Bitcoin Forum

Hi Guys & Girls,

You all probably get this question a lot but my situation is a little bit different.

So I'm a teenager, the only reason I mention that is because I still live at home.....half of you already realize the significance I think.....I don't have to pay for power.

Also I'm a tech guy and my local dentist for whatever reason chews threw PC's, and instead of fixing them he buys new ones. Currently I have 13 working PC's without any operating systems. Most of them are core 2 duo's with or without low end graphics cards. I don't hold much hope of getting them gpu mining but cpu mining would be easy as pie. I even have a 2005 HP dual Xeon sever.

So what do you guys think, i have a spare switch or two and a bucket load of Ethernet leads. I'm currently thinking about running ubuntu on them, any better alternatives that are based around mining?
I would really like something that after installed dose not require a monitor, so I can check them all from my main PC with ease.

The next problem i run into is that cpu mining bitcoins is hopelessly worthless now with fpga's and asics miners. So what do you guys recommend? Litecoin? Dodgecoin?.

I have a rare opportunity, the pc's cost me nothing, they will cost nothing to maintain. Pure profit......however small it may be.

So again my main problem is the best o/s to use and what crypto currency I should use.

And anyone who was going to say something like: "Dont bother cpu mining its not worth it". Please abstain, i do understand it would be slow, but its a learning experience and it wont cost me anything anyways.

Oh and if you recommend me a certain crypto currency, maybe you have a favorite mining pool as well that you could recommend to me? I would much appreciate it!


Anyway thanks in advance everyone!

And happy mining

Regards,

Joel

Well you said not to say "don't bother mining" but it has to be stated that you will end up spending your parents money on trash effectively.  If you want to just practice mining on one machine pick the strongest one and mine BCN (Cryptonote) since it's the most profitable CPU coin at this moment - but you'll still end up losing money via your parents.

If you want to be financially smart, sell off the parts or the whole rigs and use the money to start a Bitcoin business or just buy Bitcoin right now since the price tanked (which is another reason not to mine right now).

Why don't you buy one of these cheap scrypt miners and mine the new coins?
Would get you more luck.

Like Bitsaurus said, price of bitcoin is 'low' right now, so I should buy in.

If I were you, I'd take that stash and unload it on craigs list for as much as I can, maybe buy some asic hardware.

You may not have to pay for power but someone does, I bet your parents will be knocking on your door when they get the electric bill. If you really want to mine at home I would offer to pay the excess, even at the low bitcoin prices you can still turn a profit.

GPU mining on PCs stopped being profitable sometime in early 2013, or late 2012 depending on your power costs.  CPU mining was marginally profitable in 2011.  Mining right now on the gear you have available would just be throwing money away.  Granted, it's your parents' money, but I would expect after a few months of mining you would have some very angry adults in your bedroom clutching a power bill.

The other aspect to consider is heat and noise.  Mining is intensive.  You would be amazed how loud a modern GPU card is when processing bitcoin hashes.  You seriously will not be able to sleep with one of those puppies running, let alone a dozen.

Simple: Sell all the PC's on ebay and use the money to buy an ASIC miner for scrypt or bitcoin.

I know it's already been said, but it bears repeating: just because you are not paying for power does not mean it is free.  Your parents are paying the bill, and if suddenly they've got a bill that's 5 times higher than what they're used to seeing, guess who's getting in trouble?  If you really want to try mining, keep the best machine of the bunch and mine some CPU coin.  Take the profit you get from selling the rest of the equipment and buy some BTC.

Definitely talk to your parents before even thinking about mining.  They will most certainly notice the very large increased usage of electricity when their bill comes.

Not to mention, a bedroom with standard wiring can only support 1500w MAX if its on a DEDICATED line (which is very unlikely). So how many PCs can you actually run OP?

Sell those PCs because they're depreciating so quick and spend that money on BUYing bitcoin,  (NOT buying asic mining gear).

Have your parents drop you off at Walmart and have them pick you up in a few hours.  Spend the time looking for spare change people drop in the parking lot.  Honestly you make 1000% what you would make mining with obsolete hardware.  Now you probably will only make a few cents and hour but like you said it is "pure profit".  If that seems like a huge waste of time for a small gain, well it is.  The truth is what you are trying to do with a bunch of obsolete PCs is worse though.

you're so brutal.....

What if OP hates his parents and want to trade their dollars for cents?