1. Nicehash
2. Zcash Miner Calculator

Monero (XMR) is a new cryptocurrency which is based on CryptoNote code and is not a Bitcoin fork in any way. Main Monero features that were inherited from CryptoNote are Ring Signatures and unlinkable transactions. Usually Monero software consists of two binaries: bitmonerod & simplewallet. Multicurrency mining pool with easy-to-use GUI miner. Ethereum, Zcash, Monero & other altcoins. Join our vibrant community of more than a million clients.

ZCash is an anonymous cryptocurrency that uses zk-snarks to ensure that all the information regarding user transactions is safely encrypted, while still verifiable by miners that can ensure no double-spending has taken place using zero knowledge proofs.

ZCash uses Equihash as an hashing algorithm, which is an asymmetric memory-hard PoW algorithm based on the generalized birthday problem. It relies on high RAM requirements to bottleneck the generation of proofs and making ASIC development unfeasible, much like Ethereum.

Not everyone has access to a computer, however, and not everyone has the time, knowledge or patience to start mining Zcash on their own, especially since there is no Graphic User Interface (GUI) Miner available yet. If you want to mine on your own computer, but need a little push to do so, you're in the right place.But if you're looking to profit from Zcash mining with no effort at all, this guide will do the trick.

Today we are going to show you how to mine Zcash with your CPU and GPU on Windows. We are going to use two miners (Software) for each type of hardware: Nicehash miner for CPU and the claymore miner for GPU.

If you want to use the Nicehash miner for both hardware types, follow this guide.

If you are new to crypto mining, you can take advantage of the easy-to-use PandaPool's GUI miner. Please follow guide.

You can also try buying a cloud mining contract with Hashflare or Genesis Mining.

Choosing a wallet and a mining pool

In order to mine using this guide, there are two things that you'll need. The first is a wallet to store your funds. There are currently multiple GUI wallets available and you can compare them here. You can also use this guide to learn how to install one of them on Linux. It is also possible to use an exchange as a wallet but we do not recommend it.

You will also need a mining pool to direct your hashing power to. You can compare features and reviews on multiple Zcash pools here. We are going to choose nicehash pool for this guide, but it will work with any poo

Now that you have both your wallet and pool at the ready, it's time to get digging.

Mining ZCash with your CPU (Windows)

For the CPU part of this guide, we are going to use Nicehash miner. While this miner works for both CPU and GPU, we are going to get the best performance if we use different miners for CPU and GPU. This is because the Claymore miner is faster but only works for CPU.

Step 1: Click here to download the Nicehash miner. Scroll down for the latest releases

Step 2: Extract the files within the .zip

In order to use this miner, you must specify how many cores you have for maximum performance. You can check your CPU core count by opening the Task Manager and going to the performance section.

The NiceHash miner comes with 2 versions. one to get paid in Bitcoin (nheqminer), and another one to get paid directly in zcash (nheqminer_zcash).

Step 3: Open the 'nheqminer_zcash' file

Step 4: In order to start mining with your CPU type or paste the following command with the required modifications:

nheqminer_zcash.exe -l eu -u ZEC-ADDRESS -t 8

Replace 'eu' for your mining pool address found on the pool 'Get Started' page, 'ZEC-ADDRESS' for your zcash wallet address (transparent address) and lastly replace '-t 8' for the number of threads you want to use. (If you're using the Nicehash pool, you can use -l to specify your location like 'eu' for Europe)

Mining ZCash with your GPU (Windows x64)

On the GPU side, we are going to use the Claymore miner. Claymore has a long-standing reputation for optimizing miners and this miner speaks for it. It improves the hashing rate considerably and that is why we are going to take the time to download and use this miner as well. The genoil miner only works for pool mining and with AMD graphic cards. This miner charges a 2.5% developer fee. Every hour the miner mines for the developer during 90 seconds. However, the performance increase is well worth the fee charged. If you don't agree with the dev feem, don't use this miner

Catalyst (Crimson) 15.12 is required for best performance and compatibility. You can get very bad results for different drivers version, or miner can fail on startup.

For multi-GPU systems, set Virtual Memory size in Windows at least 16 GB:
'Computer Properties / Advanced System Settings / Performance / Advanced / Virtual Memory'.

Step 1: Click here to download the Claymore Zcash miner. (Alternative link)

Step 2: Choose a version and download it. The latest version is at the bottom right.

Step 3:Extract the files within the .zip

Step 4: Open the 'Claymore's ZCash AMD GPU Miner v6.0 Beta' folder

Step 5: Open the 'config.txt' file with your notepad and enter the following configuration:

GPU_FORCE_64BIT_PTR 0
GPU_MAX_HEAP_SIZE 100
GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS 1
GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT 100
GPU_SINGLE_ALLOC_PERCENT 100

ZecMiner64.exe -zpool stratum.zcash.nicehash.com:3357 -allpools 1 -zwal t1RjQjDbPQ9Syp97DHFyzvgZhcjgLTMwhaq.YourWorkerName -zpsw x

Replace 'stratum.zcash.nicehash.com:3357' with your pool's server. and replace 't1RjQjDbPQ9Syp97DHFyzvgZhcjgLTMwhaq' with your zcash wallet address. Optionally, replace 'YourWorkerName'. If you want, you can also replace 'x' with your password.

You can check out the full list of commands here.

If you followed all the steps, you should see something like this:

Now that you've got your hands dirty, just sit back and watch your zcash roll in! Be aware that you are mining to a transparent address (it starts with t). You can follow this guide to learn how to create a private and transparent wallet.

