Mining crypto isn't what it used to be back in the day. It's gotten complicated. If you've spent any time looking at Equihash miners—specifically for coins like Zcash—you’ve likely bumped into the term one or eight dstm. It sounds like a riddle or maybe some weird internal code. Honestly, it’s mostly just a legacy of how software developers used to name their releases and optimize their solvers for specific hardware setups.
People often get stuck trying to figure out which one is "better." Is it the one? Is it the eight? The reality is that the "DSTM" name itself refers to a specific, high-performance Equihash miner created by a developer known as "DSTM" (or Marc-Etienne). When people talk about one or eight dstm, they are usually referring to the internal thread count or the specific versioning of the solver used to squeeze every last drop of juice out of an NVIDIA GPU.
What DSTM actually does for your rig
Back when the Equihash algorithm (the 200,9 variant) was the king of the GPU mining world, the DSTM miner was the gold standard. It was faster than the EWBF miner. It was more stable. It just worked. But the "one or eight" part of the conversation usually stems from how the miner handles the workload on the card's architecture.
Think about it like this. Your GPU has thousands of tiny cores. If you tell the miner to run "one" instance or process per card, you're betting on simplicity. If you try to push for "eight" threads or simultaneous processes, you’re trying to saturate the memory bandwidth of the card. Depending on whether you were running a 1080 Ti or a smaller 1060, the choice between one or eight dstm configurations could mean the difference between a 5% gain in Sol/s and a crashed driver.
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It’s finicky stuff.
You see, mining software is basically just a very intense math calculator. The DSTM miner specifically focused on minimizing the "wait time" between the GPU and the system RAM. In the early days of Zcash mining, users discovered that some versions of the DSTM software—specifically version 0.6.1—handled thread allocation differently. Some users found that manually setting the thread count (often toggling between one high-intensity thread or eight smaller ones) drastically altered the power consumption versus the hash rate.
The technical side of the Equihash solver
Equihash is a memory-hard algorithm. That means it doesn't just care about raw processing power; it cares about how fast your GPU can talk to its own memory. The DSTM miner became famous because it utilized a "zero-fee" (well, technically it had a 2% dev fee) approach to high-speed solvers.
When you look at the command line for one or eight dstm setups, you're looking at the --telemetry and --extra flags. Experienced miners would often experiment with these settings to see if the hardware could handle parallel execution.
- One thread: Safer. Lower temps. Less chance of an "Illegal Instruction" error.
- Eight threads: Maximum saturation. It pushes the VRAM to the limit. If your overclock is even slightly off, the whole thing goes down.
It’s not just a number. It’s a philosophy of how you treat your hardware. Some people value the longevity of their fans and capacitors. They stay with the lower intensity. Others want to ROI their cards in six months. They push for the eight.
Why version 0.6.1 changed everything
In the history of DSTM, the 0.6.1 release was the peak. It introduced better support for the "one or eight" logic by allowing the miner to better distribute the Equihash work. It was roughly 10% faster than previous versions on some Linux distros.
However, we have to talk about the "Dev Fee." DSTM had a 2% fee that redirected your mining power to the developer's wallet for about 70 seconds every hour. This is where the one or eight dstm debate got even weirder. Some users claimed that by manipulating the thread count, they could actually see how the miner switched between the user's pool and the developer's pool. It was a bit of a conspiracy theory, but it kept the forums busy for years.
The hardware factor: 10-series vs 20-series
If you're still running legacy hardware, the choice matters. On a GTX 1080, the GDDR5X memory was notoriously difficult for Equihash miners. You needed the "pill" (the OhGodAnETHlargementPill) just to make it viable. DSTM worked alongside these tools.
Using the one or eight dstm logic on a 1080 Ti usually resulted in about 700-740 Sol/s. If you tried to push it to eight threads without the right memory timing, the hash rate would actually drop because of memory contention. The cores would be fighting over the same data. It was like eight people trying to walk through a single door at the same time. You end up with a pileup.
On the newer 20-series or 30-series cards, the DSTM miner is largely a relic. We’ve moved on to algorithms like KawPow or Autolykos. But the lessons learned from the one or eight dstm era still apply. Modern miners like Gminer or LolMiner use "auto-tuning" features that essentially do this work for you. They test the "one" and the "eight" internally and pick the winner. We’re lazy now. We let the code decide.
Real-world performance gaps
Is there a massive difference? Usually, no. We are talking about a margin of 2% to 3%. But in the mining world, where margins are razor-thin and electricity costs eat your soul, 3% is everything.
- Stability first. If your miner restarts every 4 hours because you chose "eight," you are losing money. A stable "one" is always better than a crashing "eight."
- Heat management. More threads generally equal more heat. If your room is already a sauna, stick to the lower intensity.
- OS matters. Linux (HiveOS or SimpleMining) handles thread scheduling way better than Windows 10 ever did. If you're on Windows, don't even bother with the "eight" setting; you'll just get TDR (Timeout Detection and Recovery) crashes.
How to actually set up your DSTM miner today
If you are a hobbyist or a collector running old ZM (DSTM) software for a private fork or a legacy Equihash coin, you need to be specific in your .bat or .sh file.
You’ll start with the server address: zm --server [pool-address] --port [port] --user [wallet].
To experiment with the one or eight dstm configuration, you'll use the intensity flags. Usually, the miner defaults to an auto-selection. If you want to force it, you're looking at the --intensity flag, followed by a value from 1 to 64. Wait, why 64? Because the internal math of the solver breaks down the work into much smaller chunks than just "one" or "eight." The "one or eight" is a simplification of how those chunks are grouped together for the GPU's streaming multiprocessors.
The end of an era
Most people don't talk about one or eight dstm anymore because the ASIC miners took over Zcash. Bitmain released the Antminer Z9 and Z11, and suddenly, a GPU rig was about as useful as a calculator at a NASA launch. The ASICs were doing hundreds of thousands of Sols/s. Your 1080 Ti was doing 700. The math just didn't work.
But for those who still mine "Equihash-Zero" or other ASIC-resistant forks, the DSTM legacy lives on. It was a masterclass in optimization. It showed that a single developer could outcode entire teams by just understanding how memory flows through a circuit board.
If you’re still messing with these settings, stop looking for a "magic" number. The "one" vs "eight" debate is ultimately a hardware test. Every card is a snowflake. One of your 1070s might love the eight-thread distribution, while the card right next to it on the same riser might hate it.
Actionable steps for your mining rig
If you want to optimize your current setup based on the one or eight dstm logic, do this:
- Benchmark individually: Stop mining on the whole rig at once. Run the miner on GPU 0 only. Test the low-intensity setting for 30 minutes. Record the average (not peak) Sol/s and the wattage at the wall.
- Toggle the threads: Change your configuration to the high-intensity or multi-thread mode. Run it for another 30 minutes.
- Calculate the efficiency: Divide the Sol/s by the Watts. This is the only number that matters. If your hash rate went up by 10 but your wattage went up by 20, you're losing.
- Check the rejected shares: High thread counts often lead to "stale" or "rejected" shares. If your pool shows more than a 1% reject rate, your one or eight dstm choice is too aggressive. Back it off.
- Clean your cards: No amount of software optimization can fix a thermal-throttling GPU. If your card hits 80°C, it will downclock itself, and your "eight" threads will perform worse than a "one" thread on a cool card.
Mining is a game of inches. The DSTM miner was one of the first tools that let us play that game at a professional level. Whether you choose the path of one or the path of eight, just make sure you're watching the power meter. That's where the real profit is hidden.