LTC GPU Mining...Where's the downside?

[ScottEvil]

So I've been reading for a week or more now learning about what has been going on the past few months and now I'm ready to put some serious thought into building a LTC mining rig. (Gave up on BTC with ASIC being so hard to acquire)

LTC (scrypt) was built to resist hardware advances but even so GPU mining is now happening and large hash rates possible.  Some boasting in the 1.5Mhash + area.  When I do the numbers on being able to rank out that many LTC...it gets crazy. (dustcoin.com)..looks as if you can recoup your hardware investment in 2 months tops....again thats if LTC stays at current rates.

Now since hash rates in the GPU field are profitable in 2 months...what keeps someone from turning their giant BTC GPU miner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nDTBN_cPs0) over to LTC and raking in close to 3x the value (LTC to BTC exchange)?  Does your ability to "offload" LTC in the exchanges keep this from being a viable solution? 

[AmDD]

The problem I see with LTC mining is the difficulty changes every 2 days or so vs 2 weeks with bitcoin. With bitcoin you can mine for 2 weeks at a time and only worry about the exchange rate dropping and hurting your profit. With litecoin you have a 2 day window... difficulty can change 15 times in a month, which could be 15 increases.

[ScottEvil]

Ok that was a new fact I didn't know about...exactly the stuff I'm looking for.  Thanks.

Still when you plug in the estimated hash rates and current values...LTC looks very lucrative. 

And given all the craziness with ASICs being added into BTC's mining this year (oh and I just read on reddit that BFL has changed their offering again...raised their prices etc...) that more and more people are realizing that GPU mining is absolutely over in the next few months. 

I'm thinking those used to the GPU mining lifestyle will switch to LTC.  Wouldn't it make sense to start farming that up before everyone else joins in?

Again I'm a hobbyist at best with this (wouldn't have put an nvidia card in my computer last Nov had I took an interest in crypto coins back then) but the thought of mining my way into profits in 2months going the LTC route makes me ready to start ordering parts to build a rig. 

It just seems I'm missing something here because LTC GPU miners seem to be a very small minority when compared to the BTC mining operations.  I see people talk about how LTC mining is 3x more profitable when you convert to BTC than just BTC mining so why doesn't everyone do that?

[AmDD]

I know what your saying and am in the same shoes at this point. I bought into bASIC which went bust along with my ASIC dreams. Also consider a ton of others are thinking along the same lines. I think litecoin difficulty is going to explode with everyone switching over to it once ASIC are mainstream on the bitcoin network.

A lot to think about, could be a lot of risk...

Good luck!

[ScottEvil]

Well my thought process is this...The ship has sailed on being profitable in the short term when investing in ASIC.  And once ASIC is in full swing GPU BTC is over.  So for someone wanting to invest in basic GPU hardware to start a mining rig, LTC seems to make the most sense at this point.

...there has to be 100's of experienced miners ready to make the switch too.  They'll either sell off their GPUs cheap or find a new coin to mine.  LTC looks to be favored.

...So if someone as newb as me is thinking about this why isn't more people mining/selling/trading LTC?  I have zero experience in exchanges so maybe thats where my confusion comes from.  Are people hoarding these coins speculating prices will keep growing? Why is everyone still focused on BTC when you can GPU mine LTC so quickly and then exchange for BTC or USD? Is it because there isn't enough demand for LTC to make this work?

[and0r]

have you actually looked at the LTC difficulty?
it changes every few days because its low as hell

once blocks become harder to discover the difficulty will also take longer to increase

[zenrith]

The only thing you have to lose is the money you spent to setup a miner.

I once read "nobody can make money without first having spent money".  This rings true even here in the cryptocurrency game.

So as I am fond of saying, money has no smell.  It doesn't matter where it first originated, at the end of the day it is still money and something that we have all placed a value on.

As such, I encourage you to build a test rig and see what returns you can mine with Litecoin.  If anything, you will have built a computer and found a fun hobby, as I have.

[minternj]

Not sold on LMC mining. I'd think its hard for the world to adopt 2 cryptocoins, bitcoins got the most recognition behind it.

[and0r]

Not sold on LMC mining. I'd think its hard for the world to adopt 2 cryptocoins, bitcoins got the most recognition behind it.

cryptocoins will take off and soar... dont worry about it bro

[ScottEvil]

Not sold on LMC mining. I'd think its hard for the world to adopt 2 cryptocoins, bitcoins got the most recognition behind it.

I've heard that argument too but the counter argument it brings is how many real world currencies do we have?  USD, Euro, Franc, British Pound...

Crypto coins could be shaping up to be a digital reflection of physical currencies.  Not all are equal in value and yet all find plenty of ways to spend. Cryptocurrencies still seems to be in an infancy stage but even so...there seems to be money had here for the pioneers who help in the success of the currency adoption.

[robble]

I jsut started LTC mining a few dayss ago and have about 12 ltc now.  I missed the boat on BTC back in it's infancy and wanna try to catch this one.  To that means I've ordered 2 new video cards to add into my computer to try and make some money.  If LTC stays close to the current $4 I should be able to pay off the cards (and new powersupply) within the first month.

[ScottEvil]

I jsut started LTC mining a few dayss ago and have about 12 ltc now.  I missed the boat on BTC back in it's infancy and wanna try to catch this one.  To that means I've ordered 2 new video cards to add into my computer to try and make some money.  If LTC stays close to the current $4 I should be able to pay off the cards (and new powersupply) within the first month.

Exactly... Which seems to easy. Wondering what pitfalls I'm not accounting for. When the GPU BTC group arrives difficulty will go up but at least you are using the same generation of hardware instead  of being two steps behind ASIC

[clicksmoney]

There's some good points being made here. I think it's important to look at your expectations and capabilities. I'm in BTC for awhile longer as I've done my sums while using NMC > LTC trades to get a foot in.

Whatever happens at least we're hear at the beginnings of getting interesting. 

[polyksena]

The price goes down, all new members is probably better to buy some LTC, than to mine.

[Tek-Ti]

I find myself in a similar situation. I'm quite anxious to get involved with the whole concept of cryptocurrencies, mainly BTC+LTC.

Ultimately, I'd want to mine BTC but I kind of feel I missed that train. This is a poor attitude. Instead of grieve about missed opportunities, I try to focus forward. While LTC is not BTC, it may be a fun and educating introduction to the whole concept. So I might go for LTC at first and then involve in BTC (mining) as my investment strength arise. As you also realize, to have a nutritious BTC mining today one need to spend quite some fiat got get there.

TL;DR: Begin with LTC. Gain knowledge. Advance to BTC. Gain profit.

[aspect]

I would say at this point that if you are to build a rig that would cost you let's say $1000, then at this particular point in time it would be better (IMHO) to simply buy LTC with the same money and sit on it for half a year.

Otherwise, calculate your profitability/ROI carefully.  Also keep in mind that large miners ARE and WILL be switching over to LTC, which means that your mining reward may be falling. (there are many factors, also depend on the price at the moment, but once ASICs come in, price effects will be different).