Bitcoin Forum

I need to buy a new computer this week anyway, so I figured I'd ask the great minds of the forum here if there were any computers available, that are available in a local Best-Buy-type store, that have decent enough GPUs straight from the store? Or do the desktops like the ones I'm seeing on Best Buy's site all sell with GPUs that aren't suitable for mining, and one must purchase a better GPU separately and then install it and a new power supply or whatever?

Obviously I'm not a huge miner or anything, nor a gamer or super techy person, but since I need a new computer, I thought I might as well give it a shot as long as I don't have to install anything other than mining software.

tl;dr - what's a decent computer that's ready to mine that's for sale at my local Best Buy or somewhere?

Your best bet for mining is to make sure the computer you buy has a discrete video card from AMD. Not just onboard video!!  The rest of the system can be almost anything else.

It would probably be the 6 or 7 series to get the most out of it. Shoot for a system that has a 7950 in it and you should golden.

If you are serious about getting into mining, I would highly suggest building your own system instead of buying some off the shelf system from a big box store.

Building a system isn't that hard, and allows you to upgrade it as you need.  Most off the shelf systems are not very upgradeable, if at all.  There are several people here that could put together a parts list for a great system for everyday use while being able to mine also.  What price range are you looking to spend?

Thanks. I have been looking for ones with AMD graphics cards, but the ones I'm seeing are "AMD Radeon HD 6530D", "6410D", and "7450".

Are any of these good enough? Or just ones that start with 58.., 59.., 68.., 69.., 79.. ?


Thanks for your input! Perhaps when I look to buy a new home computer I'll try to take on building it myself. Unfortunately, I am a little pressed for time, as I need this computer for work (to replace the current PC after its suddenly died today), so I will likely have to make my purchase at a big box store to have it in time. I am looking to spend around $600-$1000.

Those probably won't work very well. Take a look at https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison for relative hash rate comparisons.


If you are in a decent-sized city then you will probably be able to find a place that will build you a computer for you, just select the parts. I had a computer assembled from one of these places for ~US$900. It had a lot of high-end equipment (including a 5870 and a 5830 graphics card, nice mobo, 850W PSU, i3). If you don't need that much (or good) of stuff inside the computer you could probably get it for around ~$600.

Bset buy's PC are too underpowered for most gaming/mining applications.The powersupply is usually 250-450 watts & would be hardpressed to run a decent vid card.I just looked.

Find a local PC shop & tell them what you plan on using your new PC for.Get at least a 750 watt powersupply & 7970 vid card,CPU can be a dual core & ram can be as little as 4-6 gigs.

That should keep the cost to around $1200 or so.Win7 64 bit Ultimate edition is about $150-200.So,$1400 maybe???

If you do it yourself maybe $750 + the Win7 64 bit Ultimate edition.

Of course a quad core CPU,either AMD or Intel,would be a better choice than a dual core.But adds $120-250.

Dell's high end gamers start at about $1800 & up,but may not offer the 7950 or 7970 vid cards.

Too bad you don't live in FLA,I build gaming rigs,I do ship anywhere though.I've built 4 for my buddies in my gaming group & 15-20 for my local friends + 10 or more for myself:)

Me or some of the guys here could put together a "buildsheet" & you could check with the local PC shop for a quote.

This probably won't be fast enough for you (quicker to build your own), but try:

http://www.ironsidecomputers.com/

They can make you a nice gaming/mining rig, and the prices are reasonable. I once checked their prices against buying the parts at Newegg and building myself, and it was maybe $100 more at the most. Also check them on Ebay - I think they have some decent pre-built rigs that might ship quicker. But I opted to build my own. Personally, I think at least half the value you gain from mining comes from learning more about computers, and for that building your own rig is the only way to go.

I'll build you a perfect computer for this for parts + 15% + shipping. These fees are substantially less than "customized" pc sites, and I offer the same if not better build quality.

Shoot me a PM and price range and I'll tell you what you can get. The computer will be with you in two weeks at most.

Never heard of them before.But like you said the prices are pretty good  ;)

If you go with Ironside, or someone else, some pretty good choices are: Asrock 970 Extreme 4 motherboard + 2x 7950/7970 GPUs + whatever CPU will meet your needs + a good power supply with enough juice to power everything. If I remember correctly, "standard" Ironside power supplies are Silverstones, which are very good. 7970s at Ironside are $550, which isn't a whole lot more than you would pay right now if you built your own. I checked out Ironside's reviews online about a year ago when I was considering them, and they are excellent. 

