PLEASE NOTE: the guide below was written back when Litecoin mining was profitable using GPU’s. I recommend my 6 GPU Mining Rig Guide as it is updated weekly and utilizes current graphics card and software settings. Happy Mining!

The following Litecoin mining software guide is designed to help get you started in configuring your mining rig for pooled mining. If you’ve purchased the AMD 7950 graphics card mentioned in the mining rig build guides, you’ll find the best mining settings for your specific card. If you’ve chosen one of the AMD 7950 alternatives, don’t worry; this mining software guide will point you in the right direction to not only set up your mining software and maximize your hash rates, but understand the technology behind all these system tweaks as well.

Like many people, I’m a visual learner, so here’s a diagram to help us understand the ‘layers’ or ‘variables’ in your custom-built Litecoin mining rig:

In order from the top, we have three layers:

Environmental Variables Software Variables Hardware Variables

That’s a lot of variables! No wonder most people who are just getting started, have all kinds of issues tweaking all of these layers to work together properly. For that reason, we are going to go beyond just a quick ‘mining software guide’ and look at each of these variables one by one. Starting from the bottom layer and working up to the top, I am going to do my best to explain each variable, and either show you how to set up the options or link to other resources that can explain it better than I can.

1. Litecoin Mining Hardware

For now, let’s limit the definition of ‘mining hardware’ to GPU-based mining hardware. There are other types of mining hardware such as FGPA’s and ASIC’s, but those are either non-existent, over-priced, or simply out of reach for the average crypto mining enthusiast as of this writing. If you’ve read any of the Litecoin mining guides, you’ll know that the mining hardware I’m referring to is essentially a custom built computer with hardware components selected for both the lowest cost-to-hashing ratio and the lowest power consumption, since we are trying to maximize profits and minimize expenses. Rather than list all the hardware, which I’ve already done in the guides, here are a few specific components to learn about that have the potential to trip you up:

System Memory – you need 4 GB for a Windows based rig. If you’re using Linux you can get away with less, but 4GB is a good amount to have for Windows and your mining software to run smoothly.

– you need 4 GB for a Windows based rig. If you’re using Linux you can get away with less, but 4GB is a good amount to have for Windows and your mining software to run smoothly. Model/Brand of Graphics Card – Not all cards are made equal for mining. I recommend the Sapphire 7950 for easy overclocking, good cooling, and optimum power usage. If you can’t find this one in stock, due to its popularity, check out these alternatives.

– Not all cards are made equal for mining. I recommend the Sapphire 7950 for easy overclocking, good cooling, and optimum power usage. If you can’t find this one in stock, due to its popularity, check out these alternatives. PCI-e Powered Risers – These are all made in Asia, but also not made equally. Good sources for these are hard to find, so ask around on the bitcointalk and litecointalk forums when you’re shopping. You don’t want to save $5 on a ‘cheaper’ riser cable only to have it fry hundreds of dollars worth of hardware due to poor manufacturing standards. If you can, get the powered versions (it takes the load off the motherboard for multi-GPU rigs).

– These are all made in Asia, but also not made equally. Good sources for these are hard to find, so ask around on the bitcointalk and litecointalk forums when you’re shopping. You don’t want to save $5 on a ‘cheaper’ riser cable only to have it fry hundreds of dollars worth of hardware due to poor manufacturing standards. If you can, get the powered versions (it takes the load off the motherboard for multi-GPU rigs). Hard Drive – If you’re building a dedicated rig and want to save some money here, you might want to look at traditional hard drive alternatives such as a small and fast 32GB Solid State Drive or if you’re really creative, try booting from a USB Thumb Drive.

