How to use PhoenixMiner for Ethereum forks? (Config Guide)

PhoenixMiner Command Structure for ETH Forks

1. Identify the correct coin identifier using the -coin parameter. For EthereumPoW (ETHW), use ethw; for EthereumFair (ETF), specify etf; for Ether-1 (ETHO), input etho. Each fork maintains its own DAG generation logic and network parameters.

2. Set pool connection strings with proper protocol alignment. Most ETH forks adopt EthereumStratum/1.0.0 or eth-proxy variants. Use -proto 4 for NiceHash-compatible forks or -proto 2 for nanopool-style endpoints.

3. Assign dedicated wallet addresses per fork. Mixing ETH mainnet and fork addresses causes irreversible loss. Always verify checksum format and chain compatibility before launching the miner.

4. Configure DAG epoch handling via -bench mode to confirm GPU memory sufficiency. Forks like ETHW require larger DAG files than pre-Merge Ethereum; 8GB VRAM is minimum for sustained operation beyond epoch 450.

5. Enable stale submission control with -stales 1 to preserve share validity across variable block times common in low-hashrate forks.

Hardware Compatibility Considerations

1. NVIDIA RTX 3060 12GB remains widely deployed due to its VRAM capacity and Ethash algorithm efficiency, especially on forks where DAG growth outpaces older GPUs.

2. AMD RX 6700 XT shows strong stability under prolonged load on ETF networks but requires manual memory-timing adjustments via AMD Adrenalin software to prevent hash drops.

3. Avoid GTX 10-series cards on forks launched after 2022—DAG file sizes exceed 4.2GB, triggering out-of-memory errors even with virtual memory expansion.

4. Dual-GPU rigs must assign unique worker names using -worker to avoid pool-side duplicate share rejection.

5. Power supply units rated below 750W fail under six-GPU ETHO mining configurations due to transient current spikes during DAG initialization.

Pool Configuration Syntax

1. Connect to Ether-1 pool with: PhoenixMiner.exe -pool us1.ether-zero.com:3333 -wal 0xYourETHOAddress -coin etho -proto 2.

2. Route to EthereumFair’s EU endpoint using SSL: PhoenixMiner.exe -pool ssl://eu.fairpool.dev:5555 -wal 0xYourETFAddress -coin etf -proto 2.

3. Failover setup for ETHW includes secondary pool: -pool2 us2.ethw-pool.org:8008 -wal2 0xSameETHWAddress -coin2 ethw.

4. Authentication headers are required for some forks—append -pass x unless custom credentials are issued by the pool operator.

5. Disable automatic rate reporting with -rate 0 when connecting to private or devnet forks that do not support hashrate telemetry.

Stability Tuning Parameters

1. Reduce GPU core clock by 150MHz and memory clock by 300MHz to lower thermal output without significant hashrate penalty on ETHW.

2. Set -ftimeout 300 to handle intermittent connectivity issues common on low-population forks.

3. Use -cdm 1 to enable basic remote monitoring without requiring full CDM agent installation.

4. Limit concurrent DAG builds with -dagsize 0 if running multiple instances targeting different forks on one machine.

5. Force single-threaded DAG generation with -tstop 1 to prevent CPU starvation on systems with fewer than four logical cores.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can PhoenixMiner auto-detect which fork a pool belongs to?A: No. The miner relies entirely on explicit -coin and -proto values. Automatic detection is disabled to prevent misrouting of shares.

Q: Does PhoenixMiner support merged mining across ETH forks?A: Not natively. Merged mining requires external orchestrators or custom stratum proxies outside PhoenixMiner’s scope.

Q: Why does my RTX 4090 show 0 MH/s on ETHO despite correct configuration?A: ETHO enforces strict driver version checks. Only NVIDIA drivers 535.98 and newer are accepted for mining operations.

Q: Is it safe to reuse the same wallet address across multiple forks?A: Technically possible but strongly discouraged. Fork-specific wallets eliminate cross-chain replay risks and simplify tax reporting.