060 3GB graphics card in 2022:
| Coin | Algorithm | Hashrate | Program |
| Ethereum Classic (ETC) | Etchash | 24.9 Mh/s | Phoenix Miner; Nanominer |
| Ergo (ERG) | Autolykos | 46 Mh/s | NBminer |
| Flux (FLUX) | ZelHash | 20.5 H/s | lolMiner; miniZ |
| Bitcoin Gold (BTG) | Zhash | 36.2 H/s (Miniz) and 35 H/s (Gminer) | miniZ; Gminer |
| Nimiq (NIM) | Argon2d-NIM | 185 Kh/s | noncerpro |
| Conceal (CCX) | CryptoNightGPU | 776 H/s | cryptodredge |
| Aion (AION) | Equihash (210.9) | 137 H/s | miniZ |
| Zano (ZANO) | ProgPowZ | 9.2 Mh/s | T-Rex miner |
| Ubiq (UBQ) | Ubqhash | 23.5 Mh/s |
Overclocking a video card for Ethereum mining
Setting up a video card to speed up Ethereum mining (increase hashrate) consists of two stages:
- reduction in energy consumption,
- increasing memory frequency.
These parameters can be changed using MSI Afterburner.
On-air performance depends on memory speed. The most popular chips from Samsung ensure stable operation at the highest bus frequency. But you can save on powering the GTX 1060 core by reducing the voltage limit.
The frequency increase limit for the core and memory is +107 and +918 MHz. At the same time, the hashrate increases to 25 MH/s . Setting the Power Limit to 65% reduces power consumption to 80 watts and does not interfere with the stable operation of the farm.
The King is "Dead" (Ethereum), What's Next?
First, let's figure out why mining giants from the world of cryptocurrencies (such as Ethereum) with a 1063 video card became impossible?
The thing is that the Ethash algorithm has such a thing as a DAG file. The size of the DAG file is constantly changing, it is only stable for some time. But with every 30 thousandth block, its size increases along with the increase in the difficulty of coin mining. The process of increasing the block size is usually called “change of epochs”.
The video card must have at least 200-300 megabytes more memory than the DAG file, at least in order to allocate part of the resource to the operating system.
So, this DAG file at the time of writing is at the following stage:
- Ethereum - 4.57 GB
Moreover, the 1060 video card in our case has only 3 GB of video memory. Due to this, Ethereum mining is impossible.
Why can Ethereum classic be mined on 1060 3GB?
The thing is that Ethereum classic had a hard fork, after which they “rolled back” their DAG file.
At the time of writing (December 2022), the ETC DAG file is 2.8 GB. Therefore, you can mine ETC on 1063 video cards!
Video card settings
The GTX 1060 chip is manufactured using a 16 nm process, which provides a quantum leap over the 9xx series with 28 nm technology. Video cards based on it are produced by several manufacturers and are equipped with memory chips with a total capacity of 3 GB and 6 GB .
The main parameters of the GTX 1060 look like this:
- video memory type - GDDR5 (3/6 GB),
- chip architecture - Pascal,
- memory bus frequency - 2 GHz,
- RAM bandwidth - 8Gb/s,
- memory bus width - 192 bits,
- core frequency - 1506/1708 MHz (base/boost),
- number of rasterization blocks - 48,
- number of processors in the chip - 1280,
- additional power connector - 6 pin,
- power - 120 W.
Video cards have an effective cooling system and can operate stably at chip temperatures up to 94 degrees. However, such heating should not be allowed during mining. In practice, failures during Zcash mining appear after 70 degrees.
If possible, you should buy the GPU version with 6 gigabytes of RAM. The Ether DAG file will no longer fit into 3 gigabytes in 2022. In this case, the only option left is to mine Zcash, which is less demanding on the size of video memory.
ASUS produces GPU versions with RAM bandwidth increased to 9 GB/s. They are the most effective for mining Ethereum.
Should I mine other Ethash coins instead of Ethereum?
As we have already described above, one of the most profitable coins for mining at 1063 is Ethereum Classic. This coin has a similar algorithm - Etchash.
Now let's look at dozens of cryptocurrencies that can be mined on the 1060 3 GB version, and which are also based on the Ethash algorithm (Ether algorithm), but before that, a little statistics of their DAG file.
