What types of computer hardware do I need to mine crypto currencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin?
With the explosion in price of Dogecoin the last few weeks, I'm very curious how to mine it. I've seen several websites out there pointing to group mining and software like Easyminer.
But it all feels a bit overwhelming. Any advice for someone just starting out on what I should buy to mine effectively? What software should I use? etc
Answers ( 2 )
My son looked into this a year or two ago... and found that the value of the mined Bitcoins was comparable to the cost of the electricity required to run the computers that hard. I've since heard that Bitcoin mining uses a double-digit percentage of all the electrical power in the USA; that may be wrong, but nevertheless it seems like a poor use of electrical power, which is about to become significantly more scarce -- I hope -- as fossil fuel power plants get decommissioned.
Don't do it. Please!
Hey Michael,
I was actually just talking about this with a friend of mine. We both trade crypto and I was even thinking of how to do mining as well. I think the main thing with mining Bitcoin, Dogecoin, or anything else is that with one or two home computers mining for coins, you'd have to have them mining 100% of the time, using crazy amounts of electricty. So, if you plan on doing this, you'll need to have or purchase a separate computer just for mining 24/7. Even doing that though, performing the mining algorithm is (apparently) not necessarily the hardest part. It's really that with one or two computers, your chances of mining a coin are so slim that even with brute force it will probably take hundreds or even thousands of years to successfully do it unless you have a supercomputer. That's one reason large companies have bitcoin mining farms that are acres of supercomputers mining for bitcoin. They are running 24/7 and splitting the work up between the number of computers they have runnning. Plus, they're spending millions of dollars in electricity to mine the coins too. Another thing to keep in mind is that you'll need to keep the computer cold...like freezing. There are even underwater computer farms which are lowered to the bottom of the ocean just to keep the computers as cold as possible so they don't overheat from running these algorithms 24/7.
Best of luck! If you find something that works though, please let me know! haha
Sincerely,
Nick