Having recently gone through the process of tweaking my first system and tracking down information; I thought it may be good to put a few things together to help other new miners. There is a vast amount of information around and it can be tough to gather "what you need" to get going. There are also many good guides and threads on this site alone, so always try to keep searching for new info.
This is not a complete guide or instructional for how to fully setup your system. Rather, this is a set of tips or checklist of things "you may want to do / know first". I hope this can help some avoid early issues and get to mining quicker.
For help deciding on which card you may want, or to get an "idea" of a particular card performance;
Litecoin Mining comparison
https://github.com/litecoin-project/litecoin/wiki/Mining-hardware-comparisonBitcoin Mining comparison (for another point of reference only)
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparisonComparison of AMD graphics processing units
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_AMD_graphics_processing_unitsFirst, be sure you've read a couple other great threads which ARE guides;
Consolidated Litecoin Mining Guide for 5xxx, 6xxx, and 7xxx GPUs
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117221.msg1256502#msg1256502Litecoin build for noobs: 3x 7950s (1.8 MH/s) in a $10 crate case
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=163306.0For the miner program there are a few, but I'll refer CGminer here
CGMINER GPU FPGA overc monit fanspd RPC stratum linux/windws/osx/mip/r-pi 2.11.4
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.0If you are unfamiliar with setting up the configuration file (using tag / flag settings to connect to pool or settings etc) you can use this
[Application] cgEasy v1.0.1--Generate CGminer config for LTC Mining easy!
http://forum.litecoin.net/index.php?topic=36.0From above, be sure you read all the threads they are very helpful. You can use many video card (GPU) depending on your budget or access. Everything above should help you get setup with any AMD HD card for LTC. Now we move on to what to do next.
So, now you have your GPU (s) and system; now what?
**Be sure you have the right AMD drivers. This one key point. The consolidated guide gives links for drivers. Here, with CGminer 12.8 or 13.1 may be best.
***BE sure you have AMD SDK installed. This is another key point. Again the consolidated guide gives links. This is NOT installed with your normal AMD driver set! Here, with CGminer it's recommended to use 2.4 or 2.5 for 5000-6000 series and 2.6 or 2.7 for 7000 series.
Next, Re-read the consolidated guide above again.
IMPORTANT: Read, FULLY 2 .txt files contained withing the CGminer folder.
README.txt << this will help explain all of the tags / flags and variables within CGminer. Also explains what your terminal display items mean. In addition, there is an excellent FAQ section as well.
SCRYPT-README.txt << This explains the most commonly used tags / flags; what they do AND gives examples for how to "tune" your cards.
**One final note that I cannot stress enough. Expect and Take time to tweak your settings. Every card is different and will need tuned accordingly. Seeing others' settings is a great way to help / start; but you must spend the time to tune YOUR card in the end.
Hope this helps some of the first miners get going. I'm not really adding anything new myself here; just trying to help get various info sources in one spot. Good luck mining!
