While I agree that there isn't currently an "Exponential Increase in Difficulty" I expect there is at least a 90% probability of at least a 15% increase in difficulty over 180 days. I can't really argue with a $275 to $375 increase in BTC price over 180 days. Crazier things have happened, though an increase of BTC price by $100, AND  a tiny difficulty increase, all over 180 days has a miniscule  probability (IMHO).

With all due respect, it's kinda hard not to laugh when "Lack of Bankruptcy" make a company worthy of serious consideration. 

Probably need to work on a new lexicon for Bitcoin mining:

New means "Not previously sold by the manufacturer and comes with a Warranty"

Doing Well means "Hasn't filed for Bankruptcy (Yet)"

Would an "S5 replacement" with either 30% efficiency, or 30% more hashrate count as "dramatic"? I am just asking since one man's drama is another man's nuisance.

I think it's impossible to separate a small increase in actual hashrate (i.e. new or secondary hardware that's now active), from just variance. It seems you can really only appreciate increases in hardware from a retrospective of difficulty increase, and one change doesn't say anything.

I think it's safe to say that there hasn't been any REAL increase in hashrate for the last two months. The difficulty is roughly what it was 2 months ago (See June 14th and April 5th).

This isn't going to last for the remainder of the year. SFARDS is selling (or self mining) with previously non-existsent hardware. There will be something from Bitmain that's faster and more efficient than the S5, regardless of it's exact designation (e.g. S6/S7).

My personal feeling is that this next difficulty change will put in a new "floor" for difficulty. It may not be be quite 50 billion, but it will be 49 billion at least.

I have absolutely no idea to reconcile the competing views about what a self-mining company does with more efficient gear. Do they replace "for hashrate" (and lower costs), or do they just match Watts and increase hashrate. The last few months suggest very little of the latter. I don't know what happened to the S3's that got displaced by S5's. Some got relocated to a Hydro rich area of China (e.g HaoBTC), maybe some got destroyed to never return.

Enjoy the show over the next 3 months. At least I think we can finally ignore BFL in the whole discussion! 

I assume by "New", they mean "Well tested for the last 3 months"? I guess the $420 price is in line with what I hear is a recent Bitmain price increase for the S5 (to $378).

Is this an odd way to "clear inventory" before a new product comes out? Usually a company will discount an older product prior to the introduction of a newer product (e.g. the S7).

Al of the above is excellent advice. Just don't expect to make money in the process. You'll learn some stuff, and possibly have some fun. You just won't get rich.

Sorry to be a downer, but the margins are thin, particularly at small scale.

Have you looked into your cost for electricity? Your mention of a 1000 Euro budget suggests  that you may be in Europe, which may mean a fairly high cost of electricity. Just think about it is all.

While I guess it's possible that they have repealed the "laws of gambling", I'll bet that the motto "The house always wins" still applies.

Proceed with caution!!!

I personally think that 24 hours is just too short an interval to consider to determine if BitFury is "on fire". You click on the "4-Day view", and Bitfury shrinks down from 21 to 17% of the network.

Don't expect to continue this discussion here. I expect it won't last long since this specific forum is for "Bitcoin mining Hardware", not just Hardware of any flavor. Take note of the top 2-3 sticky posts.

Besides, you'll get better answers elsewhere.

Quite frankly, using a GPU rig to mine Bitcoins is only for people with FREE electricity, fully paid for hardware, and no way to sell the hardware. You would almost certainly make more money by selling the hardware, than it would ever return by mining.

Bitcoin mining has only been cost effective using an ASIC for well over 18 months now.

Maybe it would be useful for some other Crypto-Coin, but NOT Bitcoin.

I have to agree with quakefiend420 here. What you might be able to find are some "pricing anomalies" (i.e. a mistake) on nicehash (or westhash) in terms of leasing hash rate. Double check too that the nicehash rate probably has 3-4% added on for nicehash itself, and not the actual harcware owner.

You won't get rich, but you can try out your method if you want.

This video did not inspire me at all. In my opinion, it was design to put the best face possible on their plan for "Transaction Processing Services" (aka Mining). Every hardware purchase was about what a great deal they got on the specific bit of hardware (i.e. racks for $xxx, but worth $yyy). They seemed to omit 21 Inc from their possible competitors, as well SFARDS and Avalon. Maybe those companies aren't really a threat, but I don't know why not.

I saw nothing to significantly distinguish them from any other ASIC hardware manufacturer that "self mines" and doesn't sell their hardware to the general public. I don't understand why calling it "Transaction Processing Services" makes that better.

I really hope that Spondoolies can produce great mining hardware that is sold to folks, otherwise their great Engineering talent will be wasted.

Regardless of the price you want, you'll want to take this to the "Marketplace - Goods" sub forum. This isn't really for buy/sell of hardware.

Maybe the Swedish tax authorities got Bitcoin confused with Farmville money? They had all those real demonstrable expenses, paid for in Kroner(?), and nothing but a pile of numbers to show for it.   

You might not want to repeat that too often to your Wife..... 

I'll also add to Danny's excellent answer, you can expect the Difficulty to adjust roughly July 11th. It's expected to be an increase in difficulty, probably in the range or 2-4%.

Are you prepared for how loud an S5 is? It's roughly a 600W heater as well, so be prepared.

The rumors I have heard regarding Bitmain hardware (i.e. the Antminer S3, S4, S4+.... series) is that they will announce the S7 this month (i.e. July). The price, and specification are not disclosed at the present time, nor is any delivery schedule, order quantities, etc. I've read that there isn't an S6 current planned, and that Bitmain produced the S4+ instead.

In terms of other gear, Spondoolies makes the various SPxx line of miners. I think the largest is roughly 5+ TH and is called the SP35 (I think?). The SP20 for example, is no longer being produced, nor do I think the SP10 is.

Each piece of gear has it's own speed, power, noise, voltage  (i.e. 120V or 240V), and packaging specifics.

A couple of preliminary questions you should ask yourself:

If your electricity cost exceed $.15 (i.e. 15 cents) per KWH, then you will mine at a loss.

Do you have, or are you willing to install, something beyond 120V (in the USA)?

What about noise and heat where you plan to run it? Some devices run quite load, and produce lots of heat.

Lots to read on the various sub forums (e.g. Hardware) to find out more about various options.

Looking at a longer time horizon, difficulty has increased by roughly 21% during the 1st half of 2015. In the last half of 2014, the difficulty increase was roughly 140%, with about 20% in the last 3 months of 2014. Clearly the rate of increase has been slowing since Mid 2014. So while difficulty has increased, and will likely continue to do so through 2015, it's decelerating.

A small bright spot.

I think all of us that are in for a difficulty decrease will be way off base:

Bitcoin Difficulty:    49,402,014,931
Estimated Next Difficulty:    51,269,553,292 (+3.78%)
Adjust time:    After 821 Blocks, About 5.4 days
Hashrate(?):    387,668,486 GH/s
Block Generation Time(?):    
1 block: 9.5 minutes
3 blocks: 28.6 minutes
6 blocks: 57.1 minutes
   
Updated:    3:0 (4.5 minutes ago)

BTC Price: $268 Usd

Any way to be more specific about what "an okay price" is? I am curious, because I think for the moment, SFARDS thinks they have a premium miner, and want a premium price, or just mine for themselves.