For a beginner does Bitcoin or Altcoin make more sense?

[martio]

Hi folks, will keep it short and sweet. Would something like this be any use for Bitcoin mining http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-Newest-USB-BTC-Miner-300H-S-Bitcoin-Mine-Machine-Bitcoin-Mining-Asicminer-For-Bitcoin-Mining/1662618230.html It a USB thingie, not sure that it would be any good at all tbh. And what do people think of Quarkcoin? Looks interesting having really only discovered Bitcoin and Altcoin yesterday. For a beginner I kind of think an altcoin like Quark might more more sense for me, no expensive equipment or cloud contracts etc, mine from your CPU. Low price to buy if you want to buy. Btw, are Coinmkt ok to deal with? Is there any other exchange where you can trade US$ directly for Altcoin, Quark for example? Thanks.   

[crocko]

I hope you will find this useful: http://www.coinwarz.com/cryptocurrency

[lassdas]

Would something like this be any use for Bitcoin mining http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-Newest-USB-BTC-Miner-300H-S-Bitcoin-Mine-Machine-Bitcoin-Mining-Asicminer-For-Bitcoin-Mining/1662618230.html

Well,
it would be of use in the sense that it's able to generate Bitcoin-Hashes, but....

a 300MH/s Bitcoin-Miner is (at current BTC-rates) not worth the $25,
more like $1.  

No idea about Altcoins, i don't use those.

[Flashman]

Barrier to entry for any BTC ASICs worth buying is getting into the multiple thousands range.

Though you may like to see if Ken can still honor this special price on the 512Gh VMC FastHash... https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=462370.msg6018837#msg6018837

Possibly gridseed scrypt ASICs from a reputable seller shipped right away may be profitable still, compared to building a whole new scrypt rig with GPUs, but that kind of depends on how soon the monster machines like the KNC Titan ship.

Alternatively, if you have a machine already with a PCIe slot or two and a good PSU, then scouring local classifieds for a good deal on a used GPU may get you ahead. GPUs look like being useful for some time, but there could be a massive selloff dumping the resale value when scrypt ASICs take over.



Edit: Oh and the great big elephant in the ASIC room at the moment is, that BTC price is so low that you are just as likely to make dollar profits buying BTC right now as buying miners.

[Prolifik]

Sadly that device would only earn you a pennys worth of Bitcoin a day  

GPU mining altcoins is the way to go. Though it can be a little expensive to get into. (nothing compared to asics)

[martio]

I hope you will find this useful: http://www.coinwarz.com/cryptocurrency

Thanks. Tbh, those graphs make little sense to me. I am at an uber basic stage. I didn't see QRK there though? For me mining would be more like a pastime, a hobby, an interest - not an all out lets make money thing. Bitcoin and Altcoin are fascinating though, we've had a small online business for a few years now and we're going to start taking both Bitcoin and Altcoin I think. It is really good, love the idea of both. We're also setting up another online business and we have to consider taking Bitcoin and Altcoin there too. The last 24 hrs have been fascinating for me.

[Prolifik]

One of these would be a sound investment and introduction to crypto mining.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131545

Around $250 after taxes and shipping

Gives you around 450KH/s Scrypt or 450MH/s SHA256 when its setup correctly.

[martio]

Would something like this be any use for Bitcoin mining http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-Newest-USB-BTC-Miner-300H-S-Bitcoin-Mine-Machine-Bitcoin-Mining-Asicminer-For-Bitcoin-Mining/1662618230.html

Well,
it would be of use in the sense that it's able to generate Bitcoin-Hashes, but....

a 300MH/s Bitcoin-Miner is (at current BTC-rates) not worth the $25,
more like $1.  

No idea about Altcoins, i don't use those.

Lovely  lol

[martio]

Barrier to entry for any BTC ASICs worth buying is getting into the multiple thousands range.

Though you may like to see if Ken can still honor this special price on the 512Gh VMC FastHash... https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=462370.msg6018837#msg6018837

Possibly gridseed scrypt ASICs from a reputable seller shipped right away may be profitable still, compared to building a whole new scrypt rig with GPUs, but that kind of depends on how soon the monster machines like the KNC Titan ship.

Alternatively, if you have a machine already with a PCIe slot or two and a good PSU, then scouring local classifieds for a good deal on a used GPU may get you ahead. GPUs look like being useful for some time, but there could be a massive selloff dumping the resale value when scrypt ASICs take over.



Edit: Oh and the great big elephant in the ASIC room at the moment is, that BTC price is so low that you are just as likely to make dollar profits buying BTC right now as buying miners.

