Bitcoin/Litecoin Mining Hardware Investment

[adaryian]

Ideally you would want to buy a host machine if the ASIC equipment you're wanting to purchase requires a serial connection (typically a mini usb) -- if you buy what most miners do an AntMiner the s1 series has a wireless card and also a NIC  to connect directly to your router.  You will need at least a 800 watt PSU on your 12v rails for PCI-E (6-pin) connectors.  Do not use a piggy backed 6-pin connector feeding off another like some lower quality PSU's have else the cables will literally melt because it cannot support that much power.   I use a 1200 watt gold rated high efficiency PSU that is also modular so that extra cables aren't an issue.  Bitmain now carrys an adapter so that you don't have to 'jump' the PSU and can plug the 24-pin connector directly into it with an on and off toggle switch.

The S3 is the current one out at about 480 GH/s by default, though over clocking is well worth looking into.  If that's out of your price range I'd look at the S1 since you can pick them up fairly cheap these days but any of the AntMiners would not require you to have a host computer to run them.

If you do get an ASIC, I wouldn't use a laptop, as that will cause you issues inherently since a laptop is used for its mobility. So in that case a tower/desktop would be the better solution.

If you get into Bitcoin mining and you're looking for a pool.  Please check out my signature below as we run a very unique pool with 2.5 BTC payout, randomly chosen for every block found.

Hope that information was useful to you and hope to see you along with anyone else join our pool!

Good luck and if you have any questions you can PM me directly.

Adaryian

[BunsenBurner]

Hey Everyone!

Total newbie here.  I've been checking out the forums and I still have a few questions.  I've read that bitcoin/litecoin mining on laptops is a completely stupid move.  That being said, if I invested in some bitcoin or litecoin mining hardware & ran it on my laptop would it still destroy my computer?  If so, why?  Does it have to do with how much power my laptop can generate or its basic internal graphics card? 

Likewise, would it be wiser to invest in litecoin mining hardware considering that I am getting into the Bitcoin market so late?  (not that I'm diving into the Litecoin market at any better time)

Thanks!

Do you have cheap electricity? If not, you may not get a profit from buying those ASIC (sha256 or scrypt), and you should simply buy some bitcoin IMO.

[ranochigo]

Hey Everyone!

Total newbie here.  I've been checking out the forums and I still have a few questions.  I've read that bitcoin/litecoin mining on laptops is a completely stupid move.  That being said, if I invested in some bitcoin or litecoin mining hardware & ran it on my laptop would it still destroy my computer?  If so, why?  Does it have to do with how much power my laptop can generate or its basic internal graphics card? 

Likewise, would it be wiser to invest in litecoin mining hardware considering that I am getting into the Bitcoin market so late?  (not that I'm diving into the Litecoin market at any better time)

Thanks!

Do you have cheap electricity? If not, you may not get a profit from buying those ASIC (sha256 or scrypt), and you should simply buy some bitcoin IMO.

I doubt even with free electric, you may certainly ROI. It totally depends on the price, lifespan and difficulty. Currently, the only way for it to be profitable is to own a very efficient ASIC that not much people have. If it is released in large quantities, the difficulty would increase to very high.