When it comes to mining Bitcoin, many “would-be” miners are excluded by the type of equipment that is required to make it a profitable venture. In the present day, only individuals with dedicated mining rigs built with specialized circuit boards can make a successful go of it. For individuals who want to venture into the world of cryptocurrency mining but who do not want to invest in such specialized equipment right off the bat, mining one of the many altcoins can be an option.

Monero is an altcoin which, as of 2018, can still be mined from a standard computer’s CPU. Although mining from your desktop’s or laptop’s CPU may not provide you with the most efficient or profitable of scenarios, the fact that it is still possible makes Monero an excellent gateway cryptocurrency for those curious about mining.

The current accessibility or “ease of mining” found with Monero should not be seen as a fundamental negative for the outlook of that cryptocurrency. All cryptocurrency, even almighty Bitcoin, started out being minable with humble home computer CPUs. As a cryptocurrency matures, the hashing difficulty of each block in its blockchain increases. This is a trait which is made inherent and organic to every cryptocurrency. It is what allows for the stable growth of all cryptocurrencies. That is why as a cryptocurrency matures it becomes difficult or impossible to mine with moderate processing power.

Monero can be seen as the ideal mining training ground before moving on to other forms of cryptocurrency mining. Likewise, it could also be seen as an opportunity to get into Monero for the long-haul — to help forge a cryptocurrency model that is more egalitarian in its mining protocols than others. Perhaps more importantly, if you are already involved in another type of cryptocurrency mining, getting involved with Monero can be a relatively painless way to diversify your holdings. Whatever your reasons for mining Monero, here is how to do it.

— Monero Mining Hardware —

CPU

If you will be mining from a desktop or laptop CPU, it should be at minimum an Intel i5 generation quad-core CPU with a frequency of at least 2.4 GHz. Intel Xeon CPUs would be a better choice and offer a greater opportunity for profitability. You can also consider AMD equivalents, such as the Opteron or Ryzen CPU. It is wise to input the benchmarks of your CPU into online tools known as “online profitability calculators” to help determine the anticipated profitability of mining with your CPU.

GPU

Monero can also be mined with graphics processing units (GPUs). You may know these devices more commonly as dedicated video cards. For mining, your GPU should have at least 1 GB of dedicated RAM. To be frank, 4GB or higher is best. This should not be confused with the RAM that is part of your computer — dedicated GPU RAM comes integrated with the video card. Just as with CPUs, using an online profitability calculator will help you determine how your GPU will perform.

Updating Drivers

Regardless of whether you choose the CPU or GPU path, prior to getting started with your mining operation make certain to have all of your drivers updated. These include your motherboard, CPU and GPU drivers.

— Choosing Your Mining Style —

Once your mining hardware is in order, you have to give consideration to what mining method you will use. With Monero you can be either a solo miner — which is the term used to identify a person who mines independently — or you can join a mining pool.

The comparatively lower processing demand of Monero makes solo mining more realistic for newbies compared to other types of cryptocurrency mining. Pools allow you to participate as a part of a larger mining group. Since all individuals in the group pull their processing power together, this results in faster hashing with more blocks being hashed. The mining rewards that are received are shared among the members of the mining pool proportional to their contribution of processing power.

— Get a Monero Wallet —

A Monero wallet, just like other cryptocurrency wallets, refers not to where your Monero is stored, rather it is where your public and private keys for accessing and making use of your Monero are kept. Specific to mining, your public key, also known as your wallet address, is a key piece of information that you require in order to setup your mining operation.

Your wallet address must be entered in the mining software so that your mining rewards will be properly routed to you. This is the case whether you are involved in solo mining or as part of a mining pool.

You can use any wallet solution you wish. It can be web-based, hardware-based, or even paper-based. For simplicity, especially if you are new to mining, MyMonero is a web-based wallet that is run by the Monero core developers. It makes setting up a wallet a fast and simple process.

— Monero Mining Software —

If you are going to be a solo miner, you will need to download and install the mining software that is best for your system. What is best is determined by the operating system that is on your computer and the manufacturer of the CPU or GPU that you will be using. In terms of operating system compatibility, Monero mining software is compatible with Windows, Linux, and even Mac.

A reliable source to find trustworthy and efficient mining software is on the website of the developers for the Monero core at getmonero.org. In their “mining” section you will find links to their latest suggested mining software.

Unfortunately, installing this type of Monero mining software requires you to obtain and install the latest binary release from GitHub. If you are not familiar with GitHub this may be a daunting task. When you couple that with the fact that Monero mining software does not come with a graphical user interface — in other words, all of your inputs must come from the command line — you may want to reconsider diving into solo mining head first.

If you opt for a mining pool such as Minergate, Moneropool, or MinerCircle, these pools’ platforms come with mining software that is downloadable from their respective websites. This mining software comes with a GUI making it much easier and intuitive for newbies to use and understand. Most mining software from mining pools also have hardware benchmarking features. This allows newbies to automate the profitability calculations that were referred to in the hardware section of this guide. They also come with dashboards that make monitoring your mining operation quite easy.

— Continuous Monitoring —

Once your mining software is installed and configured, you are literally one command line entry or mouse click away from starting mining Monero. Just keep in mind that Monero mining is not a “set and forget” operation.

You should monitor your mining activity frequently. This is why the dashboards offered by mining pools are of great benefit. All of the data that comes from your mining operation — in terms of power consumption, hash rate, and profitability — should be tracked and analyzed to help you fine tune and maximize the efficiency of your setup.