Testing the updated Nicehash miner V1.6.1.4

If you’ve not used the Nicehash miner before I’ll quickly explain how it works, because it’s a little different to other mining software. Nicehash is not just a miner, it connects to a market of buyers and sellers of hashing power and so when you mine using the Nicehash miner it will mine the most profitable coin with your hardware and then sell this on the open market in exchange for Bitcoins. So you can be mining Ethereum but you’ll actually be paid in Bitcoin.

Download Link – Nicehash Miner V1.6.1.4

Once you have downloaded and extracted the zip file to a folder of your choice, click the NiceHashMiner.exe to get started.

In the main window you’ll need to add your own bitcoin address and worker name as reference you can use to see your stats online. Then you want to click the Benchmark button.

The benchmarking process tests your computers hardware to see how it perform when mining different coins and this data can then be used by Nicehash to decide which coins to mine and when for the best overall profitability.

Here’s the benchmark results from my two R7 370’s and you can see the coin algorithms in the center and hash speed on the right. The bench mark can take sometime to complete, a few minutes for each algorithm.

Once the bench is complete you can close the window and return to the main miner window.

Select the hardware you wish you use and then click the Start button. The miner will choose which mining algorithm is the most profitable and then start up the mining software for that coin. In my case Ethereum (DaggerHashimoto) is selected and the mining begins.

After a short period of time you’ll see the earning summary being update and this confirms your hashrate and expected daily earnings and also your bitcoin balance at Nicehash. (payouts are done 3-4 times a day).

In testing I did notice that mining Ethereum using Nicehash the hash rate was 27.25 Mh/s and this is a little slower than the 28.08 Mh/s when using Claymore’s Dual Eth miner in Eth only mode. However the difference is a minor consideration when compared with the benefit of auto exchanging for Bitcoin.

Overall the miner performs well and should provide decent profits to miners without the hassle of switching mining software to match the days most profitable coin.