Antminer s1 ($130 a piece) Worth it???

[crowetic]

I have the opportunity to acquire 5 antminer s1's for 130 dollars a piece. I am simply looking for advice here as to whether you guys would go for it, or wait a little while and buy some s3's? Those are my two options, I know the s3's would be better on power, but overall what do you think, should I go for the s1's or pick up some s3's about a month down the road?

Thank you in advance for your opinions!

-crowetic

[wannaBaMiner]

IMO the S1 should be around $100 us. Do not pay more for an older model. Get a good power supply for them and you should be ready to go.

[guitarplinker]

I'd try and work the price down a little bit. $100 would be worth it for each miner.

[HashFarmer]

I have the opportunity to acquire 5 antminer s1's for 130 dollars a piece. I am simply looking for advice here as to whether you guys would go for it, or wait a little while and buy some s3's? Those are my two options, I know the s3's would be better on power, but overall what do you think, should I go for the s1's or pick up some s3's about a month down the road?

Thank you in advance for your opinions!

-crowetic

Do you have free electricity? if not then it would not be worth it even if it is $50..

[goose20]

I have the opportunity to acquire 5 antminer s1's for 130 dollars a piece. I am simply looking for advice here as to whether you guys would go for it, or wait a little while and buy some s3's? Those are my two options, I know the s3's would be better on power, but overall what do you think, should I go for the s1's or pick up some s3's about a month down the road?

Thank you in advance for your opinions!

-crowetic

Depends on reasons why you want to mine. Most will say you won't get ROI. Some will say it would be a decent way to give mining a try.
It's not be biggest of investment (well hopefully its not for you) ... I say do it.

[mechmax]

Give it try , Not bad deal, and if you still don't like it in near future you can always sell it over ebay with international shipping option

[ljudotina]

Pure and simple it's throwing your money tough the window. It would be better for you just to buy BTC with $$$ and hold, or if you really want to spend that money for nothing, than give it away to charity.

[adaryian]

If it's $130 shipped it's not highway robbery.  But if it's $130 before shipping then I'd look elsewhere as I know there are others, especially on this forum who would  part with their S1's for that price or cheaper.  Just keep looking around in the Marketplace here on Bitcointalk and don't forget to get an Escrow!

[jonnybravo0311]

I have the opportunity to acquire 5 antminer s1's for 130 dollars a piece. I am simply looking for advice here as to whether you guys would go for it, or wait a little while and buy some s3's? Those are my two options, I know the s3's would be better on power, but overall what do you think, should I go for the s1's or pick up some s3's about a month down the road?

Thank you in advance for your opinions!

-crowetic

Well, let's take a look at some numbers.  First, a few assumptions: You pay 0.00017BTC per kWh, difficulty will jump 10% every 2016 blocks, BTC remains at $600 for the duration (mostly so I don't have to use variable rates for power) and you can start mining immediately (pretending you have the S1 in hand right now).  Also, I'm going to assume the price of the S3 drops to 0.6BTC in a month and you start mining with it on 9/1.  Oh, and I also assume you already have a PSU capable of driving the units.

S1
Up front cost is 0.22BTC
Expected ROI after a month: -0.1267BTC
Expected ROI at EoL (1/14/2015): 0.004746BTC

S3
Up front cost is 1.2BTC (MOQ from Bitmain is 2)
Expected ROI after a month: -0.7747BTC
Expected ROI at EoL (5/27/2015): 0.3253BTC

Take this analysis with a grain of salt - I assumed a few things that may or may not happen (especially the constant 10% difficulty increase).

[crowetic]

Thank you very much for all of your replies.

I am not new to mining, I am a GPU miner, who is selling his 17 GPUs and moving into the ASIC realm.

My reasons for mining are to hold, and hopefully have a decent savings later on in life. (unfortunately I have had many issues come up recently that forced me to sell every coin I have made, which would have been around 20 BTC, this is very upsetting, but life goes on)

I think, after this post and many others reading, that I am going to wait until I sell my hardware, and pick up some s3's, it seems like the best way to go, as no, I don't have free power, but I do have relatively cheap power, and a really nice circuit in my house that's capable of running quite a bit of hardware.


The s1's I am speaking of are a local deal, so there would be no shipping.

I just think that the power usage of the s1's is too high, and that getting s3's is a better idea.

Thanks again everyone who replied!

