Questionnaire to help me start mining

[apogio]

Hello. I have been thinking a lot about buying ASIC miners and start mining.

However, I have some questions for the forum members, that will give me a general picture of the mining process and how to make it efficient.

Furthermore, I think we could gain some insight on what most people do in regards to mining.

My purpose is to observe experienced people and see how they mine, so perhaps I can follow their instructions.

So my questions are:

1. Are you mining? If no, what is the main reason? I reckon financial issues will be the top factor, but let's see.
2. Are you solo mining or mining using a pool? Please elaborate on what kind of devices you use. Also, in case you use a pool, if you feel comfortable, share which ones you use.
3. Are you mining on your premises or are you using hosting facilities? If you mine on premises, how do you deal with the electricity costs and the noise?
4. (Leave every other note you have here - free text)

[Crypt0Gore]

1. I used to, but not anymore because it's not profitable and higher rank Asic miners costs even more right now, I am waiting for new Asic miner before I go back into action.

2. Solo mining is like buying the lottery ticket, I don't recommend, I use popular mining pool.

3. I mine in a separate room where I live, I abandoned the room for mining only because it's not healthy to stay in the same room with degrees of heat everywhere, I believe using facilities comes to mind if you want to run many miners at once.

4. If one want to invest in mining I believe right now is the best time, because the price are better and it will increase once Bitcoin price starts making new highs, and profit wise will be way better than what it is today, a $2000 worth of asic miner can go up to $3500 or more in a bull market.

Mind you if you mining now it's smarter to hold your Bitcoin, and sell when we are over $70,000 again, hopefully by 2024-2025.

[raybucks]

2. Are you solo mining or mining using a pool?
I mine on a pool because it allows me to combine my computing power with others, increasing the chances of earning a steady stream of rewards rather than relying solely on the luck and processing power of solo mining. Pool mining provides a more predictable and consistent income, making it a practical choice for many miners.

[apogio]

3. I mine in a separate room where I live, I abandoned the room for mining only because it's not healthy to stay in the same room with degrees of heat everywhere, I believe using facilities comes to mind if you want to run many miners at once.

What about the noise and elecricity costs? If I may ask how many miners are you running? I am reluctant, because electricity is quite expensive at the moment.

[Yamane_Keto]

Asking other questions will be better and you will get good information such as what is the best mining device according to a specific budget and delivery date, is it possible to make a profit at the cost of kWh electricity, common errors and frequent repairs, the best mining pool, appropriate design to reduce electricity and noise, and calculating depreciation costs with an average price. Bitcoin, especially if you have less than 6 months to halve.

[apogio]

Asking other questions will be better and you will get good information such as what is the best mining device according to a specific budget and delivery date, is it possible to make a profit at the cost of kWh electricity, common errors and frequent repairs, the best mining pool, appropriate design to reduce electricity and noise, and calculating depreciation costs with an average price. Bitcoin, especially if you have less than 6 months to halve.

Ok, thanks, I will update the original post with some more questions.

[BitMaxz]

Mining solo with a miner that consumed much power is not a good idea unless you have a free power source.

If you want to earn Bitcoins right away then mining on the pool is the best option.
Just take note of different pool rewards/payment methods some pools offer fixed rates and some pools offer pay per share plus mining fees. Most miner mining on a pool that rewards their miner with mining fees and altcoins.

If you want some more tips before you start mining read this sticky thread "First time/Small miner reference for getting started.".

[icon73]

1. Are you mining? If no, what is the main reason? I reckon financial issues will be the top factor, but let's see.
2. Are you solo mining or mining using a pool? Please elaborate on what kind of devices you use. Also, in case you use a pool, if you feel comfortable, share which ones you use.
3. Are you mining on your premises or are you using hosting facilities? If you mine on premises, how do you deal with the electricity costs and the noise?
4. (Leave every other note you have here - free text)

1) I used to mine quite a bit.  Had many asic miners.  I no longer mine BTC.  The cost of power at my home is too high based on current difficulty and asic power consumption.  The Data Center I used to colocate my equipment in has gone out of business and it seems like most of the DC I have looked at are interested in only making money for themselves.  They have adjusted pricing to consume nearly all of the profits.
2) I pool mined BTC, with the coins I mine now I solo mine.
3) I did both depending on the coin, and the profit after power costs.  Electricity costs are math.  The algorithm is profitable at my power cost or it isn't.  My garage housed the equipment fine, and the noise didn't bother me in the house.
 

