Also, a bit of a side note (in reference to my post above)

Linux any better?

One thing I'm kinda regretting is not using Linux to setup my mining rig.    Wondering how difficult would it be to change OS, and is it worth it?  Like most on here, although I only been mining for about a year and a half, I'm a techy person, I can figure that shit out, just not sure if it's worth the time needed to invest.  Initially when I made the OS decision, I'm sure I did research, and ultimately I feel like I remember hearing that if you setup using Linux, you may be limited w/ mining software.  But that was a year back likely.

GPU vs CPU Mining for CryptoNote
One thing I don't entirely understand (despite the year and a half of mining), is if it ever makes sense to run a CPU mining software on a GPU set up.  Is that just a waste of GPU power?  This claymore Miner kinda filled that gap for me and I trusted it was utilizing my GPU power to get maximum return via a GPU miner.  I understand the difference between the two, my understanding was always that there are two different types of ways to mine - GPU & CPU (beside Asic & other sorts) - but I never quite understood how Claymore may utilize GPUs and for example CPUMiner (forked by LucasJones & Wolf) may not .... (this could totally be just a marketing thing with the name of the miner, but that wouldn't make much sense to me).  Sorry if there's some newb aspects to this, there's just some loose ends I don't understand regarding that that would be great if someone can help me tie up!


Thanks again guys in advance.....I'm pretty new to bitcoin talk forums, although I been lurking for awhile (ironically I was having trouble signing  up for months, kept getting weird issues).  I'm learning how to navigate these long ass (albeit, extremely valuable and much appreciated!) threads, but wanted to see if anyone at this time can recommend a better / more maintained cryptonote GPU miner as mentioned above and also if anyone can offer any feedback on the above topics.  happy holidays yall !