My humble guide to mining altcoin (newbie friendly)

Someone suggested I cross past this guide here. I posted in the beginners section. So here goes.

Im not an expert nor claim to be. I have been doing this for about a year now on and off. I have made mistakes, blown up computers and generally now only gotten to the point to where I am making a profit. So I thought I would share this and maybe stop someone from screwing up like I did, or have to spend days researching.

DISCLAIMER: Use and share this as you see fit, but if you do give props back to me and bitcointalk.org. Please.

(Nothing makes you madder than seeing someone using you post and claiming it as their own)

Lets get started.

Hardware: I have tried everything from laptops to desktops. While I have found desktops to be great, they take up too much space. I prefer a laptop, plus mining on the go.
My rig is an ASUS ROG. 3.8 I7 with 8 threads. Nvdia geforce 4 gig video card. 1 TB hard drive and 16 gigs of ram. Getting the right rig is hard and expensive, but there are tricks.

In the US there are rent to own place. Get a comp, pay monthly while you use it. Good part about that is you dont have to shell out a bunch of money at one time, bad is i will be paying $200 a month for 18 months. Bonus is if your paying on it and it breaks they will fix or replace it for free. So you can have 2 months left on payoff, it breaks, and they can give you a new computer that you only have to pay on for 2 months. Basically my computer retails for about $2,000 when it is over I will have paid about $3,500 for it. Still not a bad deal. Dont have a store like that? Go online. Sears and Kmart both do the same thing as well as other sites. NOTE: online payments are taken usually directly from a checking account so be careful. All these places listed have the ability to lock the computer remotely if you do not pay.

There is also the option of renting a VPS. Amazon has some great ones that you only pay per minute, but very pricey. For a basic system without GUI support running 24/7 is $14 a month.

CPU vs GPU: Yes it is possible to mine only using a CPU, but not in any way profitable. My CPU nets me about 300 H/S on ETH, but my GPU nets me about 20 MH/s Even the smallest GPU will be a big difference. I sugest nothing under 2 gig though. Also some speed can be lost if you use a PCIE riser. Again this is mostly personal preference.

Operating system: The main ones are Linux and Windows. I hate windows with a passion, but it has its perks. Personally I use Ubuntu. Everything is mostly command line, but options for mining are way more than with windows. On windows options are very limited to mine with both CPU and GPU. If your only mining on CPU than windows is perfect. Again, personal preference. NOTE: If you are not familiar with Linux than you will be doing a lot of research to get things done. I love research so Im good with that.

Wallets: On-line of off-line, personal preference. On-line allows you to access it from multiple computers, but leaves you venerable to hackers. Offline and GUI wallets are more secure, but a pain. I use both. All my gains are on thumb drive wallets, but when I am ready to cashout I use holytransactions. While not very secure, you can transfer your coins for giftcards or prepaid credit cards. So I only transfer to holy when Im cashing out.

Overclock: Honestly I dont use it. I have found that the benifits are not worth the risk of frying your comp. Using ubuntu I set my CPU govorners off and max out my CPU. Unless you have a huge rig than I wouldnt suggest it, just tweak the one that you have.

Pools and solomining. If your on a CPU only, than solo mining will NOT make you a profit. Pools might though. Unless you have a super rig than solo might not be the best choice. Even I do not mine solo. I have found most pools are basically the same. I use minergate. I like how they have a GUI and command line for both windows and linux. Some people dont trust them, but I have never had a problem. Their minimum payouts are a little higher than most pools, but the hashrates are better. NOTE: research PLNS and PPS

What to mine? That comes down to hashrate vs coin price. I get a better hashrate mining eth than xmr, but I make more mining xmr in the long run. This is just something you will have to test. Let your rig run for an hour on each coin, times that amount by 24 and that will be close to your daily mine. Also factor in time and electricity cost. Small fast profits are way better than long term big profits. Ill explain NOTE: My comp runs on solar power, pricey for just one thing but worth it.

Say running your rig 24/7 for one solid year nets you one bitcoin. Broken down at $9,000 per coin. Lets do the math
24X365 is 8760 hours. 8760 divided by 9000 is .97. So your makeing 97 cents an hour not counting electricity, internet and other costs.

now say you mine ETH at $700 a coin, but in the same time frame you can mine 350 coins
24X365=8760 hours. 350X700=245000 8670 divided by 245000=2.85. So your making $2.85 cents an hour. Again not factoring in expenses.

Conclusion is that just because a coin is more expensive than another, doesnt mean it will net you the highest profit. Pick the coin that is right for you rig, not the coin you want.

Cloud mining: If the site is reputable yes, if you found it on google, then no.

Protecting yourself from hackers and thieves:; Nothing is free. There are a ton of sites that offer immediate returns for 0 work. Just send them some bitcoin and 24 hours later they will send you triple back. Use common sense. Most of the time when someone gets their coins stolen it is because of stupidity and/or greed. Sending crypto is not like writing a check. Once you send it then there is no way to get it back.

Internet usage: that plays a huge part, especially in countries where internet is limited or unreliable. If you have the means get a dedicated line just for you miner. Mine has a 25 gig per minute dedicated line I pay $25 a month for.

Ok, those are the basics. This little info was days of reasearch and trial and error. I know it isnt a lot of information, but it helps. I have always believed in pointing people in the right direction and letting them go rather than holding their hand. If you have any questions than feel free to ask and I will answer. If I dont have the answer I will help you find it. Happy hunting.