If you are new to mining, you have probably encountered a mention of Claymore's Ethereum miner. It is one of the most popular pieces of software for quickly getting a mining rig up and running. It offers extensive control features, runs smoothly, and even allows on-the-fly tweaking of certain parameters without a restart.

For those just now getting into mining, though, it can be a little confusing to configure. What is a config file? What are parameters? How do you get this thing to actually make you money? This guide assumes you have already built or bought your rig — if you still need the hardware, start with our GPU mining rig guide first.

Download Claymore's

The first step is downloading Claymore's. For anyone with a technical background, this is the most straightforward part. Grab the latest version from a reputable source and unzip it somewhere convenient on your PC. Many people just drop it on the mining rig's desktop.

Note: Claymore's only works with higher-end cards — the RX 470, 480, or 580 with enough RAM, and various Nvidia cards. If you followed our hardware guide and bought the right cards, you are set.

Find a pool

Before configuring Claymore's, decide which Ethereum mining pool you will use. Solo mining is possible, but unless you have invested tens of thousands of dollars in hardware, it is a big gamble — you could run for weeks or months and never find a block. Almost everyone reading this wants a pool. Our list of the best Ethereum mining pools is a good starting point; Ethermine and Nanopool are both highly regarded and English-friendly.

Set up your config file

This is where newcomers tend to get lost. To have Claymore's mine to your wallet, you edit the start.bat file (inside the folder you just extracted) to match the pool you chose. Setup varies slightly between pools, but the basics are the same.

Right-click start.bat and choose "Edit" to open it in a text editor. An unconfigured file looks something like this:

EthDcrMiner64.exe -epool us1.ethpool.org:3333 -ewal <your_address> -epsw x

The .bat file launches EthDcrMiner64.exe, which is why that comes first. Everything after follows a set of parameters, each marked by a dash and a term such as -epool. The text after the parameter is the value you are setting it to. For example, -epool is the Ethereum pool you want to use, and -ewal is the wallet address your payouts go to.

You must configure all of these for your own pool and wallet. If you run the default file without changing anything, you will simply be mining for the developer of Claymore's — and he does not need any more Ethereum.

Example 1: Ethermine

Ethermine provides a clean template. Replace the contents of your start.bat with the following and fill in your details (or copy the file first so you keep the default):

EthDcrMiner64.exe -epool eu1.ethermine.org:4444 -ewal <Your_Ethereum_Address>.<RigName> -epsw x
  • Choose a server physically near you to reduce ping (Ethermine offered us1, us2, eu1, eu2, and asia1).
  • Replace <Your_Ethereum_Address> with your address starting with 0x.
  • Replace <RigName> with any nickname, keeping the period between the address and the rig name.

That is all it takes for basic Ethermine pool mining.

Example 2: Nanopool

Nanopool provides a web interface that generates a perfectly configured batch file for you. You choose your OS, GPU vendor, rig name, email, a nearby server, and your Ethereum address, then click generate to download a ready-to-use batch file. Drop it into the Claymore's directory alongside EthDcrMiner64.exe and run it.

Nanopool's generated file also includes a few environment commands above the launch line:

setx GPU_FORCE_64BIT_PTR 0
setx GPU_MAX_HEAP_SIZE 100
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS 1
setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT 100
setx GPU_SINGLE_ALLOC_PERCENT 100

These make sure your GPU is optimally configured for mining. They are not strictly required in most cases, but they help avoid errors — and they are essential if you are using a 2GB card.

More parameters

Once you are comfortable, open the readme file included with Claymore's. It contains a large number of parameters for fine-tuning how your rig mines: lower intensity for lower hashrate, target temperatures your GPUs should not exceed, and many other tweaks.

Get mining

If you have followed through to the end, you are ready to start. Run your batch file, load your Ethereum address on your pool's website, and watch as you slowly but surely earn Ethereum.