~snip~
This thread is 9+ years old when BTC was MUCH easier - see the comment above: BTC was around $100 or less then.
Things are very different now.
As an example, I have a dual FutureBit system running (one full node and one standard) which averages a bit more than 6 gHash or (about) 6,000 mHash. That rig generates about 0.00017 BTC per week or about $5.00 USD. At current BTC prices that's a few cents more than the electricity it costs to run. A single FutureBit full node costs $899 for 3 gHash or about $0.30/ mHash. At this level it's basically a hobby with the hope that "stacking sats" will pay off sometime in the indefinite future.
Bottom line: DIY FPGA mining at that level is a lot of work for zero return.
All that said... if you enjoy DIY electronics (I build Eurorack synth modules "for fun", LOL) and are reasonably competent/confident with modern software development tools, building a small miner could be an interesting project. There are a number of reasonably recent videos on YouTube documenting such projects and you can find PCB layouts, software, etc. on github.
For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_AocgfvTIs&t=290sGood Luck!
Well, the thing is that mining Bitcoin has usually been difficult, at the time, lots of hardware work for relatively low pay.
For example, the initial CPU miners were extremely inefficient, and Bitcoin was worth almost nothing. So all those miners mined for almost nothing.
The same is true today, and it has usually been the case in the entire Bitcoin mining history. At the time you're mining basically at cost or close to it. Sometimes a bit better, and sometimes a bit worse, but around the cost of production.
You also now have the concept of lottery mining, which wasn't even a thing back then, you had to wait a decade or so to see the value increase, now you can just get lucky and earn a lot of money mining.
