Before the appearance of home mining farms and modern ASICs, users used video card acceleration methods to improve the computing power of the equipment. Initially, the RivaTuner utility created by Alexey Nikolaychuk was used.
But in 2009, support for this utility stopped, and MSI Afterburner appeared instead. The presented version not only allowed speeding up video cards for games but also allowed using video cards for mining in home conditions. To mine cryptocurrency at home, you should learn the peculiarities of using, downloading, and further changing the parameters.
The presented version of the program allows you to accelerate video cards to increase power and performance.
Peculiarities of installing the program
After downloading the program to your computer, you need to go to the section where the file was installed. The algorithm of actions for installation consists of the following steps:
Among the presented list, you need to choose the latest version of the utility (currently version 4.6.4 is used).
After selecting the appropriate version of the utility, run the Setup.exe file to install it on your computer.
The system will automatically open a dialog box where you will be offered to choose the installation package. If the program is installed for mining, it's necessary to uncheck RivaTuner Statistics Server.
After reading the terms of the agreement it is necessary to tick the appropriate box and then start installing the program.
The program will start loading on your computer.
- How to overclock your graphics card to improve performance
After the installation, you need to properly overclock the video card in the program to improve its performance. With MSI Afterburner you can change the following characteristics:
It is possible to increase the frequency of memory operation;
Reduce power consumption to save resources when mining;
Increase cooler rotation to optimize cooling systems;
Choose to run the program automatically.
If you are using identical video cards, you can check the "apply settings to all" box. If you are using different models of video cards you will need to configure them separately. The presented characteristics will optimize the work of all systems, as well as accelerate the performance of the equipment, which allows you to mine cryptocurrency at home.
Increasing the frequency of memory and core is easy enough, to do this, you need to go to the main section of the program. The screen will display the video card with the main parameters. In the Memory and Core Clock section you should change the frequency values. You can do this in one of the following ways:
Move the slider to the appropriate section using the mouse.
Write the required value in digits and then confirm your choice by pressing Enter.
Keep in mind that with AMD cards, it is sufficient to write the required frequency value. When adjusting parameters on an NVIDIA card, all changes are recorded as increasing or decreasing (+100; -100) from the factory settings.
- Reducing Power Losses
High power consumption is a major cost factor for mining. To reduce energy costs, it is necessary to change the core voltage. This can be done by changing the "Core Voltage" setting. It is necessary to change the settings gradually, so as not to damage the equipment.
Some versions of graphics processors cannot change the core voltage settings. In this case, you will need to run an additional program. For more information on how to reduce power consumption, visit https://altcoinlog.com/nastroika-msi-afterburne.
- Optimizing Coolers for Graphics Card Cooling
The power limit parameter, which is also located in the main interface of the program, is responsible for optimizing the performance of the coolers. The default setting is "0" which corresponds to 100% power consumption. If your graphics card gets too hot during operation, you should decrease the power limit. At first, you should try decreasing the parameter by 20. If during the work a constant fluctuation of the core frequency and a decrease in the hash rate is noted, it is worth trying to increase this indicator.
After that, it is additionally recommended to go to the cooler settings in the main section of the MSI Afterburner program. Here it is recommended to set the operation mode "Fan Speed" for video card cooling. The user can also choose to manually control the cooling system. You should always keep in mind that when the video card heats up, the speed of the cooling system should increase. Otherwise, the video card can overheat and also fail.
- Automatic start of the program
You can set the program to start automatically when you turn on your computer. This will automate the process of setting basic parameters at system startup. To select auto-start you should do the following:
In the final step of the settings, you must select the "StartUp" item, which is located at the bottom left of the screen.
The program opens a dialog box in which you must check the box that automatically starts with Windows.
In the right part of the screen, the profiles will be marked with numbers. Here you should click on the "Save" button. By alternately clicking on the profile buttons, you can set the choice of algorithm for mining when the system starts up.
- Additional features and advanced settings
In addition to the basic parameters mentioned above, it is possible to configure additional features in the program. Among the additional parameters, it is worth mentioning the following:
- Status monitoring;
- Setting up profiles;
- Changing the system interface.
In the Monitoring section, the user can configure the frequency of sensor polling to monitor the status of all systems. The "Profiles" section allows you to set a combination of keys that can be used to configure selected parameters in the system. The "Interface" section is specifically designed to change the appearance of the program for the user's convenience.
- Conclusion
Now there are other ways to accelerate video cards to improve the main characteristics and computing power of the equipment. However, most users are used to using MSI Afterburner. To mine at home, you can install the program MSI Afterburner, perform basic settings, as well as adapt the system to the work of a particular model of computer. Using the presented option will allow you to mine cryptocurrency at home.