How to Build a Zcash Mining Rig

Zcash cryptocurrency uses zk-snarks in order to keep all information pertaining to user transactions securely encrypted. At the same time, these transactions can be verified by miners to ensure that there is no chance of double spending.

This cryptocurrency makes use of hashing algorithm called Equihash which is a Proof of Work algorithm that is highly memory intensive. It therefore needs a lot of RAM and this explains why ASICs are not the best choice for Zcash mining. So, to construct a Zcash mining rig, you will need to find appropriate GPUs for the task.

How to construct a Zcash mining rig:

1. It is wise to learn tips on how to build a Zcash mining rig since using pre-built ones may turn out to be very costly. It is important to understand that the key to making profits is to choose your hardware with a lot of care, to ensure that you carry out a comparison of available hardware before choosing any one for your Zcash mining rig.
2. When you are building a Zcash mining rig, you can also use a mining profitability calculator to see how much profits you can make according to the hash rate and power costs. Besides mining hardware and software, you will need a wallet to store the crypto coins and pools which you can join to get faster rewards. Finally, if you do not wish to maintain a rig on your own, you can always sign up for cloud mining contracts.
3. When you build a mining rig, you must understand that the power supplies you buy should be able to handle the graphic cards. You may get an estimate of your expenses before you start out. It is also wise to remember that the GPUs used for Zcash mining are likely to get overheated. So, when you overuse these you need to ensure that the rig is in a well-ventilated place. When you find the cards to be overheated, you need to get strong fans to cool these down.
4. When you have chosen and installed the hardware for your Zcash mining rig, your next job is to find the right software for mining. You must install an operating system for the computer and Ubuntu is a good choice for the tech savvy users, plus it is free of cost. Windows is popular because it automates driver installations. For the miners mining Zcash, the best possible miners are Claymore miner and Genoil miner for Windows.
5. With the software installed, you can begin mining, either on your own or by joining a mining pool. In solo mining, you can get the rewards for yourself but when you get the best Zcash mining pool, your rewards are faster.

How to choose best Zcash mining pools

There are many Zcash mining pools in the market and you must choose one depending on their fees, payout structure, hash rate etc.

1. Flypool is primarily for Zcash miners and is most popular amongst the miners. The fees are 1% and it offers the chance to mine anonymously. It has servers in Europe, China and the US. It uses the real time Pay per Last N Share or PPLNS method. It even lets clients customize their minimum payouts and gives accurate hash rate reports.
2. Coalmine has servers in Europe and charges an average fee of 1.2%. This mining pool is available for mining Zcash, Dash and Ethereum.
3. NanoPool is also another Zcash mining pool which you may use for mining other cryptocurrencies too. It involves more than 8000 miners and the fees are about 1%. There is a regular payout method and a 0.01 ZEC default minimum payout.
4. Miner Gate is yet another mining pool which lets users mine many currencies at one time.
5. Slushpool: This is the first mining pool for the Bitcoin and is also a multi-currency pool.
6. Dwarfpool needs no registration and offers automatic payouts. There are no hidden fees or transaction fees and it comes with DDoS protection.