Budget: €200 - Which miner should I buy as a beginner?

[eternalgloom]

I'm new to Bitcoin mining and I was wondering which miners I should buy to get started?
I would have them shipped to Belgium, so if anyone from Europe could recommend a store that offers relatively cheap shipping, that would be nice.

I'm not expecting to make huge amounts of Bitcoins with this, it just seems really interesting to get started with.
An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

Thanks for anyone willing to offer me any advice!

[VirosaGITS]

I'm new to Bitcoin mining and I was wondering which miners I should buy to get started?
I would have them shipped to Belgium, so if anyone from Europe could recommend a store that offers relatively cheap shipping, that would be nice.

I'm not expecting to make huge amounts of Bitcoins with this, it just seems really interesting to get started with.
An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

Thanks for anyone willing to offer me any advice!

I can give you a great advice; Don't buy from stores. (Most retailers have bad to insane markup) You can look at Ebay, sometimes you *can* get lucky and find a miner for cheap.

If you have free solar power you're not using or selling back to your power grid, then you could look at a S3, i think that would be the best bet with your budget and not a bad miner at all to get started.

Just keep in mind if you step up to S4, S5 or S7 etc, the noise will go from x8 to x32+

You might be able to get 2 S3 if you're lucky. Getting a S5 would be hard. S3's go for 100-120USD right now.

Better than anything else is probably going to the marketplace and try to find a buy here. And use escrow.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=75.0

[sishendaoye]

I would advice you to start with a second hand antminer s3. They are very easy to set up and you can learn about mining etc.
When you have learned buy some bigger machines. A S7 or even an Avalon. If you have more budget go with Spondoolies Tech miners.

I think they have the best miners on the market these days.

[Atomicat]

An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

How much free power do you get from solar? The requirements for any decent mining rig is too high for a normal household solar setup.

[HarryKPeters]

I would advice you to start with a second hand antminer s3. They are very easy to set up and you can learn about mining etc.
When you have learned buy some bigger machines. A S7 or even an Avalon. If you have more budget go with Spondoolies Tech miners.

I think they have the best miners on the market these days.

Just that.
If your budget is around 200 you would be able to buy a S3 with PSU. Use it to learn about bitcoin mining and when you have ROI-ed buy some next generation miners.
With your knowledge you would be able to buy a very profitable setup.

[notlist3d]

An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

How much free power do you get from solar? The requirements for any decent mining rig is too high for a normal household solar setup.

Hes going to need free solar.  The bad thing about Europe is the vat/import tax.  It can be a big amount. 

So prices of miners in Europe normally are higher then say US.  With 200 you might get S3 or something in Europe do some ROI math though.  I don't think you will get to much newer then S3.  But I could be wrong.  I don't think I am with how Europe is higher on miners.

[eternalgloom]

An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

How much free power do you get from solar? The requirements for any decent mining rig is too high for a normal household solar setup.

I'm still connected to the regular power network.
In total I get around 4 to 6 Kwh per day, some of which gets used, excess is sold to the power company.

An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

How much free power do you get from solar? The requirements for any decent mining rig is too high for a normal household solar setup.

Hes going to need free solar.  The bad thing about Europe is the vat/import tax.  It can be a big amount.  

So prices of miners in Europe normally are higher then say US.  With 200 you might get S3 or something in Europe do some ROI math though.  I don't think you will get to much newer then S3.  But I could be wrong.  I don't think I am with how Europe is higher on miners.

I've been searching a bit and it might be a good idea for me to look for some S3's, with some luck I might be able to get two S3's for around 200 euro.
Oh right, might have to spend some more for the PSU's, I'll look for some used ones first...

[VirosaGITS]

An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

How much free power do you get from solar? The requirements for any decent mining rig is too high for a normal household solar setup.

I'm still connected to the regular power network.
In total I get around 4 to 6 Kwh per day, some of which gets used, excess is sold to the power company.

An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

How much free power do you get from solar? The requirements for any decent mining rig is too high for a normal household solar setup.

Hes going to need free solar.  The bad thing about Europe is the vat/import tax.  It can be a big amount. 

So prices of miners in Europe normally are higher then say US.  With 200 you might get S3 or something in Europe do some ROI math though.  I don't think you will get to much newer then S3.  But I could be wrong.  I don't think I am with how Europe is higher on miners.

I've been searching a bit and it might be a good idea for me to look for some S3's, with some luck I might be able to get two S3's for around 200 euro

I'm not sure how much you're getting for your extra electricity you're selling back, but i'm thinking with the average cost in the EU zone of electricity, its very probable that selling your excess electricity will be more profitable than running old BTC hardware.

So just keep that in mind, depending on what your goal is.

[eternalgloom]

An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

How much free power do you get from solar? The requirements for any decent mining rig is too high for a normal household solar setup.

