Instructions for connecting and setting up a mining farm

Advantages of USB ASIC miner

Low price

Even an old model of a not very powerful ASIC style now costs several hundred dollars. Not to mention the newest models, the price of which reaches an average of three thousand dollars. But a flash miner will cost less than $50 in most cases. Although there are some models, like 21 Bitcoin Computer for $150, which can also, with a slight stretch, be classified as USB flash drive miners, but this is the exception rather than the rule. This model is considered top in the USB miner segment.

A farm of USB miners in action

The second very important point is the lower risk of losing investments. The fact is that Blockchain projects are increasingly changing the consensus protocol in order to protect themselves from mining on powerful ASIC devices. While these devices are designed to mine only one coin and cannot be reconfigured. In other words, there is a possibility that the expensive equipment purchased will simply be useless after the next hard fork. Of course, this also applies to USB miners. But the losses in this case will be of a completely different order.

Easy installation and setup

One of the most difficult moments in cryptocurrency mining is setting up the equipment. This applies not only to mining on GPU devices, but also on ASICs. In general, mining equipment is not something that can be plugged in and forgotten. It needs to be configured and the work process constantly monitored.

USB miners, as a rule, do not require complex manipulations. They are easy and quick to set up, and the Internet is full of instructions for setting it up yourself.

Greater mobility

Even a person far from mining already knows that giant mining farms have long entered the game, occupying huge production areas and hangars. Mining hardware needs to be located somewhere, it needs to be cooled, and it needs a lot of electricity.

USB ASICs are a solution for those who travel frequently or do not have free space to accommodate full-fledged rigs (mining farms). Using a flash drive miner, you can mine cryptocurrency even on a laptop. The main condition is that the computer is turned on and access to the Internet.

The settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by antonliv86 » Sat Nov 07, 2020 3:31 pm

CPUminer GC3355, for mining via Gridseed Usb Miner.

Mining software, the so-called CPUminer GC3355 for cryptocurrency mining. This software works specifically with Gridseed. Gridseed is a Usb device, popularly called a hedgehog, which produces cryptocurrency through mathematical calculations.

I think that some people were wondering how to set up a hedgehog, so here are the settings.

If you don’t understand, write, I’ll try to help, but don’t forget to post something of your own, only profitable.

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by vitaliysamodin » Fri Apr 08, 2020 12:34 pm

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by muha » Thu Jul 21, 2020 11:14 pm

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by muha » Fri Jul 22, 2020 3:11 pm

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by DarkAngel » Wed Sep 14, 2020 7:29 am

minerd.exe —freq=800 —gc3355-detect —url=stratum+tcp://ltc.pool.minergate.com:3336 —userpass=YOUR_MAIL:x

Keep in mind that this is not a standard Minerd. There must be a build for GC.

PS: I’m not sure about the default frequency of 800 MHz (maybe 750, I don’t remember). I made a voltmod for mine and use it at 1200 MHz with special cooling.

Tox ID: 2BC3F23E7825312742A5D2A1C336A00EAA6F34B35271F6E0199B995CF9FA296D4BFB1DE35FC6

Tip for newbies: search for my posts on the forum using the keyword FAQ.

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by cyberpunk » Mon Oct 03, 2020 6:34 pm

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by DarkAngel » Sun Nov 06, 2020 8:28 am

Tox ID: 2BC3F23E7825312742A5D2A1C336A00EAA6F34B35271F6E0199B995CF9FA296D4BFB1DE35FC6

Tip for newbies: search for my posts on the forum using the keyword FAQ.

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by rol » Sat Jan 14, 2020 9:43 pm

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by rol » Sun Jan 15, 2020 3:00 pm

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by DarkAngel » Thu Jan 19, 2020 2:56 pm

Tox ID: 2BC3F23E7825312742A5D2A1C336A00EAA6F34B35271F6E0199B995CF9FA296D4BFB1DE35FC6

Tip for newbies: search for my posts on the forum using the keyword FAQ.

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by rol » Thu Jan 19, 2020 3:06 pm

Re: Settings for GridSeed USB Miner should also be suitable for MinerGate.

Post by DarkAngel » Thu Jan 19, 2020 3:19 pm

Tox ID: 2BC3F23E7825312742A5D2A1C336A00EAA6F34B35271F6E0199B995CF9FA296D4BFB1DE35FC6

Tip for newbies: search for my posts on the forum using the keyword FAQ.

source

Disadvantages of USB miners

It’s not surprising, but portable flash drive miners also have their weaknesses. Let's look at them too.

Low hashrate (power)

If we talk about cryptocurrency mining, the hashrate is the most important value that characterizes the overall power and, ultimately, profitability. A low hashrate reduces the chances of finding a new block and receiving a reward. You can forget about solo mining on a flash drive - it’s simply unrealistic.

Low profit

It is logical that a small portable device with a low hashrate will be inferior to full-fledged ASICs. And if you decide to start mining cryptocurrency on a USB miner for $50, then you should expect a profit corresponding to this price. But there will still be a profit from the investment, and it will recoup the investment. We will look at this in more detail a little later.

