I like to think of myself as fairly clued up with computers but i am struggling to find some real answers on how to start crypto mining. I’ve a fairly good setup that i think would be good for it but what software do I need? Is bitcoin best to mine or should I look at others like dogecoin? How easy is it to make money with a home PC? can I make more than it costs in electricity?
The first question I would ask is when you mention you have a fairly good set up, what sort of hardware do you have? The golden days of mining most types of coin on a standard PC or even gaming PC are sadly, largely, over and those who are making a large profit tend to be running specialist miners in countries with low electricity charges.
Not to put you off if you want to try it but it is hard to make money from a normal residential PC paying residental electricity prices. Of course if you have solar panels or don’t pay power bills you might be able to make a profit.
One thing you’ll absolutely need is a good GPU - if your graphics card is more than 3-4 years old it’s unlikely your PC will be powerful enough to mine with.