Bitcoin Forum

Hi Fellows,

So, I am a new guy in the mining world and just starting off. I have seen this 'SuchFlex' app on reddit and thought I should try it. I was able to make some bucks by running it for a few days on my home PC (GTX 950).

After reading some threads, I was able to figure out that this app uses the GPU to mine cryptocurrency (alt coins I guess). That's when I realized what mining is. I have then tried nicehash and got better returns comparatively.

I know there are mining profit calculators out there, but I don't think they are accurate (most of them aren't). To get my feet wet, I have ordered a used Antminer s3 off of eBay and will get it delivered shortly.

So, my question is... any idea of how much am I gonna earn if I point this miner to nicehash or keep mining at the default antpool? Something tells me that pointing it at nicehash would give me better returns, but I may be wrong?

Only way you will make money with that Antminer S3 is if you have free power and even then it will make you 30 cents a day.

Well, that's the thing that I don't get. If I am getting 50 cents a day by using my GTX 950 GPU on nicehash @ 9.xxx MH/s, how come I will earn only 30 cents if I mine using an ASIC that's 440 GH/s? I sure don't get the math here?  ???

Its a different algo. Now GPU is more profitable then BTC asic mining. It should of been common sense that if your S3 is making $24,444 daily and you can buy it for $20 then something doesn't add up.

How much was the S3

The S3 is inefficient right now, and it uses up too much electricity to make a profit; even if you had free electricity, it'd be slow profit. 95s are not suited for gpu mining, nor are all nvidia gpus except for a few algos. Gpu mining generally requires RX or r9 series gpus, of which the former is better and more efficient. Make sure you have good cooling on the card or heat will damage it.


If your electricity is above 0.09$/KwH, even the 1700-dollar S9 (upfront and not including shipping) won't even do you any good, with its 0.10W/GH efficiency.

$70 + $30 shipping == 100 bucks. BTW; I know that BTC mining isn't profitable anymore. I am looking for mining altcoins. like pointing the asic to nicehash or something. If I get this right, I would be able to mine any that uses SHA256 using S3. Nicehash miner mines multiple algo's.




I live in company warehouse and am not accountable for electricity cost. In other words, I don't pay for it. Assuming my electricity cost is 0 kWh what would I make on a day / week / month basis by running this asic 24 hours a day?
PS: I make roughly 50 cents per day using GTX 950 on nicehash.

It doesn't matter if you mine Bitcoin directly or on Nicehash some altcoin. Your S3 can only mine SHA256 coins and profitability is exactly the same as Bitcoin.

Right now you will make $0.30 a day, most likely in 3 months it will be $0.25 a day, in 6 months probably $0.20 a day... and so on.

You will never get your $100 back even with free electricity.

Aww... that sounds scary. If we calculate it like this, than S5 will make me somewhere around 90 cents a day with 1.2 TH/s and S7 would make only 3.50 a day, is that right? Just want to make sure I get the math? BTW; how did you get that 30 cents figure?

https://bitcoinwisdom.com/bitcoin/difficulty

There is a simple calculator there, just put in your speed.

Yes your other calculations are correct. However there is something called difficulty and when more miners come online, it means less profit to keep the supply constant.

Forget about the calculations. there is a way more simplified way for you to decide whether you should mine bitcoins or not.

Do you have free electricity? If you do, collect every underpriced miner out there and start the business.

If not, forget about it not worth the trouble. Just buy and hold them. It is cheaper.

That's the thing. this is a BTC calculator. Are you sure the profitability remains the same for every SHA256?


I have free electricity and that's the whole point of mining. I have bought one (S3) and it cost me about 100 bucks, but after reading the replies in this thread I had to ask the seller to cancel my order. I can't really buy and hold Bitcoins due to budget constraints.

