Is it worth buying a GPU to mine or a dedicated mining chip?

[Arrogance]

I'm considering buying a dedicated card, or perhaps just a chip as I don't pay for power in my apartment; what would be the most cost effective solution. I'm sure there is a thread on this but everything I found was ridiculous old and I wasn't sure how relevant it was any more.

Would someone mind running me down potential choices for price points, whether I should pool mine or solo mine, etc etc.

[3btc]

This helps to calculate your profit (or loss) http://tpbitcalc.appspot.com/

And this tells you about hashrates https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

Rest is up to you...

[SysRun]

butterfly labs has some SHA256 ASICs that will be released some time in the first 1/2 of December.

If they don't end up being a huuuuge scam, that is. I'm betting they will deliver, but at this point, nothing is outside the realm of possibility. I don't think GPUs are going to be worth it, even with free electricity.

You should pool mine. Here's a tutorial on the butterflylabs.com website.

https://forums.butterflylabs.com/showwiki.php?title=Tutorials:Getting+Started+With+CGminer+BFGminer

[Arrogance]

I'm not necessarily looking to make a profit; but Bitcoins to trade and spend through out the year. My only loss is actually buying the card/miner seeing as free electricity and what not.

And with these ridiculous exchange rates for the UK it'd probably be cheaper than buying bitcoins in the long run.

[DeathAndTaxes]

butterfly labs has some SHA256 ASICs that will be released some time in the first 1/2 of December.

Agreed I don't think they are a "scam" but they have a tendancy of overpromising (intentionally to kill sales of competitors).  The period of time between Thanksgiving and New Years tends to be low productivity anyways (lots of vacation time, etc).  This affects not just BFL but all their partners and suppliers.  Delays, holds, and backups are common the last month of the year.  I give it more than 50% odds nothing ships until 2013.

Your right on GPUs, buying one for mining right now is just horribly foolish.  The combination of the block halving and even under most optimistic scenarios (for GPU miners) ASICs will arrive sometime in early 2013.  No GPU bought today will even pay for its hardware cost.  

[DeathAndTaxes]

I'm not necessarily looking to make a profit; but Bitcoins to trade and spend through out the year. My only loss is actually buying the card/miner seeing as free electricity and what not.

And with these ridiculous exchange rates for the UK it'd probably be cheaper than buying bitcoins in the long run.

Well it won't matter with a GPU.  ASICs (and they will come eventually) will drive difficult so high that even with free electricity your GPU will be earning something like a bitcent or two a week.  A lot of heat, noise, and wear and tear for something worth pennies. 

Now if you are a hardcore gamer and looking to upgrade your computer for GAMING and figure you will mine as long as you can (which could be as short as a month and at best maybe three months) that is a different story but buying a GPU for the sole purpose of mining is simply a good way to pile up a bunch of cash and light it on fire.

[Arrogance]

I'm not necessarily looking to make a profit; but Bitcoins to trade and spend through out the year. My only loss is actually buying the card/miner seeing as free electricity and what not.

And with these ridiculous exchange rates for the UK it'd probably be cheaper than buying bitcoins in the long run.

Well it won't matter with a GPU.  ASICs (and they will come eventually) will drive difficult so high that even with free electricity your GPU will be earning something like a bitcent or two a week.  A lot of heat, noise, and wear and tear for something worth pennies. 

Now if you are a hardcore gamer and looking to upgrade your computer for GAMING and figure you will mine as long as you can (which could be as short as a month and at best maybe three months) that is a different story but buying a GPU for the sole purpose of mining is simply a good way to pile up a bunch of cash and light it on fire.

This is a depressing post to read as an optimist looking to get in to bitcoin... xD

[Arrogance]

I'm not necessarily looking to make a profit; but Bitcoins to trade and spend through out the year. My only loss is actually buying the card/miner seeing as free electricity and what not.

And with these ridiculous exchange rates for the UK it'd probably be cheaper than buying bitcoins in the long run.

Well it won't matter with a GPU.  ASICs (and they will come eventually) will drive difficult so high that even with free electricity your GPU will be earning something like a bitcent or two a week.  A lot of heat, noise, and wear and tear for something worth pennies. 

