Newbie looking to mine!

[zombieburger]

Okay, so, for the whole week I've been into Bitcoin, I have studied it for at least 10 hours cumulatively. And I have decided that I really want to mine. So I have a few questions.

1. I know that the difficulty will be going up once Cointerra produces its machines. But should I pre-order a 2TH/s machine or get into now?
2. If you think I should get into it ASAP, then should I just buy 300 USB ASIC miners or should I buy something else available right now?

[1713966591]

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[1713966591]

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[1713966591]

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[1713966591]

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[dawo5010]

Okay, so, for the whole week I've been into Bitcoin, I have studied it for at least 10 hours cumulatively. And I have decided that I really want to mine. So I have a few questions.

1. I know that the difficulty will be going up once Cointerra produces its machines. But should I pre-order a 2TH/s machine or get into now?
2. If you think I should get into it ASAP, then should I just buy 300 USB ASIC miners or should I buy something else available right now?

IMO neither is really an answer. If you get into it now, the only decent miner you can get is pretty much the Block Erupter Blade, of which if you get hold of the old models, can hash at 13GH/s, otherwise 10.7GH/s for the new models. They don't have a particularly spectacular GH/$ nor GH/W as compared to the CoinTerra but they are an option if you must start now. It is worth noting though that they might not ROI, due to their relatively high cost per GH.

For the CoinTerra, no one can really predict. It definitely is much cheaper in terms of GH/$ and GH/W but I personally suspect that it won't necessarily ROI, or rather, maybe just barely break even. No one can predict bitcoin difficulty sadly, and it might really hit the parabolic of an e^x curve at that point of time, making the CoinTerra useless. Of course this is just my speculation and personal thoughts but it is possible that such a scenario might play out.

Since you really want to mine, I suggest you do it on more of a 'for fun' basis as compared to 'for profit'. The latter mightn't work out at all.

[zombieburger]

Okay, I'll keep that in mind! Thanks!

[smoothie]

Better investment (in my view) is buying bitcoin and holding it for the next 6 months at least.

[Puppet]

If mining would be likely to yield bigger returns than the price of the machines, most asic providers wouldnt sell their golden egg laying chicken, instead they would mine themselves. Or if they are smart, do both and screw their customers twice.

What many people dont grasp is that the variable production cost of these mining chips is on the order of $10-$20 a piece for the bigger 28nm ones. They are selling them now for $1000-$2000 or more. Until demand will dry up (due to the difficulty increase), and then those asic companies  just drop their prices and will keep dropping them, which will cause D to keep increasing exponentially for the foreseeable future, rendering those early asics useless and unprofitable. This will only stop once mining profitability crosses over with variable production cost, and my best estimate is that wont happen with 28nm chips before we reach somewhere around 1 exahash:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=286126.msg3143855#msg3143855

Now you may get lucky by betting on the right horse and getting your hardware soon and while most of the competitors stumble, but overall miners will bleed lots of money as these asic companies are just auctioning off their risk to the highest bidders (/idiots). Dont get involved for profit, but by all means, if you are curious, put an old GPU or one of those USB mining sticks at work. Just dont expect a ROI, you stand far better chances winning on satoshi dice.

[zeta1]

Good luck mining! Wouldn't try the USB miners though.

[zombieburger]

Better investment (in my view) is buying bitcoin and holding it for the next 6 months at least.

Thanks, I'll consider that.

If mining would be likely to yield bigger returns than the price of the machines, most asic providers wouldnt sell their golden egg laying chicken, instead they would mine themselves. Or if they are smart, do both and screw their customers twice.

What many people dont grasp is that the variable production cost of these mining chips is on the order of $10-$20 a piece for the bigger 28nm ones. They are selling them now for $1000-$2000 or more. Until demand will dry up (due to the difficulty increase), and then those asic companies  just drop their prices and will keep dropping them, which will cause D to keep increasing exponentially for the foreseeable future, rendering those early asics useless and unprofitable. This will only stop once mining profitability crosses over with variable production cost, and my best estimate is that wont happen with 28nm chips before we reach somewhere around 1 exahash:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=286126.msg3143855#msg3143855

Now you may get lucky by betting on the right horse and getting your hardware soon and while most of the competitors stumble, but overall miners will bleed lots of money as these asic companies are just auctioning off their risk to the highest bidders (/idiots). Dont get involved for profit, but by all means, if you are curious, put an old GPU or one of those USB mining sticks at work. Just dont expect a ROI, you stand far better chances winning on satoshi dice.

That's kinda heartbreaking to me, but I see what you are saying. I am a big profit kinda guy though. I would also like to spread the word of Bitcoin. Anyway I could make something with those ideals work?

[Birdy]

Better investment (in my view) is buying bitcoin and holding it for the next 6 months at least.

This. You will most likely make less (or lose more in case Bitcoin price tanks) if you buy into mining.

[mobile]

In regards to mining, If you haven't already, check out these links to get an idea of ROI

http://mining.thegenesisblock.com/
or
http://www.bitcoinx.com/profit/

I recently bought a cheap USB Block Erupter full knowing that I would not see ROI for some time. But thats not why I bought it. There is an element of learning & geeky fun involved in mining so you have to decide.


If you want to increase your BTC holdings, I would suggest in investing in securities. http://btct.co is a good exchange. Check out the High's and the Low's. If your savy, then your the guy that is buying low and selling high. Im glad to hear that your doing a lot of research because this is a vital aspect when investing your hard earned & valuable BTC with expectations to not only see ROI but also profit    Cheers, have fun!

