If you’ve mined on NVIDIA cards any time in the last few years, you’ve probably tried GMiner.
It’s that no-nonsense CUDA miner people reach for when they want stable hashrates, decent efficiency, and a miner that doesn’t crash the moment you look away. No glitter, just results.
GMiner started as a favorite for Equihash-family coins and kept growing from there. These days it handles a long list of algorithms and coins on NVIDIA (and often AMD too), but the CUDA build is where it feels most at home.
You unzip it, write a tiny .bat file, and it just… mines.
Technical Overview
| Attribute | Detail |
|————|———|
| Platform | Windows, Linux (CUDA/NVIDIA) |
| Purpose | High-performance mining on NVIDIA GPUs |
| Interface | CLI with real-time stats (optional JSON/API) |
| Typical Algos | Ethash/ETC, KawPow, ProgPOW variants, Equihash family (144/5, 125/4, 192/7…), BeamHash, Cuckoo/Cuckatoo, KHeavyHash, Octopus, and more |
| GPU Features | Per-GPU intensity, watchdog/restart, stratum failover, oc/thermals readout |
| Fees | Small built-in dev fee (varies by algorithm) |
| License | Proprietary binary |
| Best Use Case | NVIDIA rigs where stability and efficiency matter more than UI frills |
What It’s Like to Use
GMiner feels like a tool written by someone who actually runs rigs.
You get clean console output, sensible error messages, and hashrates that don’t swing wildly. If a pool hiccups, it fails over. If a GPU throws errors, the watchdog can restart the miner (or that GPU) without taking the whole rig down.
Tuning is straightforward: set the pool, wallet, and algo; then dial intensity or kernel parameters only if you need the last few percent. Pair it with your usual OC stack (Afterburner on Windows, nvidia-smi/cool-bits on Linux) and you’re set.
Typical Workflow
1. Download the GMiner archive for your OS (Windows/Linux, CUDA build).
2. Extract to a simple path (e.g., C:\miners\gminer or /opt/gminer).
3. Create a start script, e.g. on Windows:
miner.exe –algo kawpow –server stratum+tcp://POOL:PORT –user WALLET.Worker –pass x
or on Linux:
./miner –algo etcash –server POOL:PORT –user WALLET.Worker –pass x
4. Run the script, confirm shares are being accepted, and watch temps/VRAM errors.
5. Add a failover pool (–server2 …) and watchdog flags if this will run unattended.
Where It’s Useful
– NVIDIA-heavy rigs that need weeks of uptime without babysitting.
– Coins on Equihash/KawPow/ProgPOW families where GMiner kernels are mature.
– Mixed farms: easy to clone configs across boxes, quick to script.
– Low-overhead Linux builds for dedicated miners or colocation racks.
Practical Tips
– Start with stock intensity, then nudge clocks/voltage; GMiner already squeezes a lot out of CUDA.
– Use per-GPU controls for that one flaky card instead of hobbling the entire rig.
– Keep JSON/API enabled if you use dashboards or remote monitors.
– Always define a failover pool; the miner will switch without tanking your stats.
– Watch VRAM temps (not just core) — many algos are memory-bound.
Warnings
– Dev fee is baked in; plan your profitability with a small margin for that.
– Aggressive memory OCs can look fine for an hour and then start invalids — let it run before calling settings “stable.”
– Don’t mix wildly different GPUs in one intensity profile; tune outliers separately.
– If you script auto-restarts, add a cool-down to avoid crash loops on a sick card.
