Advice for a mining newbie -- is it worth it?

[Forspareparts]

So, I'm getting an apartment with some friends, and we had planned to set up a DLNA media server. We've been talking about adding a nice video card and doing some mining. I've seen a lot of talk about the difficulty increase, and I'm wondering if this plan even makes any sense, monetarily. Any ideas? And those of you who do mine, what would you recommend in terms of hardware? I'm figuring on a 2 card board with one $300-ish card to start. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give...

[helmetedwarrior]

If you have a bunch of extra GPU cycles kicking around why not use them.

New hardware is always fun even if it doesn't make you any money...if your into tinkering with computers that is.

Hedghog

[fascistmuffin]

If you can wait a few months for your card to return a profit, then it might be worth it. But with electricity rates, you might want to realize that profit may be a few dollars, unless the trade prices really increase. Do remember that it takes a lot more electricity to run a computer with a 100% GPU load 24/7 than a "normal" computer running 24/7.

Remember, mining is a risk investment. If bitcoin prices tank, then you might be SoL. On the other hand, if they skyrocket, you might make a pretty penny. It comes down to your choice.

[willphase]

$300ish card you're looking at maybe 400Mh/sec (?) which works out around $5 a day at current rates, maybe dropping as the difficulty goes up.   If you're going to use the card for other stuff and mine part time then go ahead, but probably not worth it if you're planning on making money with a mining rig.

Will

[Forspareparts]

Thanks for your replies, everyone. Willphase, you say it's probably not worth it to get a card just to mine at that rate -- how big an investment does it take until that starts making sense? Also, I'm not terribly familiar with the price of electricity -- I'm a college student, and this will be the first time my power won't just be bought and paid for. We'll be in Chicago, to give you an idea -- could anyone tell me how much running that theoretical machine costs, ballpark? If the miner was generating $5/day, that's $150/month and it pays for itself in a few months. After I've broken even on the machine, it's not a huge deal if the value generated isn't huge. If electricity costs really cut into that, though, that could be a whole different game.

This is all assuming (and thank you, fascistmuffin, for the observation) that BTC prices don't tank and leave us holding the bag.

[hack6500]

mining is only fun for those who make it fun.
give it a shot, you have barely nothing to loose.

[PatrickHarnett]

Get the GPU card - it will work as a fan heater for the apartment in winter.

[bcforum]

$300ish card you're looking at maybe 400Mh/sec (?) which works out around $5 a day at current rates, maybe dropping as the difficulty goes up.   If you're going to use the card for other stuff and mine part time then go ahead, but probably not worth it if you're planning on making money with a mining rig.

Will

It'll be $2.50 next friday, and $1.25 the friday after that, assuming you can sell the coins.

[nvmind]

It'll be $2.50 next friday, and $1.25 the friday after that, assuming you can sell the coins.

What makes you say that? Even after the problems with MT Gox the average price is still over $16

[gtabmx]

I too am interested in this. What if, hypothetically, I could find a place to put my mining rig so that I don't pay electricity? lol, In other words, if electricity were free, would the short terms profits within the next 3 months cover the costs of the rig equipment?

-Mike

[fivemileshigh]

I have a vague feeling that for the longest time buying has been more profitable than mining, but it seems people still mine.