I'm still connected to the regular power network.
In total I get around 4 to 6 Kwh per day, some of which gets used, excess is sold to the power company.

An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

How much free power do you get from solar? The requirements for any decent mining rig is too high for a normal household solar setup.

Hes going to need free solar.  The bad thing about Europe is the vat/import tax.  It can be a big amount. 

So prices of miners in Europe normally are higher then say US.  With 200 you might get S3 or something in Europe do some ROI math though.  I don't think you will get to much newer then S3.  But I could be wrong.  I don't think I am with how Europe is higher on miners.

I've been searching a bit and it might be a good idea for me to look for some S3's, with some luck I might be able to get two S3's for around 200 euro

I'm not sure how much you're getting for your extra electricity you're selling back, but i'm thinking with the average cost in the EU zone of electricity, its very probable that selling your excess electricity will be more profitable than running old BTC hardware.

So just keep that in mind, depending on what your goal is.

Just interested in the technical side behind it all, looking to do some solo mining just for fun.
So I don't really mind if I'm not getting the best ROI possible with my entire set-up in the beginning.

[VirosaGITS]

An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

How much free power do you get from solar? The requirements for any decent mining rig is too high for a normal household solar setup.

I'm still connected to the regular power network.
In total I get around 4 to 6 Kwh per day, some of which gets used, excess is sold to the power company.

An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

How much free power do you get from solar? The requirements for any decent mining rig is too high for a normal household solar setup.

Hes going to need free solar.  The bad thing about Europe is the vat/import tax.  It can be a big amount. 

So prices of miners in Europe normally are higher then say US.  With 200 you might get S3 or something in Europe do some ROI math though.  I don't think you will get to much newer then S3.  But I could be wrong.  I don't think I am with how Europe is higher on miners.

I've been searching a bit and it might be a good idea for me to look for some S3's, with some luck I might be able to get two S3's for around 200 euro

I'm not sure how much you're getting for your extra electricity you're selling back, but i'm thinking with the average cost in the EU zone of electricity, its very probable that selling your excess electricity will be more profitable than running old BTC hardware.

So just keep that in mind, depending on what your goal is.

Just interested in the technical side behind it all, looking to do some solo mining just for fun.
So I don't really mind if I'm not getting the best ROI possible with my entire set-up in the beginning.

I'd recommend something smaller for solo mining, since there is not a big difference in odds of mining with a small stick (10GH/s) that consume 2 watts versus 900GH/s that consume 750~ watts, but the later's cost will add up fairly quickly.

I'd recommend a Sidehack stick for little ongoing costs. An undervolted S1 for low initial costs @ 90-140GH/s @ 80-160Watts and THEN a single S3.

[eternalgloom]

I'd recommend something smaller for solo mining, since there is not a big difference in odds of mining with a small stick (10GH/s) that consume 2 watts versus 900GH/s that consume 750~ watts, but the later's cost will add up fairly quickly.

I'd recommend a Sidehack stick for little ongoing costs. An undervolted S1 for low initial costs @ 90-140GH/s @ 80-160Watts and THEN a single S3.

Yeah for sure, I was planning on running different rigs for different purposes in the future. I'm thinking a couple of small asics for solo mining and the S3 for mining in a regular pool.
Hoping to get everything running in the next couple of weeks/months

[VirosaGITS]

I'd recommend something smaller for solo mining, since there is not a big difference in odds of mining with a small stick (10GH/s) that consume 2 watts versus 900GH/s that consume 750~ watts, but the later's cost will add up fairly quickly.

I'd recommend a Sidehack stick for little ongoing costs. An undervolted S1 for low initial costs @ 90-140GH/s @ 80-160Watts and THEN a single S3.

Yeah for sure, I was planning on running different rigs for different purposes in the future. I'm thinking a couple of small asics for solo mining and the S3 for mining in a regular pool.
Hoping to get everything running in the nesxt couple of weeks/months

Great, then.

A sidehack stick could be pretty chill to figuring out solo mining, but the way it is recommended to do it, is just point at a solo pool, so in term of technicality its even simpler than(setting up normal mining) managing regular payouts, since the payouts will not happen. (lol)

Then mining with a S3 on a regular pool to get the hang of managing a mining "operation" is a good idea.

How much do you sell your electricity for?

[eternalgloom]

Hes going to need free solar.  The bad thing about Europe is the vat/import tax.  It can be a big amount. 

So prices of miners in Europe normally are higher then say US.  With 200 you might get S3 or something in Europe do some ROI math though.  I don't think you will get to much newer then S3.  But I could be wrong.  I don't think I am with how Europe is higher on miners.

Yeah you're right about the import tax, though I know that items (electronics) with a value under 55 euro ordered from China are exempt from VAT in Belgium.
So it might be a good idea to buy some cheap rigs separately?

