Bitcoin Forum

hey forum!

I'm heading to college within the next month and was hoping to work. The college is located in a very small town where it's literally impossible to find work for weekends/afterschool. I've been keeping up to date with the bitcoin scene and I was thinking about building/buying a rig. Because electricity is included in the dorms I'm able to buy a rig with a high power input. I have around $1000 (+-$500) to either build a rig or buy one on craigslist/ebay. Does anybody have a setup in the budget that would make it worth mining for the next 8 months.

I have two weeks to figure this stuff out before I move, as for now i'm still searching on youtube for videos on self built rigs for $1k-$1.5k.

usually close by my computer for a reply, thanks in advance!

Build a rig? And you say you've been "keeping up to date with bitcoin"?! If that is true, you'd know that building a rig to mine BTC is a complete waste of time. I won't go into to details but there are several threads already on the forum with exact same situation as yours. Please read them.

It sounds like you're looking to have whatever rig you build/buy being a replacement for wages you would earn if you were indeed able to find a job where you're going to school.

Since this is the Bitcoin mining forum, I'll just assume you're buying a mining rig - specifically I'm going to assume you're spending that $1000 on 2 S3s plus a PSU.

Given that assumption, you'll get 880GH/s.  Now let's run some numbers.

At current difficulty, that 880GH/s expects to earn you 0.02362BTC a day, which at $600 is $14.72.  This is if you had those in hand mining right now.  The difficulty will most certainly have increased in a month.  Let's be very modest, and assume only a 10% rise in difficulty levels.  By Christmas time, that same 880GH/s will only be earning you 0.008279BTC a day, which at $600 is $4.97.  By May of next year you will have made a total of 1.008BTC above and beyond what you initially paid for the hardware.  So, effectively, you will have made $604.80 for 8 months of work, which amounts to an average of $75.60 a month.  This is assuming you run those S3s 24/7 with no interruption from 8/23/2014 - 5/1/2015 and difficulty only rises 10% a jump.

Obviously you can hope BTC jumps up in price, or that difficulty doesn't go too high.

As stated above you don't really need to build anything, just 2 S3s and a PSU.

Pretty easy to do if you live in a cool climate.  If you have a roommate that can be an issue as the 2 S3s will make any room pretty warm - again this would be welcome in winter but not so much in September.

Keep in mind when you say "high power" you still have power limit's.  It will be wired for normal use, don't expect to have thousands of watt's or anything or you will be flipping breakers.

Also keep in mind sound/heat.   Depending on dorm room configuration it could get really annoying during studying.  But your best bet is S3's in there most likely as far as a miner with decent power with not to much heat.

If i were you.. I won't ve mining BTC.  Go to altcoins and find more information there ;-)

To be honored, mine btc today is not so much profitable without SO MUCH mine power, cos PoW.
 :)

I think Ant S2 1MHs about 1500$ can help you.
I'm also student and I'm raising money to buy it.
Good luck

Almost every single altcoin that is mined is dumped for BTC by the large multipools.  This is in turn drops the value of those coins since there is not enough demand to prop up the prices.  Either you use a multipool and instantly convert to BTC or get left holding a dead pump and dump.  Calculators show almost every algo unprofitable unless you have power less than $0.08/KWH

Maybe you're like me and you just want to build a mine and/or mine for "fun"?  If so then do whatever you'll enjoy more, just know you probably won't profit.

Double check no limit to your power usage in your dorm room, I am thinking some colleges (maybe just the bigger ones?) are getting abused and will institute a limit at some point.

Save for something else.  $1500 is too much to pay for 1TH/s, especially since you can get 3 Antminer S3s for 1.98BTC (less than $1200) and an EVGA 1300 G2 PSU for $175 that will power all 3 of those S3s.  3 S3s will get you 1.32TH/s and only use 1020W.

You could also check on eBay for used S1s.
Since electricity cost is not an issue, overclocked S1s will run at 200GH/s.
You can probably pick up 3 S1s and a PSU for ~$500.

Since my son is getting ready to go back to school, I'm sending along 6 S1s that he is going to run for me. We are splitting the BTC those miners earn 50/50.

Electricity is not an issue in the sense that he does not have to pay for it.  He can't suck down 15KW with the dorm infrastructure.  The S1s will put out about 800W of heat which is a lot more than S3s.  He can't just wish for the heat to leave the room, he would have to run the AC and hope the roommate doesn't get mad.

An S3 would be a better option in a small dorm.  In a large warehouse or garage an S1 would be reasonable.