Is starting with 1 USB Block Erupter is a good start as a hobby ?!

[Hesham_3del]

Hi,

Is starting with 1 USB Block Erupter is a good start as a hobby ?!

Shall I buy 1 USB Block Erupter and after starting to gain some bucks, re-invest in another one and so on ?!

I want to start as a hobby and to get some few bucks, I'm not looking towards it as a business.

If not, What is the "ideal" start ?!

Thank you

[monbux]

Well I have had the same wondering but it depends, if you're just going to do it as a hobby, how long are you going to mine per day?  From what I've heard the investment will come back in about half a year from mining 24 hours per day in a pool IF nothing dramatically changes, which probably won't happen.. So if you want to invest as a hobby, I wouldn't go for it.

[west17m]

It really depends on what your goals are.  For the price, you will have a hard time ever breaking even on a single erupter - which is fine if you know that going into it.  You might be able to break even through mining something for a small period of time and then selling it (either asic or gpu).

If you want to dip your toe in mining and have any reason to want a higher end graphics card (gaming, cad, whatever), AND you already have a pci-x slot open and psu that can handle it, buying a 7950 new or used is a nice option.  You'll spend more, mine just a bit more than an erupter, but hold your value more.  Also, you can explore ltc mining later if you want.  If you want to learn the mining tools and be a part of the network that's a great place to start.  My 0.02USD.

[Hesham_3del]

Well I have had the same wondering but it depends, if you're just going to do it as a hobby, how long are you going to mine per day?  From what I've heard the investment will come back in about half a year from mining 24 hours per day in a pool IF nothing dramatically changes, which probably won't happen.. So if you want to invest as a hobby, I wouldn't go for it.

So what do you suggest to do ?!

It really depends on what your goals are.  For the price, you will have a hard time ever breaking even on a single erupter - which is fine if you know that going into it.  You might be able to break even through mining something for a small period of time and then selling it (either asic or gpu).

If you want to dip your toe in mining and have any reason to want a higher end graphics card (gaming, cad, whatever), AND you already have a pci-x slot open and psu that can handle it, buying a 7950 new or used is a nice option.  You'll spend more, mine just a bit more than an erupter, but hold your value more.  Also, you can explore ltc mining later if you want.  If you want to learn the mining tools and be a part of the network that's a great place to start.  My 0.02USD.

I was thinking of mining with the new Alienware M18, what you think ?!

[balanghai]

Hi there. First of all as a newbie and mining with a graphics card. It's even late for the GPU to mine. BUT you can try hitting on the scrypt alt-coins. And make some buck.

Well a good CPU can also mine Primecoin(XPM) at the moment before the GPU Miner will be release and grab some coins.

With a GPU you can have a great opportunity mining early coins. And remember to save half of it because it might turn out more valuable the next few months.

It also depends where you are located and what cooling system you intend to use because GPU Mining can be really HOT!

How much is your budget and do you have spending plan already? Otherwise you won't have fun with your new found hobby.

My 0.0002 BTC

[fjones]

I am trying the same thing.  Buying 1 USB miner to see how it goes then who knows?

[Wed]

It's not a good idea to start with a Block Erupter because its like an addiction. I've started with 1 Erupter 2 weeks ago, no I have 3 :-(

[ZirconiumX]

a pci-x slot

is one of these. I think you meant a PCIe slot.

@OP - If you want to go for a BEUSB, there is nothing wrong with it if you want to do it as a hobby, but something like that probably won't return your money.

Matthew:out

[pacojones]

If you want to dip your toe in mining and have any reason to want a higher end graphics card (gaming, cad, whatever), AND you already have a pci-x slot open and psu that can handle it, buying a 7950 new or used is a nice option.  You'll spend more, mine just a bit more than an erupter, but hold your value more.  Also, you can explore ltc mining later if you want.  If you want to learn the mining tools and be a part of the network that's a great place to start.  My 0.02USD.
[/quote]

I don't think he/she meant pci-x - they meant PCI-E - there is about 8 years difference...  MOST modern (less than three years old) motherboards have a PCI-E slot.  Many mining rigs will use 2 or 3 per rig (some rigs use a few more). 

Graphics cards are OK for mining but your going to spend a lot of money to get the card, run it at 100% while mining and then hopefully sell it on ebay 6 month later.  During that time it's likely that the amount of bitcoin that you mine won't even cover the cost of electricity... 

In that case the usb block eruptors are OK but even those (they cost less and use a tiny amount of electricity) will take a year to "pay off".  I bought a couple JUST to test them out - I don't plan to make my money back...  it's like the previous poster said, it's an addiction - once you get one or two or three you just want more because the POTENTIAL is there to make money.  The problem is the cost to get the hardware is so high that it's not worth it for 'most' hobbiest miners...

Again, if your in it as a hobby, want to mine, play with the software - maybe your a developer or interested in the source code - a usb stick will probably be fine.  If your an investor looking to make money I'd suggest buying the bitcoin directly and don't bother mining.  OR you could buy shares in an established mining pool (search for bitfunder) and DO YOUR RESEARCH!!  There are a lot of scams (hardware, software, sales, miners) just be careful!

[astutiumRob]

Shall I buy 1 USB Block Erupter and after starting to gain some bucks, re-invest in another one and so on ?!

As long as you realise that, assuming free electrcity, it will take a year before the BE has "earned" enough to buy a 2nd one ...

[west17m]

Shall I buy 1 USB Block Erupter and after starting to gain some bucks, re-invest in another one and so on ?!

As long as you realise that, assuming free electrcity, it will take a year before the BE has "earned" enough to buy a 2nd one ...

This is harder to speculate on since the price will likely drop as well.  Remember, they started at 2btc and have dropped 75% in 2-3 months.