Thanks everyone for the replies, well mostly. To answer one person, no one is footing the bill. I am not mooching off my parents. I probably have more grey hair then you do. I do see the problem about the heat though. I would have to incorporate some type of air conditioning in the summer time too. For now in winter I wont need to worry but I definitely will keep it in mind. I know it sounds like a newbie post, which it is and I have been on many boards as the vet. I did some reading on it. Browsing posts is very over whelming with technical lingo when you don't know any acronyms or nicknames. I don't mind there being miners in every room actually. If I put 3 in every room I would be a happy man.

So philipma1957, on top of that, my next question is how would I also weigh machines on longevity? Like say which machines would still be useful a year or 2 from now as hashes go up? Would you think that mining altcoins with these same machines would be practical over time? I know over time hashes get harder but it seems that more types of e-currency come out the better it is for those mining. Truthfully there isn't as much profit as it would seem from your numbers. Ok so what am I doing wrong

Here is what the calculator puts in for my estimates. I input litecoins



Hash Rate (GH/s): 4096
   Power (Watts): 2275
Power Cost ($/kWh): 0
   Pool Fees %: 0
Difficulty: 51,485
   Block Reward: 50
Exchange Rate (USD): 3.78
   Hardware Costs (USD) 3100
   
and it says i will make the money back in a day? how do i use this calcutor

I am interested in mining. I have a decent amount of money to throw around and my one buddy wants to help. I talked to someone and they told me script is the way to go. I am getting the idea that I would get into a pool as well. Can anyone tell me what would be the best way to mine the most coins profitability wise minus the electricity? In case someone asks, lets say I had 25k to play with. Also how can I tell what machines/how many machines can be going at once without popping a 30 amp breaker? Would I be better going with a great hardware over time or with script? Thanks for any help you can offer.