Sun Nov 26, 2017 2:08 am
1. Mining isn't very CPU dependent. You could probably get a used i3/i5 for the price of an 8th gen Pentium,but I'm not sure which one is better. depends on how multithreaded the mining software is. Yes, you need a hefty amount of ram.
2. Yes.
3. Withholding cloud based mining, you are purchasing hashpower, with a slight markup on top of fees for power, hardware, and maintainence costs. Usually it's much less profitable than doing it yourself, but much more convenient. Back in the day, I invested in Genesis mining. 0.15. got 0.03 back and then they stopped paying me out because the amount they were paying daily was too low. Just ask yourself - "What's the incentive for people to sell their hashpower if they can make profit from it by itself?
4. Depends on your graphics card. Some cards can pump out more hashes per second, but cost more. General consensus states that AMD cards will give a better bang for buck, since their STREAM processors handle cryptography much better than NVIDIA's CUDA. It also depends on the coin you are mining. Ethereum used to be the most profitable, but now you need to be constantly on the ball, swapping between he most profitable coins to make the most out of your investment.
5. It's risky, but if you're experienced with computers and do the preparation properly, you should be fine. Most people hear about mining and want to do it themselves just to make money. It's also a fun experience. I wouldn't encourage you to mine if you're a person who has no experience with Bitcoin, and just wants to dive in because of the idea of making an easy buck. Not to mention the additional hassles, like having to deal with your house's wiring to be able to handle the wattage you're pulling from the wall, RMAs in the case of faulty cards, Overclocking, Undervolting, and even selling the cards later when they become unprofitable.
theres a snake in my boot