Update - I wrote this in office and copied over to Steemin.. Yah it's messy, whatever.. I'm not writing a book looking for money :)
Prelude
Recently I've had a lot of friends and folks ask for my advice about getting into the cryptocurrency space.. Whether it's mining or investing tips... Right now is probably one of the most lucrative, if not, the most lucrative spaces to be in. However, there is a lot of risk associated with it. If you are not computer savvy, I would highly recommend staying away from mining. It's not as easy as it looks. My recommendation to you would be to pick a cryptocurrency you believe in (do your research) and purchase the coin and just sit on it. If the pick is right, you'll make more money than mining and not have to do anything. Simply watch your investment grow.. If you are semi computer smart, you may want to think about investing in a "Proof of Stake" coin. This will allow you to stake your wallet without having to invest in any costly mining equipment and you will get returns.. Ethereum is going Proof of Stake sometime in 2018.. If you're interested in other proof of stake coins, you can do some research on them. TrezarCoin is nice.. It works, I'm staking with it.
Now, for the tech savvy folks, If you would like to discuss mining etc. I am happy to make recommendations etc.
If you want coins to invest in, I'm not going to tell you what to invest in but I can tell you what I've invested in. Litecoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Bitcoin Cash and UBQ. Lots of people are pushing people to certain coins like BitConnect or others.. Again, I highly recommend doing your own research prior to investing your own hard earned money.
--- Start Here if you want to skip ahead --
Alright, let’s get what the type of mining out of the way that I’m not involved with at all.. That’s ASIC mining.. AKA A9’s S9’s D3’s Antminers, Bitfury Miners, Innsolio (or whatever miners).. Just not a fan of it period.. It can be lucrative but there’s a new miner to replace it every 90 days so no point IMO.. It stands for Application Specific Integrated Circuit. Specific to one algorithm.. If it goes to shit, you’re stuck..
Anyhow, what I’m into is GPU Mining.. Aka Graphics Card Mining.. The first step in GPU mining is, determine if you want to go AMD or Nvidia.. Nvidia is very versatile and they consume less power when they are tweaked correctly.. AMD is a great card and far less expensive. The cards I’m going to recommend make a decent amount of money per card per day.
AMD Cards I recommend – Sapphire Nitro+ RX570/580 4GB or 8GB cards.. The 8 GB cards will last you a lot longer and you can squeeze a few more hash out of them but are more expensive.. The 4GB cards are less expensive and hash almost as high as the 8GB cards.. ( 8GB https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W05UX6405&cm_re=RX580_Nitro%2b--14-202-280--Product – 4GB https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W06DP3622&cm_re=RX580_Nitro%2b_4gb--14-202-279--Product ) - The fans on these GPU's move about 55CFM opposed to the 30-35 CFM fans so it keeps your GPUs nice and cool.
Nvidia Cards I recommend – EVGA GTX1070 SC2 or FTW cards 8 GB cards.. they are going to be more expensive but will be a much more versatile card with the CUDA cores etc. you can mine more algos more efficiently. (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814487265)
A good website to check if there is stock for any of the cards is www.nowinstock.net
On a caveat to this, Equihash Algo and Dagger Hashimoto are pretty good hashes to mine with AMD.. That's Ethereum, UBQ, Monero, Electronium. Nvidia Cards (1070s and 1080tis) are great to mine Dagger Hash, CryptoNight, LBC.. Just check out www.whattomine.com and select the algo and coin you want to mine.
Great.. Now that we have the cards out of the way.. Let’s move onto Power supplies..
I recommend anything that is 1200watt+ PSU.. I don’t like the dual PSU configuration so, I typically go with the evga 1300watt g2.. it’s expensive but worth it IMO - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438011&cm_re=1300watt_g2--17-438-011--Product
On the following components;
- Motherboard - ASUS H270 Plus or Biostar B250 PRO (12GPU)
- Processor - LGA1151 (for correct MB) / Celeron or Pentium 3.. G4400 or 3900 don't need much Horsepower here.
- Ram - 4GB DDR400 (Whatever fits your MB)
- O/S - First time miners, Windows 10 works great.. More advanced Ethos/SimpleMining OS or PiMP OS
I recommend going to gpushack.com and buying the bundle you’re looking for. It’s the simplest and easiest way to get what you’re looking for and you know it works..
6GPU Combo Link - https://gpushack.com/collections/gpushack/products/mobo-cpu-ram-ssd-bundle-for-4-gpus
13GPU Combo Link - https://gpushack.com/collections/gpushack/products/mobo-cpu-ram-ethos-bundle-for-13-gpus (Please note on the 13GPU Combokits you definitely need 2 Powersupplies.. The evga 1000watt GQ x2 or 1300 & 850 watt PSU should suffice)
The operating system is going to be a stripped down version of linux that comes on a USB stick.. It can mine multiple algo’s and has multiple miners associated with it.. For setup on the Motherboards that comes with the O/S you have to visit http://ethosdistro.com/kb/#booting-intel-boards
Next you’re going to want to get PCI-E Risers : https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIACJR6MS2022&cm_re=pcie_riser--17Z-00CS-00002--Product
That’s going to allow you to plug all your cards into the motherboard.
Now for the case…. Open air mining rigs can be setup on wireframe racks like this :
The other option is to buy a openair case.. for $150.. If you want to.. it’s up to you..
https://www.amazon.com/CryptoCase-Sentinel-Mining-Case-Cryptocurrency/dp/B074PVTZ74/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1513021164&sr=8-3&keywords=open+air+mining+case
If you really want to get fancy you can get :
https://www.parallelminer.com/product/all-aluminium-6-1-gpu-open-air-mining-case-w-6-usb-risers-1-1200w-psu-kit-eth-zec/
it comes with an extra PSU, Risers etc. some stuff you may not need..
The other option for a case, is : Get a 36" piece of an L shape aluminum and a $20 wireframe rack.. Drill two holes on the posts and attach the aluminum and then your cards just sit on top of the aluminum with a screw drilled through the top.. Its effective, pretty and costs nothing basically.
Resources for you are :
nice guides and tutorials : 1stminingrig.com
various info : cryptocompare.com
what you should mine : www.whattomine.com
Mining Community : www.minertopia.org - there's a discord link to discuss with 100+ miners how to mine, configs etc.
Step by step guide to build a 6GPU Miner : http://www.coinminingrigs.com/how-to-build-a-6-gpu-mining-rig/
If you're asking yourself if mining is profitable? You can look at some miners out there with decent setups like :
https://etc.epool.io/#/account/0x1640d9435a93d917605fd63309b5b7ea893b9d8d - that's about a 90-100 GPU setup - making $2200/week at time of writing article.. Mining Dagger Hashimoto (Ethereum Classic)
or https://etc.epool.io/#/account/0x71f5dce1717283c2ad48e8da83ed8d87db7b792a - that's about a 12 GPU setup.. making $250 a week at the time of writing this article..Mining Dagger Hashimoto (Ethereum Classic)