Advice for somebody thinking of starting to mine?

[CryptoGuro1]

What would your advice be for somebody to start a rig for alts coins etc? Or buy a share in a BTC mining operation?

[guiloc4]

I regret to start my 20 S9's farm

Unless you live in Venezuela (where my friends are still doing good) you won't see the ROI for the equipment, colling, environment, etc.

[os2sam]

What would your advice be for somebody to start a rig for alts coins etc? Or buy a share in a BTC mining operation?

For advice on mining altcoins post in the altcoin section.  I've never heard of anybody selling a "share" of their Bitcoin mining operation,  I would be very cautious of something that sounded like that.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2415854.msg24714338#msg24714338

[CryptoGuro1]

Thank you

[smoolae]

Now, think long and hard if you really want to start mining right now. ROI time is really long thanks to bear market and high difficulty level on almost any high 24h volume coin. Really think this one through!

[nefIndustries]

I have been helping run a 25+ PC mine that owns some rigs of our own and hosts other rigs that we order and build for customers. Has been about 5 months going strong. Here are some points I tell people that want to start mining. This all applies to non-ASIC mining.

- Have a good group of people that mine who are willing to help you out with advice/question answering.

- Have a want to improve your knowledge of new coins, mining software, and techniques other enthusiast miners are using. There will be some days where you want to give up. You will probably put in hours changing settings in a computer and the issue will not be resolved. Some computers will simply not work sometimes. It is good to have spare parts sitting around so you can replace parts. I have replaced every single part of a computer to ensure I had no bad parts, and it still did not work. I ended up putting EthOS in the rig and it worked. Might have been a Windows installation issue. Still not 100% sure

- Cooling will be around 25% of your electricity costs. It is very important to keep the computers cool for the longevity of the computer's life. Sometimes the GPU fans will literally warp and will affect the Hashrate of the GPU because it is not getting the airflow it needs. The GPU will eventually completely die without proper cooling.

- Dust. Keep your space clean. Also important for the longevity of the GPU.

- Electricity cost in residential areas are ridiculous. Call your Electricity provider and see if they have a payment plan that is better than the one you currently have.

- Do you have enough circuits to support the amount of PCs you will use? When I started mining in my house, sometimes a blowdryer would trip the circuit breaker, or even multiple breakers. If your electricity lines are old they will be less efficient and get hot, resulting in both energy loss and fire hazard.

- Be sure to cash out when you feel like a genius for mining a certain coin. Unless you are already well off, cash out a little bit every now and then to cover your costs.

- Mining is loud and hot. People often don't understand how loud and hot it really is. Be sure your spouse is ok with it XD

That's about all I got now.

Be sure to keep up to date with new mining software and techniques people are using. For example, some coins will announce a fork in a week, and if you don't update your miner before the fork you won't be able to mine it.

Good luck! Let me know if you decide to use any of this advice

[crairezx20]

If there is someone can share their mining business why not but expect for maintenance payment and electricity bill.
I suggest that you mine altcoin with your own rig so that you can manage your own business without paying a large amount for maintenance because you can clean the dust of your own rig easily.
Just like what I'm doing here in my country don't expect to earn a large profit in mining but if you know how to sell your altcoin holding you can make a large amount of profit.

[nefIndustries]

If there is someone can share their mining business why not but expect for maintenance payment and electricity bill.
I suggest that you mine altcoin with your own rig so that you can manage your own business without paying a large amount for maintenance because you can clean the dust of your own rig easily.
Just like what I'm doing here in my country don't expect to earn a large profit in mining but if you know how to sell your altcoin holding you can make a large amount of profit.

Exactly! Paying for a mining service basically eliminates any profits you would have. Customers that use those services are people that don't know how to use a mining computer, or people whose electricity is too much to be profitable. Mining is a slow and steady income stream. In my mind, it is less risky than trading, but less risk = less reward.

[TwisterPipister]

What would your advice be for somebody to start a rig for alts coins etc? Or buy a share in a BTC mining operation?

Logging into mining has always been risky, but now these risks are even greater if you like computer hardware, and you're ready for the fact that you cannot earn anything - then you may build a mining rig.

[SpceGhst]

What would your advice be for somebody to start a rig for alts coins etc? Or buy a share in a BTC mining operation?

If you're set on doing it, don’t try to reinvent the wheel.  Follow the tried and true formula of what works.  There are plenty of people here who have been mining a long time and know what they’re talking about. 

