Mining Monero with XMR-Stak miner

So, you’re thinking about mining the cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) using Windows based mining software like XMR-Stak?

Wondering what sort of hashrate your hardware may obtain?

In this post I compare the mining performance of every single laptop/PC/server in my household, using both CPU and GPU mining options (where installed).

For this comparison, I am using XMR-Stak 2.1.0, and submitting results to the supportxmr mining pool. All hashrate figures are obtained after a 24 hour average has been established for each device (to account for heat-soak and to smooth out any processing peaks and troughs).

So, lets begin:

Old old old low-performance desktop PC with an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU @ 2.4Ghz 4 cores, 4 logical processors.

50 H/s

Old mid-performance Lenovo laptop with an Intel i7-4500U CPU @ 1.8Ghz 2 cores, 4 logical processors.

68 H/s

Old desktop PC with an Intel Core i7-3770k CPU @ 3.5Ghz 4 cores, 8 logical processors.

134 H/s

Old desktop PC with an Intel Core i7-4790 CPU @ 3.6Ghz 4 cores, 8 logical processors.

390 H/s

Old Dell R720 server with dual Intel Xeon CPU @ 2.5Ghz 6 cores, 12 logical processors.

403 H/s

Old high-performance water cooled gaming PC with Nvidia GTX1080 graphics card and Intel i7-4771 CPU @ 3.50Ghz 4 cores, 8 logical processors. (XMR-Stak chooses the GTX1080 for processing).

639 H/s

Interestingly, the GPU based mining above uses 100% of the GTX1080 graphics card processing power, and also 59% of the CPU processing power. I was surprised by this, as I thought the CPU would be at/near idle.

So as you saw above, I referred to all 6 of my computers as ‘old’. No Threadripper CPUs anywhere. I’ve not purchased any new components for the past 4 years.

Now to put these hashing results into perspective.

As you can see from the supportxmr mining pool screenshot above, 3 of my “rigs” are actively mining hashes. After performing my tests over 24 hours, for all 6 of my laptops/desktops/servers, I have accumulated a total of 0.00864 XMR (with 1 full XMR currently valued at $302USD as at the 15th Dec 2017). At this rate, it will take me 115 days to mine a full XMR coin.

So is mining XMR worth it? For me? No.

Here are some things you may want to consider:

• Your electricity usage
• Your ability to cool the rigs
• Your capital investment VS return ratio

My electricity rates (in Canberra ACT Australia) are. 0.1988c peak, 0.156c standard and 0.1163c off peak. These rates are displayed in AUD. They are reasonably expensive rates, compared to the rest of the world.

It’s mid December here in Canberra, and my Netatmo weather station tells me it is 28.9 degrees Celsius outside. During the mining experiment, my office has warmed up to an uncomfortable temperature, and I’ve had to turn on my whole-home air-conditioning (reverse cycle) system on several times. Which means I’ve used even more electricity during the mining experiment, above and beyond the electricity used by the computers.

Finally, capital investment expenses may be an issue. I have not purchased any new hardware during the mining experiment, and have received reasonable hash rates from the Xeon server, and the GTX1080 equipped gaming rig. If you are embarking on CPU or GPU Monero mining, and you don’t have any hardware, then you need to factor in the full cost of the purchase, and calculate a break even point.

What are your thoughts?