Mining SuperNOOB Seeking advice

[superdork]

I am interested in starting up a mining rig and would appreciate any advice you can give me.

Budget- $1000-2000 (usd)

(1) Please let me know: what equipment you would recommend in that range?
and if you don't mind, be as specific as possible.

also

(2) What would be the best ways for me to learn in detail about mining? any links? books? videos?

            I have searched a bit and haven't found the in depth analysis and explanation that I would like.

(3) Is Litecoin mining the way to go?

         I was planning on going primarily into Litecoin mining, should I also Bitcoin mine? Is it difficult to do both on one rig (I've read that litecoin was made to be mined along with Bitcoin...)

(4) I'm not a programmer or a code writer (but I do have a friend who is a IT guy who can help me), I am willing to do a lot of reading and I have strong math and conceptual skills, am I retarded for trying this? or can a "regular guy" get a mining setup going and acquire some coins? (and hopefully return investment and eventually make money?

(5) Any guess as to what my ROI might be on that budget?
 I'm not trying to go ASIC because I feel like I would have had to order in 2012 to get that in time to use that advantage, also leaning Litecoin because I have read that it will not suffer as much from ASICs hitting the scene.


Any help or advice is much appreciated, thanks for reading!!

[LivesUnderTheBridge]

1. As much ATI videocard as you can afford. cheapest mobo and processor that you can afford to run them, a good PSU that won't fry under heavy load on 24/7 pushing. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

2. This whole bitcoin thing is still pretty new, you're not going to find any whitepapers. the above linked wiki should answer a lot.

3. If we knew that, we'd be doing just that. Hell, if I knew BTC was going to soar from $20 to $150 I would have moved every spare penny over a couple months ago. LTC is probably more prone to the 51% hack, but otherwise it's probably a fairly solid bet.

4. We sure hope so, that's why we're mining. If you use windows, it'll be quite a bit easier but also less reliable. Linux is tough as nails but more stable.

5. depends on the price of electricity and the price of BTC and how quick the difficulty changes. IMHO, if you see it as a long term investment (screw ROI) you'll come out better. A poor financial decision today may become a stellar one in a few years.

If this is money you can't afford to not recoup, or if you don't have the stones to bear massive amounts of risk, do yourself a favor and run away screaming.

[superdork]

1. As much ATI videocard as you can afford. cheapest mobo and processor that you can afford to run them, a good PSU that won't fry under heavy load on 24/7 pushing. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

2. This whole bitcoin thing is still pretty new, you're not going to find any whitepapers. the above linked wiki should answer a lot.

3. If we knew that, we'd be doing just that. Hell, if I knew BTC was going to soar from $20 to $150 I would have moved every spare penny over a couple months ago. LTC is probably more prone to the 51% hack, but otherwise it's probably a fairly solid bet.

4. We sure hope so, that's why we're mining. If you use windows, it'll be quite a bit easier but also less reliable. Linux is tough as nails but more stable.

5. depends on the price of electricity and the price of BTC and how quick the difficulty changes. IMHO, if you see it as a long term investment (screw ROI) you'll come out better. A poor financial decision today may become a stellar one in a few years.

If this is money you can't afford to not recoup, or if you don't have the stones to bear massive amounts of risk, do yourself a favor and run away screaming.

1- That is my plan. I have a budget of about 2k in mind with 7970s (since the chart says they have big Mhash/s)

5- Definitely thinking of this as a long term deal. I'm sure plenty of miners who pulled piles of btc out at $.50 a piece hadn't recouped their cost at that time and now (if they held on) they are paying off their houses.  I'm pretty bullish on this.

 

[cptmooseinc]

7970s are a waste of money. You get more kH/s for the price out of 2 7950s than you do one 7970.

[superdork]

7970s are a waste of money. You get more kH/s for the price out of 2 7950s than you do one 7970.

Thanks!