So, you decided that you want to try mining. If you already have a PC of some sort, great! You can download a miner and start mining nearly any cryptocurrency. Our pool currently supports many major CryptoNight based Cryptocurrency coins. This guide does not explain cryptocurrencies themselves; it is recommended that you understand them before you start mining them. 
1. ASIC vs. CPU/GPU COINS (As of 1/2019)
You probably know that coins like Bitcoin or Litecoin are not profitable to mine with a PC (CPU/GPU - Processor/Graphics card) because there are dedicated machines called ASICs which can mine much faster with much lower power consumption. This is the same with some of the Cryptonight coins.
ASIC coins:
- Aeon (K12)
CPU/GPU (Anti-ASIC) coins:
- TurtleCoin (Argon2id Chukwa)
- Sumokoin (CN R)
- Graft (CNv2 RWZ)
- Lethean (CN R)
- BitTube (CN-Heavy vSaber)
- Haven (CN-Heavy vHaven)
- Ryo (CN-GPU)
- Masari (CNv2 Half)
- Conceal (CNv2 Conceal)
- SWAP (Cuckaroo29s)
- Kevacoin (CN R)
CPU-only coins:
Technically you can start up a miner and mine ASIC coins, but we STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you don't do it. It is not worth your time, effort, components, electricity or anything else. Also, you will not even see your hashrate in the dashboard, as your PC does not have enough power to find those high difficulty shares. If you want to own some of the ASIC coins, you should mine CPU/GPU coins and then use exchanges to convert between currencies. (Or buy ASIC, but they are expensive, noisy, harder to calculate profitability, etc., that is for another guide. Do NOT make an uneducated investment into ASICs)
2. Choosing a coin
You can choose coin(s) to mine based on your preference (how much you like the project, or if you want to support the network), hardware advantages (different CPUs/GPUs have different hashrates for Lite/Classic/Heavy variations of CryptoNight). There is a comprehensive article about using sites to calculate profits.
https://forum.hashvault.pro/topic/228-calculating-profit
3. Wallet vs. Exchange
We usually don't recommend mining directly into an exchange (see table below), but it makes sense if you are using rental services such as NiceHash or miningrigrentals.com. Also, keep in mind some currency exchanges require you to use payment ID (to determine who deposited the funds).
| Local wallet | Exchange wallet |
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4. Setting up your mining software
Please visit "Getting started" side menu link after selecting a coin to mine (https://www.hashvault.pro/) for a step-by-step guide.
Also, check our guides section.
5. Monitoring
For monitoring and fine-tuning (overclock, stability,...) use hashrates as reported by your miner (you can press "h" for manual hashrate report). The website uses your submitted shares to calculate your hashrate, but this method is not precise. Current and 1hr averages in the dashboard are dependent on your Rig's luck, but will average out over time (6hr or 24hr average). Luck (and momentary graph imprecision) will not impact your long-term earnings.
Dashboard link (for Monero): https://monero.hashvault.pro/en/dashboard
6. Support and community
You are welcome in our large and friendly Discord server. You can ask or answer questions, discuss news or just chill around with other miners! If you don't want to log-in, you can use the web widget on every of our coin pools websites.
For more technical questions you can browse this forum, where you will find many technical and user-friendly explanations, guides, discussions, and FAQ.
If you have a sensitive problem, you can open a support ticket (Under the "Support" menu link on every pool site), or send us an email.
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