Bitcoin Forum

Hey Guys,

Well, after doing a bit of research, I am really considering getting into BTC mining. My only real problem is that I'm in highschool, so i don't have tons of money to invest in this right away. What I want from you guys is a recommendation in to how I can get into BTC mining for like $100-$500 bucks. I realize that's an incredibly small budget to have, but I plan to use this cheap rig to raise me enough money to buy an even better rig that I'll stick with and use long term. I've seen things like raspberry-pi rigs which are kinda cool, but I feel may not be worth it.

Like I said, I'm a beginner, so feel free to leave me some advice!

Thanks Everyone!

sorry, cheap rigs aren't going to "raise [you] enough money" - positive financial ROI starts with expensive machines, at best.. that or a whole lot of luck.

It's not that simple, not that cheap.

You're better off buying coins and waiting on the next price bubble to invest in hardware.

If you're just playing around, you can use CEX.io to buy hashing power instantly. However, the hashing power DOES get less valuable over time, and there is no guarantee you will make your money back. But, it allows for a lower investment to get started as opposed to other mining solutions. You can buy more than 100 GH/s for the $500 you mention! :)

You can use my referral link if you want: https://cex.io/r/1/Jaxkr/0/

If you are looking for profits, I am afraid you can hardly do that now.

I never heard of 'raspberry pi' rigs. Mining is now in ASIC age.
With your budget better buy coins and wait for next price bubble.
Or buy some 'virtual' mining shares, like https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=430137.0

U can start with cloud mining on cex.io or a 200ghs antminer

You have no chance of making any money mining Bitcoin, sorry you missed the boat.
There are other things you could do like creating services that support and promote Bitcoin.
Good Luck :)

Sorry dude, that ship has sailed.

With over $400, you can buy a single Bitcoin though,  Just hold on to it and hope for the best.

You can buy 2x S1s and keep playing until the summer time with pencil mods.

As about the raspberry rigs, you re mentioning to the 1Th/s machines (S2, A1 clones, etc)?

At current prices, mining is not profitable.  You are better off buying coin.  Buy low, sell high.  The days of mining are over at this point.  Not sure if it will ever be profitable again.

That is not the problem at all. The real problem here is bitcoin mining is not profitable now, at current difficulty.

If you want to see how it is the real mining you can buy 2 GPUs and mine for some coins, exchange to BTC, then sale and cash out. Don't forget the payment for the power bill too.
If you don't like the result you will still have 2 cool GPU for the PC games, or you may sell them.

Is profitable if you can invest more money, like 3000 euro?

You'd basically be entering the arena of high-end miners - and while some of them give positive ROI, a bunch of them are only available by pre-order and you have to trust that they won't be delivered late (with difficulty increases messing up any chance of positive ROI).. you're also taking a gamble with the difficulty in general, and of course the exchange rate.

Make sure you read the horror stories about several companies delivering miners that underperform, arrive severely damaged (dislodged coolers, dislodged components, huge dents in chassis), miss parts completely, go up in smoke (literally), and offer nothing but excuse after excuse when it comes to setting things right.

If that hasn't scared you off, look up some of the miners available (see the Hardware subsection), find their claimed (where possible, actual) hash rates, cost (including shipping, etc.), power use, time for delivery, all that.. then hit up a mining calculator (there's a thread that lists a bunch), and run a few different scenarios (difficulty increases, exchange rate if wanting to calculate with fiat), then see if it's worth the risk to you.

Chances are good that you'd be better off buying an Scrypt miner, mine some altcoins, and sell those - but even that's getting to where manufacturers are starting to flood the market, so don't take that as advice.

I'm a newbie too and this is pretty much what everyone has told me in my previous inquiries (the ship has sailed).

What do you guys think of that cloud mining service called pbmining where you get 5 year contracts? What if the price skyrockets in the next few years... couldn't that pay off big time? Or would the increase in difficulty make the mining contract basically worthless?

Let me know if you find a crystal ball that peers into the future so you can answer that 'what if' :)

Overall, cloud-based hashing is a gamble as well, just generally with lower up-front costs.  I'm not too particularly interested in that market, though, so maybe check out some of the writings at http://cryptomining-blog.com/?s=cloud , they review them and update on findings fairly regularly.

Look over this thread and decide for yourself if PBMining is legit or a Ponzi scheme:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=484355.0

IMO, they don't have any provable mining equipment so I'm of the opinion they are a scam.  You make some money initially in a few months with them, but what happens in Year 2 through 5?  Of course it's up to everyone to do their own due diligence.

I don't think so...It is better to buy bitcoin directly IMO.

+ 1 for real. i am suprised every day people are Still asking THAT question .
Its less stressfull , and way more easy.


H

No way.. 'cos then you're actually holding coin, and you keep watching the exchange rates etc.  At least with miners that will never ROI, you know you're into the red, so you can stop worrying about it altogether ;)

lol, obv, u are not a miner, I am .  ;)   I look to the price Every day   :D
[ And i hold A"lot of cions too , for many years.!!!   :-*]
we are talking about a guy  mebe is willing to put 5-10 k in to bitc.
And to hold that is Not stressfull  .

H

You will not earn any respectable BTC in a low hash, budget miner. Stay in school, study hard.

Also, look into Alt coin mining.

True, IMO bitcoins is for hobby or extra money if you don't invest a lot.
Alt coin mining is enough profitable to spend time on?

Go buy an S1. Is cheap, can have fun,  and you can resell it later.