mining vs. directly investing in cryptocurrency

[Puddles629]

The best cards for mining cryptocurrencies seem to be hard to come by and a little overpriced from what I have observed. For someone just entering the scene do you think the payoff for mining alt-coins is worth it right now, and if so what is the best way to get into it? Alternatively would it be a better investment to simply invest the money I would have spent on a video card into BTC/alt-coins directly?

[efc17]

Hi

I'm no expert but i mine and trade.  Short answer IMO is you'll profit more from trading / investing than mining.
But there are so many factors to consider could you be a little more specific eg. mining scrypt based coins or SHA-256 and your level of investment.  There are numerous calculators online to help you work out your expected ROI

I'm not sure if you are aware that cloud mining is now available ie. you don't need any equipment to mine.  You purchase mining power and a company will host it for you and send the income to your wallet.

I cloud mine at:   https://cex.io/r/1/efc17/0/  and it seems to be working ok for me.
I also mine BTC with an asic device, Scrypt based cryptos with my GPU and trade via various exchanges.

I'm not a rich man but I turn a profit and enjoy it 

Good luck whatever you decide.

[marcotheminer]

Youre better off investing directly

[TinkerTom]

I'm pondering the same thing, but looking at the new ASICs coming up Q1 2014. I think if you can get in early, you would do well, but if you're on the later end it might be tough.

Here's a good calculator:
http://coinplorer.com/Hardware/Simulate

Of course it depends on the bitcoin market as well as how the difficulty rises, which are both pretty tough to predict. However, I look at it as I could buy maybe 6 BTC or a 1,200 GH ASIC miner. With the miner, if I can get it in February, I think it will pay off nicely.

[torry28]

The best cards for mining cryptocurrencies seem to be hard to come by and a little overpriced from what I have observed. For someone just entering the scene do you think the payoff for mining alt-coins is worth it right now, and if so what is the best way to get into it? Alternatively would it be a better investment to simply invest the money I would have spent on a video card into BTC/alt-coins directly?

Easiest is if you have very good ATI card already. You can mine alt-coins and exchange to Bitcoin

[TheFourthSaint]

I have a few computers available to me so I've been mining CPU only coins. I average 6-8 MH/s during the day on equipment that I dont pay electricity. For me, it's free coins.

[looter]

A combination of both would be ideal

[sooscdev]

It depends on which coins you're planning on mining. If you can find the ones that are relatively new, it might be worth it. Otherwise, I would just buy them.

[OC19850520]

The best cards for mining cryptocurrencies seem to be hard to come by and a little overpriced from what I have observed. For someone just entering the scene do you think the payoff for mining alt-coins is worth it right now, and if so what is the best way to get into it? Alternatively would it be a better investment to simply invest the money I would have spent on a video card into BTC/alt-coins directly?

I believe buying coins is bit better, it might take over one year to pay video card with mining, but depends on electricity price

[Itun]

I'm pondering the same thing, but looking at the new ASICs coming up Q1 2014. I think if you can get in early, you would do well, but if you're on the later end it might be tough.

Here's a good calculator:
http://coinplorer.com/Hardware/Simulate

Of course it depends on the bitcoin market as well as how the difficulty rises, which are both pretty tough to predict. However, I look at it as I could buy maybe 6 BTC or a 1,200 GH ASIC miner. With the miner, if I can get it in February, I think it will pay off nicely.

Unless you already made up your mind, I don't recommend you buying the 1,200 GH miner.

The top reason would be because difficulty will boost the way heck up because a lot of people will have those terahash mining rigs by then.

Also, there's a good chance you won't get your miner in time.

I would suggest you to just buy some btc with the money you have if you are interested in investing in the currency.

[Warning__3]

I (as most other) started with mining but soon came to the conclusion that it really wasn't worth it if i weren't to buy a real mining rig so IMO, investing a small amount is as good as any place to start

[ming08108]

You should just invest because mining is only profitable if you believe the price is going to rise.

[kronicblazer]

I bought a 1 280x about 10 days ago to try scrypt mining.  Switching between litecoin and some alt coins depending on profibility.  Wish I had started way earlier as mining profits decreasing rapidly.  
I don't regret buying it since it gave me a reason to research more about the different coins.  I am transferring the coins to cryptsy and making a decent profit off them.  Trading definitely makes way more profit, but I think it is important to understand both how the market works and the technicality of the different alt coins to trade better.  I don't think I would understand as much about the coins if I had not started mining.

[RaylonS]

If you're goal is to have fun and meet a challenge, mining could be great. If your goal is to make any kind of a profit however....

And even IF you believe the price is going to rise (and let's face it, all of us do, why else would we be here?) I don't suggest mining.

Logistically it's way more complicated than it seems at first, and even if you're a top 10th percentile computer geek the cost/reward ratio just can't keep up. I looked at investing in a mining company for $45 and it seemed like at about 6 months I'd get my money back, but the returns drop sharply the second month forward.

So I too, would suggest investing directly. I've only been seriously looking into this for about a week and I can already say even just 'buying, holding, & selling' BTC is plenty time consuming and frustrating.

Good luck whatever decision you make.

[Puddles629]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I bought a few bitcoins! 

[Nerull]

Ive found my experience mixed. Mining has made me a stable income of ~$60-80 a day. Ive tried my hand at trading and ive made a few hundread dollars in a couple trades and 1 or 2 in the others. If you trade just make sure that you are willing to lose some of that money and dont give in to the panic sell if you buy cheap!

[xapno]

I just started here, and currently mining off a gpu. It doesnt make a lot, but I am just here to have some fun, not make money.

Im using a 7850, it gets me around 90kh/s, is this the right amount or am I doing something very wrong?

[Warning__3]

I just started here, and currently mining off a gpu. It doesnt make a lot, but I am just here to have some fun, not make money.

Im using a 7850, it gets me around 90kh/s, is this the right amount or am I doing something very wrong?

I'm using a GTX 580 and i'm getting 260khash with scrypt and as far as i know you should atleast get more than i do, try searching what settings other people use with the same card

[Nerull]

https://litecoin.info/Mining_hardware_comparison

going by that you should be getting ~300.

try adding

setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT 100
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS 1

to the start of your bat file

[noodlesnz]

I just started here, and currently mining off a gpu. It doesnt make a lot, but I am just here to have some fun, not make money.

Im using a 7850, it gets me around 90kh/s, is this the right amount or am I doing something very wrong?

Bitcoin or litecoin? If you're doing bitcoin then something is very wrong. Most people GPU mine at ~100MH/s. The newer ASIC miners can be 1GH/s up to 1,200GH/s