- Expanse - 2.46 GB
- Metaverse - 2.55 GB
Unfortunately, time flies very quickly. Back in 2022, the list of coins was many times larger. Many coins have died, and some can no longer be mined on 1060 3 GB, since the Dag file has already exceeded 3 GB.
Below is a screenshot of coins that were possible to mine back in 2019-2020:
Note that for all the algorithms listed below
Features of choosing video cards, from the manufacturer’s point of view
The popularity of the manufacturer directly affects the final cost of the video card. When it comes to the effectiveness of choice, expensive does not mean good (the loudness of a brand name can easily add about 8-10 thousand rubles on top of the original cost of the product). From the point of view of optimal choice, including a reasonable price-quality ratio, mining on the Palit GeForce GTX 1060 or mining on the ASUS GTX 1060 may be a suitable option.
Attention! If you choose MSI Armor, you should pay special attention to cooling, since the efficiency of this video card is seriously affected by overheating. However, if this issue does not seem to be solvable, preference should still be given to mining on the Palit 1060 and similar models.
Ethereum Classic (ETC) mining on 1060 3 GB
It's still possible to mine ETC on 1060 3 GB in 2022! Nvidia 1063 is still mining this coin in profit.
For example, at the time of writing, from 1 video card per day you can get - $0.94 dirty (without deduction for light):
How to mine ETC on 1060 3GB?
In order to start mining ETC on Nvidia 1063 you need to complete the following steps.
Step 1. Selecting a wallet
First, you need to create a digital coin wallet, which will receive rewards for mining. The following wallets are suitable:
- Exchange wallet (for example): Huobi, Binance
- Official wallet
- Hardware wallet (Trezor/Ledger)
- Multi-currency wallet
Choose a method convenient for you and get a digital coin wallet.
Step 2. Selecting a mining program
We know that Ethereum Classic runs on the Etchash algorithm. This means that the following programs are suitable:
- Phoenix miner
- Nanominer
Choose a program that is convenient for you.
Step 3. Selecting a mining pool
Ethereum Classic has many pools and choosing one that is convenient for you will not be difficult. Here is an example of large and not difficult to set up pools:
- nanopool.org
- ethermine.org
Step 4. Setting up the Bat file.
Now you need to configure the Bat file of the program that you downloaded.
Example of setting up a Bat file for the Phoenix miner program:
PhoenixMiner.exe -pool eu1-etc.ethermine.org:4444 -wal 0x7v9dd9150cG06819a9216525931R3q55e224Q121 -worker Phoenix -pass x -log 0 -retrydelay 1 -tt 79 -tstop 89 -tstart 85 -Rmode 1 -fret 1 -rate 1 -coin etc pause
Read more about how to configure the Phoenixminer program on our website.
Cryptocurrency Review
Now it’s worth understanding which cryptocurrency is really worthy of mining. You can find a detailed description of all these cryptocurrencies on our website, but for now we will present a brief description of the coins and a description of their operation in order to understand whether these are really worthy coins or a scam.
Ethash
Let's start with Callisto. The main goal is research and development of a self-governing and self-financing blockchain ecosystem. The Callisto network was developed by Ethereum Commonwealth, one of three development teams at ETC.
Overall, the coin has strong roots and strong support.
Max. volume: 6,500,000,000
Product status: Completely ready
General information
| Intelligence | Percentage |
| Activity on social networks | 70% |
| Product strength | 86% |
| User attitude, growth, positive news | 51% |
| Brand recognition | 50% |
It is also worth noting that the coin actually works in github, not as often as Ether (branches are updated every 1-1.5 hours), but branches are updated consistently once every few days.
work of the Callisto team on GitHub
Based on all of the above, we can come to the conclusion that this coin is a very good option for mining.
Next, let's look at the Akroma coin. EVM application development platform with a stable and self-financing management model. It is designed to offer startups and enterprises an unparalleled development and usage experience.
Akroma is not famous for its strong team (it is open), but there is quite a lot of interest in the coin. Plus, it’s completely new and hasn’t been “hyped” yet.
