Which coins can I mine with a GPU?

GPU-Mineable Cryptocurrencies

1. Ethereum Classic (ETC) remains compatible with GPU mining due to its Ethash-based algorithm and resistance to ASIC dominance.

2. Ravencoin (RVN) uses the KawPoW algorithm, specifically designed to preserve GPU accessibility and penalize ASIC efficiency.

3. Ergo (ERG) implements Autolykos v2, a memory-hard proof-of-work scheme that favors high-bandwidth VRAM over raw hash rate.

4. Vertcoin (VTC) enforces Verthash, a CPU- and GPU-friendly algorithm with mandatory full blockchain dataset loading into RAM/VRAM.

5. Bitcoin Gold (BTG) relies on Equihash-BTG, a variant requiring large amounts of memory bandwidth—making modern GPUs significantly more effective than ASICs.

Algorithm Compatibility Considerations

1. Ethash derivatives demand at least 4 GB of VRAM for stable operation; cards with less memory may experience rejected shares or crashes.

2. KawPoW requires consistent PCIe bandwidth and benefits from NVMe-backed pagefile configurations on Windows systems.

3. Autolykos v2 mandates 4.5+ GB of contiguous VRAM space and performs poorly on integrated graphics or low-tier mobile GPUs.

4. Verthash necessitates fast storage I/O since it reads pseudo-random segments from the full blockchain file during every hash attempt.

5. Equihash variants scale memory requirements exponentially—BTG’s current parameters require ~3.2 GB of memory per thread, limiting viability on older AMD Polaris or NVIDIA Maxwell chips.

Profitability Influencing Factors

1. Electricity cost per kilowatt-hour directly determines net margin—miners in regions above $0.12/kWh often operate at negative ROI for RVN and ETC.

2. Pool fees range from 0.5% to 3%, with some pools like ZergPool and MiningPoolHub offering dynamic fee structures tied to payout frequency.

3. Network difficulty adjustments occur every 1–3 days for most GPU coins, causing volatility in daily output even with constant hardware performance.

4. Hashrate stability is compromised by thermal throttling—GPU core and memory junction temperatures above 95°C trigger automatic clock reduction on RDNA2 and Ampere architectures.

5. Driver version lock-in exists: NVIDIA 535.xx series delivers optimal KawPoW performance, while AMD Adrenalin 23.5.1 shows 8.7% higher Autolykos v2 throughput versus 23.7.1.

MultiPoolMiner Integration Capabilities

1. MultiPoolMiner supports real-time switching between ETC, RVN, ERG, VTC, and BTG based on profitability rankings updated every 60 seconds.

2. It auto-configures miner binaries—including T-Rex, GMiner, TeamRedMiner, and NBMiner—based on detected GPU vendor and compute capability.

3. The software applies per-algorithm overclock profiles stored in JSON configuration files, allowing separate memory timings for Ethash and KawPoW workloads.

4. Power limit enforcement is applied system-wide via NVML or ADL APIs, preventing sustained draw beyond PSU-rated capacity during algorithm transitions.

5. Invalid share detection thresholds are configurable per pool; default values flag instability when bad shares exceed 2.3% of total submissions within a 5-minute window.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does MultiPoolMiner support Linux distributions other than Ubuntu 20.04+?A: Yes. It operates on Debian 11+, Fedora 36+, and Arch Linux with AUR package support. CentOS/RHEL require manual compilation due to glibc version mismatches.

Q: Can I mine two different coins simultaneously on one GPU?A: No. GPU mining engines allocate exclusive device context; concurrent kernels from different algorithms cause driver-level timeouts and forced resets.

Q: Why does my RTX 4090 show lower KawPoW hashrate in MultiPoolMiner than standalone GMiner benchmarks?A: MultiPoolMiner enforces stricter stale share rejection and includes real-time power draw monitoring—both reduce observed effective hashrate by 1.8–3.2% compared to raw benchmark tools.

Q: Is DAG file generation handled automatically when switching from ETC to ETHW?A: Yes. MultiPoolMiner triggers DAG regeneration before each algorithm switch and validates file integrity using SHA256 checksums against known good headers.