Mining in the UK?

[Evolvex]

Does anyone mine in the UK using graphics cards and still cover there costs?

I'm from the UK and the power costs arent very cheap, about £0.18 per kw/h I think I'm paying (averaged) - all my figures dont really add up, just doesnt seem worth it - I assume though that given enough time I'd at least make my money back and pay for the electric? (I suspect I've double posted more or less as I just created another topic slightly related.... but different ).

Cheers folks.

[muyuu]

Does anyone mine in the UK using graphics cards and still cover there costs?

I'm from the UK and the power costs arent very cheap, about £0.18 per kw/h I think I'm paying (averaged) - all my figures dont really add up, just doesnt seem worth it - I assume though that given enough time I'd at least make my money back and pay for the electric? (I suspect I've double posted more or less as I just created another topic slightly related.... but different ).

Cheers folks.

I only mine because I rent with bills included and my consumption is within fair use (single multi-GPU rig). Otherwise I doubt I'd bother, it wasn't worth it last time I checked, let alone considering amortisation and future prospects.

[matthewh3]

You can get 100% renewable sourced green electricity for ~£0.14 per kwh and British Gas pre payment electricity is only £0.1172 for rate two kwh's.  So with those rates it's definitely worth while with FPGA's.

[Evolvex]

Yeah FPGA did look better when I was looking at the figures - I've ordered a BFL ASIC, so whenever that gets here I can mine with that.

Cheers for the pointer on the elec costs - I really should shop around

[BobbyJo]

Yeah, I still mine in UK.  My electricity is nearer 11-14p per kWh and I can make a profit (although not a great one).  I do it more as a hobby than a means of income though!   Roll on the ASICs!

[Nancarrow]

Yes, I'm an Ukian and I've been mining since I first heard about Bitcoin back in October 2011. Profit? Ahahaha, that's a different matter.

As far as the daily bitcoin revenue vs daily electricity costs go, that's not a problem. My trusty spreadsheet tells me I can bring in up to £14.68 per day (current exchange rates) at an electricity cost up to £6.41 per day, leaving me a nice healthy £8.27 per day better off. Sounds like a nice little earner, right? Well there's three big buts:

1) It's a lucky, lucky day when I can get all three of my rigs mining a whole 24 hours without fucking up and having to be manually reset for some reason. And it's always a different reason too. Temperamental bastards.

2) How much did I have to lay out on hardware costs to set this up? I decline to say, other than 'far too much'. But even if there weren't a block reward halving coming up, and even if ASICs don't materialise for another year, I won't break even for about another year. WITH the halving and the ASICs... well I'm clearly never going to break even, I'm now just mining while I can still recover some of my loss.

3) All this wouldn't be an issue if I was a productive member of society in full-time employment. But I'm actually a lazy slob living on rapidly dwindling savings, rapidly expanding credit card balances, and a teensy bit of income from private tutoring. Guess how much private tutoring kids want in August?

[BobbyJo]

At least you can heat your house cheaply this winter with all those rigs!

[Shadow383]

Depends on your setup - also in the UK there's uswitch, which is like a miner's best friend when getting cheap power 

I pay 9.29p/KWH, which is pretty good really, and my 7970s rig would stay profitable up to ~65p/KWH, so it's worth doing 

[BobbyJo]

Who are you with for that price?  I am with southern electric and I am getting just under 12p per KWh

[Shadow383]

Who are you with for that price?  I am with southern electric and I am getting just under 12p per KWh

ONO - I pay £80 annual standing charge though, but given the amount of energy mining uses my bills are pretty high 

[BobbyJo]

Is that £80 on top of the kWh?  Its an additional charge?

[Shadow383]

Is that £80 on top of the kWh?  Its an additional charge?

Yup, but I have a server rack or two on the go constantly for my regular work anyway, so my annual power bill is ~£2000 

[Projects]

Slightly off topic but I am also from the UK and looking to get FPGA.
Where do you guys reccomend?

I am debating BFL but the shipping time is putting me off, BTC FPGA looks attractive with the fast shipping and the owners customer service skills are really good (answered all my questions and willing to help with a custom request) but is slightly more expensive - however at the moment I am thinking of BTC FPGA when I get the funds, unless there is somewhere cheaper/faster in the UK/EU to purchase from?

[Shadow383]

Slightly off topic but I am also from the UK and looking to get FPGA.
Where do you guys reccomend?

I am debating BFL but the shipping time is putting me off, BTC FPGA looks attractive with the fast shipping and the owners customer service skills are really good (answered all my questions and willing to help with a custom request) but is slightly more expensive - however at the moment I am thinking of BTC FPGA when I get the funds, unless there is somewhere cheaper/faster in the UK/EU to purchase from?

There isn't really.

That said, if you can get cheap power, buy 7970s, when ASICs are out any BTC FPGA will lose almost all its value (barring maybe the BFL ones that can be traded in) whereas a 7970 will still be worth a reasonable amount on ebay a year from now 

[Projects]

Thanks for the reply shadow.
My electricity is included with my rent (as long as it is considered fair usage ) so that shouldnt be a problem - however I am a complete novice when it comes to PC hardware/building.
I wouldnt know where to start with building a rig which is why the plug and play FPGAs are attractive to me

[Shadow383]

Thanks for the reply shadow.
My electricity is included with my rent (as long as it is considered fair usage ) so that shouldnt be a problem - however I am a complete novice when it comes to PC hardware/building.
I wouldnt know where to start with building a rig which is why the plug and play FPGAs are attractive to me

What's your budget? Looking for a straight mining rig or something on which to game/whatever as well?

[Projects]

Straight mining, not a gamers player really.
My budget is about £750 but ideally I would like to break even in a year or less, so I am not sure if a rig will do that for me.

[BobbyJo]

I am in the UK also and I have a few GPU miners at the moment.  I hope to jump the FPGA and go straight to ASIC.  As stated above, if/ when ASIC hits, FPGA and especially GPU mining in the UK will be dea.  However, you can still use GPU to mine litecoins (not sure about FPGA though).

[BobbyJo]

Thanks for the nudge.  I have just used uswitch to switch my elctricity provider to Scottish power (not pluigging them- they came out best).  It reakons I will save £350 a year on current consumption.  I move from 13.4p per kWh to 19p perkWh for the forst 900, then 9.?p per kWh.

Quite a saving (I hope).

I would recomend using uswitch to switch!