Getting ready for life after the ETH Merge in HiveOS. Setting up the next cryptos to mine in HiveOS.

The Ethereum Merge, its move to proof of stake, was expected at the end of September or in October 2022. Many miners only mined Ethereum and had forgotten how to set up HiveOS for another coin. In this video (in French), we go back over the basics to prepare calmly for the transition: choosing the coins to mine, creating a wallet for each one, selecting a pool and mining software, and preparing overclocking profiles and flight sheets.

Video from 2022, recorded shortly before the Merge: the coin selection and settings below date from that time. See "What about today?" at the end of the article.

1. Update HiveOS

It is not mandatory, but it is the first thing to do to start from a clean system. In the worker's options, open the Upgrade/Downgrade section, tick Force upgrade and Reboot after complete, then confirm: the rig updates and restarts.

2. Choose the coins to mine

To decide what to mine, we start from WhatToMine, using an RTX 3070 as an example. The site ranks the most widespread coins by profitability. Ethereum was still number one, but not for much longer. Among the best known:

• Conflux, which uses the Octopus algorithm;
• Ravencoin, on KawPow;
• Ethereum Classic, on Etchash, which is in practice identical to Ethereum's Ethash;
• Ergo, on Autolykos;
• Flux, known for its masternodes, on ZelHash;
• Firo, on FiroPoW, very close to KawPow;
• QuarkChain, another Ethash coin: already fairly profitable, with good market volume and a place in the top 200.

As for strategy, some people advise mining small, barely profitable coins in the hope that they take off. In our view, those who say so often have a lot of hashpower and only put part of their rigs on them: it is speculative mining. Also beware of small coins that "pump" and become very profitable for a few hours, and check the trading volume: if you cannot sell what you mine, the displayed profitability is worthless.

3. Create a wallet for each coin

You need a receiving address for every coin you mine. Look the coin up on CoinMarketCap and on its official website to see which wallets are available. Several options:

• the project's official wallet, for example Nautilus for Ergo;
• an address on an exchange: CoinMarketCap lists the platforms that trade the coin, ranked by volume;
• a software wallet installed on your computer, such as Zelcore for Flux: you then hold the private key, which you must keep safe.

4. Choose a pool

The MiningPoolStats website lists the pools available for each coin. We use the French pool CruxPool. Its advantage: it offers a fairly varied list of coins. Since we will no longer be mining only Ethereum, it is convenient to be able to stay with one pool when switching coins.

5. Prepare one overclock per algorithm

Each algorithm stresses the card's core and memory differently: Ethereum settings are not suitable for Flux. We recommend the hashrate.no website, which gives a table of the main graphics card models with settings per coin. Example for Flux on an RTX 3070:

• core clock: +150 (an offset from the stock value);
• memory: 0, because unlike Ethereum, Flux does not need it;
• power limit: 140 W.

In HiveOS, you can save an overclock for each algorithm. If the Auto select algo option is ticked, the right settings are applied automatically every time you switch coins.

6. Create the wallets and flight sheets in HiveOS

In the Wallets section of HiveOS, add one entry per coin (the coin and the address obtained in step 3). Then create a flight sheet for each coin, with:

• the coin and the matching wallet;
• the pool and its server, for example CruxPool, Europe server;
• the mining software: T-Rex is often the reference, as it handles many algorithms; we generally use miniZ, and lolMiner or GMiner are also very good.

After that, all you need to do is check WhatToMine from time to time to see which coin is the most profitable for your cards, and change flight sheet if needed.

What about today?

The Merge did take place on 15 September 2022: Ethereum can no longer be mined with graphics cards, and GPU mining income has collapsed. Since 2023, the arrival of Kaspa ASICs has also made Kaspa GPU mining marginal. The method (wallet, pool, overclock per algorithm, flight sheet) still applies to anyone still mining with GPUs, but check current profitability before investing.

To go further, read our HiveOS tutorial: worker, overclocking and flight sheet and our review of Minerstat OS and its profit switching. To mine today, discover our ASIC miners, or contact us for advice.