Trying to get my feet soaked in BTC mining

[Westicles]

This is a bit of an introduction post and a bit of me asking for some advice. I am a college student in AZ who wants to get into BTC mining, I realize the hayday of mining has come and gone but that's why I want to buy a kick-ass miner.
I mention that I am wanting to get my feet soaked and not wet because I intend to purchase an Antminer s7 with a 4.7 TH/s speed. From the research I have done this seems to be the best miner I can purchase. I still have some questions that I hope my new friends on here can answer:
Is there a better machine anyone would recommend? (looking to keep it under $1k for a miner)
With a machine like this should I mine on my own or join a pool?
Is there a good way to offset my electricity costs by using solar to power this machine? (I live in AZ so plenty of sun here)
Any good tips for a newbie to mine anonymously?
Preferred mining programs for beginners?
I'm sure I will come up with more questions as these are answered.
I greatly appreciate any help you guys are willing to offer me.

[achow101]

This is a bit of an introduction post and a bit of me asking for some advice. I am a college student in AZ who wants to get into BTC mining, I realize the hayday of mining has come and gone but that's why I want to buy a kick-ass miner.
I mention that I am wanting to get my feet soaked and not wet because I intend to purchase an Antminer s7 with a 4.7 TH/s speed. From the research I have done this seems to be the best miner I can purchase. I still have some questions that I hope my new friends on here can answer:
Is there a better machine anyone would recommend? (looking to keep it under $1k for a miner)

AFAIK the S7 is the best you can buy right now, but in a few months, it will be outdated.

With a machine like this should I mine on my own or join a pool?

Join a pool. It is impossible to solo mine and expect to earn anything.

Is there a good way to offset my electricity costs by using solar to power this machine? (I live in AZ so plenty of sun here)

It depends on the solar panels you get, but getting enough panels to power an s7 might be incredibly expensive, and using an s7 may not give you a lot of earnings to cover the intial setup cost.

Any good tips for a newbie to mine anonymously?

Pools should not require any personal information. You will be anonymous.

Preferred mining programs for beginners?

Use CGMiner or BFGMiner. However they do require that you know how to use the command line. IMO those are the two best and still supported mining software.

I'm sure I will come up with more questions as these are answered.
I greatly appreciate any help you guys are willing to offer me.

BTW, this belongs in the mining section. I have already reported the thread so the mods will be moving it.

[philipma1957]

okay  the s-7  with a free 100 dollar coupon from me  is 533 -100 = 433 + 55 shipping total = 488

new with a 90 day warranty

you need a psu.

if you can provide 240 power buy one with your s-7 order direct from bitmantech.

it is about 160.  so you would be 648 out of pocket.

the s-7 is loud and hot uses close to 1350watts at the wall.

so go here https://bitcoinwisdom.com/bitcoin/calculator

plug in 4% for you diff jumps
plug in 10 cents kwatt
plug  in   4700hash rate
plug in 650 usd cost
plug in 1350 watts
plug in   450 usd for btc price

and by July 18  you will have paid off 175 on the 650 you put up. and you will be 475 in the hole
 and the ½ ing will come about then and all shit will hit the fan.  As in no one know how price and diff will be affected.

I could alter some numbers for the projections but the best I could figure is price jumps to 700

so by july 18  you will have paid down  your 650 to 217

if you have really cheap power  say 5 cents and if price goes to 700 due to the ½ ing you will have paid the 650 down to 71  and should turn a profit by late august

but that is a really big if cause coins need to go to 700.

What ever you do good luck!

[notlist3d]

This is a bit of an introduction post and a bit of me asking for some advice. I am a college student

What is your living situation like is the big question before anything else.  If living in a dorm/one bed room I would hate some miners.  There are some that are almost quiet but old (example Avalon 4.1).   But others are quite loud.

But keep noise in mind when looking at miners if you are going to be living with it right there. I always liked my room quiet for studying before a exam... so a miner never made it in my college rooms.

