Monero CPU mining, how much memory to include in a new build

Question

I would like to try Monero CPU mining on a new Linux box I would like to build. More memory the better for CryptoNight algorithm, right? Is there an upper limit at a point where more memory is not effective. I'm thinking should I add 32GB? 64GB? Or 128GB? Would I need a particulary fast CPU? I was suggested a 1x AMD Ryzen 7 1700X or 1x AMD Ryzen 7 1700 Those are 3.8 GHz, and 3.7 GHz respectively.

Is this high-end configuration worth it as far as recouping my investment. I'm also considering renting out my processor power on the Golem project. I'm sure I'll need to include a GPU for that.

Thanks for any thoughts the community may have for me.

Answer 1

For mining, system RAM doesn't matter much. You need 2MiB per CPU thread, but CPU cache is way faster than RAM so it's putting a cap on what you can do. For example, 8-core CPU with 8MiB cache can optimally mine with about 4 threads. Beyond that, there will not be enough room in the cache, and it'll have to use RAM, which is slow so...

For GPU mining, it has its own memory, which is not as fast as CPU's, but GPUs compensate for that by sheer number of threads they can execute at the same time. Again, number of cores multiplied by 2MiB is the minimum RAM you need on a GPU.