can i use my old P4/mobo?

[phillyj]

I have a P4 and mobo from a Compaq PC year 2004. It's pretty advanced for the age, SATA and PCIe x16 (v1 I think). I has 1gb RAM (ddr2, i think). I can use this, I only need a GPU + PSU. I can then get a 7950 for $300 and a Corsair Builder CX500 for $45. Will be able to break even much faster. Linux off a USB. I already ran WUBI on it so it's fine for linux.

Will it work? Am I missing something?

[brinebold]

Yes. You do not need much in the way of CPU for bitcoin mining so your old P4 will be fine since it has PCI-e. Just don't turn on CPU mining, you want your miner to be using GPU only.

[phillyj]

cool, that's what I figured from the few threads on the Net about this. Probably buy that 7950 at the end of the week. I need to check the BTC price trend. Seems to be hovering around $100.

[layerz]

check the measurements and the space in your case.

I found this out the fun way, my rig is an AMD 3500 xp ex business unit. It is PCI-E but the 7850 does not fit, I have used a riser cable to get the set up working.

That said it runs fine, it is happily getting back 350kh/s on LTC or other scrypt coins.

[phillyj]

Might have to mod the case or buy another. If I can save on cpu/mobo/ram, then all the better. Too risk averse to try the cardboard cases, open cases people run.