[talks_cheep]

It's WAY too late for anyone to start getting their feet soaked in mining, you WILL get soaked as in lose your shirt and everything else. Diff is rising and Halving is due in two months. Save your money and buy BTC directly. Why take a risk? We all know btc price is rising so why waste your money on junk S7 now? It boggles my mind, and I'm a miner, but I've been mining since 2013.

[PassThePopcorn]

It's WAY too late for anyone to start getting their feet soaked in mining, you WILL get soaked as in lose your shirt and everything else. Diff is rising and Halving is due in two months. Save your money and buy BTC directly. Why take a risk? We all know btc price is rising so why waste your money on junk S7 now? It boggles my mind, and I'm a miner, but I've been mining since 2013.

The more risk you are willing to take the more reward that is possible to obtain. "Wasting" money on a machine is dependent on how you go about mining, if you do it right and as a "business" you can claim many things as write offs or costs that balance each other out, for instance this past winter I turned my heat on a total of 1 time the miner kept my entire home warm without needing to spend money on heat, also the amount of BTC generated paid my entire electric bill and then some.

[Westicles]

What is your living situation like is the big question before anything else.  If living in a dorm/one bed room I would hate some miners.  There are some that are almost quiet but old (example Avalon 4.1).   But others are quite loud.

But keep noise in mind when looking at miners if you are going to be living with it right there. I always liked my room quiet for studying before a exam... so a miner never made it in my college rooms.

I have a one bedroom apartment and I intend to run the miner in my living room, heat and noise was certainly a concern of mine after seeing a few videos of people running these incredibly noisy 1600w PSU's. I am also trying to figure out how to make a noise dampening box for the PSU that still provides optimal airflow.

[cryptotore]

What is your living situation like is the big question before anything else.  If living in a dorm/one bed room I would hate some miners.  There are some that are almost quiet but old (example Avalon 4.1).   But others are quite loud.

But keep noise in mind when looking at miners if you are going to be living with it right there. I always liked my room quiet for studying before a exam... so a miner never made it in my college rooms.

I have a one bedroom apartment and I intend to run the miner in my living room, heat and noise was certainly a concern of mine after seeing a few videos of people running these incredibly noisy 1600w PSU's. I am also trying to figure out how to make a noise dampening box for the PSU that still provides optimal airflow.

You really can't hear the PSU over the S7..

[notlist3d]

What is your living situation like is the big question before anything else.  If living in a dorm/one bed room I would hate some miners.  There are some that are almost quiet but old (example Avalon 4.1).   But others are quite loud.

But keep noise in mind when looking at miners if you are going to be living with it right there. I always liked my room quiet for studying before a exam... so a miner never made it in my college rooms.

I have a one bedroom apartment and I intend to run the miner in my living room, heat and noise was certainly a concern of mine after seeing a few videos of people running these incredibly noisy 1600w PSU's. I am also trying to figure out how to make a noise dampening box for the PSU that still provides optimal airflow.

You really can't hear the PSU over the S7..

Not really true get a server PSU some are quite loud.   But again hard to say without knowing which PSU.    You will need to do a noise dampening box for sure or something else to dampen sound i you plan to put in a 1 bedroom apartment in living room.

So be prepared to do this pretty much as soon as you get it.  As if not mining will not be that much fun with the amount of noise when trying to study.   Also depending on building your neighbors up stairs/or down, or even beside you might be not so happy if you run a loud miner without your dampening efforts.

[Westicles]

What is your living situation like is the big question before anything else.  If living in a dorm/one bed room I would hate some miners.  There are some that are almost quiet but old (example Avalon 4.1).   But others are quite loud.

But keep noise in mind when looking at miners if you are going to be living with it right there. I always liked my room quiet for studying before a exam... so a miner never made it in my college rooms.

I have a one bedroom apartment and I intend to run the miner in my living room, heat and noise was certainly a concern of mine after seeing a few videos of people running these incredibly noisy 1600w PSU's. I am also trying to figure out how to make a noise dampening box for the PSU that still provides optimal airflow.

You really can't hear the PSU over the S7..

