This windows configuration can be applied on any type of altcoin mining like Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, ZCash, Zclassic, Monero, PascalCoin, Expanse, Ubiq, Decred etc..
Here is how i tweak my windows for a mining rig!
WINDOWS INSTALLATION & CONFIGURATION FOR MINING RIG
Important:
Do not plug the Ethernet cable to your mining rig while windows installation or after that
Plug only ONE GPU in the PCI Express 16x slot with usb riser
I have always used 120GB SSD drives (you can use bigger, there is no restriction)
Always used just one partition C: (if you have a bigger SSD like 240 then you can create additional partition and use it to “mine” Storj)
WINDOWS VERSION FOR MINING RIG
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
MOTHERBOARD AND BIOS
Depending on what motherboard you will be using, some of them needs some BIOS modifications to make it work properly with USB Risers or anything else. For this, i will take as example “Biostar TB85” and “Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon”
For Biostar TB85 i had to do the following BIOS modifications :
Set CPU fan control to auto, it was 100% all the time
Set PCIe Speed from Auto to Gen1
Last thing was to modify “Restore on AC/Power Loss“, set it to “Power On” or “Last State” (if power goes off and after a while is back on, the rig will start automatically)
WINDOWS 10 REGISTRY TWEAKS FOR MINING
Once windows is full installed and booted for the first time i always run the Windows 10 Registry tweaks for mining.bat file https://mega.nz/#!8gZzjQaa!Dt4wE0WEo8nZkui_-cAAXL4mb4YlO6CJgFZTXKq9pnQ (i am not disabling everything, just things that i think wont be needed, windows update, cortana, crash reports etc..)
Back Up Your Registry or create a restore point
Run in administrator mode
Once everything is applied, restart the rig
STOP WINDOWS UPDATE #DOUBLECHECK
In RUN type “services.msc“, the services page will be open
Search for “Windows Update“
Click “Stop” if status is “Live” or “Checking/Running“
Select “Disabled” on “Startup type“
Apply & Restart
Do it again and make sure that it is disabled
Also if you want you can disable more services..
INCREASE VIRTUAL MEMORY
In search type “This PC“, right click on it and choose “Properties“
Then click on “Advanced System Settings“
On “Advanced” tab where it says “Performance” click on “Settings“
Click “Advanced” tab
At the bottom you will see “Virtual memory“, click on “Change“
- Uncheck “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives“
- Check “Custom size“
- In the “Initial size (MB)” type: 3000 (or directly 16000)
- In the “Maximum size (MB)” type: 16000 (or more like 20k)
- Click “Set” , then “OK” and “Apply“
Restart the rig
POWER PLAN AND OPTIONS
In search type “Power Options“
Click on “Show additional plans“
Select “High Performance” plan
Then still on “High Performance” plan, click “Change plan settings“
Select “Never” on all four selections for “Turn off the display” and “Put the computer to sleep“
Click “Change advanced power settings” and look for “PCI Express” -> “Link State Power Management“, make sure it is set to “OFF“, usually it is but better to check on that
Restart the rig
I usually test the rig with this two driver versions!
VERY IMPORTANT: When you want to try a different driver version, use Display Driver Uninstaller in safe mode to uninstall the current driver, it will erase every track of previous video driver, download here: http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
16.9.1 ---http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous/detail?os=Windows+10+-+64&rev=16.9.1
16.6.2--- http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous/detail?os=Windows+10+-+64&rev=16.6.2
Basically this is it.. ill update this post once i have new configurations! 🙂
Happy mining!
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