Best Linux distro for Nvidia Mining (ETH/Zcash?)

[Kainzo]

Title says it all, I'd rather not do Win10 mining if I can get around it.  For the primary reasons of Win10 isnt slimmed down, has a lot of overhead and the remote management seems like it would be a nightmare.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a proper Linux OS for mining Nvidia cards?

[f5alcon]

nvOC or simplemining, ethOS with a bit of work to install drivers.

[TheHypnoToad]

This is worth a look also, just install EWBF miner:

https://github.com/Cyclenerd/ethereum_nvidia_miner

[QuintLeo]

For a non-mining-specific distribution, Ubuntu and it's close varients like Xubuntu get the most support.

 I'm pretty sure most or all of the "mining-specific" distributions are Ubuntu based.

[mirny]

Yeah, ubuntu is best way to go.

[puwaha]

Title says it all, I'd rather not do Win10 mining if I can get around it.  For the primary reasons of Win10 isnt slimmed down, has a lot of overhead and the remote management seems like it would be a nightmare.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a proper Linux OS for mining Nvidia cards?

While I can respect your opinion as to why you don't want to use Win 10, what does overhead in the OS have to do with mining performance?  I can tell you from experience that it has no effect.  Many of your better tools are on Windows, and  remote management is a simple checkbox in the System control panel... takes 30 seconds to enable RDP.

[dandreark1]

nvOC.

[fanatic26]

PiMP actually has a solid nvidia mining solution. I run it on multiple rigs and it is stable and functional.

[QuintLeo]

While I can respect your opinion as to why you don't want to use Win 10, what does overhead in the OS have to do with mining performance?  I can tell you from experience that it has no effect.  Many of your better tools are on Windows, and  remote management is a simple checkbox in the System control panel... takes 30 seconds to enable RDP.

 Afterburner definitely blows away the available LINUX tools for overclock and fan management - but LINUX is a ton more stable than Windows.
 I've yet to have a windows-based mining machine go A month (more commonly a couple weeks or less) without a hang or a reboot, my LINUX machines routinely go for months if I don't lose power or have to move them.

 I don't DO remote management so can't speak to either side of the question there.

[hcwh]

While I can respect your opinion as to why you don't want to use Win 10, what does overhead in the OS have to do with mining performance?  I can tell you from experience that it has no effect.  Many of your better tools are on Windows, and  remote management is a simple checkbox in the System control panel... takes 30 seconds to enable RDP.

Afterburner definitely blows away the available LINUX tools for overclock and fan management - but LINUX is a ton more stable than Windows.
 I've yet to have a windows-based mining machine go A month (more commonly a couple weeks or less) without a hang or a reboot, my LINUX machines routinely go for months if I don't lose power or have to move them.

 I don't DO remote management so can't speak to either side of the question there.

Tools (afterburner, precision, gpu-z, etc.) are better in Windows, so if you're not good figuring things out in Linux, it might be better for you to pay for Windows license and go that route.  In general, Linux is more stable, more secure, requires less fewer resources (e.g. RAM) to run well, and (particularly wrt Win10) much better for privacy.

If you're doing BIOS mods on AMD cards, then the tools are also better on Windows, although that doesn't mean you also have to use Win for mining.

[NobodyIsHome]

I run all of my mining rigs (nVidia and AMD) on Ubuntu server over PXE netboot.  I basically turn off all I/O in BIOS except for PCIe (for graphics and NIC), and run a central server (DHCP, PXE, DNS, NFS and TFTP) for the disk images.  

This saves money on drives and makes management super easy, and I can replicate changes just by copying the file system.

[car1999]

i use nvOC, it's simple,.stable and totally free.

[puwaha]

While I can respect your opinion as to why you don't want to use Win 10, what does overhead in the OS have to do with mining performance?  I can tell you from experience that it has no effect.  Many of your better tools are on Windows, and  remote management is a simple checkbox in the System control panel... takes 30 seconds to enable RDP.

 Afterburner definitely blows away the available LINUX tools for overclock and fan management - but LINUX is a ton more stable than Windows.
 I've yet to have a windows-based mining machine go A month (more commonly a couple weeks or less) without a hang or a reboot, my LINUX machines routinely go for months if I don't lose power or have to move them.

 I don't DO remote management so can't speak to either side of the question there.

