Bitcoin Forum

Hi all.

I need some advice on purchasing mining hardware. I have a budget of $5000, and ideally I'd like to make that back via mining within at least 3 months. Maybe this is a little optimistic?

I was wondering on what hardware was currently available? I've seen some 300 GH/s systems, but everything is pre order.

What's the best options to go for from here with a $5000 budget?

I am pretty sure that your goals of making your money back within 3 months are very unrealistic. Have you even spent the time doing the math to calculate your expect returns? It's the only real way to figure out just how lucrative your investment will be.
http://bitcoindifficulty.com/ - here is a site with the current and predicted next difficulty. use this as a basis. If you want to be more accurate, increase it accordingly to take into account the rise in difficultly.

Also, keep in mind that the value of bitcoins themselves at any given period is going to affect how long it takes for that investment to turn profitable. Given the volatile nature of the market right now its hard to tell if bitcoins are headed up or down right now, let alone predict their value 3 months from now.

buy 7 bitcoins right now and sell it after it hits $1000 again ..  2k profit within 1-2 days, enjoy :)  

Thank you Desensitizer, just the response I needed. Straight to the point.

I had done some calculations on current difficulty, but as you said that's going to rise. I hadn't considered that when initially looking into it. The last time I mined was in 2010 with a fairly powerful machine, but ended up in jail.

I'm going to check out that site.

You want some advice about buying mining hardware? Don't.  Invest in the BTC directly by buying now while it's dropping, as others have said, and wait for it to bounce back. Cuz it *will* bounce back.

It depends what you are planning to mine. Mining btc itself isnt very profitable atm. However some of the alt coins are.

I don't recommend mining as your main form of income (many try). The market is too volatile to accurately predict income etc, but as a secondary source of income it can work out quite well.

Edit: 5k could get you a fairly decent scrypt miner.

have 10 blade erupter full setup(everything included) you can look it up on Chicago craigslist... in 24hrs makes about 0.08-0.09 btc
http://chicago.craigslist.org/sox/ele/4216414319.html

If you are serious about mining bitcoins, this ^

Your electricity bill won't be pretty.

If you are in a major city, search through craigslist.  Odds are there is someone selling similar rigs.  My town has someone selling a 10Gh/s miner for $800 (as opposed to the 100Gh/s miner above).