Addicted to hardware?

[J_Dubbs]

So I have found myself at an interesting crossroads... I have built up my rig a bit, most recently through using group buys and spending BTC. I started out in early November with a BFL Jalapeño 7.5gh/s ($260 via eBay, back in November this seemed unheard of). After that I was enamored with how cool a Raspberry Pi with erupters looked, so I got myself 9 erupters at $11 each; it's got an LCD ticker display and is more of a desk ornament and conversation piece than anything. As time went I got into blades, eventually working my way up to 10, with an average cost of $300 each. Lowest was $220 and highest was $415, also bought some with BTC. My most foolish purchase was a cube at $1,100 right when they came out, but the unit has been a good performer so I recently got another one on a group buy .75 BTC, it's arriving any day. Now I've got almost another .75 ready to dump on one more cube, .5 of which was bought when BTC dipped to $500, and then I really just want to let these things mine uninterrupted for a few months. Getting cubes on the group buy helps to lower my average cost on the one I rushed into when they first came out. But, there's a problem...

I am seeing the blade demand dry up rather quickly, as expected. With the amount of network traffic and space they occupy I'm beginning to wonder if the hidden costs of running blades is more apparent with more self-contained units available. I could probably eBay my blades and count on breaking even or turning a small profit, but the frenzy seems to be over, that is unless BTC breaks $1,000 again sometime soon. Selling the blades would leave me with enough cash to buy BTC and get an Antminer 180gh/s, but I'd also have downtime due to sales and shipping, along with the pain in the ass factor of tearing apart my backplane that I spent a few weeks building up.

I guess what I am wondering, how many others here struggle with the constant pressure to reinvest BTC? And how often do you consider dumping equipment to purchase something newer? This is almost like a personal question, with no right or wrong answer. I'm just surprised that the psychological pull mining has is more than I expected. Initially I got into mining because I didn't want to be saddled with the psychological baggage of a cost basis, certainly if I bought BTC on the exchange at $250 I probably would have closed my position around $500. With mining I never felt anxiety during price appreciation, and even the 30+% pullback on China news didn't affect me, just kept mining and having fun. What has been tricky is this addictive feeling, almost impulsiveness to spend my BTC on more equipment, partially because it's fun, and partially because the group buys have better deals than retail.

Fwiw, my total gh/s right now is around 150 when everything is hot and my cube is oc'd. New cube arrives and then one more shortly after, that will push me up to around ~210gh/s, assuming my router doesn't choke on all the traffic. I just keep thinking about this idea to dump a bunch of equipment and hop on an Antminer, but on the other hand I'm really thinking I owe it to myself to just let this equipment mine for at least a few months without any downtime. I tend not to get hung up on profit just yet because much of that really lies in the underlying value of the output, Bitcoin, and on that I am still bullish. I have recently considered switching to other coins as a hedge, but there's an added layer of risk in trying to leverage other coins versus just mining BTC directly. This still is, and always was, just a hobby for me; I'm happily employed and am not looking to dump all my earnings from my day job into mining, but I am an Econ nerd and love this stuff (but not much of a gadget guy and don't enjoy hardware tinkering much). It's just funny how when I started I was so excited about one .05btc weekly payout, and now like an addict I'm aiming for 1 or 2 per day, continually spending what I mine to acquire more equipment. The cold hard fact is after my next cubes I'm out of electrical plugs on my rack, so it seems like a reasonable stopping point for that alone, if nothing more.

[gmaxwell]

I guess what I am wondering, how many others here struggle with the constant pressure to reinvest BTC?

It's easier once you do the math and realize that at current prices most devices for sale are very likely to produce less BTC than they cost.

If you're looking to walk away with fewer BTC than you started with, I'm pretty sure I could sell you a little box with fans and blinkenlights for an amazing price.

[J_Dubbs]

I guess what I am wondering, how many others here struggle with the constant pressure to reinvest BTC?

It's easier once you do the math and realize that at current prices most devices for sale are very likely to produce less BTC than they cost.

If you're looking to walk away with fewer BTC than you started with, I'm pretty sure I could sell you a little box with fans and blinkenlights for an amazing price.

I'm seeing that some things look like they will pass into profitable range but it might take months, and yes I understand difficulty. I mean, power costs aside for this, but it seems like a cube can and will mine back .75 over 4 months or more, obviously after the first month it covers less ground. But, I know what you are saying, and the margin does look rather thin even if there is room for profitability, but it's still close enough that throwing coins at the group buys keeps pulling me in. Either way, I'm at a stopping point for now, time will tell. Thing that sucks is I'm still wrestling with the decision of flipping gear on eBay...

[grumpy619]

If you wanna dump some blades let me know. I would be interested.

