Skipping all the tech aspects, i think you should just decide for urself one basic thing: "how long those $1K would come back to you, with profit"
These days...idk, you can get 1.3kH rig for that money, if you build it yourself, and if u are ok with used cards, look at the exchange rates...only "positive scenario" would be in mining some super hot new altcoin.
But being a miner, i would still say you should get it lol
![Grin](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/grin.gif)
, bc mining is fun, and sooner or later it will pay back with some nice revenue.
With 1K, i'd go for used hardware(videocards), for max. hash.