Max. volume: 100,000,000
Product status: Completely ready
General information
| Intelligence | Percentage |
| Activity on social networks | 90% |
| Product strength | 59% |
| User attitude, growth, positive news | 67% |
| Brand recognition | 43% |
When it comes to github work, Akroma works in much the same way as CLO. Main branches are updated once every 5-7 days.
work of the AKROMA team on GitHub
It is also worth noting that the coin has many innovations planned, some of which the developers are already testing, following the roadmap.
Based on this, this coin can also be considered for mining.
As for the verse coin, it carries the following. Creates a common technology platform that can be used by businesses and individuals. verse digitizes assets such as rare goods (art/antiques), intellectual property and rights to profits from financial instruments to improve market efficiency.
This coin has a fairly strong team; developers often participate in various conferences.
Max. volume: 100,000,000
Product status: Completely ready
General information
| Intelligence | Percentage |
| Activity on social networks | 67% |
| Product strength | 90% |
| User attitude, growth, positive news | 82% |
| Brand recognition | 50% |
As for work on github, it is the most active among all the above-mentioned coins. Main branches are updated 1-2 times a day!
This suggests that the project, despite the bearish market, is not giving up and really continues to work on its product!
work of the verse team on GitHub
This coin is also worth considering for mining. Yes, it may bring a little less than others, but it really works and develops. Plus, ETP has a relatively small number of coins compared to the ones mentioned above.
You can familiarize yourself with the remaining coins of the Ethash algorithm and their complete description on our website.
X16R
Next comes the X16 algorithm and the Ravencoin coin. A digital peer-to-peer network designed to simplify the transfer of assets. Ravencoin aims to implement a blockchain that is optimized specifically to leverage the transfer of assets such as tokens from one owner to another.
This coin is not very technologically advanced, and in general is not very different from most cryptocurrencies. However, it has 2 very big advantages.
- Great faith in this project, both among investors and miners
- Bruce Fenton and Tron Black are co-creators of the project. Plus, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne invested large sums in the development of Ravencoin, which tells us about the possibility of his involvement in this coin (since he very often spoke flatteringly about it)
Max. volume: 21,000,000,000
Product status: Completely ready
General information
| Intelligence | Percentage |
| Activity on social networks | 40% |
| Product strength | 28% |
| User attitude, growth, positive news | 73% |
| Brand recognition | 54% |
As for working on github, the main branches are updated once every 4-5 days.
work of the Ravencoin team on GitHub
Based on all of the above, this coin can also be considered for mining.
You can also consider algorithms such as X16s and BCD, which are also effective in mining on a 1060 3 GB video card.
We advise you to read a separate article about BitcoinDiamond(BCD), the BCD algorithm. The coin also brings good profit!
Flux (FLUX) mining on 1060 3 GB
You can also mine Flux cryptocurrency at 1063 in 2022. This coin is not as popular as ETC and occupies (at the time of writing) 166th place in capitalization.
Another disadvantage is that the coin is traded on a small number of exchanges.
However, for Nvidia 1063 this coin is still profitable, and sometimes takes 1st place in terms of profitability. At the time of writing, 1 Nvidia 1060 3 Gb video card brings in $1.42 dirty per day (without deduction for light):
How to mine FLUX on 1060 3GB?
In order to start mining FLUX on Nvidia 1063 you need to complete the following steps.
Step 1. Create a Digital Coin Wallet
You can create a digital wallet on the following platforms:
- Zelcore - official wallet for Flux
- Exchange: KuCoin, Gate.io
- Multi-currency wallet
Choose a method convenient for you and get a digital coin wallet.
Step 2. Selecting a mining program
We know that FLUX runs on the ZelHash algorithm. This means that the following programs are suitable:
- lolMiner
- miniZ
Choose a program that is convenient for you.
Step 3. Selecting a mining pool
FLUX doesn't have many mining pools. Here is an example of large and not difficult to set up pools:
- minerpool.org
- fluxpools.net
Step 4. Setting up the Bat file.
Now you need to configure the Bat file of the program that you downloaded.
Example of setting up a Bat file for the miniZ program:
miniz :2033 —pass=YourPassword —par=125,4 —pers=ZelProof —extra
Which cryptocurrency to mine in 2021?
