Hey again everyone I have a few more more questions regarding mining altcoins.
1. It has come to my understanding that proof of stake may be implemented into Ethereum in the next few months. I know there are other altcoins but are any of them worthwhile to GPU with at least 80-85% of Ethereum profit?
2. I thought the Radeon RX 470 was currently one of the best Ethereum miners on the market for the past year, but it looks like the 480 is more profitable. I know that GPU's are getting better every year but I heard people talking about interesting new GPU's coming out in the next few months. Is it worthwhile to wait until something better comes around or will the RX470 be the best bang for my buck for the next 5-6 months.
3. Why do different people use different GPU's for mining? I know it's about preference but isn't there always a clearly top card that has the best price for the speed?
4. What's the difference between 4gb versions of cards and 8 gb versions? I get that the bigger the better but they often have a 40-50$ difference between them. Do they majorly impact the mining speed?
Ps. I know that google is my friend but with so many opposing articles and arguments online I would rather hear this directly from the people on this forum.
All answers and advice are greatly appreciated.
Without going too much into details:
1. Yes
2. Yes, Vega is the next generation of AMD cards. However: price, availability, performance etc are all unknowns at this point. It's really up to you.
3. AMD is the preferred brand mostly because they outperform nVidia in price and mining performance. The idea behind diy mining is to spend as little as possible. Some people re-use old cards, some buy new cards. There is no best card for every one. It all comes down to what you're willing to invest and your capability in modding to reduce wattage while maintaining good speeds. You will also need to factor in your electricity costs. For instance, a 390X will outperform a 470 on zCash, but will use twice as much power.
4. 8Gb cards tend to be a bit quicker than 4gb cards, but not by much, at least with XMR. 4Gb is perfectly fine for mining. If you can get 8Gb for the same price, go for it. Also, 8Gb might have a higher resale value. Also, the memory brand is an important factor for performance and stability. I only have experience with Sapphire cards, and they come (or used to at least) with either Hynix, Elpida or Samsung. Samsung is the best, at least from what I can see. They overclock better and are more stable all around
Then again, if you'd tell us what you're planning on doing and what your variable are (budget, electricity etc.), we can get more specific