The Linux and Windows kernels are equally stable.  The only thing that introduces instability is poorly written drivers or software.  Neither are Microsoft's fault.  Linux is great for single-purpose machines like miners and servers, but it's far from the "stable" fantasy that people profess.  They have poorly written drivers and software too.  In fact their driver support is usually far behind what's available for Windows.  If you like to tinker, then you can expect instability and require reboots.  If you set it and forget it... then Windows is equally as stable.

[realHCplease]

i'd go with someone like ubuntu or mint, these "mining OS" sound like a scam waiting to happen

[thesmokingman]

pimpOS user here and I've used them all. You can check my farm out via my signature below. Biggest draw to me was they were first to market with Nvidia support allowing me to monitor both my AMD and Nvidia rigs on a single interface. All the other mining OS for Nvidia to me are lackluster.

Stop by the IRC channel or the Discord chat and ask some questions there as someone is always around.

www.getpimp.org

[TheHypnoToad]

Title says it all, I'd rather not do Win10 mining if I can get around it.  For the primary reasons of Win10 isnt slimmed down, has a lot of overhead and the remote management seems like it would be a nightmare.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a proper Linux OS for mining Nvidia cards?

While I can respect your opinion as to why you don't want to use Win 10, what does overhead in the OS have to do with mining performance?  I can tell you from experience that it has no effect.  Many of your better tools are on Windows, and  remote management is a simple checkbox in the System control panel... takes 30 seconds to enable RDP.

I prefer to use SSH and VNC over RDP myself, a lot of it is personal preference rather than which is 'best'

[ZenFr]

For your question : the more easier and stable configuration for nVidia mining :
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS + Claymore dual miner (ETH and others crypto) + EWBF (ZCash).
Have fun !

[puwaha]

Title says it all, I'd rather not do Win10 mining if I can get around it.  For the primary reasons of Win10 isnt slimmed down, has a lot of overhead and the remote management seems like it would be a nightmare.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a proper Linux OS for mining Nvidia cards?

While I can respect your opinion as to why you don't want to use Win 10, what does overhead in the OS have to do with mining performance?  I can tell you from experience that it has no effect.  Many of your better tools are on Windows, and  remote management is a simple checkbox in the System control panel... takes 30 seconds to enable RDP.

I prefer to use SSH and VNC over RDP myself, a lot of it is personal preference rather than which is 'best'

Agreed, personal preference can be a strong factor, but a bogus technical reason should not be a deciding factor was my point.

RDP is a really great protocol these days.  I used have a very old laptop that couldnt play any modern games.  So I built a hyper-v server core virtual machine nested on my home lab VMware server, and passed-through a physical GPU.  I then ran a nested Windows 8 virtual machine running on the hyper-v server.  Passed through a vGPU to the Win 8 VM. When you RDP to the Win 8 VM from my laptop I would be using RDP and RemoteFX technology... I could play a modern game on an old laptop instead of being chained to a desktop.  I was amazed that I could do that with 3 layers of nesting and virtualization going on.  RemoteFX is similar to Citrix's HDX or VMware's newer PCoIP technologies.  

[QuintLeo]

The Linux and Windows kernels are equally stable

 That is NOT true at all, unless you're working with the EXPERIMENTAL branch Linux kernels - then it's sometimes pretty close.

 I'll also point out that NVidia and even more AMD put a TON more effort into their Windows drivers than they do into their LINUX drivers, which SHOULD make them more stable.

 nvOC is Ubuntu based, I believe PIMP is as well.

[puwaha]

The Linux and Windows kernels are equally stable

 That is NOT true at all, unless you're working with the EXPERIMENTAL branch Linux kernels - then it's sometimes pretty close.

You can't be serious.  The NT kernel has been rock solid since the 2003/XP days... and it was pretty darn good before then.  The modern kernels in 2012/8.1 and 2016/10 run millions of production ready hyper-v VMs globally, so it absolutely has to be rock solid.  I promise you, that Enterprises would not tolerate an OS that crashes as you make it out to be.  Have you ever used Azure?  Have you ever used 3D capable VDI instances with nvidia Grid technology?  These are demanding and taxing use-cases, and customers would not tolerate instability.

This is not speculation, this is fact.

I'll also point out that NVidia and even more AMD put a TON more effort into their Windows drivers than they do into their LINUX drivers, which SHOULD make them more stable.

They also experiment with drivers a lot more on the Windows platform, trying to eek out as much performance as possible so that they can pass synthetic benchmarks for reviewers.  Then they "fix" bugs in games and other video-intensive software by tweaking drivers to compensate for poor API usage by A-list gaming companies.

It's getting better for linux users, but they still get treated poorly by AMD and nvidia.