Thinking of building a rig to farm alt coins, i am willing to spend 2-2.5k, can anyone give me some good specs?
I also wanted to know how i can set it up to mine the most profitable coin.
for mobos I recommend one of the 6 slot z77 motherboards, like the z77 m power $100-$150
Grab a celeron 2 for the processor - $50ish
4gb ram (if you're going to run windows 7, this is what i recommend minimum) $30-50
1500watt power supply and or two 750w power supplies. I recommend getting atleast a bronze rated, if not gold. i've had great luck with the Raidmax power supplies. Expect to pay $300+ for a 1500W.
All that said and done and your looking at about $500 before video cards. I recommend 7950's, 7970's, 270x, 280x, and 290's I haven't played around much with the 290's, but I hear they are good.
For hash rates, I use 7950's and 280x's and get 560 KH on the 7950's super stable and cool, and 700kh on the 280's. Yes I could push them more, but temps get past 70 degrees and you can pretty much hear the cards dying.
Make sure to use CGminer 3.7.2 and to look up the stats for your card on litecoin mining hardware, so you're getting optimal KH.
Some side notes, buy Powered risers only. Everything else is a pain / may or may not work. It's hit or miss so just go powered. I also use the frozen CPU power supply dummy plugs which help in using 2 power supplies for 1 rig.
I also have perfect dimensions for an open frame rig, I made mine out of wood.
finding the best coins to mine can be a hassle and make you switch literally all day long. I recommend finding a couple coins that are consistently doing well, and staying with those. There is multi-mining pools but many of them have had shit payouts for me.
Any questions feel free to PM me.