Building High-End Gaming System - does it make sense to mine on it while idle?

[mechs]

I am building a high end gaming system.  Gaming is its primary purpose, though sadly I work full-time so it will be idle much of the time.  I am buying this system regardless of whether I mine a Bitcoin or alt-coin.  However, I need to decide on the type of graphics cards to buy.  If purely for the point of gaming, I would buy dual GTX 790s since they have higher benchmarks for the games I will be playing.  However, dual Radeon 7990s with moderate overclocking will more or less match their performance in most situations for about the same cost. 

Will it be profitable to mine bitcoins or another alt-coin with the system while it is idle if I get the Radeon's?  Or will the power costs likely cost more than the coins produced, therefore I would just be better off getting the GTXs since I would then not bother mining and take the small gaming performance bonus instead. I do not expect this system to ever pay for itself.  I just trying to figure out if I should put in the 7990s versus the GTX 790s if it will be even a little profitable.  I keep hearing GPU mining is dead, does that mean power costs in such a setup will outstrip mining profits?  My plan would be to sell the BTC needed to pay the increased power bills and then hold the rest of the BTC until they are easier to spend (I dream of amazon accepting them someday).

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[empoweoqwj]

GPU mining is dead dead dead. Your dream of using BTC to pay the power bill and saving the rest to "spend at amazon one day" is a dream in more ways than one 

[BitCoiner2012]

GPU mining is dead dead dead. Your dream of using BTC to pay the power bill and saving the rest to "spend at amazon one day" is a dream in more ways than one 

I can't say that it would be immensely profitable, but I can't stand to run a computer without mining. I'm wasting electricity, doing tasks that don't impede mining, it drives me nuts. I know I could be making more than it cost to run the machine, so I always mine. Even if I could be just breaking even, that sounds a lot better than net negative.. In other words, I don't much listen to folks who say it isn't worth it to mine with GPU - I find that it is. Not BTC, as perhaps traditionally, but investigate alt coins and you'll find a world of options for your old hardware. Though from time to time I still do switch to PPS BTC as a "old standard", so to speak.

[mechs]

Well, I want it to be at least a bit profitable since I would be putting in my 2nd choice graphics cards.  The Nvidia GTX 790s are amazing for gaming but are terrible for mining.  I am willing to use the Radeon 7990s, which are slightly inferior to GTXs for my gaming purposes, but only if it will have some economic benefit. 

[crazyates]

The heat and wear that you will force onto your GPU just for a few cents is NOT worth it. Plus, you will most likely see an increase in your electric bill that outweighs what few bitcents you will make.

Example: I recently started undervolting my GPUs to maintain the most profitable setting possible. Now, I shut them off, as I would have to undervolt and underclock to all hell just to not mine at a loss. This applies to BTC, but you might have a little better luck with LTC. However, your temps are going to be worse with LTC, and I wouldn't expect it to remain profitable forever.

Choice 1: Buy the GTX and game away
Choice 2: Buy the Radeons and mine LTC while at work. You might make a few (literally, a few) $ on the side, but is that extra heat, power, and wear/tear worth it?

This is the reason people are saying that you shouldn't buy GPUs to mine on anymore.

[BitCoiner2012]

The heat and wear that you will force onto your GPU just for a few cents is NOT worth it. Plus, you will most likely see an increase in your electric bill that outweighs what few bitcents you will make.

Example: I recently started undervolting my GPUs to maintain the most profitable setting possible. Now, I shut them off, as I would have to undervolt and underclock to all hell just to not mine at a loss. This applies to BTC, but you might have a little better luck with LTC. However, your temps are going to be worse with LTC, and I wouldn't expect it to remain profitable forever.

Choice 1: Buy the GTX and game away
Choice 2: Buy the Radeons and mine LTC while at work. You might make a few (literally, a few) $ on the side, but is that extra heat, power, and wear/tear worth it?

This is the reason people are saying that you shouldn't buy GPUs to mine on anymore.

I suppose the difference is most of my needs can be met on a 5870, so I'm absolutely not out buying anything, but if I were to built a new PC, the miner in me would likely choose a miner friendly card, but I always buy very outdated cards when gaming. These seem to run recent games really well. But if I were doing it solely for gaming and it somehow compromised that, I suppose I wouldn't.

[notlist3d]

GTX is not good for mining even at top level.

