Hardware v's Cloud Solutions

[Jojamon]

Hello Everyone!

I have been mining for a short time for LTC coins (Running 3 XFX Radeon HD 6750) but wanted to expand into the bitcoin market. I see a lot of information for hardware prices and also cloud solutions. Currently I would like to gather hardware to do mining (since I get to control what pool gets my mining fee for using them, I like to be loyal) but wanted to see if anyone has purchased cloud services and would suggest it over acquiring hardware. Currently I don't have a budget set for hardware or cloud services (Will be running the numbers later).

If anyone has used cloud services, which sites/services would you suggest?

If you recommend hardware instead, what small rigs would you suggest to start with?

Thanks in advance!

~Jojamon

[chandrew]

i jumped into CEX yesterday with 1.43 GHS (~ .1 BTC).

Here's my 24 hour stats:
BTC: 0.000781050
NMC: 0.001680530
IXC: 0.009009370
DVC: 0.32637025

a quick estimate for a months time (30 days):
0.000781050 BTC x 30 = .0234315 BTC

the good thing is you can convert GHS back to BTC at anytime.

[odyssey]

I kind of like CEX.IO.  It was a bit confusing when I first came across it as to exactly what they were offering.  I just signed up this week and transferred in enough NMC to get started mining with 3.0 GH/s.  While that will not get me a lot of BTC, I do not have to worry about keeping all the BTC miners running in the house.  I have about 60 GH/s in Butterfly labs mining equipment running at the house.  With the high prices they are bringing on EBay right now, it almost seems more cost effective to sell them all there and put the $$$ into GH/s on CEX.IO and not worry about the electric bill or hot room any more.

[Jojamon]

Seems like a valid site. Too bad they don't take LTC (wanted to cash out instead of exchange for BTC/NMC). The site also looks to be in "Beta"? I'll definitely take the site into account for when I make a decision. Thanks! 

[xandriel]

I would recommend Cex.io too, at least while you think about hardware.

The price per Ghs is rubbish compared to purchasing the equipment yourself, but with cex.io you can withdraw your investment at any time, and hopefully make a profit on the Ghs alone. Plus whilst you invest, you get rewarded from the mining

[chandrew]

I kind of like CEX.IO.  It was a bit confusing when I first came across it as to exactly what they were offering.  I just signed up this week and transferred in enough NMC to get started mining with 3.0 GH/s.  While that will not get me a lot of BTC, I do not have to worry about keeping all the BTC miners running in the house.  I have about 60 GH/s in Butterfly labs mining equipment running at the house.  With the high prices they are bringing on EBay right now, it almost seems more cost effective to sell them all there and put the $$$ into GH/s on CEX.IO and not worry about the electric bill or hot room any more.

how much was the butterfly labs?