what is the best mining hardware for 1000 us dollars

[Soros Shorts]

For a little over $1000 (10.5 BTC), you can currently buy the old model 13GH/s ASICMiner blade and have it delivered to your door in 2 days if you live in the US. I estimate that it would make back at least 5 BTC over 6 months but will probably never achieve ROI. I did buy this because I have a little bit of excess BTC that I don't want to hold or convert to USD.

[lumpycustard]

I would recommend just mining litecoins to exchange them and once ASIC's are common and ship within weeks, only then get yourself an ASIC.

I would tend to agree with this.  The only problem is that a readily available ASIC is not a very profitable ASIC.

[bronan]

Just to put my 2 cents to the story i have in total 10 Gh but my income from that is not really massive
especially since the diff jumped like a rocket upwards on many days i make 0.003 btc and on some days i get 0.02 btc spread over 2 to 3 pools so in total i make not nearly they predicted numbers which the current calculation tools give.

This all is being caused by the massive increase in hash power each week, ofcourse we know we can expect it only to getting worse for the small miners.
The lucky big spenders do still get a decent amount of income but will soon feel the hurt as well. since more and more powerfull machines will enter the arena and in bigger numbers

So long story short the investments we make now into mining equipment will probably hardly return the invested money.
Those who have made a fortune in the paste are again the big winners because they can buy the newer and faster machines first and thus make again some more then the ones who enter the arena later.
Because of lack of the needed funds this is become again the rich boys game from now on at the sha256 coins.
Even the worthless coins are soon hard to get without huge mining power because of the merged mining.

[bitterdog]

Look at this
http://www.coinwarz.com/cryptocurrency

Notice something... Almost ALL Scrypt coins will beat out BTC

Pick up a few 7950's and mine the hot alts. Dump everything and exchange for LTC DAILY!

Besides.. Fall and Winter are right around the corner!! Double Dip - Mine Alts + Heat your house!!

[oddree]

Notice something... Almost ALL Scrypt coins will beat out BTC

You could also just point your scrypt miner toward Middlecoin.com.  They automatically switch to the most profitable coin of the day - and then pay you in BTC.  The pool fee may seem high (nearly 4%), but think of not having to manage all of your miners and re-point them ... or pay BTC transaction fees to convert your currency.

Also - I can vouch for the administrator.  He spent considerable time trying to help me on something that was basically me being a n00bie retard (and he was very kind not to point that out).

Besides.. Fall and Winter are right around the corner!! Double Dip - Mine Alts + Heat your house!!

RIGHT!  :-)  You could even mount your rig in one of those little fake heaters that are supposed to look like a fireplace.  Fool your spouse!