Our renewed interest in both mining and altcoins, especially DASH.We decided it was time to try and mine again.X11 altcoins haven’t been “ASIC’d” yet, meaning there isn’t specialized hardware for X11 algorithm cryptocurrency.This has made X11 altcoins easier to mine with consumer hardware.I own an AMD Radeon 280X in my own desktop, so I figured I’d give it a run.It was both tougher, and easier to setup than I thought.I’ve mined Bitcoin many times before in the past and present, but with ASIC hardware thousands of times more powerful than consumer hardware, Bitcoin mining requires a ridiculous initial investment.Bitfury’s new chips do promise to change that though.DASH mining won’t be profitable at this level for much longer, so get started now!Understanding that DASH utilizes the X11 algorithm is important to understand before mining.DASH developers created this algorithm specifically to make it difficult for companies to manufacture hardware that solves it.X11 consists of 11 different cryptographic algorithms, so it’s more suited for GPU mining rather than CPU, although it is possible, but GPUs are more powerful at this.

This makes mining more available to the people and decentralized as Bitcoin mining has become increasingly centralized.With that out of the way, let’s get into this.miley cyrus bitcoinX11 AISC are on there way, so if you have a gaming rig, start mining now.bitcoin architect twitterIt wouldn’t be profitable for long!litecoin windows 8If you don’t have a DASH wallet, please download the core program here.bitcoin dogecoin litecoin walletPersonally I don’t trust payouts to third party wallets, so I always download the core program, regardless of cryptocurrency.bitcoin atm belgium

Open the program and it will begin downloading the blockchain, which will take a while, so it’s important to do this first.Be sure to backup this wallet while using it to ensure your Dash doesn’t get lost.bitcoin roll diceSgminer can be downloaded here, at GitHub.Be sure to extract everything and keep it in an easily accessible folder.lock poker bitcoinOther websites may include viruses with sgminer, so be careful when downloading.ethereum signalsThis is the mining program for AMD GPUs.bitcoin pc configurationIt also comes with binaries for use with other devices, but this tutorial only covers AMD GPU mining.In the folder with sgminer.exe, create a text file named sgminer.Open the file and go to save as, select “all files” and save it as “sgminer.conf”.

This will act as the configuration file when sgminer is running.It will tell the program how fast the GPU runs, what pool/masternode to use for mining verification, and what wallet the mined DASH will be sent to.First, copy and paste this in the text file: { "pools" : [ { "url" : "stratum+tcp://162.243.104.174:7903", "user" : "XheyzUntHSgmg1Qoo3NdNeoqLTiAAt1zhA", "pass" : "", "algorithm": "darkcoin-mod" } ], "xintensity" : "64", "worksize": "64" } Select and Setup Pool Now you need a pool.This ensures that you get your share of mined DASH, also it makes payments significantly faster than mining separately.We recommend against using pools as there are fees and they tend to centralize miners.Use this list of masternodes to find the closet node to you.Be sure to select one with low latency, then copy the IP address, and paste it where “pooladdress” is in the config file.Don’t edit the rest of it.Now that the miner is configured to send DASH mined on this computer to your DASH wallet, let’s fire it up.

Go to your installation folder and run sgminer.exe.If all is right, the screen should look something like this: Running the sgminer will give you your hashrate in the upper right.It’s the number with “Mh/s next to it”.Your profits estimated will come from that hashrate using this DASH mining profitability calculator.My estimated profit table looks like this at 6 MH/s.Time Frame DASH Coins BTC USD Power Cost Pool Fees Profit Hourly 0.00312704 0.00004757 $0.02 $0.00 $0.00 $0.02 Daily 0.07504892 0.00114170 $0.48 $0.00 $0.00 $0.48 Weekly 0.52534241 0.00799189 $3.38 $0.00 $0.00 $3.38 Monthly 2.25146748 0.03425097 $14.49 $0.00 $0.00 $14.49 Annually 27.39285434 0.41672010 $176.30 $0.00 $0.00 $176.30 /threads/reubens-guide-to-mining-dash-with-an-amd-gpu-on-windows.4051/For small- to medium-sized businesses and the cracking enthusiastThis week’s DIY corner of the Casual Friday newsletter explores something a bit more risqué than our usual tech solutions, highlighting how to build a password-cracking rig on a “budget.” Why password-cracking?

Because certain niche interest individuals find this sort of thing fun — for research or whatever — and because the project’s computer hardware configuration is something to admire.The project comes to you from Netmux, a privately owned boutique security business founded by armed forces veterans.Designed for small- to medium-sized businesses and the cracking enthusiast, the rig sets you back about $5,000 — which isn’t too costly of a price point in the specialized realm of brute-force password cracking.After all, the next step up is a $20,000 machine called The Brutalis.Netmux’s project strives to balance performance and cost, offering sufficient power to cover the cracking speeds of the most common hash types within one week’s time.Here’s what we’re looking at, part-wise:1 x SuperMicro SYS-7048GR-TR 4U Server with X10DRG-Q Motherboard = $1,989.99 (NewEgg)2 x Intel Xeon E5-2620 v3 2.4 GHz LGA 2011-3 85W = $469.98 (eBay)4 x Nvidia GTX 1070 Founders )2 x Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SATA3 )4 x Kingston Server ValueRAM DDR4 2133 MHz 16GB = $391.96 (NewEgg)2 x WALI 2T3 SSD To 3.5" SATA Hard Disk Drive HDD Adapter Caddy Tray = $22 (Amazon)“You're going to struggle to get that kind of multi-GPU performance from a gaming setup, so I chose the Supermicro workstation to foot the bill,” writes the Netmux team, justifying their choice in the costly SuperMicro SYS-7048GR-TR 4U Server over a standard multi-GPU motherboard used in gaming rigs.

Performance aside, the SuperMicro’s chassis has room for multiple sticks of RAM, multiple swap drive bays, dual CPUs, and up to four double-width GPUs.Assembling the rig is a straightforward process that’s identical to building a custom computer, with the only real difference being the volume of parts involved.Begin by swapping out the default drive caddy trays to fit the SSDs from the part list.Insert them into the drive bays on the front once assembled.Next, install the dual Intel Xeon CPUs.Insert the four 16GB sticks of RAM before adding the heatsinks above the CPU, or it’ll be too difficult to maneuver.Proceed to swap out the default heatsink mounts and replace them with the ones included in the Supermicro 7048GR-TR package.Ensure that the heatsink includes a coat of thermal paste; otherwise, apply your own.Proceed to install the heatsink fans included in the package.Plug them into the ports next to each CPU slot and loop the wire around the fan to prevent it from dangling.Here comes the best part: installing the four GPUs.

First, remove the backplates spanning across the four PCI-E 3.0 slots to allow the GTX 1070 to slip into place.Continue until you’ve connected all four GPUs.Don’t forget to plug the power supply connectors into the cards; use the two longer connectors for the two furthermost GPUs.Assembly complete!Insert the power cord for the two 2,000-W redundant power supplies and close up the rig.Installing the software is a different animal altogether requiring a separate set of instructions.Fortunately, Netmux saves us hours of headaches trying to figure out how to install the GPU drivers on Ubuntu and other intricacies.Jump over to their website and follow the instructions.In any case, you’ll need the following software: - Ubuntu 14.0.4.5 Desktop amd64 - Intel OpenCL Runtime 16.1 x64 Ubuntu Driver - Nvidia Linux x86_64 375.20 Driver - Hashcat v3.20Install Ubuntu on a USB before proceeding to install the software in the order listed above.