A few old Macs running minerd. I certainly recognize that it is not as an elaborate setup as what others are running!

Initially, I was generating at least .01 BTC per day. I could live with that. But, over a couple of weeks, I watched that number dwindle rapidly. There have been a few rounds where my reported "reward" was 0.00000000 BTC. That's when I started getting discouraged.

The funny thing is, it really isn't about the bitcoins earned so much as it is trying to get a better performance out of what I have. Right now, that performance is looking pretty pathetic. 

Wow! You've made more than double in one round than I've made total with four computers running non-stop for nearly three weeks!

I admit, this does shake my resolve. I've been looking at the returns on having these computers running full bore all this time and I've begun questioning if it is really worth it. Looking at the charts page, my daily reward has been sinking daily to the point where it is hovering around .002 per day. At the rate I'm going, it is going to take me well into next year to generate just 1.00 BTC, if at all!

I'm considering dropping my "send threshold" to .01 to collect what little I've made and dropping out. Is it really worth staying in?