Should I invest in a 7970 or a bitforce single?

[werdna94]

Hello, I'm new to mining. As of right now I'm using one nvidia gtx 260, which is pretty good for gaming but only gives me a rate of about 45.4 Mhash/s.  Over the past few days I've only accumulated .02 bitcoins from slush pool. At this rate I don't think mining is even worth it. My motherboard only has one x16 PCIE slot and is as of now too much of a hassle to replace.  My current operating system is the GNU/Linux distribution arch linux in case that's important.

Anyway since investing in a new motherboard and gpu is too costly and will result in too much time in cable management I was considering either buying a 7970 or a bitforce single.  It seems that I can get a 7970 off of newegg for around $500, so the price difference is around $100.

I will likely order either within a month or so, and I'm not sure if I want to deal with the advertised 4-6 week waiting period for the single.  In about a month or so, how fast will I be able to mine bitcoins with either of these, and will I be able to successfully mine solo?  Which is the better investment?

--Thanks in advance.

[Gladamas]

You can use the calculator here to figure out how many Bitcoins you will get given your hash rate.

There is a (fairly) long waiting period for the singles (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=77796.0), however they do not require a PCI-e slot to operate (from what I understand), so you can put a card in your computer as well if you want.

And lastly, a comparison of hardware for mining (cards, FPGAs, etc): https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

[werdna94]

I've already been to all three of those places, but I'm still not sure which is the better investment. The calculator tells me how much bitcoins I'm likely to make per day, but if I'm mining solo there's the chance that I'll never solve a valid block, isn't there? I'm more interested in which is the better investment choice for my specific situation. I can see the comparisons of hardware on the wiki, but I'm not sure how I would stack up to other miners.

[Gladamas]

I've already been to all three of those places, but I'm still not sure which is the better investment. The calculator tells me how much bitcoins I'm likely to make per day, but if I'm mining solo there's the chance that I'll never solve a valid block, isn't there? I'm more interested in which is the better investment choice for my specific situation. I can see the comparisons of hardware on the wiki, but I'm not sure how I would stack up to other miners.

What's the cost of electricity per kilowatt hour for you?

[aqrulesms]

I just ordered a 7970 from Newegg which is yet to arrive.  Going to find out myself, but I was in the same situation you were when I first was looking into the mining.

With the block halving approaching in December of this year, I would say the 7970 is the way to go.  The BFL singles take 2 months before they ship due to slow manufacture and high demand, and the 60 days could be crucial time that is needed to break even before the half.

However, your electricity rate may simply be too high to go for GPUs.  In that case, definitely go for the BFL single.

In most cases, if your electricity rate is < $0.15 you should be good to go.  Electricity can be a huge factor in the profitability.  Just go look at the mining profitability calculators and plug in the numbers.  It's EXPONENTIAL. 

It's best to plug in at least 2 7970 or in conjunction with another card.  That would give a more efficient MHs/w than just a single 7970.

If you have solar panels, by all means mine away with the 7970. $0.00/kWh beats everything 

[rjk]

Also, make sure your existing box has a PSU that will support a 7970 if you go that route.

[werdna94]

I just ordered a 7970 from Newegg which is yet to arrive.  Going to find out myself, but I was in the same situation you were when I first was looking into the mining.

With the block halving approaching in December of this year, I would say the 7970 is the way to go.  The BFL singles take 2 months before they ship due to slow manufacture and high demand, and the 60 days could be crucial time that is needed to break even before the half.

However, your electricity rate may simply be too high to go for GPUs.  In that case, definitely go for the BFL single.

In most cases, if your electricity rate is < $0.15 you should be good to go.  Electricity can be a huge factor in the profitability.  Just go look at the mining profitability calculators and plug in the numbers.  It's EXPONENTIAL.  

It's best to plug in at least 2 7970 or in conjunction with another card.  That would give a more efficient MHs/w than just a single 7970.

If you have solar panels, by all means mine away with the 7970. $0.00/kWh beats everything  

Thanks. I'll have to check on those numbers. I'm also assuming that the numbers provided by the online calculators are assuming that your part of a pool? Is solo mining out of the question now a days? I'm also assuming a 650 watt psu is good enough to handle the 7970 as it's hammering away at those hashes. I'm also unsure about the cost of cooling and whether I'm at risk to overheat the thing.

[Gladamas]

I just ordered a 7970 from Newegg which is yet to arrive.  Going to find out myself, but I was in the same situation you were when I first was looking into the mining.

With the block halving approaching in December of this year, I would say the 7970 is the way to go.  The BFL singles take 2 months before they ship due to slow manufacture and high demand, and the 60 days could be crucial time that is needed to break even before the half.

However, your electricity rate may simply be too high to go for GPUs.  In that case, definitely go for the BFL single.

In most cases, if your electricity rate is < $0.15 you should be good to go.  Electricity can be a huge factor in the profitability.  Just go look at the mining profitability calculators and plug in the numbers.  It's EXPONENTIAL.  

It's best to plug in at least 2 7970 or in conjunction with another card.  That would give a more efficient MHs/w than just a single 7970.

If you have solar panels, by all means mine away with the 7970. $0.00/kWh beats everything  

Thanks. I'll have to check on those numbers. I'm also assuming that the numbers provided by the online calculators are assuming that your part of a pool? Is solo mining out of the question now a days? I'm also assuming a 650 watt psu is good enough to handle the 7970 as it's hammering away at those hashes. I'm also unsure about the cost of cooling and whether I'm at risk to overheat the thing.

Yeah, you would use a pool. I recommend P2Pool, a decentralized pool, or EclipseMC or Ozcoin as you can set the donation percentage. A 650 watt PSU should be good enough to run a 7970. If you want liquid cooling on your rigs then that will add a little more cost but fans don't really consume much power at all.

[mdude77]

Yeah, you would use a pool. I recommend P2Pool, a decentralized pool, or EclipseMC or Ozcoin as you can set the donation percentage. A 650 watt PSU should be good enough to run a 7970. If you want liquid cooling on your rigs then that will add a little more cost but fans don't really consume much power at all.

I also recommend p2pool.  As for PSU, I'm using an ancient piece of junk 600 watt on my one miner that only has one 7970 on atm.  I intend to replace it with a much newer more efficient 750 that'll run another 7970 as well.. but for now, this is what I have.

M

[David_Benz]

Both are a pretty safe bet.

7970 has re-sale value.  Single will be harder to sell if BTC fails.