Now if you are a hardcore gamer and looking to upgrade your computer for GAMING and figure you will mine as long as you can (which could be as short as a month and at best maybe three months) that is a different story but buying a GPU for the sole purpose of mining is simply a good way to pile up a bunch of cash and light it on fire.

This is a depressing post to read as an optimist looking to get in to bitcoin... xD

You are misinterpreting it then.

I'm not sure what you mean; he basically summed up that unless I buy a ridiculously expensive ASIC, the amount of people with them will drive the difficulty rating so high there would no point buying a GPU unless I'm a big gamer as well; which I am not.

[Graet]

um : "ridiculously expensive"
I disagree
4.5Ghash for $150 - BFL
54Ghash for $1069 - bASIC
1.4Ghash 2 x 7970 ~ $900 -ATI
not even mentioning the power savings getting away from GPU

D&T just told you the truth, if you get depressed by that you should read around more

there is plenty to be optimistic about, and other ways to make BTC besides mining

[krjalone]

Maybe wait untill january 2013 and see how things are then. 

[hardcore-fs]

This thread should read:

"Why am I so lazy I cannot even be bothered to do some basic research?"

Personally I would say you should be aiming for using your CPU to mine bit-coins (because you already have one)
Then after a week you will be in a better position to decide what you want to do.

[Autobahn]

Actually i think its useless to make in an investemnt in GPU-Mininghardware, even if you are not interesseted in making profit. Buy one or two cheap Asic-Miner, thats more economical.

[Mikej0h]

I think it depends on whether you want to use mining as making money, to get involved, or just to get "some" BTC's.
I'm not so sure what the ASIC will bring the Bitcoin community, due to the fact a massive computing power will be introduced.

I do believe ASIC will make it alot harder to make mining "profitable", in the beginning for the ASIC miners it will be interesting but when they all up to market I think it will go down.

GPU mining gives you, compared to ASIC mining less profit. But I do think with a few good cards you can still dig some up.

[IRCCo Jeff]

Maybe wait untill january 2013 and see how things are then. 

Agreed. I'm waiting to see how the ASIC rigs perform before getting into mining.

[Arrogance]

I'm considering buying a dedicated card, or perhaps just a chip as I don't pay for power in my apartment; what would be the most cost effective solution. I'm sure there is a thread on this but everything I found was ridiculous old and I wasn't sure how relevant it was any more.

Would someone mind running me down potential choices for price points, whether I should pool mine or solo mine, etc etc.

I suggest you to wait with buying mining equipment for a while. Just monitor what happens with ASIC, and you'll know if investing
in mining equipment, and which one, is good deal. Until that happens, go grab free Bitcoins laying around, and eventualy mine some
with hardware you already have.

I know there is a lot of... 'false' promises around ASIC's from various companies including Butterfly Labs;

thoughts on this product?

http://www.butterflylabs.com/product-details/

[mjc]

I'm not necessarily looking to make a profit; but Bitcoins to trade and spend through out the year.

A profit would be if you made more than you paid to mine them.   If you are willing to lose money then go through the exchange. :-)

Actually, if you get a couple of ASIC from someone like Butterfly labs, you could be mining at 120 GH (roughly 2 BTC per day) give or tak depending on where the hash rate ends up.  Inside of a few months you'd turn a profit.  Only that one credit companies baby doesn't want more cash.

[Arrogance]

2 Jalapeno's look pretty damn good.

Why is this magic technology something that exists no where else?

[nixu]

Why is this magic technology something that exists no where else?

ASICs are not "magic". They are used for many years in countless different sectors.

[Arrogance]

Make sure you calculate things beforehand.

That thread was a sad but good laugh.

I do not plan to take out loans, $300 on two Jale's is nothing in GBP. About the same price as a hotel for one night in London.
I'm not rich or anything, but a £187 investment is nothing like $10,000 bank loan in Mother Russia.

[IbuyGuinnesswithBTC]

I say it's shifting into an ASIC based mining now. You can buy one card for $150 that mines at 4.5gh/s (supposedly), in order to get that from even the most advanced gpus you'd need four or five.