Not really true get a server PSU some are quite loud.   But again hard to say without knowing which PSU.    You will need to do a noise dampening box for sure or something else to dampen sound i you plan to put in a 1 bedroom apartment in living room.

So be prepared to do this pretty much as soon as you get it.  As if not mining will not be that much fun with the amount of noise when trying to study.   Also depending on building your neighbors up stairs/or down, or even beside you might be not so happy if you run a loud miner without your dampening efforts.

Luckily I will not be running one of the more noisy server PSU's for I do not have 240v outlets available so I opted for the EVGA 1600w PSU which utilizes a 120v outlet.
Any ideas for noise dampening? I am thinking about pulling the hashing boards out and submerging them in Novec or a similar coolant. I have done this with PC builds while using mineral oil as my coolant, I figure the big difference here is getting the fluid to move around its reservoir more quickly and I think Novec is able to remedy that issue due to its evaporative/recondensing properties.
If anyone has done some similar immersion cooling method for a miner I would LOVE to see it and perhaps a build log.

[notlist3d]

What is your living situation like is the big question before anything else.  If living in a dorm/one bed room I would hate some miners.  There are some that are almost quiet but old (example Avalon 4.1).   But others are quite loud.

But keep noise in mind when looking at miners if you are going to be living with it right there. I always liked my room quiet for studying before a exam... so a miner never made it in my college rooms.

I have a one bedroom apartment and I intend to run the miner in my living room, heat and noise was certainly a concern of mine after seeing a few videos of people running these incredibly noisy 1600w PSU's. I am also trying to figure out how to make a noise dampening box for the PSU that still provides optimal airflow.

You really can't hear the PSU over the S7..

Not really true get a server PSU some are quite loud.   But again hard to say without knowing which PSU.    You will need to do a noise dampening box for sure or something else to dampen sound i you plan to put in a 1 bedroom apartment in living room.

So be prepared to do this pretty much as soon as you get it.  As if not mining will not be that much fun with the amount of noise when trying to study.   Also depending on building your neighbors up stairs/or down, or even beside you might be not so happy if you run a loud miner without your dampening efforts.

Luckily I will not be running one of the more noisy server PSU's for I do not have 240v outlets available so I opted for the EVGA 1600w PSU which utilizes a 120v outlet.
Any ideas for noise dampening? I am thinking about pulling the hashing boards out and submerging them in Novec or a similar coolant. I have done this with PC builds while using mineral oil as my coolant, I figure the big difference here is getting the fluid to move around its reservoir more quickly and I think Novec is able to remedy that issue due to its evaporative/recondensing properties.
If anyone has done some similar immersion cooling method for a miner I would LOVE to see it and perhaps a build log.

I think you will find out you are better off sending it to a hosting center then going at Novec (I don't know if we have seen a S7 in one).   But even if you managed it would be pricey.

Most focus on like a noise dampening box.  If you search the forums  you will find a few different ones, but main idea is to let air flow but stop some of sound.  It is the more "common" solution.  But honestly still I'm not sure you would want it in your living room.  So again I would look at hosting centers.

[philipma1957]

most use a box with a large heating duct in and out they act like a muffler



http://www.homedepot.com/p/8-in-x-25-ft-Insulated-Flexible-Duct-R6-Silver-Jacket-F6IFD8X300/100396936



intake duct                                                                      exhaust duct hot air out
___________________________ box with miner  ___________________________
 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>       and psu inside    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
___________________________ make sure air    ___________________________
                                                       flows free


use 8 inch or 10 inch ducts

[Westicles]

most use a box with a large heating duct in and out they act like a muffler



http://www.homedepot.com/p/8-in-x-25-ft-Insulated-Flexible-Duct-R6-Silver-Jacket-F6IFD8X300/100396936



intake duct                                                                      exhaust duct hot air out
___________________________ box with miner  ___________________________
 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>       and psu inside    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
___________________________ make sure air    ___________________________
                                                       flows free


use 8 inch or 10 inch ducts

I quite like the idea of a dampening box and I think that ducting will work very well for intake and exhaust, looks sturdy enough to possibly put fans on either end. Thanks for the idea