Bitcoin Forum

I am about to get paid enough to purchase a BFL single or 7970, but I need a second opinion. I know the drawback of bfl is the the wait of 50+ days, from what I hear; 7970 = high costs of energy ($0.13/kw).

The energy costs do not personally bother me, because I do BTC mining more for fun instead of profit, but profit is good.

=> Thanks <=
=> ;D<=

if you have any desire to play video games, 7970. Otherwise I'd say wait out for the BFL

Do you have a BFL?

I do not, if I had ~650 in BTC id would consider it but, like you, I only mine for fun so a 7970 would bring me joy in every aspect of my computing experience. A BFL just sits on your desk and makes money.

I got one & am very happy with it.Like Awalt541 said,if you don't need it for gameing,then go for the BFL single  ;)

It's worth the wait. Lower power consumption,very easy to setup in cgminer on windows 7.

And you can trade it in for full price when ASIC comes out.

Definitely go with the 7970 if your preference is as a hobby, you can also use it for gaming.

I currently have a hobbyist mining rig consisting of a 5850 and 7970.  My electricity cost is around $0.11 in the summer so it's about the same as your rates.  You can definitely still make a good profit after electricity costs.

My suggestion is to undervolt the card, which can bring power consumption down to 150, and even 70 if you underclock the memory and core.

I wouldn't go with the Asus or the HIS though, the Sapphire is the best IMO.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102982

Another thought to consider is resale value.  As ASICs enter the market (with currently unknown performance specs) it is possible that they will render FPGAs obsolete.  If so, you will have an easier time unloading - or at least re-purposing - a 7970 than you will a BFL Single.  With BFL offering their trade-in package, you could always upgrade to an ASIC (for a currently undetermined price).

If I were in your shoes, I'd wait a few days until BFL make their announcement regarding the BitForce SC.  Then decide what path is right for your needs!

FPGA's can "repurposed" with a firmware flash,ASIC's cannot............................

So,if you want resale value & more profit,FPGA's will always be better than ASIC's (the powers that be may even rewrite BTC to make ASIC's a paperweight).

But,if power is cheap than GPU's make sense,even better resale value & more uses to the general public (ebay,craigslist,etc.).

I myself MAY get 1 or 2 ASIC's,but I will still go with FPGA's as my main mineing hardware.My electric costs are .12  per kwh,pretty high................

grab 3 5870's instead and keep the change

Grab a 7970. I Second the Sapphire, fantastic support.

I was wondering, is the dual fan sapphire 7970 still a reference board underneath the cooler? Does anybody know?

this is a good question and i would add in the hd5970 also as an option, since it's cheaper than the hd7970 and the performance is similar (according to https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison).

Right now I have an hd5770, but i would like to replace it for a good card for mining and playing. The BFL would be a nice complement to have mining while playing :P

The 7970 will probably be a safer bet since you're new to mining. It holds its resale value independent of how successful bitcoin is and you can use it part-time for games :)

BFL ASIC

Vapor ware you fan boy.

If power is not an issue and you game get the video card. You can sell it later as well.
If power is an issue go BFL. I have 2 and my setup gets over 4.4MH/s/W on average and almost 5MH/s/W when its cold outside in my most efficient config. When its all overclocked its like 3MH/s/W.

I never wanted more than to pay my electricity costs but I have paid off all my hardware, just not the BFL's yet. The BFL's will run until they or bitcoin die. At over 2,080,000 difficulty and $4.50USD a BTC with a reward of 12.5BTC a round I still break even with electric running the BFL's only.

Any links to undervolting vs performance?  I have everything overclocked cause stock clocks take a huge hit.  Under volting would be an extra tweak on top of overclocking?