Best rig to build for $160?

[datguys]

I know it's not going to get me much, but I'm wondering what can I build for 160? Which allows me to upgrade in the future? and hopefully the fastest possible?

[BitcoinBarrel]

Honestly, I would buy an HD Radeon 5850 MSI Twin Frozr for like $100 or cheaper if you can find it used. Then you can start mining Alt coins and even Bitcoins. PM me for some good mining pools. With a GPU mining rig, you can resell the graphics card for more than you bought it for a lot of times.

[Pathi]

I know it's not going to get me much, but I'm wondering what can I build for 160? Which allows me to upgrade in the future? and hopefully the fastest possible?

You could try a couple of the Block Erupter USB sticks. They are around $60 each on amazon.

[Damnsammit]

Honestly, I would buy an HD Radeon 5850 MSI Twin Frozr for like $100 or cheaper if you can find it used. Then you can start mining Alt coins and even Bitcoins. PM me for some good mining pools. With a GPU mining rig, you can resell the graphics card for more than you bought it for a lot of times.

Win!  That's exactly what I would do.

You should be able to get close to 0.1btc a month with one of those.

[boxofspuds]

But with current btc/usd prices,  wouldn't he end up with more btcs by simply buying them?

I know that's not asking the question that was asked, but depending on the end goal of buying the card (educational vs beginning to his btc empire) buying btc could be a legitimate alternative

also 7790s run 125 at newegg and hash around 170 to 190 kh/s

[Damnsammit]

But with current btc/usd prices,  wouldn't he end up with more btcs by simply buying them?

I know that's not asking the question that was asked, but depending on the end goal of buying the card (educational vs beginning to his btc empire) buying btc could be a legitimate alternative

also 7790s run 125 at newegg and hash around 170 to 190 kh/s

Depends... if you get a used 5850 for $80, that same $80 would get you .147btc (at 544/btc)

Based on LTC/BTC conversion of 0.02762 BTC  per LTC, and the current mining calculation of 340kH/s you could earn .11LTC per day (or about 0.003btc)

So... in (0.147 / 0.003) 49 Days you would break even not factoring in electricity.  In the meantime you could use the profits to buy another card at around the 30 day mark and then double your hashrate.

Mining is not always about ROI so much as it is about having a hobby and converting electricity into coins.

[BitcoinBarrel]

I'm on my second GPU mining rig after I sold my first one. I paid $90 for my HD 6950 and it mined me close to 0.5 BTC before I resold it. My current setup is making about .005 BTC per day not bad. The HD 5850 is the best bang for the buck and gets 340+ KH/s overclock. Mine isn't even overclocked and is getting 306 KH/s easy.

[datguys]

You guys are only mining scrypt? Which is easier sha256 or scrypt for mining? Or are they both the same on new currencies. I will only be mining alt coins (sha256) because the hardware seems easier and can mine new currencies easier right?

[Damnsammit]

You guys are only mining scrypt? Which is easier sha256 or scrypt for mining? Or are they both the same on new currencies. I will only be mining alt coins (sha256) because the hardware seems easier and can mine new currencies easier right?

Wrong.  

If you are mining SHA256 with a GPU, you are doing it wrong.

Scrypt only for GPU mining.

[datguys]

You guys are only mining scrypt? Which is easier sha256 or scrypt for mining? Or are they both the same on new currencies. I will only be mining alt coins (sha256) because the hardware seems easier and can mine new currencies easier right?

Wrong.  

If you are mining SHA256 with a GPU, you are doing it wrong.

Scrypt only for GPU mining.

I know I'm gonna mine with other hardware. just need advice of what

[CoolIT]

I know it's not going to get me much, but I'm wondering what can I build for 160? Which allows me to upgrade in the future? and hopefully the fastest possible?

Editted.
You can't directly mine bitcoins with any regular hardware. you need something in the ASIC category... and at 160$... well, besides the USB thingies, I can't think of any other solution. And I wouldn't recommend it because the difficulty of bitcoin mining is ridiculous. Also third gen asic miners are coming out early 2014, making anyone with under 100Ghash of power see revenues drop drastically.


At your budget, your best bet is to mine litecoins, it might be an alternative cryptocurrency but it's the second and safest after bitcoin.


160 is very little, also it's hard to say what to get as I don't know what you have or don't have.


Someone already pointed to a Radeon 5850
I agree 100%
You might also be able to find a Radeon 6950 for cheap. I bought mine for between 100$ and 150$

I would find a used crossfire or SLI motherboard (AM2, AM2+ AM3, LGA775) for future upgrade capabilities, a milk crate, lots of tie raps.
CPU could be anything, even a p4 celeron will do the job... they go for nothing.
Any buddy that likes computers might have some crappy DDR2 ram laying around... like 3 bars of 256mb ddr3-533... It's shit and useless.
PSU might be the most expensive part. Minimum 450W for 1 card, 700W for 2 cards.


All in all, you can build a decent litecoin miner with 2 cards (5770,5830,5850,6870,6850/70 for about 400$
You can start it for about 160$ if you find the right parts for the right price and upgrade it as you go...

The challenge is research and to find the right parts for the right price.


This is my third machine, I added it recently, just before litecoin value jumped above 20$




50$ used board
free celeron cpu
free ram
free ide 40gig harddrive
150$ 6950 with aftermarket cooler (Flashed to 6970 by original owner)
120$ 6950
100$ 700W psu
Milk Crate and tie raps.

Hashes about 900Khash for litecoins


All in all, I hope you have a lot of fun !

[DrG]

I get jelly every time i see those milkcrate builds.  Even with an open air build on a wood plank and a box fan I get warm temps.  If I stuffed into a milk crate it would melt.

[timk225]

LOL if all you can spend if $160, don't even bother trying to build a BitCoin miner.  $160 won't even get you much for LiteCoin mining.

[btcmonster]

buy a used radeon 5850 they are the best u can get for that price