Bitcoin Forum

Hey everyone first time poster! So I have the chance to get an Antminer S5 for around $90 usd in perfect working condition. I have a psu already for it. And the cost of electricity for it is free! I will be running it in a dorm room and since I don't pay for the electricity, its free....well technically I already paid for it with the housing price but there's no additional charges for more electricity.

So is the S5 still a viable option for mining? I'm not by any means looking to make bank with it just something to let run for the next 3 years of when I'm in college and make some money lol.

4 months at current rate on an obsolete ASIC is very very bad. You ougtha pay no more than 2 months worth ROI. Also those things are loud, really not a dorm miner.

Try to find some S3's for 10-20$ or something. You can run them on silent 120mm PC fans.

Hi niiic,

If your electric is free maybe you still profit. May I know where your country for mining? I'm Indonesian, and mining with 5 units S7, after halving day my earning drop up to 75%, I interest to mining to your place if you electric is free

you can not be profit if you mining bitcoin while you can handle electricity fee, but if you can handle electricity fee, and you mining other sha-256 coin like uno, or anything else, then i think you can get profit.

You realize what you are saying makes absolutely no sense ?

Why the hell is so difficult to say:
If your electricity fee is bigger than your profits don't mine!

Are you getting paid by the word?

 2 month ROI is a thing of the past - I don't anticipate ANYTHING managing that any more, and it's totally unrealistic.

 For that matter, what has managed a 2 month ROI at ANY point in the last 2 years? I can't think of anything offhand, unless you got a near-literal steal on the price....

 OP specified "his dorm" - no WAY he's going to be able to host anything.

This is my concern as well.
The only downside I see for you is that the S5 is the loudest miner I've tried. If you don't mind it I suppose you could get it.
Resale value won't be much after you're done with it though.

No its very actual and very real. I've managed 1.5-2 months ROI consistently, repeatedly for the last year. People saying 4month ROI is the minimum sound like what most people like to propagate repeatedly to other people on the forum instead of reality/what you can really do. (actual numbers, actual facts)

If you have free electricity you can get 2 months ROI with very little problems. Just check the market place... people are selling stuff like SP20 and S5 for 40-50$...

Then one S5 earn me 30$ per month atm. SP20 would be fairly similar. 50/30$ = 1.6mo
You still got headroom to include ROI on PSU and misc hardware, though i do not typically count those since they are reusable.

Do you have free electricity ? If no, than don't waste your money.
If you have, than don't buy antminer s5, collect money and buy antminer s7 or s9, if you'll buy s9, it will be great for you.

I think that if you'll buy antminer s5, even if you have free electricity, it will be very foolishness.

Personally I suggest you to don't buy if you don't want to waste your money. I don't know what anyone will tell you, but you make decision.

Free electricity is the real question, S5s are pretty reliable miners; loud and efficient for their age. Although not as great as the S3 imo(Better build quality and customization), if you have free electricity, go for a cheap S3. They're much more quiet than an S5 and run cool and most importantly are extremely strong miners with a metal shroud! Unless you have free electricity, no, it's not worth it for you.

Note that their fans can be changed to more quiet fans; I've changed my S5 fans to a much more quiet PWM fan, and the temps are nearly the same with much less sound.

Do a research to see if it can be used to mine a SHA altcoin, that is about your only chance of earning something via mining S5

 I reiterate my comment about "unless you get a near-literal steal on the price".

I reiterate my comment about "thats just the price they go for on the marketplace atm". :P

Might also want to consider if you will have any room mates in the dorm room. They might have a great big NO with the sound and heat.

For $90, probably worth giving it a go. Especially if you don't have an alternate way to obtain bitcoins.

Free power is great but don't under estimate the noise issue in a small room.  Be ready to downclock the miner to quiet it down some.

The S5 is a go, if you have free power. A rock solid miner.

I would prefer a SP20 that you can downclock and lower the fan to like 20%.

But this is me :P

I did not see anyone focus on this part but running for 3 years is pretty unrealistic.  The S5 is already 3 generation's old at this point, so add 3 more years.... hard to say what will be out.  I would say I would not plan on running it for 3 year's as even if it is still in working order chances are it will be very out of date.

Also know the S5 really is not quiet or cool (speaking at running at default settings).   So I also am not sure I would want it running in my dorm room.   I have lived in dorm room's .... not the best place for a miner I personally left my miners at my home and did not bring to a dorm.   Although I think I was GPU mining back them.... been a bit.   

But to make it short if you are planning to mine in 3 years in advance I would wait a while to get a miner for that.   We really have no idea in 3 year's what current miner's will be like, so lot's of things up in the air.