What is a USB ASIC?

Modern ASIC miners are devices based on high-performance chips designed to solve specific problems in the cryptocurrency network, mine new blocks and receive bonuses. Unlike video cards and processors, they have a high hashrate and relatively low power consumption.

All ASICs are conventionally divided into three types:

Professional

Homemade

— devices for cryptocurrency mining, which have more compact sizes and lower energy consumption. Such devices are usually used for home use. With their help, you can mine Bitcoin, Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies running on the SHA-256, X11, Scrypt and others algorithms. In general, there is no clear distinction between pro models and home models. Often, professional ASICs are installed at home and soundproofing boxes are built or purchased.

Compact models (USB ASIC miners).
With the rise in the exchange rate of cryptocurrencies and the increase in network complexity, such devices have become irrelevant. Their advantages are their small size and ease of connection (via USB). The disadvantage is low performance, which is why such devices are increasingly used as souvenirs or gifts.

Compact ASICs are inserted into a computer (USB connector) and immediately begin to mine virtual coins. You can't count on big profits due to low productivity. The question arises, why buy such devices? There are several reasons:

Try yourself as a miner.

Prepare to purchase more powerful equipment - Antminer S9, R4 and other devices.

Get at your disposal an original item that you can give or keep as a souvenir.

Get new cryptocurrencies that have just appeared on the market and have not gained popularity.

Review of the best USB miners

The cryptocurrency mining industry is dominated by ASIC, GPU and CPU devices. But unfortunately, there are very few high-quality manufacturers of USB-ASIC miners. Let's take a closer look at the top models on the market, compare prices and find out user reviews.

Bitmain Antminer U2

Price: $50 (price is for used device)

Bitmain Antminer U2

Today, Bitmain is the largest manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining equipment in the world. A company that produces almost all existing types of devices for different PoW algorithms. Antminer U2 is another high-quality item in the line of mining devices from Bitmain. Unfortunately, there are only two reviews for this model on Amazon.

One of the reviews is positive (5 stars). The user noted that this USB miner is an excellent device to understand the basics of mining and get into the process. Indeed, due to its low price, the device is available to start mining and learn its intricacies. The second review is negative (1 star). The user noted that the device was not recognized on three different computers.

According to other user reviews, mining on Antminer U2 is no longer possible. This is due to the fact that U2, unlike most other USB brethren, is designed only for Bitcoin mining and cannot be reconfigured to mine other cryptocurrencies.

GekkoScience 2Pac

Price: $45

GekkoScience 2Pac

According to the developers of GekkoScience 2Pack, it is the most efficient USB miner on the market today. Don’t think that the “2Pac” in the name means that there are two devices. This is not the case, although the device is equipped with two Bitmain BM1384 chips. Exactly the same, by the way, that the S line miners from Bitmain are equipped with. The average hashrate of this miner is 15 GH/s and above. Efficiency .31-.35 watts per GH.

The developer GekkoScience recommends that users use the CGMiner program with this device. Judging by user reviews on the Internet, buyers understand what such a USB miner is capable of and do not expect a quick payback for the device.

NanoFury 2

Price: $89

NanoFury 2

NanoFury 2 is equipped with two Bitfury ASIC chips. The declared power of the device is up to 5 GH/s. The design includes a heatsink to remove temperature from the chips. This increases the reliability and durability of this type of USB miner.

If you think that setting up a device is a complicated process, then it should be said that even additional drivers are not required to start mining. The Bfgminer and Cgminer programs work with it without any problems. In addition to BTC, this USB ASIC can mine various other cryptocurrencies using the SHA256 algorithm (for example Digibyte)

How to mine bitcoins using a flash drive: Review of USB miners | Education

Many people think that mining requires incredibly powerful video cards and ASIC processors. In fact, you can use a simple flash drive.

At first, Bitcoin was mined only on computers - remember the rule “one processor, one vote”? As cryptocurrencies rose in price, a more efficient method was developed using a graphics card (GPU). Then there were programmable processors (FPGAs), and later ASICs, specialized chips for solving exactly the type of problems used in Bitcoin. And in May 2013, Block Erupter Sapphire appeared, the first mining device in USB flash drive format.

Bitcoin mining using a flash drive

A typical Bitcoin miner, built on an ASIC processor, is a shoebox-sized device that consumes more electricity than conventional computers.

Typically there are several boards with multiple processors, so the device is quite large, noisy, heavy and gets very hot.

Yes, it is cost-effective, but it is not the only option: you can make a device the size of a USB flash drive, which can fit one or two processors, and mine cryptocurrency.

What other coins can you mine?

Using a USB miner, you can mine 13 types of coins based on the SHA-256 cryptographic algorithm - these are, in particular, Bitcoin Cash (EXANTE: Bitcoin.Cash), Peercoin and Namecoin. The full list can be found on the CoinWarz website, and there is also a profitability calculator based on hash rate and coin type.