I am looking to invest < 500 bucks in miner. Could you possible suggest where I can get my hands on underpriced miners? On a related note: how do you say that a miner is underpriced and not overpriced. I think the one I bought earlier was definitely overpriced.

nice hash is paying top dollar if you rent to them

USA - WestHashTotal Speed **: 18.8520
Standard    Quick new order    Fixed
Order   Price *   Limited **   Miners   Speed **
 F #1903885   1.2772   0.05   8   0.0440
 F #1905874   1.2124   3.00   653   2.9377
 S #1902534   1.1461   0.04   17   0.0459
 S #1904847   1.1460   9.00   1935   8.8434
 S #1902828   1.1451   0.10   27   0.0952
 S #1897780   1.1450   4.00   929   4.0492
 S #1902318   1.1439   0.10   22   0.0997
 S #1892284   1.1432   0.01   10   0.0076
 S #1900353   1.1430   0.03   4   0.0356
 S #1899702   1.1430   0.18   32   0.1993
 S #1900269   1.1430   0.30   69   0.3256
 S #1900347   1.1430   0.08   28   0.0854
 S #1900275   1.1430   0.03   8   0.0294
 S #1900304   1.1430   0.03   13   0.0340
 S #1900327   1.1430   0.03   12   0.0328
 S #1900246   1.1430   0.03   11   0.0304
 S #1907315   1.1428   0.01   7   0.0018
 S #1897011   1.1425   0.02   11   0.0180
 S #1887404   1.1415   0.01   3   0.0082
 S #1906335   1.1415   0.20   46   0.1942
 S #1902759   1.1415   0.03   9   0.0321
 S #1898737   1.1413   0.01   2   0.0102
 S #1867054   1.1413   0.52   110   0.5158
 S #1897607   1.1412   0.10   38   0.1103
 S #1903686   1.1411   4.00   478   1.0735     1.14  should be about   .089


this happens some times

https://www.nicehash.com/index.jsp?p=gstarted#seller

SHA256   stratum+tcp://sha256.eu.nicehash.com:3334
SHA256   stratum+tcp://sha256.usa.nicehash.com:3334


the s-3 is reliable   if you can do 1.14  ½ the time vs .089  

you can do okay

I think s-3 can be had cheaper then 70 bucks.


try here

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=75.0

read what people sell the s-3 for

Just make a ROI calculation. The miners you buy will make less and less bitcoins in time. You should always buy the most efficient ones. Don't put everything to the shopping cart. Search ebay, i am pretty sure there are sick deals there.

Personally, I wouldn't buy anything which have its ROI more than 8-10 months. 6 months: instabuy. More than a year: pass. Can find nothing? Skip mining.

I will take a look at the link. In fact, I did and realized that what I have bought is overpriced. Luckily, I have cancelled the order even before it was shipped (Sunday). By 1.14 I think you are suggesting me to go with S5 instead? I don't get the .089 thing.  ???

The S5 has better performance per GH and has more for the buck, you're better off going with that over the S3. Only major difference is the noise level, those can get pretty loud but should not be a big issue. In fact, several of these can be a nice investment if you don't want to spend much. Heck, you could even buy a S4 if you wanted, or even the S7.

All you need to do is look at this
https://www.nicehash.com/?p=stats&a=1
CLICK All on Zoom

Shows nicehash performance for the year. As you can see, you hardly make that much extra % mining there vs. mining BTC. Sometimes in a blue moon there is some nice shitcoin and people pay extra for you to mine it, however its rare and you can't count it on your ROI calculations.

That huge drop in July was the halving which killed mining for millions.

Also keep in mind that the S5 or S7 is crazy loud so you can't keep it at work, miners are not silent like GPUs.

He plans on using it in a warehouse so noise shouldn't be much of an issue anyways. Nicehash is still a bit above certain pools, it's a nice 1-2% boost most of the time I'd say. Miningrigrentals also lets you rent out rigs and sell hashpower, and it points hash towards your selected pool when it's not in use. There are thousands of choices out there.

I see this all the time,
I just bought this thing, now can someone explain how it works. Lol

If you have cheap or free power, and live in a cold climate, the S3 isn't horrible to run... as it will supplement your heat bill.
As for making back the $100... Not ever going to happen.
GPU mining alt coins is the way to go these days.

You need to do a LOT of research

lol... Yea, you are right. I have been doing research and I am sure I will land somewhere sooner or later.