Ye olde hardwaree: CPU or GPU?

[raw]

Disregarding efficiency and other concerns right here, I have a box with an AMD Athlon XP+ 1600 @ 1.4 GHz and a NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 100/200. Now, both these components are sufficiently old enough to not show up on any hardware list regarding bitcoin. Where would I mine with these components, the CPU or the GPU?

The CPU makes a whopping 450 khash/s. 

[Yeti]

Not at all?!

If you do not have a dedicated rig and an efficient GPU (read ATI 5xxx or 6xxx series) it's not worth the cost of electricity, noise and heat. If you do, join a pool.

You should get hashes 1,000 times that amount, that would give you 0.25 BTC per day in mining. Of course, if you want to do it just for fun / enjoying the technical side of it, go ahead. You might get a couple of Satoshis.

[ssateneth]

Your GPU doesn't support any sort of special calculation stuff aside from ... well, regular video card stuff.

Your only chance is to CPU mine. You're probably looking at maybe a few hundred kilohash/second, if that.

[PLaci1982]

Disregarding efficiency and other concerns right here, I have a box with an AMD Athlon XP+ 1600 @ 1.4 GHz and a NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 100/200. Now, both these components are sufficiently old enough to not show up on any hardware list regarding bitcoin. Where would I mine with these components, the CPU or the GPU?

The CPU makes a whopping 450 khash/s. 

I recommend you:

• Find an IT Museum close to you.
• Donate your current PC to the Museum
• Buy a new PC, with a HD 5xxx / HD 6xxx card

[jh1523]

Despite what the naysayers here will tell you, there is a way for you to mine with some eficiency on that hardware.

Now, motherboards of that generation will have only AGP and PCI slots, no PCI-E. The best video card that is suitable for mining and available in AGP form is a 4650; it can be found on a few websites, cheapest I found is here http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD-465X-ZPF2-R&cat=VCD

(actually google shopping has a few hits for 4670 AGP, but they're all over $120 - not worth it IMHO for an extra few Mhash/s)

According to https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison you can expect around 30Mhash/s from it, which will make you about 0.015 BTC/day. It's about the same hash rate I get from a geforce 8800GT.

(edit) Newegg has an AGP 4670 for $99.99 after rebate if you're so inclined: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161337

(edit2) There are also a few PCI (not PCI-E) 5450 cards at newegg for around $100 a pop, each predicted to give a whopping 15Mhash/s or so.

[Dargo]

If you just want to do this for fun, go for it. But if you want profit, you're going to need a new rig with good card(s) for mining.