Bitcoin Forum

Well,

since i'm still restricted to this place (and it's probably a newbie question anyways),
i'll be asking it here :)
my questions are, i hope, simple enough for you guys to know an answer.


1) is it still profitable (or atleast break-even-able) to order 2 basic's now (and have them, i suppose, around end of january somehwere)

making a profit out of it is great - but i'm also interested in just keeping this thing going, so i'll be happy with a break-even scenario.

2) i want to order them, but i'm confused as to what site best to order:
btcfpga.com or bitcoinasic.net

3) payment from my credit card is taken... when?
at the preorder (immediately?) or when the basic's are ready? or when they get shipped?


thanks!

I can't answer all of your questions, but BTCFPGA will debit your CC account immediately. Your CC issuer may block the payment out of suspicion, like mine did (twice!) and you'll then have to call them up to unlock the card if this happens, obviously.

That's like a farmer asking if there will be enough rain next season to cause a profitable harvest.

It is true that once ASICs ship in volume, they'll end up being responsible for a huge percent of the hashing capacity (90% to 98% even).    And thus those who start mining with ASICs first will be incredibly much more profitable than those who don't receive ASICs until hashing capacity has already reached the stratosphere.

That doesn't mean an ASIC can't still be "profitable" (e.g., revenues minus expenses and amortization of the hardware over a year or two) but the later ones won't see the one-month to break-even that was at one time looking possible.   

The problem is, no manufacturers are shipping today, and there's know knowing what place in line you end up at when you do have an order in with a manufacturer that starts shipping.

And don't overlook the possibility that the first version of hardware will get absolutely trounced (either with higher performance or lower price) by version two.

So just know, buying an ASIC is taking a gamble on one manufacturer over another, a gamble on how much capacity in total from all manufacturers will be delivered, and the future exchange rate.

i live in Belgium... a better question over here is: won't there be TOO MUCH rain ;)

and i know it's always a gamble (everything in life is i suppose), but that's also why i mention that i'd be happy with a break-even scenario that doesn't take ages.
because if i can get a break-even out of it (which is, ofcourse, less cool than a profit), it would mean i didn't waste anything.

and if i can get to a break-even and then earn back the electricity that goes into mining, i can keep mining until the basic's die of 'old age' :)

if it doesn't give me a break-even, then i'd kinda go to the "what's the point" camp, because in this world,
nobody does anything for free.. which means nothing can be kept up if it makes you a loss.

That's very reassuring. =/

  Receiving miners by end of Jan is optimistic, have a look on their forum for orders placed i'm betting the numbers are very HIGH.