China can be called a cryptocurrency superpower. Most of the mining pools are concentrated in the Middle Kingdom. First of all, this concerns the mining of Bitcoin, but also in the Ethereum blockchain 40% of the network capacity is controlled by services from the PRC, not to mention the younger promising platforms. True, this year the country’s authorities adopted a number of legislative acts that forced large data centers to leave China. This, to some extent, influenced the depreciation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Perhaps, over time, China will cease to be the center of crypto mining, which is quite natural.
If the state itself decided to issue a cryptocurrency, then it does not need competitors. But all Chinese pools are still working and the most powerful in the ETH and BEAM ecosystems is Sparkpool, a resource open to cooperation with miners around the globe.
Pool interface and registration
Official site – https://www.sparkpool.com
The design of the main page is quite simple, only two interface languages are supported: Chinese and English. To go to the registration page, click Login , then Register and the Create an account window will appear on the display .
- Select the international code for your country.
- Enter your phone number
- Create and confirm a password.
- Solve the captcha.
- Click Send to receive a verification code.
- Enter the verification code from sms.
- Accept the terms of the user agreement and click the orange Register button.
Instead of a phone number, you can use email. Upon completion of registration, you need to create a sub-account and connect two-factor authentication. In 2021, you can work at Sparkpool without registration. The service has two modes of operation: anonymous mode and accounts mode. Registration is not required, if you use anonymous mining, coins will be automatically transferred to your wallet when you collect a sufficient amount.
The only difference between these two modes is that registered users can hold coins in the balance to automatically receive interest (2.3% per annum). At least that’s what the Sparkpool Ethereum Mining Setup Guide says https://sparkpool.kf5.com/hc/kb/article/1413416/?lang=en .
True, it is unlikely that any of the miners will leave their coins for a long time in the pool wallet, especially at such a low percentage. To withdraw funds, you need to link both a phone number and an email address, as well as enable 2FA.
Sparkpool Review: Main coins available for mining
At the time of writing, Sparkpool is mining coins
- Ethereum;
- CKB;
- BEAM.
Sparkpool Grin coin mining no longer supports
How to set up hardware on Sparkpool
To start mining, you need to set up a batch file of the mining program. Mining ETH on Sparkpool instructions for beginners:
In the summer of 2021, mining the Ethereum cryptocurrency brings a high profit on any model of GPUs with a video memory of 6 GB or more. Previously, to mine Ether on RX 570/580 series cards, you had to install a modified BIOS .
The eight-gig versions of these cards are still relevant now, but it is not necessary to flash the BIOS. Most popular mining utilities can now change timings on the fly. You just need to compose a batch file correctly, add a special parameter to activate the “straps” and adjust the overclocking parameters in MSI Afterburner or AMD driver settings. Optimum acceleration values for Rx 570 / 580
- Power Limit +30
- Core Clock 1150
- Memory Clock 2050
Nvidia RTX 30 series graphics adapters have proven themselves well in Ethereum mining. Manufacturers even began to install a software hashrate limiter on the most budget model of this RTX 3060 line. However, the developers of mining software were able to partially solve this problem. The green cards of the 16th series, especially the GTX 1660Super , as well as the AMD RX 5600 / 5700XT video cards, have also proven themselves quite well.
The settings for each model are different; they largely depend on the manufacturer of the memory chips. For example, if you have a GTX 1660S video card with Samsung memory, you can overclock the memory up to 1100/1200 , for a micron you need a smaller overclocking, somewhere around +800 . But if Hynix video memory is installed on these cards, then the memory clock parameter, in general, is reduced to a minus, to -1004 . You need to choose the optimal overclocking for each card of your rig yourself, and if that doesn’t work out, ask more experienced miners on one of the thematic forums. There are also articles on our site dedicated to different models of video cards.
After setting the overclocking, proceed to the software settings
- Create an Ethereum wallet.
- Download Phoenix Miner or another program that supports Ethereum mining.
- Select a server from the list on the Help Center / Introduction of mining ETH page.
- Create a bat file
An example of a batch file Sparkpool Ethereum for Phoenix Miner:
PhoenixMiner.exe -pool eu.sparkpool.com:3333 -wal WALLET ADDRESS Farm name -pass x pause
Important!!! Instead of ” WALLET ADDRESS “, specify your wallet address, do not forget to put a full stop and add the name of the rig (for example, Rig1), save the file with the bat extension and start mining from the miner folder. To monitor production, enter the wallet number in the ” Wallet address ” field on the main page. Statistics appear after the miner sends 8-10 valid shares ( share accepted ) to the pool .
The Phoenix Miner program is recommended as a universal option for working with any video card, but there are many alternative options. TeamRedMiner and LolMiner are suitable for AMD cards , and for Nvidia T-rex and Nbminer . Ethereum coin is also mined on Innosilicon ASIKs with a built-in memory of 5 GB or more.
Lolminer settings for Sparkpool Beam:
lolMiner.exe --coin BEAM --pool beam-eu.sparkpool.com:2222 --user WALLET ADRESS pause
The Beam coin is more beneficial for AMD GPUs, and the CKB cryptocurrency is mined only on ASICs.
Payment of remuneration and commission
At all pools of the spark pool, earnings for miners are calculated according to the PPS + system, that is, each accepted share is paid. The pool commission is 1%. In principle, this is not much, but not so little either.
Its closest competitor Ethermine takes 1% from the miners, and F2pool, which is one notch below the rating, takes 2% in general. But there is a Hiveon pool with zero commission and the same payout system. At eth.binance pool , miners are paid money every day, regardless of the amount of earnings, and the commission is only 0.5%.
Withdraw funds
If you mine Ethereum cryptocurrency on Sparkpool, the withdrawal occurs automatically every day at 15:30 (Chinese time). The ETH withdrawal amount is set at 0.1 coins.Important!!! Beam Sparkpool withdrawal starts at 10:00 (UTC + 8) for all miners with one coin on their balance. Submit a withdrawal request and keep the wallet turned on until you receive your money.
Sparkpool Review: Conclusion
Sparkpool has consistently ranked second in the Miningpoolstats, second only to Ezermine in terms of power. But, it is more suitable for large data centers and owners of large mining farms , because the amount of 0.1 ETH for a rig with a capacity of 120 MH / s will be mined for about 30 days. Compared to its closest competitors, there is a very weak selection of coins here. When Ether goes to PoS, only two mountain pools will remain on this server, and if Beam drops in price, then GPU miners will leave it. In the meantime, the service is quite popular, although not the way it used to be.
However, at the time of this writing, the European ETH sparkpool server is available for connection and statistics are displayed. The PPS payment system, combined with the low pool commission, is beneficial for miners. If the minimum withdrawal size of 0.1 ETH is not a problem for you. Well, for those who want to mine BEAM cryptocurrency, Sparkpool is one of the best options. Set up rigs and successful mining!
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