2. Operating System

There are essentially three options: Windows, Linux and BAMT (which is just a special version of Linux designed specifically for mining). Let’s look at each option:

Windows – By far the easiest, this option has two drawbacks: it costs more than Linux ($0 is hard to beat), and if you want to have more than 4 graphics cards per rig, it can be tricky or in some cases impossible to setup. That being said, for most hobbyists who are building one rig and don’t want to spend a couple of days learning Linux, this is a good choice. Once you have Windows installed, here are some things you’ll want to do to setup your rig and improve mining performance

a. Install the AMD Catalyst display drivers (64-bit | 32-bit). These are direct download links from AMD’s website to version 12.8. Pick the 64 bit or 32bit download based on which version of Windows you are running. Version 12.8 is a known stable driver version, but feel free to install the latest version directly from the AMD site, if it doesn’t cause any issues for you.

b. Install version 2.7 of the Catalyst App SDK (64-bit | 32-bit). Again, pick the version to download and install based on which version of Windows you have.

c. Check your power settings and set them so your PC doesn’t ‘go to sleep’ while mining. 🙂

d. Skip the password and enable auto-logon.

e. Download and install Google Chrome (better browser than IE, plus lots of cool plugins)

f. Install the Chrome Remote Desktop browser plug-in for administering your rig from another computer. This is better than Microsoft Remote Desktop (RDP) because it doesn’t affect your graphics card performance negatively. Linux – I’ve chosen to link to Xubuntu as it is one of the easier versions of Linux to learn on and doesn’t take much space on your hard drive, SSD or USB thumb drive. It has a nice clean, modern graphical user interface or GUI. Since I’m more of a Windows guy, I will point you to an excellent article HERE on how to set up a mining rig using Linux. BAMT – So this version has probably the oddest name you ever heard given to an operating system, Big A Miner Thing, or as I prefer to call it, simply BAMT. 🙂 This customized version of Linux is specifically designed to work well controlling LOTS of mining rigs all running at the same location. This setup is known as a ‘mining rig farm’ and is not for the faint of heart to setup. However, if you’d like to give it a go, you can learn more and download the latest version of BAMT here.

3. Litecoin / Bitcoin Mining Software Settings for Windows

First, overclocking/undervolting tools. There are a number of ways to overclock your graphics cards. You can use the AMD Vision Engine software that came with your drivers, you can use Trixx or MSI Afterburner, or you can use the mining software itself. I’ve chosen to just use the mining software for this part of configuring my mining rigs, since it is simpler (I don’t like installing lots of software if I don’t have to). There are guides on the forums showing you how to use these other overclocking tools if that interests you. I just mentioned them in passing as yet another option/variable.

Let’s get the inevitable question out of the way, what is the best mining software? The most popular mining software for Bitcoin or Litecoin mining seems to be cgminer and Reaper. Either option works well if configured properly. In my experience, Reaper is a memory hog, so after initially recommending it, my preference at this point is cgminer. It can be a bit trickier to setup, but the stability is worth it in the end. I prefer the non-GUI version (ie command line version). Here are the step-by-step instructions for both Bitcoin Mining and Litecoin Mining. You can find find which crypto-currency is the most profitable to mine using the tools listed on the resource page.

Bitcoin Mining Software Configuration (cgminer):

Download the latest version of cgminer (3.1.1 as of this writing) here:

http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/ Extract the zip file to some place easy to remember like your desktop. Open the folder and create a new text document in the folder containing the cgminer executable (ends in ‘.exe’). Rename the text document bitcoin-mining.bat (change the .txt to .bat). Right-click on the file and click ‘Edit’ to open in a text editor. Copy/Paste the following line of code and save the file:

cgminer -I 13 -o stratum+tcp://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -u xxxx -p xxxx

Be sure to replace the xxxx with your pooled mining account’s username and password. I use http://www.btcguild.com as an example, but you can enter any pool’s URL. Double-clicking the bitcoin-mining.bat file will start cgminer with the settings you have saved. Once cgminer is running and mining, you can tweak it further:

a. Press ‘g’ on your keyboard

b. Press ‘i’ to change intensity (20 is what I use for Litecoin mining)

c. Press ‘c’ to change other settings and select the GPU you want to configure by pressing 0,1,2, etc. Use the E, F, M, V, or P keys to change the associated engine overclock, fan speed, memory clock speed, voltage (for undervolted power savings) and power tune settings for that card.