[jonnybravo0311]

Thank you very much for all of your replies.

I am not new to mining, I am a GPU miner, who is selling his 17 GPUs and moving into the ASIC realm.

My reasons for mining are to hold, and hopefully have a decent savings later on in life. (unfortunately I have had many issues come up recently that forced me to sell every coin I have made, which would have been around 20 BTC, this is very upsetting, but life goes on)

I think, after this post and many others reading, that I am going to wait until I sell my hardware, and pick up some s3's, it seems like the best way to go, as no, I don't have free power, but I do have relatively cheap power, and a really nice circuit in my house that's capable of running quite a bit of hardware.


The s1's I am speaking of are a local deal, so there would be no shipping.

I just think that the power usage of the s1's is too high, and that getting s3's is a better idea.

Thanks again everyone who replied!

You're certainly correct on the power usage of the S1.  Stock clocks call for 360W at the wall.  Most everyone reported the S1 consumed at least that amount.  Overclocked, and you're 400 plus.  The S3 is 340W at the wall for 440GH/s.  Less power, about 2.5 times the hash.

[crowetic]

Thank you very much for all of your replies.

I am not new to mining, I am a GPU miner, who is selling his 17 GPUs and moving into the ASIC realm.

My reasons for mining are to hold, and hopefully have a decent savings later on in life. (unfortunately I have had many issues come up recently that forced me to sell every coin I have made, which would have been around 20 BTC, this is very upsetting, but life goes on)

I think, after this post and many others reading, that I am going to wait until I sell my hardware, and pick up some s3's, it seems like the best way to go, as no, I don't have free power, but I do have relatively cheap power, and a really nice circuit in my house that's capable of running quite a bit of hardware.


The s1's I am speaking of are a local deal, so there would be no shipping.

I just think that the power usage of the s1's is too high, and that getting s3's is a better idea.

Thanks again everyone who replied!

You're certainly correct on the power usage of the S1.  Stock clocks call for 360W at the wall.  Most everyone reported the S1 consumed at least that amount.  Overclocked, and you're 400 plus.  The S3 is 340W at the wall for 440GH/s.  Less power, about 2.5 times the hash.

I really appreciate the effort you put into your response, and thank you for not immediate jumping on the whole "OMG IT WILL NEVER ROI, NOTHING WILL EVER ROI MINING IS DEAD STFU OMG!!" bandwagon. I am not looking for immediate profit, I love mining, and I love supporting the bitcoin network/community. Even if they don't ROI, I will have had fun and made at least something back, and hopefully btc will go up in value when I have a nice stash, and a good little savings account for when I'm older.

Thanks again!

[jowaybea]

I really appreciate the effort you put into your response, and thank you for not immediate jumping on the whole "OMG IT WILL NEVER ROI, NOTHING WILL EVER ROI MINING IS DEAD STFU OMG!!" bandwagon. I am not looking for immediate profit, I love mining, and I love supporting the bitcoin network/community. Even if they don't ROI, I will have had fun and made at least something back, and hopefully btc will go up in value when I have a nice stash, and a good little savings account for when I'm older.

Thanks again!

Keep in mind, it is possible to undervolt and underclock the S1 and keep it mining profitably for a while to come.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=526060.0

I was able to get my two S1 miners to hash stably at 130 GH and 150W each.  Others have managed a 140GH and 166w.  Still not as great as the S3's efficiency, but quite respectable for last gen gear.  And it was a very easy and totally free (assuming you have multi-meter that can measure voltage and kOhms) and reversible mod.


I'd say adaryian was right. $130 seems a bit steep.   For an in-person transaction $100 might be a more fair price.  2xS3's are only about $800, or 5xS1's from this guy is about $650, requiring more power supplies and electricity.  And to truly make them economical, you can really only get about 650-700GH (by undervolting as I suggested), compared to 880GH minimum from 2xS3's.  However, $500 for 650GH of last gen mining gear isn't too shabby, assuming you can come up with power supplies cheaply enough.

[gelar24]

I have the opportunity to acquire 5 antminer s1's for 130 dollars a piece. I am simply looking for advice here as to whether you guys would go for it, or wait a little while and buy some s3's? Those are my two options, I know the s3's would be better on power, but overall what do you think, should I go for the s1's or pick up some s3's about a month down the road?

Thank you in advance for your opinions!