[leowonderful]

Here's some tips regarding dust removal and temps:

The removal of dust is actually quite easy- just get a couple cans of compressed air, and clean out the heatsinks and fans of your mining rig every month or two (could be more or less depending on what kind of condition you are running your miners in). Simple and cheap, and this is easily the best way to keep temperatures down on rigs. Dust really does cause temps to rise quite a bit on computer components in general, and regularly cleaning out dust is a great habit to have.

Always have a tube of decent thermal paste handy and ready to use if you notice any temperature anomalies- if you see this on a GPU, see if any part of the heatsink is broken or dusty first (if dusty, clean the heatsink and mine again, looking for hot temps), and then try applying thermal paste on the GPU if you notice the paste is dried or cleaning the heatsink didn't work. I personally keep a tube or two of Arctic MX-4 for all my computer needs at home, and it does the job quite well.

[Metroid]

advise you to buy coins, gpu mining is game over.

[nefIndustries]

advise you to buy coins, gpu mining is game over.

I don't think the game is over at all. At these prices we are still at a monthly profit with a decent electricity price. If you can get a good spec mining play, the rig pays for itself pretty quick, if you know when to sell.

I will admit that you are more likely to make more money simply trading a coin rather than mining the coin.

Mining is a less risky venture than trading, but less risk = less reward.

[hiphoptrail]

I have been helping run a 25+ PC mine that owns some rigs of our own and hosts other rigs that we order and build for customers. Has been about 5 months going strong. Here are some points I tell people that want to start mining. This all applies to non-ASIC mining.

- Have a good group of people that mine who are willing to help you out with advice/question answering.

- Have a want to improve your knowledge of new coins, mining software, and techniques other enthusiast miners are using. There will be some days where you want to give up. You will probably put in hours changing settings in a computer and the issue will not be resolved. Some computers will simply not work sometimes. It is good to have spare parts sitting around so you can replace parts. I have replaced every single part of a computer to ensure I had no bad parts, and it still did not work. I ended up putting EthOS in the rig and it worked. Might have been a Windows installation issue. Still not 100% sure

- Cooling will be around 25% of your electricity costs. It is very important to keep the computers cool for the longevity of the computer's life. Sometimes the GPU fans will literally warp and will affect the Hashrate of the GPU because it is not getting the airflow it needs. The GPU will eventually completely die without proper cooling.

- Dust. Keep your space clean. Also important for the longevity of the GPU.

- Electricity cost in residential areas are ridiculous. Call your Electricity provider and see if they have a payment plan that is better than the one you currently have.

- Do you have enough circuits to support the amount of PCs you will use? When I started mining in my house, sometimes a blowdryer would trip the circuit breaker, or even multiple breakers. If your electricity lines are old they will be less efficient and get hot, resulting in both energy loss and fire hazard.

- Be sure to cash out when you feel like a genius for mining a certain coin. Unless you are already well off, cash out a little bit every now and then to cover your costs.

- Mining is loud and hot. People often don't understand how loud and hot it really is. Be sure your spouse is ok with it XD

That's about all I got now.

Be sure to keep up to date with new mining software and techniques people are using. For example, some coins will announce a fork in a week, and if you don't update your miner before the fork you won't be able to mine it.

Good luck! Let me know if you decide to use any of this advice

Thanks for the list!

I laughed hard when you said the bolded part - - - so true!

[texasman86]

the best advice that you will receive if you are thinking about mining: expect to get frustrated and do not expect to get ROI

[hiphoptrail]

the best advice that you will receive if you are thinking about mining: expect to get frustrated and do not expect to get ROI

any thoughts on the z9 mini? will they get a roi worth the risk?

[LY CHI CUONG]

thank everyone . it is useful 

[edwardceng]

for now, the advice doesn't its  buy a GPU unless you have no problems with:
■ Budget
■ ROI
■ The number of coins per PO
■ Payment of electricity
■ Internet Payments

[muhammedayo1]

I think there's first and foremost thing to consider before setting up a mining right is the cost of Electricity in your country.

Venezuela is your best bet. The cost of hardware setup is cheaper than your electricity consumption.

[Olatunjex]

What would your advice be for somebody to start a rig for alts coins etc? Or buy a share in a BTC mining operation?

First thing you should consider is the cost of electricity at your location, it is important and number 1 factor you should consider, if cost of electricity is not expensive other things aren't costly, i wouldn't advice you not to buy a share in a BTC mining operations it is not 100% safe setting it up on your own is the best.