While i'm not sure where you are located, another brick and mortar type store is http://www.microcenter.com/ (http://www.microcenter.com/).  They have both pre-assembled computers and all the parts to build your own.  I have built mining rigs from Microcenter before; their prices are pretty competitive with online retailers.  If you're lucky enough to have one local to you, I'd definitely suggest checking it out for whichever path you choose.

Another good bet is on newegg. They sell pre-made computers that have much more umph than at best buy.  The key words your looking for are 'enthusiast' or 'gamer' computer. You could also check for 'workstation' type as well, as that would have higher end components and discrete graphics cards.

I got the impression the OP didn't want to wait for shipping from an online store, and instead needed something immediately.  If this is not the case - or you are able to pick up from their Southern California store - then Newegg is a great choice for whitebox, brand name or parts!

I really appreciate all the input here, but the above poster is correct.

I need to get something today, buy Quickbooks again, reinstall it, and hopefully recover my company file so I can do payroll this week. So I'm going to need to settle for something from a big box store within an hour.

I've been to a couple stores, and the "best" graphics cards based on my limited knowledge appear to be:

- AMD HD 7450
- AMD HD 6530D
- AMD HD 6410D

Out of those three meager options, which would be the best for mining? Would any of them work?

I'm not trying to make a super duper mining rig, I just need a new work computer that will run Quickbooks and that I can get at a local store here.


Thanks for all the help to everyone who offered it; I will keep your thoughts in mind when I replace my home computer.

I don't think any of those cards are going to be very good for mining - maybe your best bet is to get a computer with at least two pcie slots and add better GPUs later. So I would try to get something that allows for expansion rather than trying to get one with the "best" GPU already installed. That said, the 7450 might be the best of the three you mentioned.

I agree with Dargo, get something that has extra PCIE x16 slots and then you can add good mining cards in today or later. Go for 7 series gpus as that is best Mh/W.

Out of the three above, I believe the only dedicated graphics card is the 7450.  The other two are generally come packaged as AMD Accelerated Processing Units.  This is where the CPU and the GPU are bundled into one chip.  Expect sub 100MHash/s from the 6410D/6530D.  The advantage to an APU, however, could be that your motherboard has a free PCIe slot.  Find out if the motherboard has a PCIe 3.0 (or 2.0) x16 slot on it.  If it does, then as other posters have said, you can shop for a card later, and not feel under the gun to get it now.

If either of the APU machines don't have a PCIe x16 slot on the motherboard, go for the 7450, and upgrade the card later.  You should also expect the most performance from the 7450.

Were you not fortunate enough to be within the area of a http://www.microcenter.com/ (http://www.microcenter.com/) brick and mortar store?

Good luck; let us know what you decide to do!

 i havent used a pre-made computer since IBM PC/XT when i was like 10 yrs old

always much cheaper and better to buy components and put it together yourself

after a quick 10 minute look

motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128502

$100 after rebate, LGA 1155, pci-e 2.0, x16, x8, x4, also 2x pci-express x1 and 2 pci slots

cpu

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

grab something like that if you want the sweet spot  in value vs performance  (can probably find a better price somewhere else, just skimming newegg)

video card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102987

6950 for $190 after rebate, plus dirt3 and battlefield 3.  sell on ebay.  makes card maybe $170?

psu

something from this list (** "Gold" only):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006656&IsNodeId=1&Description=fsp%20aurum&bop=And&Order=PRICED&PageSize=20

unless seasonic is on sale

case, other junk, w/e

oh, if you live near longview, tx

http://stores.bestbuy.com/594/clearance/computers-tablets/


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Clearance Price:
$125.99

grab that for hdd

I'm willing to sell one of my rigs at cost. Most have 3x 5970's. I have some with 5870's. Also a couple have nice cpu's with with ssd drives. Prices range from 1,400-1,800. Let me know if you want any pics.

i'd only pay ~$900 for 3 5970's.  would have to be a damn nice psu, i  guess.

You would be very lucky to find a 5970 for 300. So lucky that people like me would buy them in bulk and resell them. The black editions are closer to 500. All my pc's have nice power supplies(1300-1500watts). I have 8 pc's total, the top 2 cost more then I quoted.

http://i49.tinypic.com/1ot9qd.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/2i78wg3.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/mx1u95.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/iejts0.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/15gyole.jpg