[VirosaGITS]

Hes going to need free solar.  The bad thing about Europe is the vat/import tax.  It can be a big amount. 

So prices of miners in Europe normally are higher then say US.  With 200 you might get S3 or something in Europe do some ROI math though.  I don't think you will get to much newer then S3.  But I could be wrong.  I don't think I am with how Europe is higher on miners.

Yeah you're right about the import tax, though I know that items (electronics) with a value under 55 euro ordered from China are exempt from VAT in Belgium.
So it might be a good idea to buy some cheap rigs separately?

You can also buy miners locally that may come cheaper than online, and also if you buy miners that VAT was already paid, and the seller does not mark it up into the price, then you might also be a winner here.

The problem is that typically, smaller miners are not efficient, so it term of ongoing cost, it may be a loss to do it that way.

[eternalgloom]

I'd recommend something smaller for solo mining, since there is not a big difference in odds of mining with a small stick (10GH/s) that consume 2 watts versus 900GH/s that consume 750~ watts, but the later's cost will add up fairly quickly.

I'd recommend a Sidehack stick for little ongoing costs. An undervolted S1 for low initial costs @ 90-140GH/s @ 80-160Watts and THEN a single S3.

Yeah for sure, I was planning on running different rigs for different purposes in the future. I'm thinking a couple of small asics for solo mining and the S3 for mining in a regular pool.
Hoping to get everything running in the nesxt couple of weeks/months

Great, then.

A sidehack stick could be pretty chill to figuring out solo mining, but the way it is recommended to do it, is just point at a solo pool, so in term of technicality its even simpler than(setting up normal mining) managing regular payouts, since the payouts will not happen. (lol)

Then mining with a S3 on a regular pool to get the hang of managing a mining "operation" is a good idea.

How much do you sell your electricity for?

I forgot to add that excess energy during the day, is 'deducted' from the power used during the night.
Anything that's left after that gets sold at around 0.12 euro per Kwh (per 1000 Kwh)

[VirosaGITS]

I'd recommend something smaller for solo mining, since there is not a big difference in odds of mining with a small stick (10GH/s) that consume 2 watts versus 900GH/s that consume 750~ watts, but the later's cost will add up fairly quickly.

I'd recommend a Sidehack stick for little ongoing costs. An undervolted S1 for low initial costs @ 90-140GH/s @ 80-160Watts and THEN a single S3.

Yeah for sure, I was planning on running different rigs for different purposes in the future. I'm thinking a couple of small asics for solo mining and the S3 for mining in a regular pool.
Hoping to get everything running in the nesxt couple of weeks/months

Great, then.

A sidehack stick could be pretty chill to figuring out solo mining, but the way it is recommended to do it, is just point at a solo pool, so in term of technicality its even simpler than(setting up normal mining) managing regular payouts, since the payouts will not happen. (lol)

Then mining with a S3 on a regular pool to get the hang of managing a mining "operation" is a good idea.

How much do you sell your electricity for?

I forgot to add that excess energy during the day, is 'deducted' from the power used during the night.
Anything that's left after that gets sold at around 0.12 euro per Kwh (per 1000 Kwh)

Thats very expensive for electricity. Buying more solar panel or hydro turbines and selling the excess electricity might be better than mining Bitcoins, because anything over 0.09 per kWh is considered outright "bad" for mining. It would be cheaper to use cloud or coop hosting and those are angled at making money off the hosting (off you).

So you can tell how bad of a situation mining with such a high electric rare would be.

[jackg]

I'm new to Bitcoin mining and I was wondering which miners I should buy to get started?
I would have them shipped to Belgium, so if anyone from Europe could recommend a store that offers relatively cheap shipping, that would be nice.

I'm not expecting to make huge amounts of Bitcoins with this, it just seems really interesting to get started with.
An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

Thanks for anyone willing to offer me any advice!

Possibly get 4 U3 miners from Amazon^tm. Delivery should be free, and each miner (with power supply) is around £39 (less than fifty euros), Then connect these to a computer or Raspberry PI (raspberry Pis are around thirty euros from amazon, you only need a B+ mdel!).

Hope this helps you rmining project!
Jack G

(NOTE: you may also be interested in purchasing a used antminer server from somewhere like ebay, but less hashes will be made from that!)

(The U3 Miners are said to run at around 50 GHs with a maximum of 63GHs before overclocking!)

You may also wish to just go to hashnest and deposit your 50GHs on a share of an S7 miner! You will own the share of the miner and can get a greater profit from it as electricity costs are lower!

[VirosaGITS]

I'm new to Bitcoin mining and I was wondering which miners I should buy to get started?
I would have them shipped to Belgium, so if anyone from Europe could recommend a store that offers relatively cheap shipping, that would be nice.

I'm not expecting to make huge amounts of Bitcoins with this, it just seems really interesting to get started with.
An advantage that I have is 'free' solar power, with that in mind it might still be profitable?

