Bitcoin Forum

hi all,

I am thinking of getting into bitcoin mining, I have a spare old dual core pc and I live somewhere with free electricity, so would it be worth it to get into bitcoin mining? And if so, what gear should I use? is it worth investing in something like a couple of the @block eruptor USB ASIC devices?

thanks

Free electric+mining bitcoin = profit

But it depends on how much you spend on hardware, how many coins you are mining, and how long it will take to break even on your hardware purchases, with the amount you are mining.

Until you break even you can't consider yourself in profit.

Put your info into a mining calculator to see how you would do, here is an example, there may be better calcs out there http://bitclockers.com/miningcalculator

It will likely cost you too much for buying all the hardware necessary to get a decent amount of network shares to break even fast. My succession is to mine litecoin. At least you can mine something with ordinary GPUs while these efforts mostly do not lead to anything within bitcoin anymore because of ASICs.

with free electricity consider buying used GPUs instead. The question is if it is worth your time

I have looked at buying some used GPU's and mining litecoins, is this likely to yield a profit or is it dependant on the possibilty of litecoin value increasing?

If you have free electricity. Why not host others miners and take 3-5%?

Very likely to yield a profit but it all depends on the GPU you are using.

I doubt he has that much electricity, and that isn't capped.

I am on the same boat. but i am thinking of going in with the USB and try that out before i go and buy Saturn - maybe jump onto the group buys. i like those.

Sure if he wants to host 100 units drawing 10,000 watts. What about 5-10?

Yes they are. Just ran a group buy and we bought a KnC Jupiter :)

Free power is always a gain. With inflation trending, BTC might pay you off when mining yield halved in 2016.

I think the hardware is the main cost

Free electricity only makes a difference at the marginal end, once those paying for electricity find that their equipment cannot mine enough bitcoin to pay for themselves some will turn off and either cease mining or upgrade to new faster machinery. Your free electricity will enable you to run your hardware for longer then those who pay. It will also mean that you can mine for longer if the price of bitcoin falls dramatically.

Sure, but:

1. why should I trust him with my hardware
2. is he really entitled to use electricity that way? I think not
2.1. either he has a legal contract which allows him to pay a flat rate for electricity, in that case if the electric company is not totally idiot there is a clause he can't "share" it
2.2. or he is stealing it, in that case not only it is illegal anyway, but doing such a thing will almost certainly make the crime worse

Free or low cost electricity is obviously the future. Just look at the Diablo Mining Company up some 20 fold this year (https://bitfunder.com/asset/DMC) :

BitcoinTalk page :
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=77469

Quote :
"DMC will focus on mining and secondary revenue streams by not only owning the largest mining farm in existence, but also by owning its own dedicated facility and generating green power by solar and/or wind."

Agreed. It is extremely unlikely OP would make significant profit with the proposed rig unless the exchange price for fiat shoots up dramatically - a definite possibility, but it may never happen and if you take that route you'll own some fiat, and not BTC at the end. Think carefully about which you want at the end and why.

You will presumably save a dollar or three a day on your electricity costs. If that's the difference between profit and loss, then the scale of your profit/loss is probably fairly trivial compared, say, to a salary. You would neither make nor lose on a huge scale so in this sense it's an easy coin-toss decision with small stakes as long as you don't start to buy expensive goodies. All ASICs are probably expensive goodies from this perspective.

Despite that, I'd suggest you do it "as a hobby", assuming you are interested in BTC-world and not just out to make a quick buck. You'll learn a lot in the process, which might help you make a wise buy in a few months or avoid a bad one. My sense is that it is impossible to know this July what to buy for delivery this December - some people will be lucky, others not so much. The lucky ones will think they were clever and the unlucky ones will think they were unlucky. I'm guessing your appetite for risk is not that high (nothing wrong with that) or you'd already have some kind of ASIC on order.

Bottom line: if it's for short-term fiat bucks, don't do it unless you like the odds - if it's to learn before you leap, do it and have fun.

you have to use the latest ASIC device to be most  profitable.

I am sorry to say this but if you have to ask that question maybe you should do more reading before posting

Yes, but ROE depend on how much money you will spend to the hardware and how much mhashs this hardware will give you. imho gpu mining will die soon, not effective with such dificulty.

Agree

Who has free electricity? You must mean your mum is paying the bill?! lol or maybe you are stealing it from a lamp-post? Either way someone pays for it.

Although having said that my friends at chool said they were given free electricity from the railway for allowing them to put a 'transformer' on their property. Not sure about it now as I think the railways 'transformer' they pointed to was actually the one to supply their house!

that would be great! you should invest on asic miners or butterfly labs. it can save you alot of money!

bitcoins and grow lights NYC;)

1. Good point. Always be skeptical IMO and take steps to verify their ID.
2. You might be correct.
2.1 See 2.
2.2 See 2.1

I was just making a suggestion and if he decides to do something illegal that is on him. Who knows maybe he lives at home and his parents pay for it.

I would stay away from BFL until they catch up with their current orders. They are shipping orders paid for from last summer. It might be a while before they catch up. Here is a nice list of ASIC miners: http://decentralizedhashing.com/bitcoin-mining-equipment-table/

Note: I'm in no way affiliated with any ASIC mining company or the above website.

looks at username...

https://i.imgur.com/01llZyG.gif

LOL nice Gif.

I am running a group buy sure: (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=249820.0), but I don't work for KnCMiner.

I will suggest you to mine LTC instead of BTC. You will get more profit then.

OP should be careful if he is say, renting, and the landlord/owner is paying for the electricity. If they see a huge spike after someone moves in, or out of the blue, then you can expect them to investigate and they're probably smart enough to figure who is using so much power. And then oh look, renters in that building must pay electricity themselves now. You would not be the first miner to get stung by this!

depends on your hardware.

Check on coinchoose.com you will find the most profitable coins for mine.

Best of luck.