I've been researching for a month. A few questions...

[jjshabadoo]

I am currently doing some small scale mining on a 5750 I already had using slush's pool. I wanted to test the waters and get familiar with the software, etc.

I am a hardware enthusiast who has built high end gaming rigs with water cooling, etc. and have done plenty of CPU and GPU overclocking as a result.

My main interest in getting involved with mining is that I love playing with hardware and trying to max out its performance, but bench marking doesn't really turn me on because there is no productive result beyond bragging rights in my opinion.

Also, mining could earn me some cash to buy new hardware to play with which is always a plus. I am also a current MBA student and have great interest in alternative currencies and abhor our current financial system. I would certainly would feel great about contributing to a fledgling currency like bitcoin.

I also have access to fairly cheap power, $.05 per KWH so based on current calculators, mining should be profitable for me.

Based on the experience of some who have been involved in this for a long period of time, should someone like me get involved in mining? Is it too late in the game?

I plan on building a rig with two 5970's if I can get them, as efficiency is most important to me. I can unload them for gaming customers if need be since they are still highly regarded in that community.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated on whether to mine and possible hardware advice.

Thanks in advance.

[RyNinDaCleM]

If you can accept nearly a 1yr ROI! But, you'd also have resale of HW, and difficulty is coming down!

Many would argue that if you spend the 800-$1000 you'd spend on said rig, buying BitCoins instead, you'd be better off!

Just remember, difficulty changes every ~2 weeks. It could go way up again, making it very hard to pay off HW.

[nmat]

If you are doing it for the money then you probably shouldn't. You'll take a year to come up even (if you do come up even). Take this calculator: http://tpbitcalc.appspot.com/ and check your hardware here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

[jjshabadoo]

I understand it will take a while to pay off hardware, but if you calculate the resale value and useful life, you don't have to pay it off entirely to get a reasonable return. I also want to promote the concept in general, so I'm okay if it's not " making me rich" so to speak. I'm mostly wondering if people think this thing is vulnerable to a total collapse and also, if there might be something I'm not understanding about mining, i.e. if its way more of a pain in the ass then I think it is.

Thanks for the input though. I'm going to make a run at it anyway, because I like playing with the hardware to tweak it and I want to learn how to run a linux or ubuntu OS anyway. I figure if I get any return at all it's a bonus and there's always the chance I get some mining in while the difficulty is lower and then wait to sell when their is a price spike.

Looking forward to being part of the community and learning alot, can't really put a monetary value on knowledge and community. I think this has been lost on many in the world, especially Americans.

Thanks again.

[cruikshank]

Why not just buy bitcoins directly? Removes the overhead of hardware, power and heat stoke.

[MaxSan]

I was in the same situation as yourself and I went down the mining road. Seems like a good plan unless bitcoins goes into total collapse it wont be a waste. Got nearly a year until reward halfs.. at 2 million difficulty i can get about 1BTC a day... 300 x 4USD at current rates... i get a cheap computer if nothing else xD

Electric is included in my bills.

[Justin Bieber]

Why not just buy bitcoins directly? Removes the overhead of hardware, power and heat stoke.

Investing in hardware is more secure as you can still recoup part of your original investment if Bitcoin crashes in value by selling the mining hardware on Craigslist or eBay or whatever you use.

[Zotia]

Is it too late in the game?

For a hardware enthusiast with $.05/KWH energy, it's never too late.

Why not just buy bitcoins directly?

If you buy bitcoins, you can only make money if the price of bitcoins goes up.


If you buy hardware, you can make money even if bitcoins stay the same price.