Having thought that it is profitable to mine today, the neophyte will a priori focus on cryptocurrency No. 1. The reason is obvious - since last year, the coin has added several tens of thousands of North American dollars in price. Moreover, analysts are virtually unanimous - despite the rapid growth in the value of Bitcoin, which makes the process of confirming blocks in the Blockchain ecosystem for a reward more expensive and complicated, it is recommended to mine cryptocurrency, as well as invest in the token. However, in relation to the topic under discussion, it is advisable to start not from the goal, but from the financial capabilities of the beginner. The Chinese mine Bitcoin on an industrial scale, having huge farms of countless advanced video cards - this is more than profitable.
"Home" mining farm
Nobody is talking about creating something similar, but with a budget or old video card, especially a home processor for a PC or laptop, it’s a loss-making undertaking. All the penny profits will be eaten up by electricity bills - at best, the neophyte will break even. Therefore, before deciding what is profitable to mine on video cards in 2021, you need to worry about purchasing computing power - equipment. In addition to GPUs, a future miner can fork out the cash and buy:
- ASIC chip (preferably made by Bitmain or Canaan), if your wallet allows it, the price starts from $2,000. But ASIC has a significant drawback - each individual model is designed for a specific coin. True, the cryptocurrencies for which the devices are designed are not cost-effective to mint with video cards. It is not possible to reflash the chip. In addition, many tokens are too tough for ASIC chips, and as they age, they begin to “eat” electricity, reducing hashrate and performance.
- FPGA equipment . The cost of the system is from 250 thousand rubles. An ideal option, since the equipment can mine any cryptocurrency, but for obvious reasons, for many it is simply a financially unaffordable project.
Video cards (graphics processor, GPU) from NVIDIA and AMD are the best option. They can be customized - reprogrammed, for most of the altcoins presented on the cryptocurrency market. The average cost varies between $600.
Assembling a “home” mining farm
Ergo (ERG) mining on 1060 3 GB
Ergo cryptocurrency can still be mined for 1060 3 GB in 2022. This coin is not as popular as ETC and Flux and ranks (at the time of writing) 326th in capitalization.
Another disadvantage is that the coin is traded on a small number of exchanges.
However, for Nvidia 1063 this coin is still profitable, and sometimes takes 1st place in terms of profitability. At the time of writing, 1 Nvidia 1060 3 Gb video card brings in $0.96 dirty per day (without deduction for light):
How to mine Ergo on 1060 3 GB?
In order to start mining Ergo on Nvidia 1063 you need to complete the following steps.
Step 1. Create a Digital Coin Wallet
You can create a digital wallet on the following platforms:
- Official wallet
- Exchange: KuCoin, Gate.io
- Multi-currency wallet
Choose a method convenient for you and get a digital coin wallet.
Step 2. Selecting a mining program
We know that Ergo runs on the Autolykos algorithm. This means that the following programs are suitable:
- lolMiner
- TeamRedMiner
- NBminer
Choose a program that is convenient for you.
Step 3. Selecting a mining pool
Ergo doesn't have many mining pools. Here is an example of large and not difficult to set up pools:
- my2coins.com
- solopools.net
Step 4. Setting up the Bat file.
Now you need to configure the Bat file of the program that you downloaded.
Example of setting up a Bat file for the lolMiner program:
lolMiner.exe —algo AUTOLYKOS2 —pool erg.2miners.com:8888 —user YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS.RIG_ID
Reduced energy consumption
To save on electricity bills, you should perform a so-called downvolt. In this case, the video card will consume less power with a slight decrease in hashrate. This advice is relevant for mining ether and other currencies on the GTX 1060 6Gb, the hashrate of which depends little on the core speed.
If you configure the card to work with a 70% power consumption limit, the ETH mining speed will drop by only 0.3 MHS/s. Taking into account the rather high prices for electricity and the low rate of cryptocurrency, such an action will bring in an additional few dollars per month from each video card.
Reducing power consumption also reduces the heating intensity of the chip.
How to mine Ethereum on 1063?
Many people ask if there is a way to bypass the DAG file, use some kind of program to mine Ether?
No! Unfortunately, there is nothing like that! And you can’t mine Ether directly!
However, today we will tell you a very interesting life hack, thanks to which you will be able to “ mine ” Ether on 1060 3 GB video cards , both in 2022 and in 2022!
This life hack is a method that we call “pseudo mining.” To do this, you need to mine the most profitable coin that 1060 3 GB can mine.
