Mining Rig from Scrap?

So I was thinking about trying to recycle some of the PC scrap I have on hand to make a basic GPU mining rig. Unfortunately I am too far removed from current tech to do this on my own. Wondering if anyone would have some advice.


What is a good minimum CPU to use?
I am going to look over the PCs that I have not scrapped yet, is there any one in particular that I should look for? (operating system, processor, etc. or Brand)
I imagine I will have to buy a GPU card for the job, but if that is all I have to buy, that would be cool.


I know this isn't a cryptocurrency forum, but I know some of you really know your hardware and thought this type of recycle project might be fun. Thanks!

I would say an i series with an aftermarket board and nice power supply would be a good start

That's a really interesting idea. I've always found cryptocurrency fascinating, but unfortunately my knowledge on the subject isn't all that great either so take what I say with a grain of salt. From what I understand bitcoin mining is really hard to get into now days. I think the biggest hurtle for you with bitcoin would be power consumption. That is the biggest cost in it, and older electronics are of course less efficient than newer ones. Here is a good video on the topic.


If you are going to get involved you might want to try a different cryptocurrency. Another cryptocurrency that might interest you is called Burstcoin.

The Burst mining system is unlike any other coin in existence: it uses your existing free space on your hard drive to mine coins. Because of this, it is naturally more decentralized, and very low on power usage. The difference between mining and simply running your computer not mining is so negligible you will not notice a difference on your power bill. Due to the nature of the mining process, and the fact that it is mineable most efficiently and cost effectively mined on consumer grade storage hardware, the coin lends itself to being much more decentralized by design. Everyone has free hard drive space, and purchase of another drive specific for Burst mining represents a small cost. Since the mining process itself doesn’t take much power (as hard disks only average <5W power, just like charging a mobile phone) it makes sense to mine just because you can.

This opens the door to the general public in a way that had never been possible before with other more ‘traditional’ style mined crypto-currencies. The mining process is very easy on hardware, and to date not a single piece of hardware has been reported to have issues due to the BURST mining process running on it. This means that you won’t have to worry about burning up your CPU or GPU like you would if you were mining the other types of cryptocurrency.

https://www.burst-coin.org/proof-of-capacity

For people who can get a hold of a lot of old hard drives this might be something to look into. Here is a great video on the topic.

At any rate good luck with it whatever you do.

Thanks Evan. I agree that bitcoin mining is out of the question. I think I may be able to mine Ethereum if I get into a mining pool. Still looking into various options. I will take a look at Burst as I have not heard of it.

Doing some more research tonight and it seems like it all comes down to the graphics card you buy. That is for the coins that require GPU mining. Gamers are pissed because mining has sent the cost of those costs to the moon.

Unless you have a bunch of really good graphics cards to run in a series, using escrap to mine cryptocurrency probably won't work too well. You'll probably end up burning more in electricity to mine the coins with CPU's and lower end graphics cards than the money the coins are worth. You could probably mine lower priced and "easier" coins but unless you can get free electricity you most likely wont make a profit. It is an interesting idea though and I'm interested to see if you can get it to work

Here is something else that might be worth looking into. Apparently you can sell your excess computing power to some places.

Edit: Looks like solidify is dead. I heard about it some years back, but didn't know it had died. Maybe some of distributed computing options still work. At least the other sites mention in the article seem to still be up (DigitalGeneration, MQL5 Cloud network, Peer Zone). I've never tried it before so I'm not sure how well any of these places actually work.

1. Slicify

Using software created by companies like Slicify, you are able to set up a partitioned Linux Virtual Machine on your home PC. This means that other people can run software on your computer, without having access to any of your personal information, programs or files. It is essentially a small-scale version of what large companies like Amazon or are doing when they rent out their servers to other businesses. It is known as Distributed Computing.

......

How do I get paid?

Currently, Slicify uses PayPal to conduct payouts, so you will need to simply set up an account to get paid.

Whenever your machine is rented, you are paid by the hour.

If you make referrals to other people, you can also make referral bonuses from the work done on their computers.

How much will I make?

Larger companies using this process currently charge between $0.02 to $4.60 per hour depending on the need and capacity of the PC.

For home computers, you can earn between $0.10 and $0.40 per hour, depending on the provider and service.

You have a chance of making more on Slicify because bidders can compete for your PC.

https://moneypantry.com/turn-pc-on-make-money/

Originally Posted by gorven

Stay away from cloud mining as most are scams. I would recommend watching goosetech or brandoncoin on you tube and look for starting mining on a budget. I use GTX1050's for mining as they are a nonpowered card. Also I suggest using awesome miner a place to mine in conjunction with mining control hub

Thanks Terry, this is the kind of advice I as looking for. I will definitely watch some of their stuff. Those 1050's seem reasonably priced too.

So I've got a working machine, sans GPU card. I used a Dell with a Vostro 230 Mother board, Dual Core CPU, 4GB RAM, 750W power supply, and am using a 1TB laptop hard drive.

I had to erase the hard drive and I installed Lubuntu. I thought I would start doing some CPU mining until I can buy a GPU. I don't know Lubuntu at all though and wasn't successful installing the miners I needed. So i'm going to have to install Windows 7 to continue.

I thought I would start with CPU mining of Verium and Sumokoin. I'll have to sell some more scrap until I can afford a proper GPU, then I will probably mine Ethereum or Zcash. I'll update this thread as I make more progress.

Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd say..."Back in my day, we didn't have bit coins an Ethereum..but real metals that one mined physically...like gold, an iron.."



Interesting thread even if it makes my head hurt an makes me feel old.


You thought I was going to put a goat didn't you? HA!

Sirscrapalot -

You did put in a goat, come to think of it two old goats the one in the cartoon and you can figure out who the other one is. From another old goat. 73, Mike

I don't think I will pursue this after all. I did get a machine up and running. Found a good working 750 Watt power supply. Set it up to CPU mine and let it run for about 4 days. Didn't earn squat.

I know that getting a proper GPU would change that. But, with the prices the way they are it often takes over a year to get a ROI.

I live in a kind of small place and don't have a good space for it. The CPU fan was making quite a bit of noise when it was running. I just can't justify both the cost and inconvenience. Would love to hear some success stories though for anyone who does decide to pursue this. Free energy (Rica's solar panels) would definitely make it more sensible.

For anyone that is curious or thinking of starting, this chart may be helpful. I have no idea if it is kept up to date
https://www.cryptocompare.com/mining/#/equipment

That is definitely true, I forgot about the resale value part of it. Browsing CL or Ebay can certainly prove that.