What else can millions of Ethereum 4GB video card mining machines do?

With the launch of the Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain, most users began to discuss whether mining machines can still mine Ethereum PoW?

Whether PoW mining machines can continue to mine is a matter of a few years, which is in front of PoW miners The problem is that the 4GB video memory graphics card mining machine in hand can no longer mine.

Different from Bitcoin mining, the mining algorithm used by Ethereum 1.0 is "Ethash", which It is a memory-intensive algorithm, and the DAG (directed acyclic graph) file generated by mining will be directly stored in the video memory of the graphics card. This means that the video memory of the graphics card needs to be larger than the size of the DAG file when mining.

On December 25, 2020, the Ethereum network DAG file reached 4GB at block height 11,520,000. For early Ethereum miners, the biggest problem currently facing is not the upcoming Ethereum 2.0 but the Ethereum DAG file that has exceeded 4 GB.

ETH、ETC Equal token DAG file size, image source: investoon

Before, there were approximately 1.53 million to 3 million mining machines with 4GB video memory graphics cards mining ETH in the market, accounting for about 30%-40% of the total network computing power of Ethereum. Rhythm BlockBeats has counted that after the Ethereum DAG file exceeds 4GB, there are three ways for the 4GB video memory graphics card mining machine to continue to run.

Change the operating system , prolong the usage time of the mining machine

Because the Windows operating system will divide up to about 600 MB of video memory into virtual running memory (VRAM) , while the virtual running memory of Linux only occupies about 120 MB. Therefore, the mining machine system can be replaced from Windows to Linux to extend the mining time of Ethereum, which is expected to be extended by 3 months.

Replace the video memory of the mining machine

Since the video memory is not enough, it is also a solution to increase the video memory capacity by modifying the graphics card. At present, expanding to 8GB video memory requires 8 256MB x 32bit GDDR5 video memory particles. Without counting the manual cost, the modification cost of each graphics card is about 400 yuan. At present, there are many mining pools providing mining machine modification business.

One 256MB x 32bit GDDR5 video memory particle price

Change mining currency

Compared with the above two methods, the more convenient way is to mine with another token. Currently, tokens that can use 4GB video memory cards mainly include BEAM, ETC, RVN, and ZIL.

BEAM

BEAM is an encrypted currency developed based on the Mimblewimble protocol. BEAM does not use DAG files, but uses the BeamHashIII hash algorithm.

ETC

On January 9th, ETC issued a document announcing that it is undergoing a network hard fork upgrade code-named Thanos (ECIP-1099). Participating core developers and community members reached consensus on October 2, 2020 to accept ECIP-1099. This upgrade effectively reduces the size of the DAG. This modified Ethash is also known as EtcHash. This will allow miners with 3GB and 4GB GPU systems to resume mining, etc., increasing security and promoting a more decentralized and healthy mining ecosystem.

RVN

RVN uses the Kawpow algorithm and is compatible with GPU mining, but it has higher requirements for GPU and higher power consumption.

ZIL

ZIL uses the same Ethash algorithm as Ethereum 1.0. Currently, its DAG size is 1.24GB and is expected to reach 4GB in 2032. ZIL is very suitable for 4GB video memory graphics card miners to mine, but its profit margin is not high.

BEAM, ETC, RVN, and ZIL can all use 4GB video memory mining machines for mining, so which one is more suitable What about miners? Rhythm BlockBeats has counted the liquidity and income of these projects:

Among the above four tokens, AMD RX 580 4GB is currently used to mine only ETC, RVN, BEAM and Net profit, among which BEAM has the highest market value ranking and the lowest daily trading volume, followed by RVN.

In summary, RVN may be the best token that can be mined by a 4GB video memory mining machine at present.

Welcome to join the official BlockBeats community:

Telegram Subscription Group: https://t.me/theblockbeats

Telegram Discussion Group: https://t.me/BlockBeats_App

Official Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia