Free electricity, empty building, deducted hardware costs: is it enough to earn?

[TheRealCaso]

Hello everyone, first post here!

I have spent a couple of days reading and learning from other topics and I would like to have an opinion about my specific case, to understand if I'm going in the right direction.

I have the possibility of setting up a small mining farm, all the costs will be born by a second person, while the revenues will be equally shared. Basically, my job is to set up everything, choose the assets, the coins, manage the mining operations, etc.

what I have:

• free electricity up to 30/40kW
• an empty building --> no heating and noise issues
• the possibility to deduct part of the hardware costs

What I would do now is to buy as many GPUs as I can (considering the kW available and the deductibility), connect them and choose the coins to mine through whattomine or directly through NiceHash. (I know, I'm still a super noob)

I know there are many possible ways to make it better: use a CLI miner, study the altcoin market (not only through whattomine), carefully choose the GPUs, choose the right pool etc..but before going too deep in this direction, do you think I'm going in the right direction?

To sum up: Considering what I have, if I spend a lot of time and energy, will I be able to set up a profitable farm?

ofc any advice or comment is welcome and sorry for the super long topic!

[ZeeeN]

maybe you try to learn from buy used mining rig is nice try.

nicehash is ok for new user or try Awesome Miner.

in my opinion split money 50/50 for buy mining rig and buy coin every coin is cheap now buy pick coin in top 10 buy it and keep it.

you can learn for mining form free electricity it not too hard to learn but no one know you like mining or not.

[adaseb]

If you have free electricity you will always be able to make a profit, however whether its worth the hassle its up to you.

Currently a second hand RX 470 4GB GPU can be bought for maybe $70 or so, the 8GB maybe for $90. You will need 5-6 of these for 1 rig which will require a motherboard, cpu, ram, ssd, and a PSU. Each of those will be maybe another $300. This is assuming you are getting second hand. So say $800 per rig.

A Rx 470 nets $0.30 per day right now. So 5 of them are $1.50 USD per day. This is assuming prices don't go lower and difficulty doesn't go higher. Each rig will use maybe 800 watts or so.

So up to you if you want to proceed.

[TheRealCaso]

Thank you both for the replies! They help a lot!

in my opinion split money 50/50 for buy mining rig and buy coin every coin is cheap now buy pick coin in top 10 buy it and keep it.

I think I will buy some coins now, as you suggest, while for the mining equipment I'm waiting for the market to get back on the pre-coronavirus levels.

Currently a second hand RX 470 4GB GPU can be bought for maybe $70 or so, the 8GB maybe for $90. You will need 5-6 of these for 1 rig which will require a motherboard, cpu, ram, ssd, and a PSU. Each of those will be maybe another $300. This is assuming you are getting second hand. So say $800 per rig.

A Rx 470 nets $0.30 per day right now. So 5 of them are $1.50 USD per day. This is assuming prices don't go lower and difficulty doesn't go higher.

Considering your numbers, 800$ of hardware and 45$ of monthly revenues, even with free electricity it would take more than 1 year for the ROI, a lot of other members (in other topics) suggest to invest directly in coins until the price goes up again, then it should be more profitable, does it make sense?

[adaseb]

Thank you both for the replies! They help a lot!

in my opinion split money 50/50 for buy mining rig and buy coin every coin is cheap now buy pick coin in top 10 buy it and keep it.

I think I will buy some coins now, as you suggest, while for the mining equipment I'm waiting for the market to get back on the pre-coronavirus levels.

Currently a second hand RX 470 4GB GPU can be bought for maybe $70 or so, the 8GB maybe for $90. You will need 5-6 of these for 1 rig which will require a motherboard, cpu, ram, ssd, and a PSU. Each of those will be maybe another $300. This is assuming you are getting second hand. So say $800 per rig.

A Rx 470 nets $0.30 per day right now. So 5 of them are $1.50 USD per day. This is assuming prices don't go lower and difficulty doesn't go higher.

Considering your numbers, 800$ of hardware and 45$ of monthly revenues, even with free electricity it would take more than 1 year for the ROI, a lot of other members (in other topics) suggest to invest directly in coins until the price goes up again, then it should be more profitable, does it make sense?

Its depends on your risk tolerance.

The $800 quote I gave you was mostly for second hand stuff you get on eBay and Craiglist. The ROI might be a year however, unless you break any of the equipment you can most likely resell for $500-600 a year later and your ROI could be a few months. So you are risking VERY little. However your profits are also very little.

If you invest directly in the coin, its quite the opposite. Your risk is higher and so is your reward. You can buy ETH today and sell it a year later for $300 and double your money, or sell it for $75 and lose half your money. Nobody can predict the future.  Mining with second hand gear and free electricity is very low risk. Probably very difficult to lose money.

[TheRealCaso]

Yes I completely forgot about re-selling the hardware, so stupid 

This makes it very clear, thank you again for your help!

[FatFork]

Yes I completely forgot about re-selling the hardware, so stupid 

This makes it very clear, thank you again for your help!

If I were you, I would definitely go mining route. Free electricity gives you the edge, and given that you can always re-sell your hardware, I see no reason not to profit.
The experience you will gain is an added bonus.