Bitcoin Forum

Hi,

I'm very new to this. I looked at the intro threads and all, but I still am confused.

Here are my questions:
1. How does mining actually work? What does the GPU/CPU do when mining?

2. What's the absolute best way to secure a wallet? I was thinking about following this guide: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=17240.0

3. Which is better and why? GPU or CPU mining? What are good hardware that can accompany GPU/CPU mining?

Thanks.

Hi, and welcome btcnewb123 :)

All those questions are answered plenty of times here already, just search for them. But, in a nutshell; GPU is better than CPU by a long way, a great way to make a secure wallet is using armory: https://bitcoinarmory.com/ (https://bitcoinarmory.com/) along with bitcoin-qt.

K.

2- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=191842.0
Hello, Kruncha. =D

It takes awhile to get up and running with BTC but it's fascinating once you read enough about it. I know that GPU mining is better but will be marginalized somewhat by ASICs, which will take over.

Hi Bruce, good to see you again ;D

K.

How about this tutorial? https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=17240.0

Also, what are ASICS?

That's a good tutorial, so is Bruce's (Rayen). Choose which suits your needs and paranoia levels.

K.

Thank you, Kruncha, =P

Application Specific Integrated Circuits. They are chips that are designed specifically for a given purpose, in this case Bitcoin mining. Because they are specially designed they are far more efficient than CPUs and GPUs.

Are they expensive? Where can I buy one?

Thanks K and Rayen. You guys both helped a lot.

They are expensive and there is a long waiting list. The two manufacturers are Avalon (http://launch.avalon-asics.com/) and Butterfly Labs (http://www.butterflylabs.com/).

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Its ok we were all noobs once