[apogio]

If you want some more tips before you start mining read this sticky thread "First time/Small miner reference for getting started.".

Thanks

2) I pool mined BTC, with the coins I mine now I solo mine.

Do you use the same ASIC miners you used for BTC? Are the coins you mine now SHA-256 like Bitcoin?

[safar1980]

Hello. I have been thinking a lot about buying ASIC miners and start mining.

However, I have some questions for the forum members, that will give me a general picture of the mining process and how to make it efficient.

Furthermore, I think we could gain some insight on what most people do in regards to mining.

My purpose is to observe experienced people and see how they mine, so perhaps I can follow their instructions.

So my questions are:

1. Are you mining? If no, what is the main reason? I reckon financial issues will be the top factor, but let's see.
2. Are you solo mining or mining using a pool? Please elaborate on what kind of devices you use. Also, in case you use a pool, if you feel comfortable, share which ones you use.
3. Are you mining on your premises or are you using hosting facilities? If you mine on premises, how do you deal with the electricity costs and the noise?
4. (Leave every other note you have here - free text)

Have you found out the cost of electricity for you where you are going to mine? If you can't buy cheap electricity for less than 5 cents and new ASIC models will be sold next year. But new ASIC models will be more profitable in terms of energy consumption, and after halving it may not be profitable for you to mine on old ASICs.

[apogio]

Have you found out the cost of electricity for you where you are going to mine? If you can't buy cheap electricity for less than 5 cents and new ASIC models will be sold next year. But new ASIC models will be more profitable in terms of energy consumption, and after halving it may not be profitable for you to mine on old ASICs.

Basically we talk about $0.2, so we are far away from the $0.05 benchmark that you said. Guess I 'll have to wait...

[joniboini]

Basically we talk about $0.2, so we are far away from the $0.05 benchmark that you said. Guess I 'll have to wait...

Have you tried calculating your possible mining cost and profits with a tool like whattomine? It would help you calculate the exact numbers to help you decide how much you need to prepare to start a mining business. I do think that you need to think twice if you can't access cheap electricity.

[Crypt0Gore]

3. I mine in a separate room where I live, I abandoned the room for mining only because it's not healthy to stay in the same room with degrees of heat everywhere, I believe using facilities comes to mind if you want to run many miners at once.

What about the noise and elecricity costs? If I may ask how many miners are you running? I am reluctant, because electricity is quite expensive at the moment.

If your electricity bill is high then sorry my friend, mining isn't for you, the first thing that clears the road to mining for everyone is the electricity bill, the cheaper it is the better it will be for you on the long run.

I don't care about the noise because it's my place, I don't have any neighbors living in the same place as I am, I am living in a fenced compound and there are companies nearby using very noisy machines than asic miners so...

I am from a country where electricity is generally bad, maybe six hours of power per day so I moved to solar energy years ago, my panels are still working very well today, so I switch back to the grid power when available but I use sun for mining more than the grid energy.

I was running two asic miners and it was in a bull market of 2021 then, I sold one and I have one running right now, so the profitability wise just makes it less attentive to me right now.

[BitMaxz]

 

Have you tried calculating your possible mining cost and profits with a tool like whattomine? It would help you calculate the exact numbers to help you decide how much you need to prepare to start a mining business. I do think that you need to think twice if you can't access cheap electricity.

Take note using tools like whattomine to calculate your profit is not accurate its just an estimation based on the current mining difficulty the real-time profit might be lower or higher because it still depends on the unit's performance and where you mine.

@OP if you haven't decided yet which unit you want to buy that can give you the best profit there is a tool that will give you insight into what ASIC units are currently profitable with your electricity cost.
Check out this link https://www.asicminervalue.com/

[safar1980]

Have you found out the cost of electricity for you where you are going to mine? If you can't buy cheap electricity for less than 5 cents and new ASIC models will be sold next year. But new ASIC models will be more profitable in terms of energy consumption, and after halving it may not be profitable for you to mine on old ASICs.

Basically we talk about $0.2, so we are far away from the $0.05 benchmark that you said. Guess I 'll have to wait...

Then you may be interested in this information, because you are better off buying cheaper ASICs, but you will have to deal with their firmware
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5465088.msg62974759#msg62974759

Chat with these ASIC firmware developers https://vnish.net
they will offer you interesting overclocking for old modeo S19 ASICs. At $2,500, the S19k Pro is expensive.

[apogio]

If your electricity bill is high then sorry my friend, mining isn't for you, the first thing that clears the road to mining for everyone is the electricity bill, the cheaper it is the better it will be for you on the long run.

