To answer this I'll go backwards in what you asked. Yes it is mined in the same way as bitcoin with some alterations, bitcoin uses the hash algorithm SHA-256, while Decred uses Blake-256 with 14 rounds compared to the default 8 so it needs to work more compared to Blakecoin which also uses the default Blake-256. (This is a lite explanation as it's more complex but there will be a full doumentation that will be released when the mainnet is released by the devs.) For some guide right now (Again because there is no testnet/mainnet software and full documentaion) I would recommend using AMD GPUs as the software is more designed for their architecture but Nvidia is a close second but not recomended when getting a new card. I would recomend the R9 Nano at this time as it's cheaper than the fury from the stores i'm looking at and you get more performance for less wattage. But if you have a few GPUs arround or already have a close modern card in the last 2 years, I would use them/that until the next series come out later this year as they will cost the same and have a better performance/watt ratio to this series. To answer this I'll go backwards in what you asked.

Yes it is mined in the same way as bitcoin with some alterations, bitcoin uses the hash algorithm SHA-256, while Decred uses Blake-256 with 14 rounds compared to the default 8 so it needs to work more compared to Blakecoin which also uses the default Blake-256. (This is a lite explanation as it's more complex but there will be a full doumentation that will be released when the mainnet is released by the devs. Komodo KMD Mining Cal. ) For some guide right now (Again because there is no testnet/mainnet software and full documentaion) I would recommend using AMD GPUs as the software is more designed for their architecture but Nvidia is a close second but not recomended when getting a new card. I would recomend the R9 Nano at this time as it's cheaper than the fury from the stores i'm looking at and you get more performance for less wattage.

But if you have a few GPUs arround or already have a close modern card in the last 2 years, I would use them/that until the next series come out later this year as they will cost the same and have a better performance/watt ratio to this series. From the little information of the amount of decred gets mined per block per day(s) I would follow this untill the testnet is available and there is a real world figure of output to benchmark against. For this example; if each decred is worth $0.49 and a cheap R9 Nano is $499 (not including tax and shipping) dividing.49 into 499 will get you 10.

Decred so untill the figures comes out and is shown that you can get more than that per year by mining using a single nano excluding electricity cost, I say buy decred for now and maybe if you want to min get the Rx 400 series range of amd gpus comming out Q2/Q3 this year but if you want to start mining when the mainnet is launched I would get the Nano around now. From the little information of the amount of decred gets mined per block per day(s) I would follow this untill the testnet is available and there is a real world figure of output to benchmark against. For this example; if each decred is worth $0.49 and a cheap R9 Nano is $499 (not including tax and shipping) dividing.49 into 499 will get you 10. Decred so untill the figures comes out and is shown that you can get more than that per year by mining using a single nano excluding electricity cost, I say buy decred for now and maybe if you want to min get the Rx 400 series range of amd gpus comming out Q2/Q3 this year but if you want to start mining when the mainnet is launched I would get the Nano around now. Not really, as it's was a simple example as that is how much the nano cost in decred with the starting rate of $0.49 and setting a milestone in a year to see if you can get back the cost by mining as most people will mine 24/7 and profit mesure on a yearly basis. Many factors and variables of mining decred are the among to the performance of the card (giga hashes per second), the amount of decred per block, the difficulty level to mine, etc.

Decred (DCR) Hash rate. Mh/s Block reward. DCR Difficulty. Pool fee% Exchange rate. BTC Please note that calculations are based on mean.

Freedom2Choose estimated on mining using very rough values to estimate a profit and jolan stated that an nano is close to 2GH/s from early tests. So utill there are real world figures to use with the info that has been stated on the forums, my last post is what i recommend for now. Not really, as it's was a simple example as that is how much the nano cost in decred with the starting rate of $0.49 and setting a milestone in a year to see if you can get back the cost by mining as most people will mine 24/7 and profit mesure on a yearly basis.

Many factors and variables of mining decred are the among to the performance of the card (giga hashes per second), the amount of decred per block, the difficulty level to mine, etc. Freedom2Choose estimated on mining using very rough values to estimate a profit and jolan stated that an nano is close to 2GH/s from early tests.

So utill there are real world figures to use with the info that has been stated on the forums, my last post is what i recommend for now.