For example, you can mine Flux or Ethereum Classic coin.
As you can see, the most profitable coin at the time of writing is Flux (however, everything could change tomorrow, and ETC, or any other coin from the above, will be profitable again).
Next, you mine Flux (or another most profitable coin available) and exchange it for Ethereum. Of course, the Flux rate may fall, and you will receive less profit (than when mining any other available coin). Therefore, we advise you (depending on your capacity) to sell the mined Flux as soon as possible and exchange it for Ether.
That is, it turns out:
- You mine Flux directly to an exchange that has Ether (or transfer to the exchange from another wallet that you mined on)
- Sell it on the same exchange in exchange for Ether
- That’s it, you have Ether in your wallet that you “mined”
Why did we focus on power? It's simple: if you only have 1 video card, then you will have to mine Flux for about 5 days to sell it on the exchange, since almost all exchanges do not give the right to trade in amounts less than 4-5 dollars! If you have high power, you can sell Flux (or any other coin) in exchange for Ether on the same day.
And the biggest advantage is that sometimes you can leave the mined Flux coins (or any other) on your exchange without exchanging them for Ether. Thus, you will not keep “all your eggs in one basket”, but will slightly expand your investment portfolio.
It is worth noting that this method will force you to frequently monitor profitable coins, and sometimes rearrange the rig to different coins. Plus, you will often have to deal with the exchange - selling coins in exchange for Ether.
What is the hashrate for different algorithms?
To calculate mining performance on the GTX 1060, you need to know the hash rate and power consumption when working with different digital coins. A video card with an advanced version of video memory from Samsung (9Gbps) is used to find out how much the 1060 produces in mining .
Results on the set parameters:
- Ethereum mining hashrate ( Equihash ) - 23.5 MHS/s (75W);
- Zcash - 295 Sol/s (130W);
- Ethereum+Decret - 22.7 MHS/s+227.5 MHS/s (95W);
- Ethereum+Siacoin - 22.7 MHS/s+227.5 MHS/s (95W).
Mining other digital coins is of theoretical interest. The main problem comes down to the fact that with the current price reduction on cryptocurrency exchanges, mining on the video card in question does not provide short payback periods, as was the case in 2022.
Is it worth buying Nvidia 1060 3GB for mining in 2022?
It is worth noting that now you cannot buy a new Nvidia 1063 in stores, since they have long been discontinued and are sold only on the used market.
It is also worth remembering 1 important thing - the amount of video memory in the video card is very important in mining!
Considering that the 1060 only has 3GB of memory, it becomes almost unprofitable! It is also worth noting that at the moment there are not many coins left that can be mined at 1063 and they do not bring much profit at all.
Therefore, based on all of the above, the Bytwork team does not recommend buying an Nvidia 1060 3Gb video card for mining, since these are very old, low-resource and almost unprofitable video cards!
On the other hand, you can buy a used Nvidia 1060 6Gb video card for mining (but not worth it), since this card can still mine Ethereum and many other popular coins, even in 2022.
Why shouldn't you buy 1060 6GB? Everything is very simple. This is also a very old and weak card, plus in 2022 6 GB of video memory is no longer so much. Also, do not forget that the Dag file will very quickly reach 6 GB video cards and they will also become useless!
GTX 1060 Specifications
There are two versions of the GTX 1060 card, which differ in memory capacity. Basically, the difference between them is not fundamental, but it must be taken into account if we are talking about mining with a reserve for the future. There are versions of the GTX 1060 with 3 and 6 GB of memory. The frequencies and power consumption of the models are the same, although everything depends on the vendors. Some manufacturers initially overclock the frequencies on the video card, so they will differ.
A very important parameter is the memory manufacturer. As with other 10th generation cards from NVidia, cards with Samsung memory perform best. In most cases, this is the maximum or sub-maximum overclock and the greatest benefit in terms of power. Micron memory runs a little worse and the situation with it is less stable. Some video cards are not inferior to versions from Samsung and achieve the same values, while others perform approximately 20% worse.
The worst option is Hynix memory; such video cards race the worst, so you shouldn’t count on the maximum hashrate that the GTX 1060 can produce.
If you can check the memory manufacturer, always choose Samsung. Micron is, although not the best, but a good option. Hynix is best avoided if possible.
