Raven Coin is a new coin that uses the x16R algorithm. The coin was designed to be a cryptocurrency that is ASIC resistant. ASICs are specialized hardware that can mine a specific algorithm way faster than GPU mining, and are much more efficient as well. The main argument against ASICs is that it creates a more centralized mining experience, since ASICs are more expensive and harder to get compared to a GPU or CPU so the hash power is concentrated in the hands of fewer people.
The x16R algorithm, is unique because it uses 16 different algorithms that are randomly selected based on the hash of the last block. Because of this, the order is always random, making it very hard to build an ASIC for. This unique algorithm is one of the reasons Raven coin has grown in popularity.
In the fictional world of Westeros, ravens are used as the messengers who carry statements of truth. Ravencoin is a use case specific blockchain designed to carry statements of truth about who owns what asset.
Now that we know the details about Raven coin, let’s get to mining some RVN!
Some General Mining Tips
So before we start this tutorial, I have two tips for making the most out of your mining experience. First make sure you have the latest drivers for your GPU’s. Secondly, most mining software will get flagged as a virus from virus scanners. Because of this, if your mining on your normal everyday use or gaming computer that has an antivirus installed, you will want to exclude the mining software from the antivirus. What I like to do, is I make one folder and then put all of my mining software in sub folders. I then exclude the top level folder from the antivirus and that excludes all the mining software.
Mining Pools
The first thing we need is a mining pool. You can solo mine, but the payouts could take months depending on how powerful your mining rig is, and the mining pools usually charge a very small fee (1% or less). Using a pool will allow you to receive consistent payouts, multiple times per day.
For this tutorial we will use https://hash4.life. I have chosen this pool because hash4life has low fees (1%) and lots of features. As for their features, there a small sized pool, with a current estimate of finding 1 block every 4-5 days. One thing that is unique about this pool is that they have a interactive GUI that allows you to quickly create a command line string for your mining rig. This setup can be found at https://hash4.life/tutorial.
Now that we have a pool, lets start mining!
CPU Mining
We will not focus on CPU mining since it is not profitable, compared to GPU mining.
GPU Mining – Nvidia
For GPU mining there are many programs for Nvidia, but the one I have found to be the best is CCminer. The miner does not have a Dev fee. This mining software is compatible with Windows and Linux, however there are only precompiled binaries available for Windows.
You can find the official page and the download link at https://github.com/tpruvot/ccminer/releases
Once downloaded, it is really simple to use.
Just create a new batch file (or script file if using Linux) inside the folder where the miner is and paste this into the batch file
ccminer-x64.exe -a algorithm -o stratum+tcp://mining_pool:port -u wallet_public_key -p c=coin_symbol
Replace “algorithm” with the algorithm you want to use. In this case we have to use “x16r”
Replace “mining_pool” with hash4.life
Replace “port” with 3636
Replace “wallet_public_key” with your wallet address.
Replace “coin_symbol” with RVN
For example my setup is:
ccminer-x64.exe -a x16r -o stratum+tcp://hash4.life:3636 -u RAmR4ewFUKhc8Vtu1khN6kzjUSqneZCKVs -p c=RVN
Double click the batch file to run the miner, and you should see something like this
The red arrow indicates the GPU detected and the total speed.
The blue arrow indicates the GPU clock speed, hashes per watt, total power usage, temperature and fan speed.
GPU Mining – AMD
For GPU mining there are many programs for AMD, but the one I have found to be the best is sgminer-gm-x16r. The mining software is compatible with the Windows and Linux operating system. The mining software has no Dev fee. This mining software is compatible with Windows and Linux, however there are only precompiled binaries available for Windows.
You can find the official page and the download link at https://github.com/aceneun/sgminer-gm-x16r/releases
Once downloaded, it is really simple to use.
Just create a new batch file (or script file if using Linux) inside the folder where the miner is and paste this into the batch file
sgminer -k algorithm -o stratum+tcp://mining_pool:port -u wallet_public_key -p c=coin_symbol
Replace “algorithm” with the algorithm you want to use. In this case we have to use “x16r”
Replace “mining_pool” with hash4.life
Replace “port” with 3636
Replace “wallet_public_key” with your wallet address.
Replace “coin_symbol” with RVN
For example my setup is:
sgminer -k x16r -o stratum+tcp://hash4.life:3636 -u RAmR4ewFUKhc8Vtu1khN6kzjUSqneZCKVs -p c=RVN
Double click the batch file to run the miner, and you should see something like this
The red box indicates the total speed for all of the GPU’s combined.