Monero (XMR) is a Cryptonote algorithm based cryptocurrency, it relies on Ring Signatures in order to provide a certain degree of privacy when making a transaction. Monero is a Proof of Work cryptocurrency that can be miner with computational power from a CPU or GPU. There are currently no ASICs for Monero, which means that anyone with a computer can mine it.

The first thing you need to think about is if you are going to mine solo or on a pool. Mining on a pool usually comes with a fee but also has it's advantages. Users that don't have enough computational power may have to wait long periods of time before getting a reward, in a pool users pull their efforts together in order to reduce variance and have a steady flow of income. Users that have enough hardware or simply want to mine solo can also benefit from solo pools which function in the same way as normal solo mining, but don't require users to run a full node or store the entire blockchain. We are going to use MoneroHash for this guide, but you can use any pool you like.

Today we're going to show you how to mine Monero on a Mining Pool.

AMD Graphic cards are optimal for Monero Mining, but you can also mine it with a Nvidia GPU or CPU. To allow users to get the most profit for their specific hardware we will use a different software that was created for each of this options.

Part 1 - CPU Mining

Step 1: Download the mining software. For this section of the guide we are going to use Wolf's CryptoNote open souce CPU Miner, since it's the one that has the provides the best results. You can find download link here.

Step 2: Extract the .zip file. You will be left with a folder like the one below.

Step 3: Now, inside the miner folder we have just extracted from the .zip file, you'll need to hit ctrl + right mousekey. By doing this you'll be given an extra option 'open command window here', click it and a command line window will appear.

Step 4: Now that our command line window (miner) is ready to go, all we need to do is type in the command: 'minerd -a cryptonight -o stratum+tcp://monerohash.com:3333 -u YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS -p x'. You have to replace 'YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS' for your actual XMR wallet adress.

You are now mining Monero! You can view all of the commands available by typing 'minerd --help'. In our case we're just using the -a command, which stands for algorithm, the -o stands for server, the -u is your wallet address and the -p is your password, which can be left with an x when the Mining pool does not require you to login.

Nicehash

Part 2 - AMD GPU Mining

Step 1: Download the mining software. For this section of the guide we are going to use Wolf's CryptoNote open souce AMD GPU Miner, since it's the one that has the provides the best results. You can find the Download link here.

Step 2: Extract the .zip file. You will be left with a folder like the one below.

Step 2: Now you'll need to configure the xmr.conf file, open the file with the note pad and change 'url': 'stratum+tcp://xmr.poolto.be:3000' to your pool address, in this case: 'stratum+tcp://monerohash.com:3333'. Replace the user with your wallet, in this case: 'user': '45hVQbLnspDDViJeMc1v6mFPjKmJ38geKVZFRgFXxV1pVSDpG8jz4LfTmkvhgj9sPwjA1ZLJD9d3xTUF982Uk7poL2Ka94z'.

Step 4: Once xmr.conf file is configuredyou need to go inside the miner folder we have extracted from the .zip file and hit ctrl + right mousekey (For windows 10 to get the extra options you need to hold shift+right mousekey). By doing this you'll be given an extra option 'open command window here', click it and a command line window will appear.

Zcash Miner Calculator

Step 5: Now that our command line window (miner) is ready to go, all we need to do is point the miner to the xmr.conf file. type: 'miner xmr.conf'

And that's it, you are now mining with your AMD GPU, which will surely give you the best results when mining XMR. If you get a 'clCreateBuffer' error, lower your raw intensity in the xmr.conf file:'rawintensity': 1336

Part 3 - Nvidia GPU Mining

Step 1: Download the mining software. For this section of the guide we are going to use CCMiner version forked by tsiv, since it's the one that has the provides the best results when mining with Nvidia Graphic Cards. You can find download link here.

Step 2: Extract the .zip file. You will be left with a folder like the one below.

Step 3: Now, inside the miner folder we have just extracted from the .zip file, you'll need to hit ctrl + right mousekey(For windows 10 to get the extra options you need to hold shift+right mousekey). By doing this you'll be given an extra option 'open command window here', click it and a command line window will appear.

Step 4: Now that our command line window (miner) is ready to go, all we need to do is type in the command: 'ccminer -o stratum+tcp://monerohash.com:3333 -u YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS -p x'. You have to replace 'YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS' for your actual XMR wallet adress.

That was the last step. You are now mining Monero with your Nvidia Graphic Card. As you can see, mining Monero is possible with any hardware, even a CPU! So why not give it a try?

Part 4 - Easy Mining with any hardware

In this section we'll use Minergate, an easy to use cryptocurrency miner that allows you to mine several cryptocurrencies with a single click!

Step 1:The first thing you’ll need is an account on www.minergate.com. MinerGate has its own built-in wallet in order to allow users to start mining even if they don’t have a wallet address set up, so in order to protect your funds, we advise using a strong password and activating 2FA (2 factor authentication), 2FA will make sure no one can acess your funds even if they know your password. Remember, the safest place to store your funds is in your own wallet.

Step 2: Next you need to download the Mingergate software and install it, the website will detect your operating system and present you with the correct version. Install and run MinerGate.

Step 3: After you open and install the setup, you’ll be presented with the option to start smart mining. MinerGate automatically detects your equipment and chooses the most profitable cryptocurrency to mine according to your hardware, market price and difficulty. For most computers this will be Monero, so you can click 'Start smart mining'.

You can choose how many cores you want to use in your CPU and GPU, if you have one. If smart mining takes you to another cryptocurrency, you can always choose monero manually, as so:

That's it. Easy, right? Minergate prouds itself on being so! And you can use their GUI miner for other cryptos like Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. Good luck!