[gmaxwell]

but it seems like a cube can and will mine back .75 over 4 months or more, obviously after the first month it covers less ground.

Lately I've been assuming 2%/day hashrate growth, which is actually low compared to what we've seen over the last 6 months.

[J_Dubbs]

If you wanna dump some blades let me know. I would be interested.

I just revisited my cost sheets and it looks like my average cost was $324 per blade. However, 3 of them were bought with BTC that I mined, but I did a price conversion to find cost at the time of purchase on them. Anyways, I'd expect Ebay would work out better if I do decide to do it, obviously I'd be looking to maximize my return to offset the downtime associated with turning over the rig for a new one. It's weird, I really like the blade setup, it allowed me to expand at a reasonable pace that I could handle. I'm hoping, although they aren't the most efficient thing out anymore, that maybe they are still useful for at least a few more weeks.

[grumpy619]

I feel you just phishing. I'm a deal hunter but get your hustle on bro.

[J_Dubbs]

I feel you just phishing. I'm a deal hunter but get your hustle on bro.

Have you looked at any group buys?

[crazyates]

I hate feeling like the network is growing without me. If the network increases by 30% and I've only grown by 25%, I feel squirmy. When I grow by 65% and the network's only grown by 45%, I feel like I could fuck anything with two legs.

I'm constantly looking at buying/selling. I buy when I see a good deal, and I sell when I'm looking to upgrade and I need the funds. Pretty simple.

[J_Dubbs]

I hate feeling like the network is growing without me. If the network increases by 30% and I've only grown by 25%, I feel squirmy. When I grow by 65% and the network's only grown by 45%, I feel like I could fuck anything with two legs.

I'm constantly looking at buying/selling. I buy when I see a good deal, and I sell when I'm looking to upgrade and I need the funds. Pretty simple.

Out of curiosity, what are you mining with?

I feel like although these Antminer units are nice looking, not many newbies will touch them due to price. Feeling as if I worked my way into a system that I could technically dump for an Antminer seems tempting, but two months ago I never would have even glanced at something that expensive. Once this bug bites it's hard to shake the desire to constantly upgrade...

[crazyates]

I hate feeling like the network is growing without me. If the network increases by 30% and I've only grown by 25%, I feel squirmy. When I grow by 65% and the network's only grown by 45%, I feel like I could fuck anything with two legs.

I'm constantly looking at buying/selling. I buy when I see a good deal, and I sell when I'm looking to upgrade and I need the funds. Pretty simple.

Out of curiosity, what are you mining with?

I feel like although these Antminer units are nice looking, not many newbies will touch them due to price. Feeling as if I worked my way into a system that I could technically dump for an Antminer seems tempting, but two months ago I never would have even glanced at something that expensive. Once this bug bites it's hard to shake the desire to constantly upgrade...

I'm actually not mining on anything right now, unless you count the pair (yes, 2) BEs that I use for testing. I literally sold all my other miners and bought a whole ton of Monarch Pre-orders. Shhhh, don't tell anyone, they'll jump all over your ass if they find out you bought from BFL. It'll be our little secret.

It kinda bothers me not hashing at all. But hopefully it'll be worth it in a few months. We shall see.

But yes, those AntMiners are very tempting. I ALMOST bought a ton of them, but the Monarchs went on sale, so I went with those instead. If anyone was looking at buying hashrate and wanted it in-hand ASAP (no pre-orders), I'd say those AntMiners are right at the top of the list.

[J_Dubbs]

I hate feeling like the network is growing without me. If the network increases by 30% and I've only grown by 25%, I feel squirmy. When I grow by 65% and the network's only grown by 45%, I feel like I could fuck anything with two legs.

I'm constantly looking at buying/selling. I buy when I see a good deal, and I sell when I'm looking to upgrade and I need the funds. Pretty simple.

Out of curiosity, what are you mining with?

I feel like although these Antminer units are nice looking, not many newbies will touch them due to price. Feeling as if I worked my way into a system that I could technically dump for an Antminer seems tempting, but two months ago I never would have even glanced at something that expensive. Once this bug bites it's hard to shake the desire to constantly upgrade...

I'm actually not mining on anything right now, unless you count the pair (yes, 2) BEs that I use for testing. I literally sold all my other miners and bought a whole ton of Monarch Pre-orders. Shhhh, don't tell anyone, they'll jump all over your ass if they find out you bought from BFL. It'll be our little secret.

It kinda bothers me not hashing at all. But hopefully it'll be worth it in a few months. We shall see.

But yes, those AntMiners are very tempting. I ALMOST bought a ton of them, but the Monarchs went on sale, so I went with those instead. If anyone was looking at buying hashrate and wanted it in-hand ASAP (no pre-orders), I'd say those AntMiners are right at the top of the list.