Pros of USB miners

The USB miner does not require separate power or an Internet connection - it connects to any desktop computer or laptop.
They don't get very hot, so they usually don't need cooling, and, unlike regular, large miners, they are completely silent.
Due to their small size, USB miners do not require purchasing server racks or coming up with any other storage systems.
In addition, they are very easy to transport from place to place and cheap to send by mail.
And in general, they are inexpensive - you can easily find a copy on eBay for $100, while regular miners cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
And, of course, nothing prevents you from connecting several USB miners to different computer ports or to a USB hub.

Disadvantages of USB miners

The main disadvantage of a USB miner is the relatively low hash rate, since most of these devices have only one ASIC chip installed, and an outdated one.
To gain the power of any modern standalone ASIC device using USB miners, you will have to spend a lot more money.

In what cases should you use USB miners?

Don't expect significant profits from a USB miner - those days are long gone. Economically, the choice of such a miner is not justified - if the price of Bitcoin does not soar, losses are almost guaranteed. And, even if it takes off, you can earn much more with a regular ASIC miner.

How to mine bitcoins: Mining for dummies

A USB miner is such a fun learning device that you can use to gain real skills without investing hundreds of dollars in hardware. Also, with their help it is convenient not only to study, but also to teach others.

The USB miner is great for experimenting with overclocking (or, conversely, slowing down) ASIC chips - it’s better to burn a $50 wick than a real big ASIC for a thousand dollars). For overclocking, many experts recommend using a USB hub of sufficient power.

USB miners also become collectibles, as if personifying the physical embodiment of Bitcoin, and can serve as a reason to talk about the times when Bitcoin took its first steps.

The Best USB Miners on the Market

If you want an inexpensive USB miner for educational purposes, a used Block Erupter Sapphire is available on eBay and is well worth the money. It calculates 333 million hashes per second and even a new one costs about $35 on eBay, and a used one is half that price.

The hashing speed of Antminer U1 USB is higher - 1.6 GHz/s. New it sells for $33, and used for about $12.5, and, if we talk about cost-effectiveness, then, of course, it is much better than the ancient Sapphire.

GekkoScience 2Pac Stickminer

Are you looking for something more effective in terms of earning money? Perhaps you are going to mine some altcoins based on SHA-256? Then we recommend GekkoScience 2Pac Stickminer. Just keep in mind that you won’t earn bitcoins with it.

This miner has two Bitmain BM1384 chips, that is, the same as in Antminer S5. The device operates with a maximum hashing rate of 15 GHz/s - the best result among USB miners.

The 2Pac costs about the same as the Sapphire or U1, but has better value for money and better power efficiency, so it's a good option. But to achieve maximum speed, you will have to manually adjust the frequency and power of the device.

Although Stickminer uses Bitmain chips, it is produced by hobby electronics manufacturer GekkoScience. 2Pac is the successor to the GekkoScience Compac, which delivers 8 GHz/s performance.

2Pac can be purchased from a recommended dealer or possibly from other dealers - they can be found on the manufacturer's forum. The device currently costs $32. It is also sold on Amazon and eBay.

You can also find additional information or ask a question on the forum. These USB miners are quite popular, and therefore convenient for mastering the topic - if you encounter any problem, most likely, you will be quickly offered help.

Prepared by Taya Aryanova

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Price and payback

Unfortunately, mining on USB ASICs today cannot be considered a profitable process. Judging by the reviews of many users on the Internet, it is very difficult or even almost impossible to recoup the investment.

For example, one user left a review about his experience with the Rev 2 GekkoScience 2-Pac device. He reported that he was using a seven-port USB hub with the cgminer program and connected the power to the P2Pool. In his case, the cost of the farm was approximately $700 and the payback period would be 20 months. It should be taken into account that after “halving” the reward will be reduced. In addition, the review was written in January 2018, at the time of peak BTC price values. During the correction, the payback period is pushed even further into infinity.

USB miners

It would be wise to consider a USB miner as a hobby or a long-term investment, or even as a learning process on the way to adult mining. If you are waiting for a quick profit, then you should pay attention to full-fledged equipment with all its complexities. If you don’t want to have problems with the placement of large ASIC miners, their cooling, noise and other amenities that cryptocurrency miners face, then USB ASICs are what you need.

Installation and configuration

Installing a USB ASIC is no more difficult than connecting a flash drive to a computer. For this you need any PC or laptop. We will give general recommendations for installing and configuring portable miners. But it should be remembered that each model is customized individually.

Install a USB miner into a PC port or hub
Download and install the driver for your OS (for example, for Windows it is called cp210x_vcp_windows.zip)
Download and install the Bfgminer program
Create a bat file that will launch the mining process (bfgminer.exe –set-device antminer:clock=x0A81 -o stratum+tcp://stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -u ecraigfields21_210 -S antminer:all -px)

Ready! Mining on your USB ASIC has begun. Now you should occasionally monitor the process, checking the program and the level of power that the pool receives. And also receive rewards to your BTC wallet.