Bitcoin Forum

What would be the MINIMUM amount of Hashes per second would be necessary to make "mining" worth it?

Worth it is actually getting coins in a reasonably short amount of time.

What is the cost to get that many Hashes?

If someone is not willing or able to invest in FULL TIME mining?  should they bother?

if it isn't profitable, people wouldn't be mining

Dont bother. Too late for most ppl now, sorry.

High difficulty Low price.
You know.

If you enjoy computers and take it as a hobby then start mining.
If you have quite a bit of cash and can start a big rig from the start then do it you'll make profit longer you wait less you'll make.

No.  It's just money and a bunch of computer crap.

The OP's post really baffles me. Is it worth it now? That a question implying it's only worth it if the value TODAY can be exchanged for more USD than the initial investment. Are we that short sighted?

A little scenario - lets say it dips to $200 tomorrow and you've invested 10s of thousands of dollars into mining hardware so you decide it isn't worth it because the electricity is actually costing you more than you're getting in return... so you pour gasoline and light a match on all your gear. Two months later, had you continued to mine you may have mined 50 additional bitcoins continually spending more money on electricity. Then the price spikes to $1500... was it worth it?

indeed it was worth it(to keep mining).

Not necessarily, people whose preorders came late are probably losing money, but they are mining to reduce their losses. It doesn't actually mean they are making profit off of it.

@OP: It would probably be more effective for you to invest a % of your wealth into BTC and then watch where that goes rather than trying to run a large scale mining operation as all in all you won't make much for the effort and time - probably better to just work a day job.

This is the statement you need to listen to.  Too may people get caught up in the investment aspect of mining.  Dude... I just love mining and being a part of this game changer called bitcoin.  If I make a little money in the process... GREAT!!!  As long as I break even or get close to it I'm happy as a clam.

I don't even look at the exchange rate any more cause I don't care... I made an initial investment in btc and I've been riding that for a while now, upgrading my hardware and currently enjoying the hum of my S1s as they mine away.  With any luck I'll turn those S1s into a S2 sometime in the near future.

If u can get a 1ths miner for under $2k , u can make lots of profit

My plan is mine the S1s for another month or so... sell them on ebay... convert to btc... buy the S2 at what I can only imagine will be a much lower price then it is today.  It's like a game to me to stay above water   ;D

spend 2k to earn $5 or $6 a day or so?  
and the amount earned drops every few days?
plus time and effort...

no, it's not worth it, but
people like doing it

If you start mining now , you are too late.

There is no "MINIMUM" amount of Hashes/s, it greatly depending on your investmentcosts in hardware and your runing costs (mostly electricity).

Not sure what you think is a reasonable amount and what you consider a short amount of time either.

1 Bitcoin in a week? Is that reasonable? 1 in a month? Do you want to make this your fulltime job? Do you want to pay your flat or buy a house with the profits? Do you have a wife and 5 kids maybe? What do I know what you consider reasonable...

If you want to invest in mining for a profit, search up some caluclators and consider the difiiculty! Consider a high difficulty raise and the time till you get your hardware.

And those short term spikes are not the only thing. Long term so far the BTC price was constantly climbing. Thus what makes a decent amount of coins  is constantly changing and is different for everyone.

Thanks to everyone who gave a helpful response.

I have zero intention of doing it as a hobby or for fun.  If I invest money, it is to MAKE money.  I would want it first off to break even.  If it takes a year to break even, then it is not worth it, as there are many other things I can do to make money and get a return faster.

Worth it = making more than I have invested.

Short amout of time...weeks? months?  NOT years.

Are BTC still awarded every 10 mins?

BTC are created roughly every 10 minutes. The difficulty factor is set such that the time taken to solve a block approximates 10 minutes but it can vary quite significantly.

My advice - find something else to invest in as you either a) won't make money b) barely break even. The costs associated with waiting for your orders and electricity mean it's not exactly profitable.

I don't understand the logic behind mining. Looking at the current difficulty, most of the mining rigs will never recover even their capital cost (I am not even talking about other expenses, such as electricity). Right now, Bitcoin is trading at $420-425 levels. Why waste so much money and electricity on mining, when we can get the coins extremely cheap from the exchange?

Because people somehow have this weird notion that mining them is better than buying them and it'll make them more money. I guess their just infatuated with the fact that it's akin to 'printing money' and they want in when in fact the printing machines are more costly than the money they can produce.

if you had used those "10s of thousands of dollars" to buy btc instead of mining hardware then
your hypothetical rise from 200 to 1500 would have been a much happier event

Unless you run a big operation and can get significant discounts on your miners, plus free electricity, you're better off just buying btc at this point. Some people develop products or services that they sell for btc, so that's another option.

I have the ability to get free (well flat/fixed rate) electricity.

But even without that, it does seem mining gives some the "FEELING" of getting something for nothing.  Which is the draw. But the initial investment thus far seems high.

I just have not been able to see the MATH that makes it actually work (maybe 2 years ago it was different)

Anyway one of the main accusations against the Bitcoin is that it wastes millions of $$$ worth of electricity. I don't agree with them. No one is using electricity for free. We are paying for it. And indirectly, we are helping in giving employment to thousands of people by buying millions of USD worth of electricity and mining equipments.

Get solar panels they have come down in price and provide free electricity the average roof can make 4000w even in poor lighting conditions.


BTC17bNwyJVBuphyFZvxyZCiLhbKr5nvM7KQT

So according to logic what will happen if everybody stops mining?