Is mining worth it at this point?

[Phantai]

I've been following Bitcoin very closely for about four months now. When the group buys started about a month ago, I saw it as a great investment opportunity, but I lacked the capitol. Now that I'm in a better position to invest, dozens of group buys have started and tens of thousands of chips have been purchased. I read the custom hardware forum, and my stomach churns--what a great opportunity I seem to have missed. So, is mining even worth it all? If so, how much hashing power would be required to turn in a profit? How many chips would I have to order now to actually see a return when they show up?

[gbx]

Depends on what your vision of "worth" is.

I'd say you need at least 4 Gh/s for it to be worth it.  At this speed, you can get 1 BTC every 10 days or so.

Other factors include exchange rates... right now, it's hovering at 100 USD per 1 BTC.  Is that going to change in the future?  How long are you going to hold your BTC?  Will it ever hit 1000 USD per BTC?  Or will it go back to 10 USD per BTC?

ASICs are interesting animals... increase Gh/s and decrease power consumption compared to their GPU counterparts.  However, GPUs have some resale value.  ASICs are priced higher than GPUs in Mh/s... where I see a .50 USD per Mh/s in GPUs, I'm seeing much more than that for ASICs.

GPUs have other uses (scrypt mining)... gaming... selling on eBay.  At least the resale market is fairly predictable.  Who knows with ASICs long-term...  or if they could be ever be repurposed for other crypto coins..

Maybe this helps, probably not.  You'd probably be better off buying BTC at a low exchange rate than trying to mine now.... but mining is fun!

[coinedBit]

So, is mining even worth it all? If so, how much hashing power would be required to turn in a profit? How many chips would I have to order now to actually see a return when they show up?

you're missing one point: the main issue being that things like "required hashing power" etc are not at all constant, but rather moving targets because of difficulty growing each month - so the real question should be "what's a realistic time frame for exploiting certain hashing power" and "how much additional hashing power would I need per month if the hardware is delivered late".

All of these hashing power/cost calculators are nice obviously, but the main problem with ASIC mining now is that hardware usually isn't delivered on time, and thus you need to have a certain cushion, or you'll just pay electricity bills without any significant ROI.

[Paladin69]

If your definition of "worth it" is to get rich, then no.  Not unless you spend 5-6 figures on shovels.  And that is a huge risk because nobody knows what the difficulty will ultimately do.

[jeannie]

Mining Bitcoin really cost a lot but maybe Litecoin will be a cheaper alternative.

[MagicBit15]

I am looking at a few private sellers for the 10gh/s block Eruptor. Is one feasible or should I focus on building a big unit ASIC powered, or just try and buy ASIC miner. I am trying to decide where to place some funds...

Any Input?

[Ace5high]

Nope, not worth it at this time.

[coinedBit]

with difficulty getting close to 19M and increasing at ~30% per month, just do your own maths - at the end of the day it all boils down to your own costs (power/electricity, initial investment)

[bcpokey]

Your own math will vary from others. I would say a block eruptor is retarded, but hundreds of others have bought them, who is right? Time will tell.

My math goes like this. 12.5GH/sec costs 50BTC and generates 9.88BTC at current difficulty. Next month it will probably be ~30% greater, or generate 30% less, so 7.54, then 5.8, 4.4, 3.4, 2.6, 2, etc. When will you ever get 50BTC? At that growth rate, never.

Others believe differently. Maybe they expect for difficulty to slow down dramatically for some reason. You get to make the call for yourself.

[LogicalUnit]

Here's what I've learned from my case study: rising difficulty and high hardware costs make USB Block Eruptors less effective than I'd hoped. Mining is only worth it if you think the price of BTC will go up again.

[grosskate]

I canceled my 5gh order at BFL lately because there is no point in waiting more than 3months for it. The difficulty is increasing at high speed. 5gh in 6 months will be nothing in term of power. As others stated... you would probably not be able to sell it.. and also can t switch it for litecoin mining. So it s a too big gamble i d not be willing to take at this point.

The value of bitcoin is another volatile value you can t determine to add in your calculation. Although you can estimate the futur hash rate increase and thus the difficulty.... you will not be able to know what a bitcoin will be worth tomorrow or in a year.

Too risky to me. Those willing to take the risk might get a lot of profit out of it... but can also lose a loy of money.

[superresistant]

For Bitcoin, it's all about buying shares in future ASIC technologies with the risk to not get delivered on time or getting scammed.

Then you still have gpu mining of all altcoins. Most of them often hit the 130-150% profitability compared to bitcoins. You don't take too much risk because you know what you are buying. You can start mining right now and resell the hardware anytime.
The main factor here is the electricity cost. You'll have to spend a long and hard time experimenting undervolting and overclocking or find a place you can run your rig with less (or no) electricity cost.

[Amph]

no, find a job

[superresistant]

no, find a job

Yeah get a job first before risking loosing all your money left.

[k9quaint]

Right now, it is much cheaper to buy Bitcoin than to buy hardware to mine Bitcoin.