The blue box indicates each GPU’s temperature, fan speed and total speed.
If there are problems, you may not have enough virtual memory. You may need 16GB of virtual memory (for Vega GPU’s you need more like 16GB per GPU) to change this go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> System and the click Advanced system settings on the left. From there, click settings under the advanced tab. Next click change, and then on the third screen, uncheck automatically manage, choose custom size, and type in the size (in MB) for both text boxes. Then press the set button, and then the ok button.
General Troubleshooting
One thing to monitor for is stale or rejected shares. If you see a lot of stale shares, you may want to try a server that is closer to you. If you see a lot of rejected shares, try to lower the intensity of the miner if available.
How much RVN will I earn per day?
To figure this out, you would go to http://whattomine.com and use their calculator. The calculator does provide a rough estimate, so you may get paid a higher or lower amount than what the calculator actually says. The Raven coin calculator is currently in a testing state, which means it does not work yet, but the RVN calculator is located at https://whattomine.com/coins/234-rvn-x16r
Most of the values are already correctly entered, and you only need to edit a few values.
Hash rate: Enter your total speed (in Megahashes per second) for all of your mining computers. This would be the “total speed” value in your mining software. Make sure to add up all of the computers your using for Raven coin mining.
Power: Enter the total amount of power (in watts) that your mining rig is using. Some mining software will measure this for you. You can also measure total power consumption for your computer using special software, or a kilowatt meter. I prefer using a kilowatt meter, because I find it to be the most accurate. Make sure to add up all of the computers your using for Raven coin mining.
Cost: Enter the cost per kilowatt hour that you pay to your electricity company. I was able to find this info in my monthly bill, as well as on their website.
Pool fee: Enter the pool fee + the miner software dev fee. For our example you would enter 1 + 0 = 1
Hardware cost: Enter in the total cost of all of your hardware.
The calculator does not show the 24 volume or the market cap so I got that info from the Raven coin page on coinmarketcap.
Using my AMD Vega system for an example, I will show you how to read the data. In the above image there is really 3 things that I look for.
- Look at the Difficulty 24h and the Difficulty 7 days. We want these to be around the same, which they are. This tells us that the calculations we will look at in the second image below, will be accurate for days to come, as long as the price is not volatile.
- Look at the EX. volume 24h and the Market Cap. Generally, the bigger these are, the less volatile the price will be. We want the price to not be volatile so our calculations will be accurate for days to come. In this example, the market cap is small, so the price could change a little day to day.
- Look at the Create 1 BTC in and the Break even in. It is always interesting to see how long it will take your mining rig to create 1 BTC. The break even in, will show you a rough estimate of how long it would take to pay off your mining rig, by mining this particular coin. This is great to use before you build your mining rig, to see how long it will take until you will see profits.
In this image, we can quickly see how many coins and USD value we will make in certain time frames. You want to look at the Profit column, since this is the value after paying for your electricity usage. I usually just focus on the daily payout in USD. By just focusing on this number, you can run the calculator for a few different coins, and quickly see which coin is most profitable for your mining rig setup. Keep in mind you also want to weigh the daily payout with the market cap. A low market cap coin may be really profitable one day, and then could have half the payout tomorrow.
That’s it. You should now be mining Raven coin! Make sure to type in your public key into the mining pool’s dashboard, to keep track of your statistics.
14 Comments
Another thing to consider is payment type on a pool. All RVN mining pools use Proportional payment system except for two that use PPLNS. Those two would be Virtopia and suprnova. Virtopia has two pools, the current live one is proportional and the test pool is PPLNS (http://pool.virtopia.ca). Test pool should become the main pool in the next week.
PPLNS discourages pool hoppers from hopping on and grabbing a lion shares worth of the reward for a round. It instead rewards long-term and loyal miners which is great for the community.
Thanks for bringing this up Chancy! I agree that PPNLS is more fair and better than PROP or PPS for long term miners.
Good day,
Great post on how to mine RVN. I am very new to cyrpto and new to the language of computers but learning fast. I was wondering if you could answer a couple of questions?
I read your instructions per post below to mine RVN, but embarrassing enough I don’t actually know how to create a new batch file. I used new text document, put in the line you mentioned and altered it and saved as .bat – I see the file changed to a batch file icon but when click nothing happens. Are there other items I must put in the batch file other than the line you indicated?
When clicked your ccminer link, I downloaded and unzipped the 12.7 MB link–I guess not sure which Assets I am suppose to download from github. I see a green icon in the folder is that what I click? Nothing happened when I did.
