Ethereum vs Zcash which one is more profitable to mine?
Last night, I had a debate with my mining partner on this topic. It was a battle between Ethereum and Zcash. According to WhatToMine - Zcash should be the more profitable option (by a lot) but mind you, the last time we run the test, Zcash was at its high.
As drawfs, engineers and for the love of science, we ran a competition.
Goal
Find out between Ethereum and Zcash which is more profitable for mining. Safety first.
The Rigs
| Ethereum | Zcash | |
|---|---|---|
.jpg) |  | |
| GPU | 5 R9 290X | 5 R9 290X |
| Miner | Claymore 9.6 | Claymore 12.5 |
| OS | Ubuntu 14.04.01 | Ubuntu 14.04.01 |
| Driver | fglrx from AMD | fglrx from AMD |
| Fan speed | 75% | 75% |
| Under Volt* | -28 | -20 |
*The Undervolt values were chosen to use the minimum amount of electricity while performing the highest hash rate without overclocking and dual mining.
Experiment Setup
We were mining on flypool for 12 hours. We started the two rigs at the same time to reduce variance in the environment.
The data
| Ethereum |  |
| Zcash |  |
Notice the wave pattern in the chart? Our guess is its claymore's dev fee kicking in at that time. We also seemed to had some internet outage (and that is the most annoying thing ever - no internet, no mining)
If we look at the estimated payout based on the 12 hours experiment, the projected earning are:
| Estimated Payout | Ethereum | Zcash |
|---|---|---|
| Week | $66.05 | $28.79 |
| Week | 0.24723 ETH | 0.10372 ZEC |
| Month | 283.07 USD | 123.38 USD |
| Month | 1.05ETH | 0.44451 ZEC |
What we forget to capture is the power consumption but the difference between the two rigs are within 50watt range.
And the winner is Ethereum
Updating config files and switching back to Ethereum mining. Off we go.
Special note - love the dramatic cover photo for the post? Read my review and watch GLOW on Netflix.
Special note 2 - wonder how I setup my first rig? Read my mining guide
Photo credit: Screen Rant
My friends and i mine Ethereum with our rig as well. My friend ran the calculations on a lot of different currencies and he agrees with you that ETH is the best one. I liked your post, gonna follow you now :)
Thank you for the follow @krayzie29 (following you back).
I see that you have some pretty sweet setup and free solar power ?!?!?! That is pretty awesome. I been working on finding a good way to keep the rigs cool. How do you keep your rigs cold in NM?
From what we have learned from mining bitcoin back in 2013 to mining ethereum now is that the GPU's that mine Ethereum produce a lot less heat then the SHA256 equipment we used for bitcoin but we have an open rig design to allow air flow to take away heat.
Also, the rigs are located in the mountain area east of Albuquerque thus it is cooler then here in the city. It is about 1000 feet higher in elevation (almost 7000 feet) then the city. I don't know if this helps but i am going to ask my friend more about this.
I do love solar since it helps to nullify the electricity costs if planned around. My previous job i designed solar systems for homes and businesses thus know how to calculate how much solar is needed to cover any electric usage (i designed my own system on my house).
Ooooo... living in Washington state we doesn't seem to produce the same amount of solar energy. I was thinking about doing some experiment around solar power at my house.
@krayzie29 Do you recommend any kit or product that are use for measuring solar power?
There are a few tools out there that will give you your exact solar insolation hours for your area. I'll post a few links at the bottom of the post. When i designed systems at Affordable Solar Group here in Albuquerque, i would design the systems over the phone so i would use the customer/businesses zip code and basic roof information (really just the pitch of the roof or if it is a flat roof) and the following website:
http://pvwatts.nrel.gov/
I haven't designed a system in a few years but the physics and principles don't change, just the products. To design a full system, all that is needed after figuring out the insolation hours for your spot is how much energy per day on average you want the system to cover. Since solar can last 25+ years (solar panel warrantees and inverters have 25 year warrantees), i would add aging factors to the equation to get a system that should produce well for 20 years at least (prob not needed for mining though honestly).
Sorry for the long reply, but here are devices that do what the website i sent you do to your exact site instead of the average of the zip code used. The first one i list is one that i used when i taught PV (photovotaic) system design classes at the local community college. Honestly, the website gives a solid number that can be adjusted to fit the locality better and i am always happy to help with anything like this since i have 7 years of PV design experience:
http://www.solarpanelstore.com/solar-power/tools/meters/daystar_ds_05_solar_meter.html?_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=CMaOy8vb8NQCFRW4wAodGEMP2w
https://www.solarmeter.com/model100.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=10.0PVSunLight&gclid=CI3pi9nb8NQCFU-2wAodtk0IVg
https://www.grainger.com/product/39N145&AL!2966!3!50916779277!!!g!81031937157!?gclid=CJDl4eLb8NQCFQOBaQodSTIN5w&cm_mmc=PPC:+Google+PLA?campaignid=175664997&s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!50916779277!!!!81031937157!&ef_id=WVkGBwAAAICYOwPA:20170704225219:s
Interesting blog. I was about to post a similair post. The decision to buy a coin should be based on real analysis of the coin. I found that people keep buying coins without have any knowledge of them. This is considered high risk. I was wondering if anyone of you uses: https://www.coincheckup.com. Every single coin can be analysed here based on: the team, the product, advisors, community, the business and the business model and much more. Go to: https://www.coincheckup.com/coins/Zcash#analysis To check Zcash Research report.
one gtx 1080 for zcash is currently about 110 dollars a month sooo, yeah.
I would like to see this comparison run today. I know this thread is a bit old, but the market has changed dramaticly in that time.