The other day, while using NVidia GTX 1060 3 GB graphics cards for mining rigs, a problem was discovered - these graphics cards have simply stopped mining ETC and will soon be done with Ethereum. And this situation is aggravated also by the fact that, at current exchange rates, a rig of even eight GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards earns only about 2 dollars in ETH equivalent. Let alone the NVidia GTX 1060 3 GB graphics cards. Nevertheless, let us try to figure out the causes of the situation and try to choose new coins for mining.

DAG is to blame for the mining problems on NVidia GTX 1060 3 GB graphics cards. The owners of the named graphics card had to say goodbye to ETC because of the DAG file. The latter is a fairly large data block that is loaded into GPU memory when the miner starts. Without DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) it is impossible to search for block solutions in cryptocurrency networks based on the Ethash algorithm. These also include Callisto, Metaverse, MOAC, Pirl, Expanse, Akroma, and others. Every 30 thousand blocks the size of the DAG file increases — this procedure is also called an epoch change. It is impossible to name the exact date and time of the epoch change, since blocks in the same Ethereum network can be separated by 10 to 60 seconds. However, the figure usually tends toward 14 seconds, so there is no problem with approximate ranges. On average, every 5 days the volume increases by approximately 10 megabytes. According to some DAG file size calculators, mining Ethereum on a GTX 1060 3GB will end on April 24, 2019, and mining ETC — on March 17. The information turned out to be inaccurate. Over the past week, on forums and in chats people have been actively asking about the errors that occur when mining ETH/ETC on their 3 GB GTX 1060 cards. In short: the mining time of Ethereum Classic for the NVidia GeForce 1060 3GB has already run out. The named model will stop pulling Ethereum in the near future. The GTX 1060 3GB does not mine Ether. Why? The logic is simple. As soon as there is not enough VRAM, or video memory, to load the DAG file, mining is canceled. Today Ethereum is in epoch 229, and Ethereum Classic — in 237. The current DAG file sizes for the named cryptocurrencies are 2.79 and 2.85 gigabytes respectively. The figures have come right up close to 3 GB, and hence all the problems with the operation of the GTX 1060. There seems to be a reserve, but part of the memory is used for other processes. For example, a connected monitor will eat up about 150-200 megabytes. As a Hive OS forum moderator established, without a running miner the NVidia card the first card in the rig (GPU0) uses 22 megabytes of VRAM, while the rest spend 9 MB each. The data is current for drivers v396.54 and X-server v1:7.7+7. As a result, in theory we have 3019 megabytes (2.94 GB) of available VRAM, but in practice the figure is even lower. Miners place DAG in memory differently, which is why video memory consumption also differs. As a result, the duration of the possible mining of a coin is reduced — and this is what explains the impossibility of mining ETC already now.

At the moment, the following miners can be used to mine coins on the Ethash algorithm: claymore, ethminer, phoenixminer, bminer, and finminer. There are also ccminer and sgminer, but their efficiency is not the best. A forum member tested the named programs on GPU number 4 and obtained the following memory consumption figures. claymore — 2998 MB; claymore with the -res 0 option — 2982 MB; ethminer — 2980 MB; phoenixminer — 2998 MB; phoenixminer with the -res 0 option — 2982 MB; bminer — 2980 MB; finminer — 2937 MB. Parameters of the test rig for GPU4. Card — MSI GeForce GTX 1063 Gaming X 3GB with Samsung memory; OC — Core: -150 Mem: 1700 PL: 103; Linux — Kernel: v4.10.17, Driver: 396.54, Xserver-xorg: v1:7.7+7. Source: HiveOS Given the above, mining on the more demanding first card of the rig using claymore and phoenixminer may fail to start. In most cases the best options will be ethminer and bminer. At the same time, finminer turned out to be the leader — it will allow you to mine Ethereum on a GTX 1060 3GB down to the last byte of VRAM.

What can be mined on the NVidia GeForce 1060 3GB. In the case of the Ethash algorithm, you need to choose coins whose DAG file is significantly smaller than 3 GB. For example, starting to mine Musicoin currently requires 2.02 GB of memory, and Expanse — 1.41 GB. Mining of the named coins for the 1060 3 GB will end approximately in June 2020 and April 2027 respectively. Among the alternatives there is also Monero on the Cryptonight algorithm. Its main trump cards are profitability, energy efficiency, and the possibility of mining on a CPU.