I saved the ccminer and batch file as you instructed but on my external hard-drive does that matter?
Do I need a new ccminer for each coin? Or can I download one ccminer and then from there set it up for diff coins?
Again I realize the above questions very basic, but I am still learning and instead of using nicehash all the time I would like to start mining specific coins.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for asking this question, and please do not feel embarrassed, we all have to start out at the beginning.
So I redid the steps and I see the problem.
you downloaded the 32 bit instead of the 64 bit. I would recommend downloading the 64 bit, since it will probably work better, and I believe most recently built computers are 64 bit.
the 64 bit one is the link that says 17 MB next to it. the 32 bit is the one you downloaded the 12.7 MB
if you downloaded the 64 bit the instructions in the post work. The problem your having is that the 32 bit file is called “ccminer.exe” not “ccminer-x64.exe”
yes the green icon is the file but when you click it it shuts down since no arguments are passed to it
so basically
if you downloaded the 32 bit (the one you already have) change the batch file to run “ccminer.exe” not “ccminer-x64.exe”
if you downloaded the 64 bit then you want the “ccminer-x64.exe” in the batch file
you did make the batch file the correct way as well.
Hopefully this helps, let me know either way in the comments.
Hello Zach,
Okay works like a charm. Mining about 100 Ravens a week. I have a small machine. One more question. I notice the ccminer crashes. Is there a way to make the batch file auto start up after crashes?
Thanks
Hi Chris, I dont think their is a built in way to do that.
You could however write a small program to do that
just use .NET or C++ or something
make a timer
run timer every 5 minutes
get list of all running processes on computer
if ccminer is in the list do nothing
else open up ccminer with the arguments
Newbie here.
How to create wallet for raven coin?
Hi Ozy
You can download the official raven coin wallet for mac,windows,linux
or you can use the paper wallet
here is the link from the raven coin website
https://ravencoin.org/developers-repository/
Hey,
I am struggeling hard on getting my Rigs started to mine RVN.
Im using SimpleminingOS
ccminer-todd1251-x16r-v2.2.5
this is my Command line:
-o stratum+tcp://eu.ravenminer.com:1111 -u RCvsvsftMWqZfwEms3MxnwXUinq165ac65 -p worker1
the Pool is showing all wrokers but no Hash
this is from the console:
[2018-11-07 23:11:02] auto block 438791, diff 89913.575
[2018-11-07 23:11:05] auto block 438792, diff 90768.683
[2018-11-07 23:11:19] auto block 438793, diff 90957.067
[2018-11-07 23:16:40] auto block 438794, diff 88743.140
[2018-11-07 23:16:50] Stratum connection interrupted
[2018-11-07 23:17:07] auto block 438795, diff 88702.818
[2018-11-07 23:17:09] auto block 438796, diff 89983.276
[2018-11-07 23:17:11] Stratum connection interrupted
[2018-11-07 23:17:13] auto block 438797, diff 89960.659
[2018-11-07 23:17:13] auto block 438798, diff 90130.567
[2018-11-07 23:17:33] Stratum connection interrupted
same on every Rig.
can anyone Help?
Hi,
Iam trying to mine Raven in Nanopool, but the T-rex miner doesnt see my GPU’s but the Device manager shows them in all of my rigs. What do you think that is? My ETH miner does see them and is mining. i wanted to switch to raven but i dont know why the GPU’s cant be discovered by T-rex.
Just stumbled upon this thread, any idea what is min hardware i should buy for mining? Feb 2019.
Hi, I have nVidia 1060, pls what is normal speed on one card? Thx
Someone, likely from Asia, just posted some graphs and data research they’ve conducted on the RVN hash rates and its fluctuations, alongside a proposition to modify X16R in order to reduce the fluctuation.
People had trouble understanding their english so I cleaned it up
https://link.medium.com/XaKe2fukfW
.
Original thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ravencoin/comments/bhyrxv/modified_x16r_algorithm_proposal_for_constant/
https://medium.com/systems-nexus/modified-x16r-algorithm-proposal-for-constant-hash-rate-in-short-time-164711dd9044
https://www.reddit.com/r/NiceHash/comments/bi7set/modified_x16r/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x
Hi, i would like to confirm the algorithm for Raven coin as i have tried -kernel parameter option of -k x16r for sgminer, BUT it is not working, i get too many Rejections, something is cooked.
Please can somebody confirm the Algorithm