Thanks for anyone willing to offer me any advice!

Possibly get 4 U3 miners from Amazon^tm. Delivery should be free, and each miner (with power supply) is around £39 (less than fifty euros), Then connect these to a computer or Raspberry PI (raspberry Pis are around thirty euros from amazon, you only need a B+ mdel!).

Hope this helps you rmining project!
Jack G

(NOTE: you may also be interested in purchasing a used antminer server from somewhere like ebay, but less hashes will be made from that!)

(The U3 Miners are said to run at around 50 GHs with a maximum of 63GHs before overclocking!)

You may also wish to just go to hashnest and deposit your 50GHs on a share of an S7 miner! You will own the share of the miner and can get a greater profit from it as electricity costs are lower!

Yes for hashnest. The electricity rate for OP is higher than rip off cloud hosting. (seriously)

No for U3. Unless you have a way to auto unzombify them, they are a pain in the ass.

[eternalgloom]

I'd recommend something smaller for solo mining, since there is not a big difference in odds of mining with a small stick (10GH/s) that consume 2 watts versus 900GH/s that consume 750~ watts, but the later's cost will add up fairly quickly.

I'd recommend a Sidehack stick for little ongoing costs. An undervolted S1 for low initial costs @ 90-140GH/s @ 80-160Watts and THEN a single S3.

Yeah for sure, I was planning on running different rigs for different purposes in the future. I'm thinking a couple of small asics for solo mining and the S3 for mining in a regular pool.
Hoping to get everything running in the nesxt couple of weeks/months

Great, then.

A sidehack stick could be pretty chill to figuring out solo mining, but the way it is recommended to do it, is just point at a solo pool, so in term of technicality its even simpler than(setting up normal mining) managing regular payouts, since the payouts will not happen. (lol)

Then mining with a S3 on a regular pool to get the hang of managing a mining "operation" is a good idea.

How much do you sell your electricity for?

I forgot to add that excess energy during the day, is 'deducted' from the power used during the night.
Anything that's left after that gets sold at around 0.12 euro per Kwh (per 1000 Kwh)

Thats very expensive for electricity. Buying more solar panel or hydro turbines and selling the excess electricity might be better than mining Bitcoins, because anything over 0.09 per kWh is considered outright "bad" for mining. It would be cheaper to use cloud or coop hosting and those are angled at making money off the hosting (off you).

So you can tell how bad of a situation mining with such a high electric rare would be.

I'm not interested in expanding my solar set-up though, I have limited roof space for one
Plus I'm sure I've left out some information by mistake, since having solar panels has been a bureaucratic mess (subsidies cut every year & taxes added recently).

The price you pay per Kwh is even crazier, just looked it up and it's around 0.23 euro

[notlist3d]

I'd recommend something smaller for solo mining, since there is not a big difference in odds of mining with a small stick (10GH/s) that consume 2 watts versus 900GH/s that consume 750~ watts, but the later's cost will add up fairly quickly.

I'd recommend a Sidehack stick for little ongoing costs. An undervolted S1 for low initial costs @ 90-140GH/s @ 80-160Watts and THEN a single S3.

Yeah for sure, I was planning on running different rigs for different purposes in the future. I'm thinking a couple of small asics for solo mining and the S3 for mining in a regular pool.
Hoping to get everything running in the nesxt couple of weeks/months

Great, then.

A sidehack stick could be pretty chill to figuring out solo mining, but the way it is recommended to do it, is just point at a solo pool, so in term of technicality its even simpler than(setting up normal mining) managing regular payouts, since the payouts will not happen. (lol)

Then mining with a S3 on a regular pool to get the hang of managing a mining "operation" is a good idea.

How much do you sell your electricity for?

I forgot to add that excess energy during the day, is 'deducted' from the power used during the night.
Anything that's left after that gets sold at around 0.12 euro per Kwh (per 1000 Kwh)

Thats very expensive for electricity. Buying more solar panel or hydro turbines and selling the excess electricity might be better than mining Bitcoins, because anything over 0.09 per kWh is considered outright "bad" for mining. It would be cheaper to use cloud or coop hosting and those are angled at making money off the hosting (off you).

So you can tell how bad of a situation mining with such a high electric rare would be.

I'm not interested in expanding my solar set-up though, I have limited roof space for one
Plus I'm sure I've left out some information by mistake, since having solar panels has been a bureaucratic mess (subsidies cut every year & taxes added recently).

The price you pay per Kwh is even crazier, just looked it up and it's around 0.23 euro

That is pretty bad on electricity honestly don't go to big if you want to go big look at hosting centers they would do 1/2 easily possibly 1/3 of some compared to your current electricity.

Also these places have no Vats on some of them.  So lot better as far as ROI.  But it would suck to not be able to tinker with them.