I was all proud of my blades up until I saw the Antminer! Eh, someone was saying they are tricky to setup though, I dunno, guess I gotta talk myself out of it somehow for the time being... My schedule gets crazy in 3 weeks so my window to act is probably too short anyways. Agree though, they are tempting...

[drmadison]

Oh man, I could've written this post myself!
In November I got 2 Jalapeno's, 7GH/s and 8GH/s.
Since then I added 2 Little SC (60GH/s each) 3 Cubes, plus a handful of Block Erupters and Antminer U1 USB sticks (they just look cool!)

Sitting at about 220GH/s total (a little less right now, one of the PSU's died so I'm down a cube until Monday)
Oh and I have a few shares of Round 17 and 22 of DZMinerCoop's group buys... (another ~100GH/s though not yet online)

The problem is the constant desire for MORE HASHRATE
Looking at Antminer S1s next...but trying hard to hold off.

[Xian01]

I was all proud of my blades up until I saw the Antminer! Eh, someone was saying they are tricky to setup though

 The Antminer S1 180GHs units are fairly easy to set up, IMO.

[ScaryHash]

Heh, we should start a club.

HAASHAHOLICS ANONYMOUS !

HAAA !!  

But, I really know where you are coming from.

Started getting into BTC in May, got some graphics cards, got some block erupters way back in the day (even one on ebay for an insane amount of money, it's still hashing).

Then went into a group buy and went overboard on units, group buy got all messed up, eventually got all my K16 units (that was a pain). In the meantime, my Jalepenos arrived from BFL (another fucked up situation there), but not before I got some hashing stuff on E-bay (which was a good decision, actually, hashpower in hand, relatively early in the difficulty numbers game).

BTC went to $1000 so that was nice. Helped ROI a great deal.

Now, I had some BTC lying around still, and recently got my first Antminer on January 2nd from Christmas group buy. It is hashing nicely. I'm getting my hashing kicks now re-using the old graphics cards for LTC. That is fun.

Ebay is nice, but it was a royal pain to sell some of my older units, ship them, deal with paypal (one buyer refunded), and but, it helped put funds back in the old wallet.

I hear your pain. My advice. Let it build up to 3 BTC or so, mine for month or two, wait for some developments. Don't go crazy buying stuff like I did. It is fun, but it is a pain in the butt sometimes too. I'm running out of power in my "authorized hashing rooms" by the wife. LOL.

My standard policy now is not to do preorders, at all, ever. I don't care how good the numbers sound, or what the price per gh is. If it does not ship when my money clears and not on my doorstep in 3-4 days, I'm not buying it. End of story.

[cryptomatt]

I just got my Antminer S1 and it now comes with the 6 pin PCI-E plug so you can just plug in your psi wires.  The setup is pretty easy.  It's also really quiet.  Compared to my BFL Singles, I can barely tell it's on.

[J_Dubbs]

I hear your pain. My advice. Let it build up to 3 BTC or so, mine for month or two, wait for some developments. Don't go crazy buying stuff like I did. It is fun, but it is a pain in the butt sometimes too. I'm running out of power in my "authorized hashing rooms" by the wife. LOL.

My standard policy now is not to do preorders, at all, ever. I don't care how good the numbers sound, or what the price per gh is. If it does not ship when my money clears and not on my doorstep in 3-4 days, I'm not buying it. End of story.

We think a lot alike... My plan is to hit 3-4btc before I do anything drastic, for many of the same reasons you indicate. Also agree on the preorder avoidance strategy.

[grumpy619]

I think it was the idea that you are pretty much printing money. It seems like you guys made all your money back on the Initial investment and is just riding the waive. Nice to hear that I just wish I jumped in at the same time you guys did. Now you need like 10000 just to make a dent. Shoulda woulda coulda.

[J_Dubbs]

I think it was the idea that you are pretty much printing money. It seems like you guys made all your money back on the Initial investment and is just riding the waive. Nice to hear that I just wish I jumped in at the same time you guys did. Now you need like 10000 just to make a dent. Shoulda woulda coulda.

I haven't made all my money back, but that will ride entirely on the shoulders of where BTC is trading at on a future date unknown. I've also got some units in the mail, paid for but not in use. I know what you mean, the cost of inputs has been rising, but don't forget that has also been offset by appreciation in BTC valuation; basic supply/demand theory makes this predictable where increasing inputs shift the supply curve left, result in shortage, and thus a higher priced output as buyers bid it up.

[ScaryHash]

Nope, I have definitely NOT made the money back.

But, I have been enjoying the tinkering, keeping the miners going, learning a lot, communicating with some knowledgeable people here.

But, I did get the wife on board when I told her to go do her Christmas shopping with computer generated cash. That was a mistake. LOL.