@OP if you haven't decided yet which unit you want to buy that can give you the best profit there is a tool that will give you insight into what ASIC units are currently profitable with your electricity cost.
Check out this link https://www.asicminervalue.com/

Then you may be interested in this information, because you are better off buying cheaper ASICs, but you will have to deal with their firmware
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5465088.msg62974759#msg62974759

Thank you all. So, having high electricity cost and based on your comments, I decided to stay away from mining for the time being. I will certainly leave the thread open in case anyone want to add their opinion.

@BitMaxz I checked and none of them is very profitable, at least not a "cheap" one. Thanks though.

[FP91G]

I didn't notice this topic. but if the price of electricity is 20 cents, then mining is not your business. The price of Bitcoin must increase 4-5 times, and the difficulty must not increase, in order for it to be profitable to mine with 20 cents per kilowatt. But I don’t think we will see this.

[apogio]

I didn't notice this topic. but if the price of electricity is 20 cents, then mining is not your business. The price of Bitcoin must increase 4-5 times, and the difficulty must not increase, in order for it to be profitable to mine with 20 cents per kilowatt. But I don’t think we will see this.

I agree. I have stopped thinking about it. I just left the topic open in case anyone wants to express an opinion. But yeah, 20 cents is too high for considering mining.

[basalcell]

So my questions are:

1. Are you mining? If no, what is the main reason? I reckon financial issues will be the top factor, but let's see.
2. Are you solo mining or mining using a pool? Please elaborate on what kind of devices you use. Also, in case you use a pool, if you feel comfortable, share which ones you use.
3. Are you mining on your premises or are you using hosting facilities? If you mine on premises, how do you deal with the electricity costs and the noise?
4. (Leave every other note you have here - free text)

1. Yes. I probably mine at break even or slightly below, but I mine for non-KYC purposes and am willing to pay that "premium."
2. Pool. I use Antminers. I have used numerous pools and each have their strengths and weaknesses. I encourage you to try multiple pools to find what works best for you. Some considerations: type of payouts (PPS, FPPS, PPLNS, PPS+, etc.), KYC issues (e.g. Foundry), does the pool re-use addresses or can you use an XPUB, accounting features, etc. Because of the cost to mine where I am, I use a pool because the chances of solo mining paying off are akin to winning the lottery. If you want to consider solo mining, maybe consider something like Bitaxe a relatively low risk and low cost mining solution, although the chances of finding a block are significantly reduced.
3. Hosting facilities because the cost to mine where I am located is prohibitively expensive. I prefer self mining but the costs in time and money were too much for me.
4. Mining is not for everyone. Unless you can obtain really cheap power and really cheap machines, it's not likely to be profitable, and it is really hard to find cheap power but costs of machines have come down. The looming halvening is also a big threat to profitability for obvious reasons. New generation machines consistently come out making your current machines that much less profitable. Having said all that, I am glad I mine because I have learned so much about the network, how it works, and non-Bitcoin things like how power works, computers, and software. I feel relatively secure in my jurisdiction that the threat of seizure, sanctions, etc. are quite low.  I am also glad I mine because I have a stack of non-KYC coins. I don't view mining as something I will do for years to come. I will likely mine until my machine efficiency is reduced to the point that the costs significantly outweigh the benefits.

I wish you good luck in your journey.

[BB59]

1. I am mining - S19Pro 110T. I do it as a form of DCA of non-KYC corn (and an willing to pay the premium for that), to participate as a miner and promote decentralization, and as a geeky hobby.
2. Send my hash to f2Pool. Considering Braiins Pool once I get BraiinsOS going. I prefer the constant and predictable stream of sats now model, so I use a pool as opposed to solo mine.
3. At home. I built a box to house it and it does a good job of keeping noise down. It’s 55db around 5ft away in the box. Exposed, the S19 screams at well over 75db. I have it tucked away in the basement and you don’t hear it elsewhere in the home. If you have a smaller space, the sound will always be there.
These things of course pump out mucho heat. I live in Canada and in fall, winter, spring it truly does help heat the home. In the summer, recommend finding a way to vent outside.
Electricity is $0.11ish - costs a little over $200 a month to run. The economics of mining are brutal and constantly changing. If you’re planning on selling what you mine, price volatility is a huge consideration. The difficulty continues to march higher and you’re also getting fewer sats for your hashing power over time.

I enjoy it though and it’s not really about running a ‘profit’. I’m just stacking sats.