Still worth mining altcoins?

[GogglesPisano]

I'm new to Bitcoin and was looking into mining Bitcoin but a friend told me that mining altcoins is much more profitable. He mentioned Dogecoin but from the little research I've done on it, I'm not so sure it has staying power.

If you were new to the whole cryptocurrency scene, would you bother to get into mining (if so, which coins) or would you just buy them instead?

Also, I see a lot of coins under the announcement section claiming POS which I figured out means proof of stake. Is this POS just like an added bonus, like interest basically, or is it a valid competitor to coins that are mined?

Any opinions would be appreciated!

[RB25]

It can be. It's a combination of education and luck, depending on your equipment.

What is your set-up?

[GogglesPisano]

It can be. It's a combination of education and luck, depending on your equipment.

What is your set-up?

Nothing yet, I am a total noob with a couple of grand to invest so I am open to building a computer to mine, buying a premade miner or just buying coins directly.

[RB25]

You will get a couple of replies:

1. Use the money to by BTC or an Altcoin through an exchange and hope it goes up.
2. Get some good, solid components and get into a coin early and hope it gets popular.

It is a chance either way.

Really the only reason I got in it is because my old PC was 7yrs old and dying and while I was researching components, I found out about mining coins. I had to build a new PC anyway, so I just got a bigger PSU and an extra GPU to get me started.

I have been mining alts since last November. Some good, but most not doing much. I picked up an Antminer U2 on Amazon for $20 last week to try the SHA256 coins.

Remember, don't spend what you can't afford to lose.

[GogglesPisano]

You will get a couple of replies:

1. Use the money to by BTC or an Altcoin through an exchange and hope it goes up.
2. Get some good, solid components and get into a coin early and hope it gets popular.

It is a chance either way.

Really the only reason I got in it is because my old PC was 7yrs old and dying and while I was researching components, I found out about mining coins. I had to build a new PC anyway, so I just got a bigger PSU and an extra GPU to get me started.

I have been mining alts since last November. Some good, but most not doing much. I picked up an Antminer U2 on Amazon for $20 last week to try the SHA256 coins.

Remember, don't spend what you can't afford to lose.

Thanks for the advice RB25. I think I will do the safest thing and diversify - I will buy some coins as well as build some sort of rig.

Are there any coins that you would recommend?

[Amph]

only with instamine, be ready at launch with soloming and you should make something even now, but don't expect to make roi fast like 2 months ago

[dazza12]

Do you pay for your electricity?

If you decide to build a miner and pay for your power, then consider the nVidia GTX 750Ti. I was researching myself a couple of months ago and almost bought some AMD R9's, but at the last minute a friend told me about the nVidia cards. A quick comparison - a single R9 270 draws 300 watts and generates 450 KHash on Scrypt - the equivalent 750Ti draws 55 watts for 300 KHash. On top of that they generate a lot less heat.

Depending on how the markets pan out and how much ASICs have an impact, the more efficient mining components could make that difference.

[RB25]

You will get a couple of replies:

1. Use the money to by BTC or an Altcoin through an exchange and hope it goes up.
2. Get some good, solid components and get into a coin early and hope it gets popular.

It is a chance either way.

Really the only reason I got in it is because my old PC was 7yrs old and dying and while I was researching components, I found out about mining coins. I had to build a new PC anyway, so I just got a bigger PSU and an extra GPU to get me started.

I have been mining alts since last November. Some good, but most not doing much. I picked up an Antminer U2 on Amazon for $20 last week to try the SHA256 coins.

Remember, don't spend what you can't afford to lose.

Thanks for the advice RB25. I think I will do the safest thing and diversify - I will buy some coins as well as build some sort of rig.

Are there any coins that you would recommend?

Nothing really stands out right now among the newer coins, at least to me. When I started, I collected some established ones like Feathercoin, Worldcoin, Infinitecoin, etc. I got in on USDe early. I even have some Dogecoin because you never know what will take off, especially with the NASCAR Dogecoin sponsorship. Look for a coin with a solid name and a developer that is committed and you should be alright.

Infinitecoin is still at a low difficulty and should be all mined sometime this year, so you can start with that solo mining.

 Good luck.

[GogglesPisano]

Do you pay for your electricity?

If you decide to build a miner and pay for your power, then consider the nVidia GTX 750Ti. I was researching myself a couple of months ago and almost bought some AMD R9's, but at the last minute a friend told me about the nVidia cards. A quick comparison - a single R9 270 draws 300 watts and generates 450 KHash on Scrypt - the equivalent 750Ti draws 55 watts for 300 KHash. On top of that they generate a lot less heat.

Depending on how the markets pan out and how much ASICs have an impact, the more efficient mining components could make that difference.

Holy crap, that is a huge power difference. Yes I do pay for electricity and it ain't cheap!

I will look into those nVidia cards, thanks for the great tip!

[GogglesPisano]

You will get a couple of replies:

1. Use the money to by BTC or an Altcoin through an exchange and hope it goes up.
2. Get some good, solid components and get into a coin early and hope it gets popular.

It is a chance either way.

Really the only reason I got in it is because my old PC was 7yrs old and dying and while I was researching components, I found out about mining coins. I had to build a new PC anyway, so I just got a bigger PSU and an extra GPU to get me started.

I have been mining alts since last November. Some good, but most not doing much. I picked up an Antminer U2 on Amazon for $20 last week to try the SHA256 coins.

Remember, don't spend what you can't afford to lose.

Thanks for the advice RB25. I think I will do the safest thing and diversify - I will buy some coins as well as build some sort of rig.

Are there any coins that you would recommend?

Nothing really stands out right now among the newer coins, at least to me. When I started, I collected some established ones like Feathercoin, Worldcoin, Infinitecoin, etc. I got in on USDe early. I even have some Dogecoin because you never know what will take off, especially with the NASCAR Dogecoin sponsorship. Look for a coin with a solid name and a developer that is committed and you should be alright.

Infinitecoin is still at a low difficulty and should be all mined sometime this year, so you can start with that solo mining.

 Good luck.

Thanks for the help, I feel like I have more of a clue now  I'm going to split my money up into buying a couple of different coins that I think show promise, and then build a miner to mine coins right at launch as Amph suggested. I'm excited about those nVidia cards as I had only heard of people mining with Radeons and I know those suck up a lot of power.

[salsacz]

I know that many of you might only be interested in BTC but if you are interested in alts as well, then check out Hashrate.org.

HashRate is a Nxt mining pool. Nxt isn't minable, so it's really a profitability pool that sells all of it's earnings on exchanges for Nxt.

These pools have been considerably profitable for Nxt enthusiast but even if you prefer BTC, the main dev for the site has created his own, personal profitability calculator and on a typical day, his profitability is often between 100-200% of any other multipool.

Hashrate.org has just exited beta and to celebrate, there is a 10% bonus payout for all miners and trading fees will remain at 0% for a while.

Even if you're not interested in Nxt, this is a good way of learning about a new alt-coin and making a little extra profitability.

Check it out: http://hashrate.org/

[dazza12]

IPOMiner.com is also worth looking into. It's a multipool, but it looks for coins that have potential. In most cases these are new coins, they tend to mine within a day or two of launch, but occasionally a coin that's on the up will be mined.

[GogglesPisano]

IPOMiner.com is also worth looking into. It's a multipool, but it looks for coins that have potential. In most cases these are new coins, they tend to mine within a day or two of launch, but occasionally a coin that's on the up will be mined.

Just checked it out. Looks perfect for my needs, thanks!