Since folks have asked in the comments, here are the Bitcoin mining settings I use for my Sapphire 7950 and 7970 cards:

7950 – 575+Mh/s stable, engine:1060, memory: 800, powertune: 18, intensity: 13

7970 – 700+Mh/s stable, engine: 1210, memory: 685, powertune 18, intensity: 14

Feel free to use those settings, but your mileage may vary. Try different options and be sure to check out the bitcoin mining software settings from other users here.

For more information on the cgminer in use as bitcoin mining software, be sure to check out the original ‘read-me’ file at: https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer/blob/master/GPU-README

Litecoin Mining Software Configuration (cgminer):

Download the latest version of cgminer (3.1.1 as of this writing) here:

http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/ Extract the zip file to some place easy to remember like your desktop. Open the folder and create a new text document in the folder containing the cgminer executable (ends in ‘.exe’). Rename the text document litecoin-mining.bat (change the .txt to .bat). Right-click on the file and click ‘Edit’ to open in a text editor. Copy/Paste the following text and save the file:

cgminer –-scrypt -I 20 -o stratum+tcp://stratum.give-me-ltc.com:3334 -u xxxx -p xxxx

Be sure to replace the xxxx with your pooled mining account’s username and password. I use give-me-ltc.com as an example, but you can enter any pool’s URL.

Double-clicking the litecoin-mining.bat file will start cgminer with the settings you have saved. Once cgminer is running and mining, you can tweak it further:

a. Press ‘g’ on your keyboard

b. Press ‘i’ to change intensity (20 is what I use for Litecoin mining)

c. Press ‘c’ to change other settings and select GPU by pressing 0,1,2, etc. Use the E, F, M, V, or P keys to change the associated engine overclock, fan speed, memory clock speed, voltage (for undervolted power savings) and power tune settings for that card.

And as requested, here are the Litecoin mining settings I use for my Sapphire 7950 and 7970 cards:

7950 – 550+Kh/s stable, engine:1025, memory: 1480, powertune: 18, intensity: 20

7970 – 700+Kh/s stable, engine: 1085, memory: 1500, powertune 18, intensity: 20

Feel free to use those settings, but your mileage may vary. Try different options and be sure to check out the litecoin mining software settings others are using here.

For more information on the cgminer in use as bitcoin mining software, be sure to check out the original ‘read-me’ file at: https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer/blob/master/GPU-README

Now that we have the mining software figured out, let’s look at environmental variables.

4. GPU Spacing

The first environmental variable we’ll look at is GPU spacing. Keeping your graphics cards spaced far enough apart can be difficult on a multi gpu rig. This is where an ‘out of the box’ approach (pun intended) is best. Packing all those overclocked, oversized GPU’s next to each other on a motherboard stuffed into a traditional computer case will reduce your hash rate significantly, and has the potential to burn out your components quickly. That’s why I recommend either no case, or a cheap DIY ‘milk crate case’ in the guides. This approach, combined with some good PCI-e powered risers to spread the cards out a little, will keep your cards much cooler and those hash rates at maximum speeds.

5. Ambient Temperature

The ambient temperature where your rig is will have some effect on performance. This is something you might not be able to do much about. We aren’t all lucky enough to have an air-conditioned server room to run our mining rigs in. Even if you are closer to the equator than might be optimal, you can get creative by using a box fan in a window as an exhaust and opening another window for ‘cooler’ air intake. Unless your electricity is free, I’d advise against using AC. The additional cost of power isn’t worth it, IMHO.

6. Cooling Options for Bitcoin or Litecoin Mining

And lastly, what extra cooling options are available to keep your mining rigs from overheating? Since the gaming community uses watercooling, that is one option (it would also reduce noise pollution from your rigs). I don’t personally have experience in this area, but there are folks on the forums doing this (one guy keeps his swimming pool heated this way with a complex interconnection of pipes). The cheapest option is to just get a couple of cheap box fans, and point them at your rigs and as was mentioned earlier, stick one in a windows as an exhaust fan.

In Conclusion:

This is by far, not an exhaustive mining software guide. I also touched on several non-software, yet crucial, issues to help you get the ‘big picture’ of configuring your mining rig and understanding some of the technology behind it. If you found this guide helpful, please share it with others using the social media links on the left. Many Thanks! – Josh