Bitcoin Mining! Can I do it?

[Ps_domingo]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to upgrade soon with the release of Haswell and the 700 series.

So I'm thinking of using my old rig for Bitcoin Mining!

Here are the specs of my current rig:

(Forgive me, the Rig is pretty not balanced at all... I built this when I was still clueless with the computers 2 years back.)

CPU: Intel i5 2400

MoBo: Asrock Z68 Fatal1ty

GPU: MSI Gtx 550ti

Memory: Kingston 8gb ram

PSU: Thermaltake 80+ bronze 600 watt

CPU cooler: Deep Cool(Logisys) Gamma Archer

Cooling Fans:

200mm x 3 BitFenix Spectre Pro

140mm x 1 BitFenix Spectre Pro

120mm x 2 BitFenix Spectre Pro

Casing: Aerocool Mechatron

Any idea how much can I mine and is it worth it?

[extremescouter]

Sure, you can do it, but with a 550ti you will probably get around 85-100 Mhash/s, so it is really not worth it. You will probably end up spending more on power than what you will get back. 

[Jeteroll]

The answer is no. The amount of power you expend will cost you much more than your return on the Bitcoin. Unfortunately, Nvidia cards simply do not work well enough to mine on, and with the new ASIC and BFL (maybe) devices coming out and increasing the difficulty, you really won't get anywhere. Sorry to be discouraging but it's a hard world of Bitcoin mining.

[Ps_domingo]

The answer is no. The amount of power you expend will cost you much more than your return on the Bitcoin. Unfortunately, Nvidia cards simply do not work well enough to mine on, and with the new ASIC and BFL (maybe) devices coming out and increasing the difficulty, you really won't get anywhere. Sorry to be discouraging but it's a hard world of Bitcoin mining.

Thanks bro! I kinda had an idea I just wanted to confirm. :) Thanks Again!

[Jmjam]

You can maybe look into litecoin mining instead. Mining litecoins is more profitable than mining bitcoins at the moment and you can just convert litecoins to bitcoins through a trade site. The question would then be is it worth mining litecoins. It's really up to you with what you would be doing with them. Right now I use litecoin to buy small items and slowly upgrade my rig. I keep a few on hold just incase there's a big demand for them. 

[pGuerrerox]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to upgrade soon with the release of Haswell and the 700 series. So I'm thinking of using my old rig for Bitcoin Mining! Here are the specs of my current rig: (Forgive me, the Rig is pretty not balanced at all... I built this when I was still clueless with the computers 2 years back.) CPU: Intel i5 2400 MoBo: Asrock Z68 Fatal1ty GPU: MSI Gtx 550ti Memory: Kingston 8gb ram PSU: Thermaltake 80+ bronze 600 watt CPU cooler: Deep Cool(Logisys) Gamma Archer Cooling Fans: 200mm x 3 BitFenix Spectre Pro 140mm x 1 BitFenix Spectre Pro 120mm x 2 BitFenix Spectre Pro Casing: Aerocool Mechatron Any idea how much can I mine and is it worth it?

you can make a good rig with that mobo! it can hold 5 GPUs. but you have lots of other thins not needed for mining

 

CPU: Intel i5 2400 too much for mining (waste of power)

Mobo: perfect for mining, x5 GPUs

GPU: not good! Nvidia is bat for mining

RAM: good (litecoin with x5 GPU)

PSU: good, may use x2 gpu with this psu safely.

CASE and FANS: not needed for mining, maybe just 1 extra fan but thats it.

 

Your pc as it is is not good for mining either Bitcoin nor Litecoins, but you can sell it and make a ~0.8Gh (for Bitcoin) or 1Mh (for Litecoin).

[Ps_domingo]

you can make a good rig with that mobo! it can hold 5 GPUs. but you have lots of other thins not needed for mining

 

CPU: Intel i5 2400 too much for mining (waste of power)

Mobo: perfect for mining, x5 GPUs

GPU: not good! Nvidia is bat for mining

RAM: good (litecoin with x5 GPU)

PSU: good, may use x2 gpu with this psu safely.

CASE and FANS: not needed for mining, maybe just 1 extra fan but thats it.

 

Your pc as it is is not good for mining either Bitcoin nor Litecoins, but you can sell it and make a ~0.8Gh (for Bitcoin) or 1Mh (for Litecoin).

What are your recommendations for Bitcoin/Litecoin mining rig with a budget of around $500- $800? :) 

I plan to salvage my mobo al well as my PSU for this. 

Is it possible to make my mining rig also a file server or backup? :P 

[Jmjam]

What are your recommendations for Bitcoin/Litecoin mining rig with a budget of around $500- $800? :)

I plan to salvage my mobo al well as my PSU for this. 

Is it possible to make my mining rig also a file server or backup? :P

I personally wouldn't mine Bitcoins. I prefer litecoins but for mining go with the highest performing AMD graphics card you can buy with your money (in Mhashes). Then go with a cheap cpu and other parts only if this is a dedicated rig. If you could get two graphics cards at a deal and your psu/mobo supports it I would suggest that also. Just make sure you read up on how much Mhashes you can get with a GPU. The higher the better. 

[pGuerrerox]

If you keep your mobo and PSU, the best I can think of would be:

CPU: celeron g1610. $50

GPU: x2 HD Radeon 7850. Can get them $200~ each.

Ram: 2 GB or more.

HDD: anything

Case: open air is ideal for 24/7 mining.

That will be 800ish kh/sec

[Ps_domingo]

Will more ram benefit the rig?

[pGuerrerox]

It depends on the vram that your GPUs have, I'm not sure is just what I have read.l, but with 4gb should be more than enough

[Jeteroll]

Will more ram benefit the rig?

Basically nothing matters except for the stream processors and the core clock of your graphics card. Overclocking or adding RAM dies not affect mining performance, and other computer components have zero effect on your hash rate. Thus the better the AMD graphics card you buy, the higher your hash rate will be. Most mining rig builders will try to spend as little as possible on components other than graphics cards, in order to receive the greatest return on their investment. Many even use open air solutions like milk crates as cases. And yes, you can also make your mining rig a server for whatever you want, depending on what you install on it. For instance I run a Minecraft server, and an FTP server off my mining rig, as mining uses almost no CPU or RAM.

[Jmjam]

Will more ram benefit the rig?

Basically what you want is the best GPU. Other components do not matter as they do not produce any Kh/s while mining as stated above. Though I would not go and buy the crappiest hardware you can find. It should be reliable but relatively cheap hardware for a healthy system. :)

[pGuerrerox]

Basically nothing matters except for the stream processors and the core clock of your graphics card. Overclocking or adding RAM dies not affect mining performance, and other computer components have zero effect on your hash rate. Thus the better the AMD graphics card you buy, the higher your hash rate will be. Most mining rig builders will try to spend as little as possible on components other than graphics cards, in order to receive the greatest return on their investment. Many even use open air solutions like milk crates as cases. And yes, you can also make your mining rig a server for whatever you want, depending on what you install on it. For instance I run a Minecraft server, and an FTP server off my mining rig, as mining uses almost no CPU or RAM.

LTC uses scrypt which is a memory intensive algorithm, it require a balance in memory between system ram and GPU ram, if you want to get the most out of your cards. For bitcoin you dont need ram since sha-256 is core intensive algorithm.

 

 

Basically what you want is the best GPU. Other components do not matter as they do not produce any Kh/s while mining as stated above. Though I would not go and buy the crappiest hardware you can find. It should be reliable but relatively cheap hardware for a healthy system. :)

system ram does matter for LTC mining,, low system ram will limit our graphics performance.

 

its been proof in countless forums all over the internet.