Bitcoin Forum

Hello, sorry for my newbie question but i would like to start mining for Bitcoin.

I make a lot of searches on forum and i figure out this:

- mining with CPU is a loss of time
- mining with GPU is a waste of money (because video card are expensive and they consume to much power)
- mining with Butterflay products is not possible because the site is probably a SCAM and even it isn't it is stupid make a purchase and wait months for receive it!
- mining with Avalan products is not possible (no products available on its site)

So... what could i buy to seriously start to mining?

Thank you in advance for your reply and sorry for my english.

You buy nothing.

Meanwhile a few elite groups will take over mining.

Very long time before average joe can buy an ASIC miner, and when that time comes difficulty will be so high it will probably not be worth it.

Are ASIC bad for Bitcoin?

I would like to buy a bitcoin miner right now.
Is it possible?

When bitcoins were worth $1 regular joes could mine them without investing thousands.
When bitcoins are worth $100 then it becomes more of an investment to mine.

Makes perfect sense to me - and imo more than enough people have enough money to keep the network decentralized. 

More than likely you already have the equipment to be able to mine coins, if you have a desktop computer with a video card then check out the alt-coin section to mine some cheap coins that don't have very high difficulty.  Or, you could also buy from a hosted mining service to get started asap.

I don't have a desktop computer, just a laptop.
I'm searching the web for some USB FPGA cards, like Cairnsmore, Ztex, Terasic and so on that i would like to use with my BitMinter account.
None of these cards could be a good investment for me?
Theirs cost is under USD 1,000.

It won't be a very long time.  It's just new technology now and those who got on board early and risked with the right producers will profit most, as they should.

As the technology is easier to produce, more will do so and that supply will drive down the price of the technology in line with profitability similar to what GPUs have seen over the past few years.

The specificity of the hardware is a legitimate concern, as is how difficult it is to currently get an ASIC, but both will work themselves out through market forces.

Through all of it, and even right now, current miners have a vested interest in saying:

No they would be a VERY BAD investment for you.

go here:
http://tpbitcalc.appspot.com

Type in the details, BUT remember that the difficulty is generally changing about 9-13% UP each month....

It would take AT LEAST a year to regain your investment(if you ever do).
Far better you take that $1,000 buy bitcoins and sell with a 10% change, that way you make 10% in a week or so........
Wait for it to fall 10% re-buy.... then sell with a 10% gain..... (5-8% is currently the swing on bitcoins in a DAY...)

If you are good then you could make 100% of your money in a few months, just because the cash is burning a hole in your pocket no need to do something stupid......

simpic, (valued at the performance) I would not suggest to invest USD 1,000 in FPGA or comparable devices at this point. Although I did too, I can not recommend this anymore. Please take a look at the calculator in my signature, you'll easily find out that just buying BTC would be the best kind of invest compared with ANY mining device you could have on hand the next days.

there are only very few pro's, e.g. you can sell the FPGA in case of bitcoins will become worthless.

Thank you for your reply!
...what about do the same (buying any FPGA) for mining alternative coins?
Could this be more convenient?

no fpga can mine script  :'(

What about buying Butterfly miner (800 MHash/s) on eBay?
Their prices are about 1000-1500 USD but in this case i will get it in few days!

I used this calculator http://btcinvest.net/bitcoin-mining-profit-calculator.php and it should be profitable.

What do you think?

800mh/s will NOT be profitable when the difficulty doubles very soon.

Buy a bfl preorder and jump the huge line.

a HD7870 has a maximum TDP of 210W, so while your GPGPU bit-coining probably wont hit more than 85% loading.

I am also watching out for ASIC availability, but nothing is really there yet.  I would suggest you either save more cash and wait for a good company to start putting out ASICs (which others have said could be a long wait and/or questionably profitable with difficulty rising)  or just go with a GPU.  Yes a GPU will cost more in electricity to run, but it is still profitable, it is available, it can do scrypt coins, and it will have resale value if/when you can't mine with it anymore.

Have you tried that link? Even the difficulty grows it is still profitable...
Please have a look and let me know what you think about my idea.

Thank you.

simpic, please dont forget to try the diff increase at 40%. the diff will jump round about 25% the next days, it will be more than 40% up in total within less 4 weeks timespan.

EDIT: and as no one can know for sure the future btc/usd value, you should consider all mining investments as BTC to BTC investments.

to up hashrate look - myminer.info

The different level is 15.6 million now, a jump of 28% from the previous one.

And the next jump will be about +33%

Buy some ASICMINER mining hardware.  Its shipped at the moment.

Where to buy it?
Do you have a link?

