I personally like the RX570/580 cards. Last month I was buying them for 300-330 each, hard to catch in stock but possible. I average 29mh/s for Eth while dual mining and about 125w per card. I wouldn't put more than 2 cards in a standard desktop unless you're using PCIE risers and have the cards mounted external to the case (ugly, but possible).
I don't have experience with the nvidia cards, imo they normally seem more expensive initial investment. AMD cards seem to hash better on Ethereum compared to equivalent performance nvidia cards (Ethereum is what I want to mine). Nvidia cards do better on other coins, I believe Equihash algo, than the AMD cards.
I ran 2 cards in my desktop while I was waiting on my server power supply to arrive from China for my dedicated rig. It's possible, but I'm much happier not mining on my main computer. When I want to play a game, i don't have to make sure to turn my primary card off mining first, etc. Sometimes I would accidentally overstress something and my computer would crash. Dedicated mining rig stays up all the time and keeps me warm in the winter
I don't have experience with the nvidia cards, imo they normally seem more expensive initial investment. AMD cards seem to hash better on Ethereum compared to equivalent performance nvidia cards (Ethereum is what I want to mine). Nvidia cards do better on other coins, I believe Equihash algo, than the AMD cards.
I ran 2 cards in my desktop while I was waiting on my server power supply to arrive from China for my dedicated rig. It's possible, but I'm much happier not mining on my main computer. When I want to play a game, i don't have to make sure to turn my primary card off mining first, etc. Sometimes I would accidentally overstress something and my computer would crash. Dedicated mining rig stays up all the time and keeps me warm in the winter