Best Windows Setup, Configuration, Tweaks For Mining

Since i received lots of question about my windows configuration , version or drivers, i decided to make post about it.

Although there is not that much to talk about, but i think those settings are very important and a must for each mining rig, if you do other things that are not found here, post them in comments and ill update!

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)

Biostar TB85 BIOS Restore AC Power Loss Biostar TB85 BIOS PCIe Speed Gen1

For Z170A  Gaming Pro Carbon :

• Check on this review: http://1stminingrig.com/msi-z170a-gaming-pro-carbon-motherboard-review-mining-performance/

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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

List of Tweaks Replace Utilman with CMD
Disable Cortana, Bing Search and Searchbar
Disable automatic Windows Updates
Disable Hibernation
Disable tracking services
Disable WAP Push Message Routing Service
Disable Windows Search
Disable Superfetch
Disable Windows Defender
Disable OneDrive
Disable Quick Access as default view in Explorer
show computer shortcut on desktop
Show file extensions
Disable lockscreen
Enable classic control panel view
Hide indication for compressed NTFS files
Disable Windows Update sharing
Remove Pin to start
Classic vertical icon spacing
Remove versioning tab from properties
Disable jump lists
Remove telemetry and data collection
Change Logon screen background with accent color
Disable Windows Error Reporting
Removing Windows default apps
Blocking Telemetry Servers windows 10 registry tweaks for mining

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..

windows 10 sop updates 2 windows 10 sop updates 1

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“
• 1. Uncheck “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives“
• 2. Check “Custom size“
• 3. In the “Initial size (MB)” type: 3000 (or directly 16000)
• 4. In the “Maximum size (MB)” type: 16000 (or more like 20k)
• 5. Click “Set” , then “OK” and “Apply“
• Restart the rig

increase virtual memory 1 increase virtual memory 2

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

power option high performance 1 power option high performance 2

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AMD Driver Version and Install/Uninstall

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!

Thank you for reading. As always, your comments, suggestions and questions are welcome.

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