Beginner tutorial: motherboard and HiveOS installation

Have you received the parts for your first mining rig and don't know where to start? In this beginner video tutorial (in French), published in 2021, we start from a bare motherboard and go all the way to the first mining session: CPU and memory, BIOS settings, installing HiveOS on an SSD, creating the worker, overclocking and the flight sheet.

1. Install the CPU, the memory and the cooler

Our motherboard is an Intel Z390 with an LGA 1151 socket, for 8th and 9th generation Intel processors. We fit an Intel G4900: a small processor, but more than enough for mining, since the graphics cards do the work. Open the socket, place the processor the right way round without forcing it, and close the lever.

A single memory stick is enough, but read the motherboard manual before installing it: on this model it has to go in the DIMM B2 slot, which is counter-intuitive. All that remains is to fit and connect the CPU cooler.

2. Connect the power and set up the BIOS

Two power cables are essential: the 24-pin ATX connector for the motherboard and the CPU connector, an 8-pin on this board (other motherboards use a different format). For the first boot, connect a screen to the motherboard's video output and a keyboard: the G4900 has integrated graphics. In the BIOS, switch to advanced mode (F7 here) and check:

• the BIOS version: the one on our board was worth updating;
• Above 4G Decoding: enable it, it is the main setting for a mining rig;
• the display: in Auto mode, if a graphics card is connected to the main PCIe slot, even through a riser, the picture goes through it; otherwise it goes through the processor. Depending on the motherboard, you can force one or the other;
• the boot mode: CSM disabled, to boot in UEFI.

3. Install HiveOS on an SSD

To prepare the SSD from another computer, we use a SATA to USB adapter, which connects it like a USB stick (about ten euros). Then:

1. download the HiveOS image from the official website (about 7 GB);
2. install balenaEtcher, the software recommended by HiveOS;
3. in Etcher, select the HiveOS file, then the SSD as the target, and start flashing.

A 120 GB SSD is enough. Then connect it in the rig: SATA power on one side, a data cable to a SATA port on the motherboard on the other.

4. Create the worker and set up the fans

On first boot, the rig, connected to the internet, asks for a rig ID and a password. To get them, on the HiveOS website or app:

1. create a farm and give it a name;
2. add a worker of the rig type;
3. choose "Connect existing", since HiveOS is already installed on the SSD;
4. enter the generated rig ID and password on the machine.

The Auto Fans feature then manages the fan speed. The default target is 70 °C; we recommend aiming for 60 °C instead, with a minimum speed of at least 50%, which hardly wears the fans any faster. Even if the feature is not enabled, HiveOS stops mining if a card reaches 90 °C.

5. Overclocking: start with the power limit

For each card, HiveOS offers three settings: core clock, memory clock and power limit. Our key advice: at the very least, set the power limit (the power draw) before you start mining, so as not to overload your power supplies, then fine-tune the memory and the core.

The right memory clock depends on the memory brand: among our Gigabyte RTX 3070 cards, those with Samsung memory are set to 2400 and those with SK Hynix to 1800. Settings shared for the RTX 3070 often use -500 on the core and a power limit between 125 and 165 W. Also keep an eye on the system load (load average): a bad overclock makes the rig unstable and sends it soaring.

LHR cards and NBMiner

LHR cards are limited by NVIDIA to 50% on Ethereum: an RTX 3070, which normally mines at 60 to 62 MH/s, drops to about 30 MH/s. With NBMiner, our RTX 3070 LHR cards reach 42 to 45 MH/s, i.e. 72 to 74% of their full potential. It is the software we recommend for these cards.

6. Create the flight sheet and check the mining

The flight sheet tells the worker what to mine. In it you choose:

• the cryptocurrency: Ethereum in our case;
• the wallet: an exchange wallet (Binance, Kraken…), a hardware wallet such as Ledger or a browser extension such as MetaMask;
• the pool: for example Ethermine, Flexpool (our choice), Crazypool or 2Miners, picking the closest server (Europe from France);
• the mining software: historically T-Rex Miner for NVIDIA and TeamRedMiner for AMD; GMiner handles mixed rigs very well, and NBMiner is the one to choose for LHR cards.

Select the flight sheet in the worker tab: mining starts automatically. Check that the hashrate is displayed and that 99% or more of the shares are valid (100% accepted on our rig). Finally, enter your wallet address on your pool's website to check what it receives from your rig.

What about today?

Since Ethereum moved to proof of stake on 15 September 2022 (the Merge), Ethereum can no longer be mined with graphics cards and GPU mining income has collapsed: unlocking LHR cards and the settings above are no longer relevant. Assembly, the BIOS and getting started with HiveOS remain a good foundation, and HiveOS can also manage ASIC miners.

To go further, read our HiveOS tutorial on the worker, the flight sheet and overclocking and find all our guides on the tutorials page. To mine today, browse our ASIC miners, or contact us for advice before you buy.