Bitcoin Forum

Hi. I have a newb question. I know that for blockchains like bitcoin and ethereum that you need GPU to do mining well but is this always the case? are there any alt coins / blockchains where CPU is better because a different proof of work mechanism is used where GPU does not offer advantages?
thanks  ;D

There are some where PoW can be done via CPU - one that I remember well is Machine Coin. It's not especially valuable (since I last checked) but I believe it is still cpu only.
The issue you run into is that people end up porting the capabilities over to their GPUs which are basically like super duper CPU's on crack.
Granted there are still some CPU only algos - but they wont really net you much money as far as I can tell.

Each blockchain has different algorithms for its blockchain. Some don't even use anything outside of the wallet - this is called PoS or Proof of Stake. If you want to support a network and get involved in "mining" these coins - this may be your best bet if you dont want to invest in a mining rig or a new GPU.
Others are hybrids between the two.
Sha256 like Bitcoin and Scrypt like Litecoin and now X11 like dash markets are mostly dominated by really superpowerful ASIC chips which only hash those algorithms. They are like super tiny dedicated PSUs that only hash the programmed algo.

Hope this helps friend!
Welcome to the magical world of crypto

If you want to mine Bitcoin (or Litecoin or DASH or any coin using the SHA256/Scrypt/X11 algorithms) for a profit you WILL use a recent-generation ASIC-based miner.

 Other coins vary - for MOST where a GPU-based miner is available, forget mining on a CPU you won't make anything (the CryptoNight algo coins like Monero are a noteable excaption).