Greetings all,
I am new to mining and have a few questions. I'm hoping that you fine folks will be able to help me get started with your vast amounts of experience.
1. Hardware - How relevant does hardware stay? If I were to buy 10 Antminer S9i's would they continue to be profitable for years to come or would I need to continue buying new hardware periodically in order to stay relevant in the mining community?
2. Software - Are there any mining software that are any better than any others? Is there a list somewhere of software that can be fully trusted to not hijack my systems? Will I need any specialized software for different sized farms or is there a one-size-fits-all solution?
3. Pools - I have seen many pool lists and reviews seem to vary as far as trust worthiness and results. I would be fine with joining a pool to start with but I am more interested in starting my own pool. Does anyone have any advice for pros and cons with starting your own pool?
4. General Advice - Does anyone have any general advice for a new miner?
I totally agreed with @odolvlobo and want to add few points.
Hardware - Mining is a business and the initial costs of setting up are considerably high while operating costs are slightly low compared to other industry. Machines in any businesses will depreciate over time, so don't overthinking about the replacement. The question is how fast will difficulty rises and take your current machines out of business? Will you able to make enough profit to pass the break-even point? Put those factors into your decisions making processes, because at one point in time, you will definitely need to replace them anyways.[/li][/list]
Software - Softwares with right configurations will run stable enough to keep you away for weeks or months. However, no software is perfect and any software can break down anytime without any warnings.
Pools - Unless you're pouring million dollars into the business, start with other pools. You might have to pay small fees but it gets you started. Markets are moving fast these days, as of now it's still profitable but who knows where it will go in the next few months.
Get your first rig setup and start mining probably be the best advice I could give to anyone. You will learn a lot by running your own rig for a day than spending weeks reading about it.