Thanks. Yeah, I did see Gridseed alright, again at Aliexpress (descried to me as kind of like a Chinese ebay without the auction) About €160, guess that's about $210 or so. I wouldn't have a clue how to work these things, not even sure if my better half would although she has a BSc in SoftDev and an MSc in InfoSec. But she's on the software side of things not the hardware side. Tbh, she'd probably understand what you wrote more than I do. Yeah, noticed BTC has fallen recently. That's the risk with any currency, crypto or otherwise.   

[fatguyyyyy]

Majority will agree, mining btc directly is not worth it unless you have some serious hardware money.

Most are buying or setting up a alt rig to change back to bitcoin. Although this is going on, most companies are aware of this, so they are bumping down the prices on the hardware.

Keep in mind too, that depending on what mining pool you choose, that while you mine bitcoin you can also mine name coin at bitminter which can be changed back to bitcoin as well too.

[martio]

One of these would be a sound investment and introduction to crypto mining.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131545

Around $250 after taxes and shipping

Gives you around 450KH/s Scrypt or 450MH/s SHA256 when its setup correctly.

Thanks. Will see if my better half knows how to set one up. Aside from mining we were thinking of what is essentially speculating, and investing in an altcoin, specifically Quark. Not too sure, we'll have to think it over. 

[bryant.coleman]

If you have limited hashpower, then mine some altcoins. Else, go for BTC.

[softron]

U cant mine bitcoin with 300mhz maybe u can a low difficulty sha256 alt to mine.

[Flashman]

One of these would be a sound investment and introduction to crypto mining.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131545

Around $250 after taxes and shipping

Gives you around 450KH/s Scrypt or 450MH/s SHA256 when its setup correctly.

Thanks. Will see if my better half knows how to set one up. Aside from mining we were thinking of what is essentially speculating, and investing in an altcoin, specifically Quark. Not too sure, we'll have to think it over. 

Well quark was seen by many in the community as a pump and dump scheme, and it's rewards now are very low. On the machines you've got, you might like to try mining primecoin or one of the other coins on ypool.net which has guides and instructions for set up. Those can be mined on CPUs, anything better than a Pentium 4 does well.

[Onews1990]

For mining? I would have to say alt-coins , Bitcoin mining is so saturated that you need an amazing a high-GB count miner to get anything out of it and if you want to seriously mine you need TB units.

[fatguyyyyy]

The current of entry is alt rigs, and most people who bought the cointerras 1ths been over paying and are now noticing under performance.

Or they just are aware that the difficulty keeps climbing to even break even in dollar value as well.

Most are already taking it as a loss.

[Velkro]

Mining only for fun now, because for money you must take it in very professional way. Big funds, big facility, cheap electricity

[galbros]

For mining and learning about crypto in general the alt coins can be fun.  However, almost all of them are pump and dump so for some chance of value, your best bet is bitcoin.

[bryant.coleman]

However, almost all of them are pump and dump so for some chance of value, your best bet is bitcoin.

I had bought a few hundred TRC four months ago, when they were going at 0.0001 BTC. They went up to 0.005 BTC. So if you are lucky, you'll hit the jackpot.

[Relnarien]

Hi folks, will keep it short and sweet. Would something like this be any use for Bitcoin mining http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-Newest-USB-BTC-Miner-300H-S-Bitcoin-Mine-Machine-Bitcoin-Mining-Asicminer-For-Bitcoin-Mining/1662618230.html It a USB thingie, not sure that it would be any good at all tbh. And what do people think of Quarkcoin? Looks interesting having really only discovered Bitcoin and Altcoin yesterday. For a beginner I kind of think an altcoin like Quark might more more sense for me, no expensive equipment or cloud contracts etc, mine from your CPU. Low price to buy if you want to buy. Btw, are Coinmkt ok to deal with? Is there any other exchange where you can trade US$ directly for Altcoin, Quark for example? Thanks.   

An Antminer U2 costs around the same, but can provide over 2 Gh/s. Anyway, I wouldn't really recommend Bitcoin mining for newcomers to crypto. Get your feet wet with mining altcoins first. Quark is indeed a good coin to mine if you're still learning how mining works. There are only a few miners left still hashing for Quark so you're guaranteed to get at least a couple of coins while you're trying to figure out the basics. Quark's subsidy has dropped down to the minimum of 1 coin per block though, so you would still be getting much less than if you mined for another coin. You could also try mining Litecoin or Dogecoin for a while just to test your GPU's capabilities.