[mechs]

I realize that, if I get a GTX I will not be mining at all. 

[mufa23]

Maybe some 7850s? http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html

They are currently one of the best Price/Performance ratios, and should be pretty good for gaming. They'll also be great for mining. Can expect ~360MH/s (SHA256) or ~360KH/s (Scrypt). I plan on buying some of these when I upgrade from my 6850s. And yes, mine with your PC when not using it. I leave my gaming PC on 24/7. When I'm sleeping or working, they are mining.

EDIT: Maybe some 7950s if you really need the extra performance.

[Trillium]

Out of curiosity, how many tens/hundreds of monitors do you need to be running at max res to take advantage of dual 7990s?

To the others in this thread: I thought we'd already demonstrated several times that litecoins enhanced profitability makes GPU mining still potentially profitable for some people (depending on electricity costs). While everyone's situation is different, you can google the profitability calcs and work out for yourself if its worth it. To say outright that GPU mining is completely dead ON ALL COINS is laughable, but I agree for directly mining BTC it has become unattractive.

I am still mining altcoins on my meager 1.2 GH/s of GPU's in Australia at $0.28 /kWh and making a profit on a weekly average, plus getting free heating in our winter. How is GPU mining dead again?

[crazyates]

plus getting free heating in our winter. How is GPU mining dead again?

It's summer here in the US, and now you have to factor in added cooling costs. Free heat is fine when you want it, but a few thousand kW of heat dumped into your house when it's already 35C outside is a giant PITA.

[BitCoiner2012]

I do miss winter.

[Quix]

Don't buy 2x 7990s for gaming. The 7990 is a dual GPU card which makes than a quad-crossfire configuration. 4 GPU Crossfire scales badly, you really wouldn't see a big improvement over one card.

If it's for mining, then it would be fine, but for gaming more than 2 GPUs is a waste of money, especially Radeons.

[mechs]

I just read that - so it will be either dual GTX 680s or dual Radeon 9970s.

[Flashman]

Depends 100% on local power cost IMO.

ATM I think 10c kW/h is about break even on BTC with something of that spec, which is fine if you just want to hoard BTC and sell it later. If mining to immediately sell you'll wanna be paying 8c or less.

Then even on alts, I don't think you'll want to be mining to sell immediately on anything more than 12c or so, and be at about breakeven on 16c.

People here are a bit funny about the "profit". Claim they're not making "anything" if it's less than a few hundred a month. Hell, I'll take $10 a month, something is better than nothing, extra $120 at Christmas comes in handy.

Also you can take a long term view that say BTC will be worth $500 in three years time, then bearing in mind that you just won't get near 10% from many bank investments then mining a bitcoin for less than about $375 now is a good expected return. (i.e. 375 invested at 10% would equal 500 in 3 years) but YMMV of course. Also buying them is cheaper, but you may consider "break even" to be about 15% above market, due to whatever fees, commissions etc it takes you to get fiat into exchanges to buy.

[HellDiverUK]

Mining LTC while idle is probably OK, you can make a bit off that, but be aware it will add a LOT of heat.  I run a pair of 7950 in a machine, and it adds about 5C to the ambient temp of the house.  It'll be good in winter but it's mad in the summer. 

[polarhei]

Unless you have water cooled, it may be reasonable to do some when in idle.

[Duffer1]

If you're interested in LTC then buy them, they're far less expensive to just buy than any hardware investment you could make.  You could either buy a $300 gfx card or 125 LTC.  That $300 card will take you an eternity to mine 125 LTC on your own, and is virtually guaranteed to cause an early heatdeath of the card.

[Trillium]

If you're interested in LTC then buy them, they're far less expensive to just buy than any hardware investment you could make.  You could either buy a $300 gfx card or 125 LTC.  That $300 card will take you an eternity to mine 125 LTC on your own, and is virtually guaranteed to cause an early heatdeath of the card.

Shhhh guy stop wrecking our fun.

[Duffer1]

Shhhh guy stop wrecking our fun.

 Sorry hehe

IMO It is a good idea to actually do some of the mining on your own for sure just to get a better understanding of what's going on & how to use pools/wallets etc..  It's just that it's going to cause heartache in the future when the gaming rig dies.  If it wasn't going to be his primary computer then it wouldn't be too much of an issue.