-crowetic

I guess you can take whatever it is, as long as you profit in a few months and could return on investment

I also want to buy s3, but go to my country would be very expensive yet tax and others here are very expensive so I think 2 times to the

[roslinpl]

In this case I think it is better to pay $100 for a mining contract than to buy S1...


S1 is old ... and to earn 0.1BTC it will take forever ...


I would invest those $$$ into a contract or raise founds and buy S3 :]

[jowaybea]

In this case I think it is better to pay $100 for a mining contract than to buy S1...


S1 is old ... and to earn 0.1BTC it will take forever ...


I would invest those $$$ into a contract or raise founds and buy S3 :]

It still can supply 140GH efficiently for around $100.  The link in your signature costs $150 for 100GH (plus maintenance fees).

[DrG]

In this case I think it is better to pay $100 for a mining contract than to buy S1...


S1 is old ... and to earn 0.1BTC it will take forever ...


I would invest those $$$ into a contract or raise founds and buy S3 :]

I see we are letting children make financial decisions now... instant gratification types. So you would rather put money into a mining contract where the company could run away next month with your up-front fee rather than buy hardware and have it in hand?

[ITAngel]

I got two S1 for $200 with free shipping only 3 months old. I got those to learn this bitcoin stuff and to see if it can pay itself back. If so, I will go straight for 2x S3 as soon I get the chance. I am not sure if I will be able to save up $540 for an S3 mining with those two S1.

Also I was worried to put that kind of money $500+ into something I am yet sure how it all works. Plus the room that it will go in I will need to find a stable temp or if I need to add fans etc... I would hate to burn new S3 testing so my S1 are my testers.

[jowaybea]

I got two S1 for $200 with free shipping only 3 months old. I got those to learn this bitcoin stuff and to see if it can pay itself back. If so, I will go straight for 2x S3 as soon I get the chance. I am not sure if I will be able to save up $540 for an S3 mining with those two S1.

Also I was worried to put that kind of money $500+ into something I am yet sure how it all works. Plus the room that it will go in I will need to find a stable temp or if I need to add fans etc... I would hate to burn new S3 testing so my S1 are my testers.

I live in FL.  I have a "Florida Room" on the back of the house that is not well-insulated, only has one AC vent, and I keep it closed year round (unless we have guests trying to sleep back there.  I have 2xS1 and 2xS3 mining happily back there 24x7 venting directly out the window.  The room easily get's over 90 deg F almost every day, and they do not care.  The S3's have a slight overclock to 225, and BTCGuild hourly charts show they both fluctuate between 440GH and 480GH.  The S1's are currently underclocked and undervolted (as I mentioned previously in this thread), but before I got my S3's, the S1's were both overclocked averaging 195GH each (@387.5Mhz).  The only troubles I've had with them were entirely power related.  Lesson is, make sure your PSU(s) can handle the constant load, and make sure your home's electrical circuitry can handle the load.  I recently got new cables in that allow me to put my miners on an extra 220v circuit that I was fortunate enough to have back there.  Doubling the voltage halves the Amps required for the same power, and supposedly PSU's are more efficient at the higher voltage too. 

That being said, keep being careful, and don't blame me if you burn out your miners.  Just make sure you can properly vent the heat they produce, or any room with or w/o proper AC will be hard to keep cool.

[roslinpl]

In this case I think it is better to pay $100 for a mining contract than to buy S1...


S1 is old ... and to earn 0.1BTC it will take forever ...


I would invest those $$$ into a contract or raise founds and buy S3 :]

I see we are letting children make financial decisions now... instant gratification types. So you would rather put money into a mining contract where the company could run away next month with your up-front fee rather than buy hardware and have it in hand?

"I see we are letting children make financial decisions"
Who do you call a child ? and who make any financial decision
You act like a kid because we are just talking about something and we all have a right to say what we think. Nobody is forcing anyone to buy anything. Haven't you saw that?

Think reasonably. There are many good contracts and some of the companies are very reliable.
In some cases ROI from a contract is much much better than from S1 .... which you will need to configure, clean, connect, take care of etc. and as the result you will gain few $ after a year if your hardware will not fail =] ... GREAT deal - you are right - please make sure that you will never give me any advices


If you want to mine for FUN / SUPPORT / etc.  not for a profit then S1 in a price of $130 will be just great!

Kind regards.