What is Mining Efficiency and Why Should You Care?
Mining efficiency measures how effectively your mining setup converts computational work into accepted shares. It's the ratio of accepted shares to total shares submitted, showing how much of your mining effort is actually productive.
Understanding mining efficiency helps ensure you're getting the best return on your hardware and electricity investment.
How to Calculate Mining Efficiency
The formula for mining efficiency is:
[\text{Mining Efficiency} = \frac{\text{Accepted Shares}}{\text{Total Shares}} \times 100]
Where:
- Accepted Shares are solutions validated by the mining network
- Total Shares is the sum of accepted and rejected shares
Calculation Example
With 80 accepted shares and 20 rejected shares:
[\text{Mining Efficiency} = \frac{80}{80 + 20} \times 100 = \frac{80}{100} \times 100 = 80%]
An 80% efficiency means 20% of computational work produced invalid results.
Efficiency Benchmarks
| Efficiency | Assessment |
|---|---|
| 98-100% | Excellent |
| 95-98% | Good |
| 90-95% | Acceptable |
| Below 90% | Needs improvement |
Improving Mining Efficiency
- Reduce latency: Choose mining pools geographically closer to you
- Update software: Keep mining software current for optimal performance
- Stable settings: Avoid aggressive overclocking that causes errors
- Monitor hardware: Replace aging components that produce more rejects
- Network quality: Use wired connections over WiFi when possible