Looking for USB hobby miner, efficiency doesn't matter

[bookstime6]

I'm not looking to make a profit (but my electricity is flat rate so efficiency shouldn't matter).

I'm looking for a cheap USB ASIC miner (I'm in Europe so maybe €50 or so), that I can leave running connected to an old laptop or RPi as a hobby / out of interest. I don't mind what currency it mines. And yeah I know the boat is long gone in terms of making any kind of return on such a small investment.

What's a good one to pick up? Preferably as high hash rate as possible, but efficiency in terms of power consumption doesn't matter to me.

I see some on ebay for 40 - 50 euro or so, that have hashrates in the 100's of khash/sec, I get the feeling these are sellers trying to offload older ones. Any faster newer ones in a similar price range?

[xhomerx10]

Sidehack has cobbled together a pretty cool little device.  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1718358
Sales site for EU is here - https://www.bitshopper.de/shop/sha-256-miner/usb-miner-bitcoin/compac/

 Selling now! 49.95€

[bookstime6]

Thanks, I'll look into this one.

That EU site is sold out unfortunately.

EDIT: They'll have a newer 2x one in stock at the end of Feb.

[mikehersh2]

I'm currently looking for the same thing. However, I too plan on using a laptop however it is a nice laptop with a 1060 gpu that I just purchased for gaming/work. I'm afraid that using a USB miner will burn the

components and cause damage. Will using a USB miner cause this kind of harm to my laptop or no?

[bookstime6]

I think the whole point of a USB ASIC miner is to take the hard work away from the GPU (or CPU).

Unless there's a way of running separate mining jobs on both GPU and ASIC, I don't think a USB miner will damage your laptop at all, as the GPU won't even be used.

Whether a USB miner does a better job than a GPU for mining I don't know. It's certainly more customised for mining than a GPU is, and I'd imagine far more efficient.

But I don't have enough experience on this and welcome any corrections. Perhaps a GPU is still better in terms of raw hash rate.

[xhomerx10]

Thanks, I'll look into this one.

That EU site is sold out unfortunately.

EDIT: They'll have a newer 2x one in stock at the end of Feb.

 The new one give you the ability to change the clock rate and voltage a bit which means it could draw more than the maximum current of a standard USB 2.0 port which is 0.5 watts so it would be better to use it in a USB 3.0 port which has a max current rating of 0.9 watts.

I'm currently looking for the same thing. However, I too plan on using a laptop however it is a nice laptop with a 1060 gpu that I just purchased for gaming/work. I'm afraid that using a USB miner will burn the

components and cause damage. Will using a USB miner cause this kind of harm to my laptop or no?

 Version 1 of the miner should not harm your laptop even on a USB 2.0 port but it draws 2.5 watts so it will drain your battery so you shouldn't leave it running if the laptop isn't plugged in to external power.
  If you get version 2 of the stick miner, it would be better to use a USB 3.0 port or a powered USB 3.0 hub if you plan to play with the settings because that one could draw more than the rated current on a USB 2.0 port and potentially damage your laptop.


 

I think the whole point of a USB ASIC miner is to take the hard work away from the GPU (or CPU).

Unless there's a way of running separate mining jobs on both GPU and ASIC, I don't think a USB miner will damage your laptop at all, as the GPU won't even be used.

Whether a USB miner does a better job than a GPU for mining I don't know. It's certainly more customised for mining than a GPU is, and I'd imagine far more efficient.

But I don't have enough experience on this and welcome any corrections. Perhaps a GPU is still better in terms of raw hash rate.

 These stick miners are specifically designed for SHA256 (like Bitcoin) mining.  They will kick the ass of any GPU in existence for this purpose. The chips on the miner do all of the hard work but you still have to run a small program on your computer in order to send work to it and connect to a pool for mining so there is a requirement to use some of the CPU cycles of the connected computer.

[Shiroslullaby]

There are probably some users who have a Gekko Science (Sidehack made USB) for sale if you ask in one of the threads.
They are definitely well-made little USB miners. Worth paying a few dollars more for them IMO.
You can definitely find cheaper USB miners to practice with as well if you are just trying to learn how mining works.

[charles2k]

I have around 20 old Gridseed 5chips USB miners for scrypt (modded to 480khash and fan modded to lower rpm)
also I have for scrypt one Gridseed Blade (2 hashing boards - each USB) 5,4MHash and one Gridseed Blade with only one working hashing board (2,7MHash)

All in EU.

[xhomerx10]

There are probably some users who have a Gekko Science (Sidehack made USB) for sale if you ask in one of the threads.
They are definitely well-made little USB miners. Worth paying a few dollars more for them IMO.
You can definitely find cheaper USB miners to practice with as well if you are just trying to learn how mining works.

Yeah 50 euro seems pretty damn pricey for a stick miner even if its sidehacks.

 True.  True.
In fairness, his price is $30 US but I don't think he ships to the EU for individual orders.

[philipma1957]

There are probably some users who have a Gekko Science (Sidehack made USB) for sale if you ask in one of the threads.
They are definitely well-made little USB miners. Worth paying a few dollars more for them IMO.
You can definitely find cheaper USB miners to practice with as well if you are just trying to learn how mining works.

Yeah 50 euro seems pretty damn pricey for a stick miner even if its sidehacks.

 True.  True.
In fairness, his price is $30 US but I don't think he ships to the EU for individual orders.

I shipped around 7 of the 25 I had.

Mostly to the UK.

I HAVE one left .  Keeping it for review against the two chips units.

[xhomerx10]

There are probably some users who have a Gekko Science (Sidehack made USB) for sale if you ask in one of the threads.
They are definitely well-made little USB miners. Worth paying a few dollars more for them IMO.
You can definitely find cheaper USB miners to practice with as well if you are just trying to learn how mining works.

Yeah 50 euro seems pretty damn pricey for a stick miner even if its sidehacks.

 True.  True.
In fairness, his price is $30 US but I don't think he ships to the EU for individual orders.

I shipped around 7 of the 25 I had.

Mostly to the UK.

I HAVE one left .  Keeping it for review against the two chips units.

 Do you remember the shipping cost to the UK?