What exactly does it influence the difficulty?

If a buy a BFL miner or any other, if this try will fail with Bitcoin, could i use the same miner for mine minor coins?

What if all the new hashing power is not from ASICs but from chines GPU miners?


edit: majority. What if the majority is from Chines gpu miners coming online for the first time. Whats going to happen if they enter the race with ASIC in the coming months? we could see a jump up to 40 - 80 million

Unfortunately it's not quite simple at all to buy an ASIC miner currently.  This should become easier over the next 2-3 months as supplies increase and from more than one company reliably.

If you do want to invest in ASICMINER, my advice is to at least consider the actual stock as opposed to the USB miner.

This is the official thread

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=204030.0

With the big jumps in difficulty over the next 3 months (yes, the ASIC's are now real and coming online), I would recommend either an 'in-hand' sale of 13 GH/s block erupter (at the right price) or ordering a kncminer saturn or jupiter (ships in September and based on 28NM chip). Of course, pay with credit card / Paypal for buyer protection as the product itself doesn't exist yet. I've taken a 'risk spreading' approach, exchanging fiat for some bitcoin, building mining rigs which can also mine Litecoin (see http://www.coinminingrigs.com) and pre-ordering from several vendors. So far, the GPU mining and fiat exchanging has been the most profitable at about 30% ROI each on initial investment amount in 3 months time. Hope that helps your decision. And as always, never invest what you can't afford to lose.

Could always buy a bfl preorder and jump the line.IF you trust the buyer of course.

Nobody wants your effing preorder. Every post I read your advertising it. Just stop!

I'm talking about buying a real BFL miner, not a pre-order.
I would try to start mining Bitcoin and if it doesn't work i would use the same BFL miner with minor coins, like Litecoin.
Am i wrong?

Yes youre wrong. BFL is only bitcoin / namecoin.

Why it can't be use with other coins?

No onboard ram or scrypt support.  It can probably be modified to run anything using SHA256.

We sell mining devices: https://www.cardreaderfactory.com/shop/bitcoin/mining-devices.html

What is SHA256?

Secure Hash Algorithm.  It's one of the main building blocks of BTC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2)

Worth reading about!

... well, there's always modern 28 nm FPGA technology : http://www.raspberrycoins.com/
2000 MHash/sec - $1000
4000 MHash/sec - $1900
... less than $0.50/MHash/sec ...

shaking my head...why are you even here?  go do something else like find a job a mcdonalds or flipping burgers.  BFL makes FPGA too- that's what you're looking at...another ROI gamble, not an ASIC.  BFL units in hand that are asic will set you back a couple grand.  Like others here are saying, its smart to buy up some alt currency instead and ride the wave, IE sell @>10% appreciation in value and buy it when the value is lower than 10% of expected value,  I'd say buy at 90 and sell again at 110 if you can stomach the patience. 

you cjould buy 3 usb hashers at 990 mh/s and it would take you 38 days just go get one bitcoin at CURRENT difficulty.

wow ajw.
what a dick.
 No need to insult his intelligence and the intelligence of those who do those jobs.... hes new, he obviously doesn't know anything about bitcoin but is willing to learn.  

Simpic, please do read up, especially before you consider investing in ANY mining equipment.

thank you.  Anyhow, McDonalds makes sense, 6 an hour for 80 hours per pay period -20% for taxes is equal to $384 every two weeks.  I was hoping to gain from his questions, but all I'm doing is answering them mentally. Of course I'm gonna give my 2 cents no matter how offputting it may be.

For what its worth, I didn't insult his intelligence, but I did assault his lack of willingness to find his own answers like most of us already did beforehand using google, this board and others.

that isn't what you implied.  But yes I agree there is alot of material he could find on his own.

Hello again,
thank you for your comments and suggestions :-\

I abandoned the mining idea.

Sorry for my lack of willingness to find the answers before asking...

Mining is a difficult thing to get into right now, unless you have a lot of coins to buy avalons on here or have someone host them for you with a reasonable hosting fee there's pretty much no room for small miners. I'm going to sell some hosting plans and possible a whole avalon unit or 2 soon so keep an eye out if you're interested.

You better buy reliable contract at the first stage

its same happen to me I ask question and after 2 months long discussion I abandon the idea and now just buying and selling bitcoin is going with me its better at least for use of my time and money

The only hardware that you could buy to make a profit mining is a time machine. Everything else will deliver losses, since when you get your hands on it hundreds will already be out there pushing up difficulty so you'll make a fraction.

good really u have to be a reward for this one

how about this new thing
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER:
600 GH/s Bitcoin Mining Card
http://www.butterflylabs.com/