[Puppet]

That's kinda heartbreaking to me, but I see what you are saying. I am a big profit kinda guy though. I would also like to spread the word of Bitcoin. Anyway I could make something with those ideals work?

If I knew of a sure fire way to make bitcoins from bitcoins, Id be doing it, rather than telling you about it. Obviously there isnt one (well, afaik, or at least not a legal/ethical one). All I know and you should know is that anything promising more bitcoins from bitcoins is either a mining "opportunity" (not) or a HYIP scam.

Just holding bitcoins has the potential to yield very large profits over time, thats about as good as it gets now. Or well, make a better MtGox than MtGox, you'd be doing everyone in bitcoin world a favor and it could yield you a small fortune. Of course it wont be cheap or easy.

[tspacepilot]

Okay, so, for the whole week I've been into Bitcoin, I have studied it for at least 10 hours cumulatively. And I have decided that I really want to mine. So I have a few questions.

1. I know that the difficulty will be going up once Cointerra produces its machines. But should I pre-order a 2TH/s machine or get into now?
2. If you think I should get into it ASAP, then should I just buy 300 USB ASIC miners or should I buy something else available right now?

Based on my experience you should consider mining alt currencies for fun and profit. Once digital currencies reach critical mass there are going to be several major players. Bitcoin is already like a blue chip whereas if you can pick the next major winner your reward potential is exponentially greater.

I think that this is the right answer, start by mining an alt currency so that you know how the software works and you know the technical details.  Then, if you're ready to put money on the line, buy your rig and have at it.

[mobile]

I think that this is the right answer, start by mining an alt currency so that you know how the software works and you know the technical details.  Then, if you're ready to put money on the line, buy your rig and have at it.

+1 I concur especially if you jump on top of a newly released alt coin before it makes its way to an exchange such as https://www.cryptsy.com/

[makebitcoin]

The best option is buying BTC, researching other crypto-currencies and looking for other alternatives. Some day someone will creating something new that will replace Bitcoin.

[mobile]

The best option is buying BTC, researching other crypto-currencies and looking for other alternatives. Some day someone will creating something new that will replace Bitcoin.

True. There is always Litecoin. Although I am a huge fan and advocate for LTC. But the thing it has up on BTC is the faster confirmation times. Now this is a massive perk if your a merchant accepting BTCbut still does not solve the distant but future Transaction Fee Model problem. And then there is Ripple. Dare I mention Ripple (XRP) on this forum  https://ripple.com/ but still Ripple is not like a sha-256 or script currency but has an interesting model. Maybe a model for a future currency that borrows the same idea.

[MAbtc]

Don't pre-order anything. That's all I can say. 

[mobile]

Don't pre-order anything. That's all I can say. 

Isnt that the unfortunate truth 
And then there is the fact that if you buy a rig that was actually shipped to some one (either here, bitmit or ebay)your going to be paying a massive markup. This is an Arms Race and there is profit to be made but the big guns are the ones that are capitalizing on this race. Takes money to make money as they say.

[ranger1320]

For the sake of learning about mining, GPU still works great for plenty of SCRYPT alt coins, like litecoin for example.  GPU are also far more multipurpose when considering value of hardware investment for mining.  Sure all these ASIC's are nice and shiny and pretty (and low wattage!), but they are application-specific, and when that application surpasses the capacity of the hardware (difficulty rises too high), the value of that hardware drops.  Where-as, even if BTC crashed to $0 tomorrow, GPU would still have value and purpose.

For the sake of safety of investment, I'd have to agree with the suggestion to just buy some BTC and hold it for when its a profitable time to sell.  I agree with this suggestion because I've personally invested into hardware right before a massive Bitcoin price rise and I've been kicking my own ass since.

I remember going "well I can build a GPU mining rig or I can buy BTC @ $11 each... I'll build a rig!"

-facepalm-

Oh and like someone else mentioned, def DON'T pre-order anything.

Best of luck to you!

[Bocarte]

BEST WAY IS USE:

• |-------------------------|> coinchoose.com

• |-------------------------|>  coinwarz.com

ANOTHER WAY:

•  |-------------------------|>  SPOTS - SPT |-------------------------|>  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=259764.0
•  |-------------------------|>  COOPER BARS - CPR |-------------------------|>  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=272170.0
•  |-------------------------|>  ORBUTCOIN - ORB  |-------------------------|>  https://cryptocointalk.com/topic/927-orbitcoin-orb-official-release-thread/

[cryptojunkie]

I'm also new to the world of bitcoin (1st post here!).

I'll tell you a few things I have learned about mining so far.
1- preordering as an individual is a waste of time
2- mining btc today as an individual (without large capital investment) is NOT profitable
3- just because its not profitable today, doesnt mean it's not worth doing
4- know your mining objectives. Are you looking to make money daily? Hold for the future? Or just be geeky and have fun
5- determine your mining environment (home based, server farm, collective etc). This determines your equipment needs
6- look at the scrypt alt currencies, especially new ones that can be traded up to litecoin

Good luck with the mining!

[niktitan132]

The best way to mine is to deposit any amount of bitcoins in PYRAMINING and have a lot of referalls.
One GH/s cost only  0.47 BTC (before 0.71 BTC).They are paying when you have rewarded 0.1 BTC.
Register from the links here:
http://pyramining.com/referral/p38xcyrts    2013-08-31 19:19:18 UTC    still active
http://pyramining.com/referral/q38bszdxh 2013-08-31 19:19:18 UTC    still active