Bitcoin Forum

So I'm new here and I'm wondering about some of the members first rigs and any advice on setting up a decent first mining rig they might like to part with  :)

Wait two months and ask again. ASICs are upcoming.

ASICs will most likely be too expensive for the casual miner. there will most likely be GPU mining for a while, it just won't be particularly profitable.

200-300 bucks for a 5gh miner? A good card costs more and does just maybe 20% of it. ASICs will screw the difficulty.

Been using my work ring with only a GTX 560 that hashes around 55MHash over at Slush's. I think my cooling isn't that great cuz latetly it's been blue screening alot.

So I'm curious to read what people recommend for a rig, although I'm saving up for a BFL Jalepeno, if they ever ship!

Yeah, a 7950 could do about 500Mh/s for nearby same electricity.

first rig 4x4870s (was old gaming rig) current gaming rig and main bitcoin mining rig 2x5870s pushing out 720MH/s (no overclock just very fine tuning with GUIminer) and my new dedicated mining rig currently sit in the corner with its 6870 running away at just under 290MH/s iv also had a little computer inbetween the rigs with a 6570 low profile running at about 70MH/s

overall if you want anything to do with mining its got to be a ATI card anything after ATI my

True. Get an actual card, dont buy old crap. Nvidia is nothing I would prefer.

That's pretty cheap actually... might be worth plugging it in to my extra PCI-E and leave the 560 for display.

It is, 200 bucks each. I changed all my old cards in my rigs to 7950ies. That was worth it. Old cards sold on ebay for 50-100 bucks. Worked.

Awesome

wonder how efficient GPU mining is nowadays

even assuming to have free energy, would it be powerful enough to get any result at all?

The energy (besides startup) is the biggest cost. Right now i'm just experimenting with my ATI 5750 and getting 208 Mhash/sec Not too shabby. however. the most efficient GPUs are impossible to find or cost up to $1000 now because of scarcity. Youtube Bitcoin mining rig. Most miners have RACKS of GPUs all mining at the same time. My rig at my speed would get me about $1 a day if prices are good. But compound this with 20-30 GPUs and that would start adding up quickly!

Of course I think right now you can make more money trading BTC like a stock market. However once the ASIC are more available, GPUs will basically be obsolete. Avalon rigs are estimating 60Ghash/sec That's 60,000MHash/s or roughly 300x as fast as a standard GPU for $1300 (first batch being shipped now) the 2nd and 3rd batches are also sold out at 75BTC each. I'm hoping to save enough for batch 4 or get my hands on a butterflylabs rig. (if they are legit)

Make sure to come back and update us on how it's going

Lol.  You're thinking of BFL. Realize that they're never going to deliver and that they are in fact a cleverly designed scam. xD

Would the difficulty of mining actually get reduced if BTC stay down and people stop mining due to costs?

Do remember that difficulty levels, based on past performance, increase by approximately 18% each two weeks.

no because the asic are cominggggggggggggg  ;D

and gpu will switch to alternate coins