The Flashing O' The GPU

I am not, by nature, an adventurous person; I am fundamentally risk-averse. However, every dog has it's day and once in a blue moon I will do something...daring.

In the past few months, I have actually been quite the rebel; first, I plunged into the world of cryptomining, and secondly I got another job - and I really do not enjoy job interviews. I am also not one who changes jobs frequently.

The mining part demanded an outlay of cash to get it started (again, quite unlike me) and was also fairly risky, in terms of being able to pay back the initial investment - never mind "make" some additional money afterwards.

My most recent character quirk also involves the cryptomining process; I actually summoned up the nerve to flash my video cards to try and get a few more hashes out of them. I know, right? Living on the edge, that's me.

Image courtesy Gamers Nexus

Ethereum, Nvidia GTX 1060 And Windows 10 Clash

Following recent Windows updates, a bit of a problem has arisen for cryptominers using Windows 10 and Nvidia GTX 1060 3GB GPUs. 

The result of the update is that Windows 10 now uses more VRAM, and this affects the ability of those mining Ethereum to use the 3GB card anymore. Ethereum mining requires the ability to handle a large Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) file, which uses GPU memory.

Thoughts On Crypto Mining On A Smaller Budget

If I have learned anything during my short time mining for cryptocurrency, it's that the only constant is change (yes, that old saw remains true). 

My approach to mining is that it is an interesting hobby, not a retirement investment or a major wealth builder - and I am certainly glad of that, as I don't think my nerves are cut out for such volatility.