Mining of Litecoin (LTC) is a process of sent transaction verification and the network’s operability with the help of special computing equipment support. Litecoin mining is based on the Scrypt algorithm. ASIC miners act as the most efficient equipment. So let’s find out what is the most profitable miner for Litecoin (LTC) cryptocurrency mining.

Litecoin (LTC) vs Bitcoin (BTC) Mining

After the appearance of Litecoin, many blamed it for the lack of differences from Bitcoin. However, the Litecoin team improved Litecoin and made it different. The total issue of Litecoin (LTC) is 84 million coins. This is four times that of BTC.



Unlike Bitcoin, the Litecoin blockchain is designed for large volumes of transactions. Blocks in the network are generated faster, which means that operations are faster. At the same time, the Scrypt algorithm is responsible for the complexity, which adapts to the computing power involved in the mining process.



If the hash rate of the network grows, then the complexity increases. If for some reason it has fallen (for example, as a result of a halving), then the complexity decreases.



Scrypt is simpler than SHA-256. At the same time, this algorithm requires more memory due to the massive amount of arithmetic calculations. This makes ASIC for mining Litecoin more expensive than for Bitcoin.

Litecoin (LTC) Mining Profitability

In 2019, Litecoin mining with processors and video cards practically did not bring profit. Income does not offset the cost of electricity and equipment hardware.



The emergence of ASIC miners, which have high performance compared to the CPU and GPU, almost killed LTC mining. However, there are still enthusiasts who are collecting farms on video cards. If you do not take into account the purchase of ASIC, then this is the only way to make money on mining Litecoin.



The block mining time in the Litecoin network is 2.5 minutes, which is four times faster than in Bitcoin. Initially, a reward for miners to find a new block was 50 LTC. Then it changed to 25 LTC. It halves every 840,000 blocks.



The last award change took place on August 6, 2019, and the amount of LTC for the mined block is 12.5 coins. This process directly affects miners, as it relates to the profitability of their work.

How to Choose Litecoin Mining Hardware

By 2020, there are only two methods left for truly profitable Litecoin mining which are building a farm on video cards and buying an ASIC.



Mining Litecoin, like any other coin, begins with the purchase of equipment and calculation of potential profit. After that, you just need to install the software and select a pool for mining. Further processes take place automatically. You can calculate the profitability of your mining process in any Litecoin mining calculator. Only powerful video cards from six pieces will make mining profitable.



Mining on video cards is possible. It is better to use several devices at once to increase work efficiency. Litecoin mining equipment on video cards must be selected based on the following points:

It is best to choose a power supply with a power of at least 1300W. As an alternative, you can use two 750W units connected with an adapter. For the efficient operation of RAM, there must be at least 8 GB. Cables powered from 1x to 16x for each GPU. They are used to connect graphics cards to the motherboard and organize the space between them for better ventilation. HDD. To install the OS, you need an SSD drive. Cooling fans. To maintain the optimum temperature in constantly running GPUs, additional cooling will be required. Video cards must be at least 2 GB of video memory.

The most efficient and popular cryptocurrency mining devices are ASIC devices. They were designed specifically for this purpose. ASICs typically come with mining software pre-installed on the integrated controller and require virtually no configuration.



Each ASIC device is designed to support one specific algorithm and allows you to mine only coins that use this algorithm. To mine Litecoin, you must use a device that works with the Scrypt algorithm. When choosing an ASIC, you should also pay attention to hashrate efficiency and energy consumption.

GPU vs ASIC Litecoin Mining

Video cards are a good home option for those who want to get acquainted with Litecoin mining. There is the possibility of improving equipment and mining various cryptocurrencies.



However, there are more cons when it comes to mining Litecoin. All tuning is done independently and requires accuracy. The design is too large, consumes a lot of electricity, and the assembly cost will be expensive.



The advantages of mining with ASICs are a relatively low price at higher power. Also, ASIC does not take up much space. Since the setting is done at the factory, you can only get the cryptocurrency under which the device is set.



When choosing between a GPU farm and an ASIC, the cost of electricity plays a big role in your income. For example, in the case of a farm of 10 Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, the approximate monthly energy consumption will be 2.1 MWh, while ASIC this figure is about one and a half times less.

Top 3 Litecoin (LTC) Mining Hardware

#1. Antminer L3+

The first version of ANTminer L3 ASIC appeared on the market in early 2017. It made a good impression due to its technical characteristics. With an electricity consumption of around 0.4 kW/h, it allowed you to mine cryptocurrencies using the Scrypt algorithm at a speed of up to 250-255 MH/s.



However, with the increasing complexity of mining, Litecoin TH miners gradually became outdated, and consumers did not receive the payback promised by the manufacturer. So, the company launched the following modification of the ASIC miner L3+ on the market.



The improved version received twice as much productivity – 504 MH/s. The reason for the improvement in performance was the use of four standard ANTminer L3 boards. Due to this, noise from the cooling system, size, and power consumption increased.



In October 2017, the manufacturer Bitmain pleased mining lovers with another modification of the same name. The difference in the version was the overclocked chip, which increased the hashrate to 600 MH/s with an increase in consumption of ANTminer L3 by only 50 watts. Model noise increased to 75 dB.



The price varies from $350 to $750. The main advantages of such equipment include:



relatively affordable cost in 2020;

payback, which is much higher compared to farms on video cards;

the minimum number of elements that are needed for the device to work: ANTminer L3+ itself, a power supply and a wired Internet connection;

the reliability of the equipment, which can last at least 5 years;

quick restart when a malfunction occurs;

small dimensions, allowing the miner to occupy a minimum of space.

#2. AMD Radeon RX 580

The features of the RX 580 for miners look attractive. The high core frequency that the card possesses will help to get good values in certain algorithms. The standard frequency of the chip is 1257 MHz, and in turbo mode – 1340 MHz. The memory frequency is 1750 MHz. The Polaris architecture will allow you to achieve a 20% increase in performance by updating drivers and increasing frequencies.



To get coins on the RX 580 with 4 GB will turn out at about the same rates as on the RX 580 with 8 GB.



The default settings of the video card will not be able to produce large values. Initially, by connecting the RX 580 with factory parameters, you can get no more than 25 Mh/s during mining. To open the potential and increase the speed of mining, it is necessary not only to overclock the processor and memory but also flash the BIOS.

#3. Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060

The base frequency of the GPU is increased to 1595 MHz instead of the recommended 1506 MHz. Accordingly, the average acceleration value is also increased, which in this case is 1809 MHz, instead of 1709 MHz.



The video card has 6 GB of GDDR5 memory, which is also minimally accelerated – up to 8100 MHz. The video card uses a proprietary new generation cooling system – Twin Frozr VI.

Summary

In 2020, there is almost no room for Litecoin (LTC) mining farms on the GPU. The dominant position is still held by the ASIC. A large number of ASICs have already been discontinued, but you can buy used ones.



Even the most powerful farms on the latest graphics cards are inferior in performance to ASICs. Therefore, choosing a coin for mining, and having a good GPU, it is worth taking a closer look at the mining of other tokens. This will be more beneficial than with Litecoin. To take everything into consideration, we do not recommend to mine Litecoin because there are many coins with lower difficulty and more profit.

