[newbie] how much can one make with BitIcons?

[gator]

hi there dear forum. I just learnt about bitCoins today and read through all I could all day long.
I even watched some youTube videos on ppl building their own "mining rigs" only for mining purpose.
but one thing everyone fails to mention, is in reality how much money can I "mine" ?

let say I have $5,000 saved and can spend it on high-GPU computer.

can you give me some sort of break-down on how much can one make by mining bitCoins? such as initial investition, monthly payments, monthly return from mining?

is it easy and proof to sell your bitCoins? I read there is some market out there, but is it legitimate? Can you make a basic living out of it, with enough GPU??


thanks.

[fabianhjr]

No you cannot make a living off it unless you have a cheaper than usual energy source.
With those 5K you can buy 8x 6990.(2GPUs each) for a total mining power of 5.6 GHahes/sec

At that rate you would be generating on average each 19 hours, 46 minutes and this rate would last for 2 weeks approximately. It means you would be guaranteed about 850 BTC and at current difficulty jumps, this being a wild guess, you would be able to get top 1200 in the first month.

As far as the BTC <-> USD goes, it may go up or down. Nobody can guarantee you an outcome. The most favourable outcome for you would be it to continue rising to the 1 BTC = 5 USD if you plan to ever get your investment back. Please note I didn't include the electricity costs, the system would consume about ~3K watts or even ~4K watts and cooling will be a bitch.

You may hoard them if you wish and wait for them to be profitable to sell, which isn't a guarantee. The alternative is just to buy goods and services with them after mining.

/Note: The average time is of constant work. If it is shut down it doesn't count and it is of the 8x 6990 working together, not each individual one.

[dust]

8x6990 @ $700 each leaves you negative $600 left for the rest of the computer. 6 might be more realistic if you are really cheap on the other components.

[gator]

thank you for your input. how about solar panels (I live in Florida)
why you say "1200 in the first month" -- does it have to go down after first month??

No you cannot make a living off it unless you have a cheaper than usual energy source.
With those 5K you can buy 8x 6990.(2GPUs each) for a total mining power of 5.6 GHahes/sec

At that rate you would be generating on average each 19 hours, 46 minutes and this rate would last for 2 weeks approximately. It means you would be guaranteed about 850 BTC and at current difficulty jumps, this being a wild guess, you would be able to get top 1200 in the first month.

As far as the BTC <-> USD goes, it may go up or down. Nobody can guarantee you an outcome. The most favourable outcome for you would be it to continue rising to the 1 BTC = 5 USD if you plan to ever get your investment back. Please note I didn't include the electricity costs, the system would consume about ~3K watts or even ~4K watts and cooling will be a bitch.

You may hoard them if you wish and wait for them to be profitable to sell, which isn't a guarantee. The alternative is just to buy goods and services with them after mining.

/Note: The average time is of constant work. If it is shut down it doesn't count and it is of the 8x 6990 working together, not each individual one.

[N12]

In my opinion directly buying Bitcoins is a better investment, though more risky because you have no hardware to resell.

[gator]

you mean to buy on stock exchange and wait for the currency to go up?

-- why would I need hardware to sell?

In my opinion directly buying Bitcoins is a better investment, though more risky because you have no hardware to resell.

[N12]

Yes, just like normal stocks if you expect the value to rise. If you buy mining hardware, you will not lose your entire investment if Bitcoins ever become worthless. If you buy Bitcoins, you will either profit more or lose more I believe.

[fabianhjr]

Now I apologies, I thought the MSRP was 400 USD

So, yes, it is safer to just buy Bitcoins, right now with are 0.01 USD over the maximum historical of about 3 months ago. The volume looks high and there are more bids than asks.
We might rally to 1.5 USD or go down to 0.95 USD. take your pick.

[gator]

I wonder with a $5,000 of investment and solar panels included, if one can make solid $1,000 per month.
that would be pretty solid 1:5 investment!

Now I apologies, I thought the MSRP was 400 USD

So, yes, it is safer to just buy Bitcoins, right now with are 0.01 USD over the maximum historical of about 3 months ago. The volume looks high and there are more bids than asks.
We might rally to 1.5 USD or go down to 0.95 USD. take your pick.

[marcus_of_augustus]

I wonder with a $5,000 of investment and solar panels included, if one can make solid $1,000 per month.
that would be pretty solid 1:5 investment!

Now I apologies, I thought the MSRP was 400 USD

So, yes, it is safer to just buy Bitcoins, right now with are 0.01 USD over the maximum historical of about 3 months ago. The volume looks high and there are more bids than asks.
We might rally to 1.5 USD or go down to 0.95 USD. take your pick.

Well I can tell you that solar power is not cheap, when equipment amortisation is properly accounted for, why else would it need subsidies to compete with grid power (coal, gas, oil, nukes)? Grid power will be cheaper than solar in most places, unless you put a lot of personal effort into the installation and build  but your own time is money also ...