Newbie Miner Here!

[stillmatic07]

Just discovered the bitcoin, and mining two days ago. Ever since I've been researching, and calculating, and calculating, and calculating. I'm trying to actually crunch numbers until I find out, without a doubt, that this mining business is profitable. I currently have an NVIDIA 9800GTX+, not running a CUDA miner, just normal phoenix. Only getting 35mhash/s It's quite sad. But this is just a test to see if I'll actually get my predicted numbers.

At my rate, selling the bitcoin at it's current value... I predicted I'd make $10 USD a month with my current setup. No way I'd ever possibly break even, ever. The electric bill is obviously much higher than $10 with this setup.

So I came here to get some technical expertise, along with some wise advice. Should I jump in? I would probably be able to afford 1 rig, with 1 card at the moment and increase from there once I actually see some income. Will I see any income? Or will I need 3 rigs with 4 cards each before this game is profitable.

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So I came here to get some technical expertise, along with some wise advice. Should I jump in? I would probably be able to afford 1 rig, with 1 card at the moment and increase from there once I actually see some income. Will I see any income? Or will I need 3 rigs with 4 cards each before this game is profitable.

Probably not, unless you can find *really* cheap 5800 series or 6870 AMD cards or free power and cooling.

[spudhed]

30 to 40mh is about right for a 9800, maybe sell it on and get yourself a lower end 5xxx card or even a high end 4xxx card will put out more mh than your current card, nvidia cards arent really much use for mining

[stillmatic07]

Obviously I would invest in a new rig, but I want to make sure I'll make that money back or this will be a lost cause. I know it wouldn't come immediately, I calculated that if I ran a new rig with a new card it would mine back essentially it's worth in 6 months.

[ellipsis]

Obviously I would invest in a new rig, but I want to make sure I'll make that money back or this will be a lost cause. I know it wouldn't come immediately, I calculated that if I ran a new rig with a new card it would mine back essentially it's worth in 6 months.

6 months is a pretty distant horizon. Did you account for changes in difficulty and probable negative market corrections?

[Dargo]

Unfortunately there isn't any way to "make sure" you will pay off your rig and turn a profit. While the difficulty level is somewhat predictable, BC price is not. What I would do is calculate your maximum risk (i.e. what you would lose if you buy a rig and then have to sell it used without assuming any income gained from mining BC - and you should probably include your own time and work in the calculation). If you simply can't handle that risk, then don't do it. This is assuming a worst case scenario of course (i.e. BC becomes worthless right after you buy your rig), but that is your maximum risk.

[stillmatic07]

Thank you for the input, the risk is what I'll need to focus on at the moment. I still need to research the best possible component configuration for the price.

[Dargo]

To keep costs down, it is best IMO to go without a case and use risers so you can get your cards further apart than the motherboard slots allow. If you go with a case, you will have problems with cooling, so not only will you have the expense of the case, but you may have to buy extra case fans to get the temps down (this is what happened to me). Without a case, a cheap box fan is all you need. You can get a motherboard with 4 or more PCIe slots on Newegg for around $70 (Biostar and Gigabyte have models like this). Some of the slots will be x1, but that is no problem for mining. If you can find 58xxs at a good price, they are the best (but hard to find). Otherwise, maybe try to find some reference model 6950s (unfortunately also hard to find) so you can unlock the shaders - this will help offset depreciation in those cards since you are effectively making them 6970s. But I wouldn't spend too much time hunting for this stuff - remember, each day you spend doing research is a day of lost income from mining (at a lower difficulty since that keeps going up). Also, if you don't already have a copy of windows you can use, I would just mine using linux from a usb stick. This saves $150 or so for an OEM copy of windows plus a hard drive. And linux really isn't that hard to use. I'm a total linux newb, and got up and running with Linuxcoin 0.2b fairly easily. Of course, if you are eventually going to sell the rig, you will probably want windows and a case, but worry about that when the time comes. Also, man-up for a good power supply. I think the Corsair HX850 is a great buy - if you check the review of it on hardwaresecrets.com, they pulled 1000 watts from the plug on it no problem, and mention that it is better than many 1000w units. So, you are effectively getting a 1000w supply for the price of an 850 there. And it is a great power supply - 90% efficiency and all Japanese capacitors. Otherwise, you might check to see if Tigerdirect is still selling the Thermaltake xt 775w - $70 after a rebate, and it's a decent power supply (but won't offer as much room for expansion as the Corsair). Finally, if you go without a case, don't forget that you need a power button since that is something that comes with a case that is easy to overlook. 

[webosftw]

I have the same problem. I mine on my laptop (-.-). Need a better solution. Suggestions welcome. Please