Newbie starting his BTC hobby.

[Someoldpikey]

Hi Guys

I have been looking at the BTC project for a while now and decided to start small...
I started with a GPU generating 227mh/sec running with 7 days with minimal failures earning a total of 0.00002243 BTC. I'm connected to the Slushy pool.

I have now purchased a Antminer U2+, using bfgminer 5.xxxx and i'm currently running at average of 2.3gh/sec from my basic calculations this does give me approx 20x more hashes.

Obviously if i'm going to invest in further hardware is it worth progressing with AM U2's using a USB hub, is it a worthy project, and how do i know when my calulations fail on BFGminer? I have the command prompt but can only decipher a few details.

I know starting a project like this is not profitable but an interesting "potential" investment for the future.

[DRK]

From an investment perspective it seems pointless. Its not profitable now and is unlikely to become more profitable in the future, which seems to be the opposite of an investment?

[troisky]

Everyone gets told its pointless to mine, but we need miners for BTC to function. So whats the deal? who is getting profits there then?

[notlist3d]

USB prices make them more for fun when comparing prices.

If you have additional capital I would look into bigger miner's.  The price per GH is just much better.  Of course do a ROI beforehand.

[dumbdragon]

Everyone gets told its pointless to mine, but we need miners for BTC to function. So whats the deal? who is getting profits there then?

Mining is profitable but only in huge colocations with serious capital investment and knowhow. At least that's what I have come to conclude based on people's experiences.

[notlist3d]

Everyone gets told its pointless to mine, but we need miners for BTC to function. So whats the deal? who is getting profits there then?

Mining is profitable but only in huge colocations with serious capital investment and knowhow. At least that's what I have come to conclude based on people's experiences.

You need space and decent priced electricity.  Electricity is huge factor.   With Asics personally I still am able to mine with profit so far.  I did have to stop GPU mining as summer made it where i could not mine with a profit, i was better selling off GPU's.

[nwfella]

Everyone gets told its pointless to mine, but we need miners for BTC to function. So whats the deal? who is getting profits there then?

Mining is profitable but only in huge colocations with serious capital investment and knowhow. At least that's what I have come to conclude based on people's experiences.

Sure wish I fell into this category.  Personally, if your primary motive is profit mining bitcoin is probably the last aspect of the ecosystem your going to want to get into.  Just imagine yourself purchasing tens of thousands of dollars worth of specialized hardware only to discover the the instant you pay for it price depreciation kicks in immediately...a price depreciation unlike any you have likely seen in your lifetime (no joke) and combine that with the ever increasing difficulty and what you have is a recipe for profitability disaster.

[Wusolini]

Everyone gets told its pointless to mine, but we need miners for BTC to function. So whats the deal? who is getting profits there then?

Yea, people generally discourage newbies from mining, but to my opinion it's not the best advice because more unique miners = better security for bitcoin network.
I think better advice is: Wanna try? OK, collect some info and go for it, but do not expect great profit and definitely DO NOT INVEST ALL YOU HAVE - bitcoin is still sort of experiment.

Back to topic.

Welcome fellow-miner Someoldpikey, I like your attitude and agree with you. Mining is interesting and has some sort of magic around. So don't let ignorant users (I mean those with simple answers "do no mine") to ruin your idea, if you wanna try, go for it. But make some calculations first.

Little advice
Calculate how much 1 Ghs cost you and compare price with some cloudmining service (e.g. PB minig current price is around 0.0028 BTC/Ghs). But also take into account you have to take care of setup and el. bills. while mining by own. 
Perhaps will be better for you to use their service. Sure, this also has pros and cons but final decision is up to you.

Good luck with your project.

[clovex]

Getting in the mining business is just like any other investment. Maybe you are now on a lose, but if BTC goes to 10k you'll recoup all of your loses.

[iluvpie60]

Hi Guys

I have been looking at the BTC project for a while now and decided to start small...
I started with a GPU generating 227mh/sec running with 7 days with minimal failures earning a total of 0.00002243 BTC. I'm connected to the Slushy pool.

I have now purchased a Antminer U2+, using bfgminer 5.xxxx and i'm currently running at average of 2.3gh/sec from my basic calculations this does give me approx 20x more hashes.

Obviously if i'm going to invest in further hardware is it worth progressing with AM U2's using a USB hub, is it a worthy project, and how do i know when my calulations fail on BFGminer? I have the command prompt but can only decipher a few details.

I know starting a project like this is not profitable but an interesting "potential" investment for the future.

minign at this stage in the game will lose you lot sof money. with how high the difficulty is and  how much it goes up each time you are going to never make your money back. th eonly way you will is if bitcoin goes up in price by a lot in terms of USD. which in that case u are still better off buying the bitcoin at a low price and holding.

[PangPang]

Hi Guys

I have been looking at the BTC project for a while now and decided to start small...
I started with a GPU generating 227mh/sec running with 7 days with minimal failures earning a total of 0.00002243 BTC. I'm connected to the Slushy pool.

I have now purchased a Antminer U2+, using bfgminer 5.xxxx and i'm currently running at average of 2.3gh/sec from my basic calculations this does give me approx 20x more hashes.

Obviously if i'm going to invest in further hardware is it worth progressing with AM U2's using a USB hub, is it a worthy project, and how do i know when my calulations fail on BFGminer? I have the command prompt but can only decipher a few details.

I know starting a project like this is not profitable but an interesting "potential" investment for the future.

At this moment, your 2.3 GH/s should bring you about 0.000048 btc a day, and the number will go further down as difficulty goes up.

Your mining profit depends on several different factor, and you can check a mining profit calculator like this one https://bitcoinwisdom.com/bitcoin/calculator.

[Mybitcoinz]

You should sell your mining hardware and buy bitcoins with the gain, in my opinion you will earn much more coins in this way.

[notlist3d]

You should sell your mining hardware and buy bitcoins with the gain, in my opinion you will earn much more coins in this way.

It all depends.

If you are lucky to have cheap electricity and lots of space... and can mine with profit.... why not?

Most don't mention it but you can do both trade and mine.  Yes mining is dead for most on GPU/CPU.  But depending on electricity asic mining is very much alive.

[ranochigo]

You should sell your mining hardware and buy bitcoins with the gain, in my opinion you will earn much more coins in this way.

It all depends.

If you are lucky to have cheap electricity and lots of space... and can mine with profit.... why not?

Most don't mention it but you can do both trade and mine.  Yes mining is dead for most on GPU/CPU.  But depending on electricity asic mining is very much alive.

Not really even with loads of space and cheap electricity, difficulty would be rising too fast. You need a large sum of money and to take risk as the faster you get the most efficient ASIC available, the more probability you would have to ROI. That involves preordering which have a lot of risk as the manufacturer may not ship the device. You also need to risk the device malfunctioning and manage your cooling. It is very hard to find space, cheap electricity and money.

[Pacowomo]

I also started today, it will be a long way until my first BTC. Good luck everyone.

[djkyno]

Everyone gets told its pointless to mine, but we need miners for BTC to function. So whats the deal? who is getting profits there then?

Yea, people generally discourage newbies from mining, but to my opinion it's not the best advice because more unique miners = better security for bitcoin network.
I think better advice is: Wanna try? OK, collect some info and go for it, but do not expect great profit and definitely DO NOT INVEST ALL YOU HAVE - bitcoin is still sort of experiment.

Back to topic.

Welcome fellow-miner Someoldpikey, I like your attitude and agree with you. Mining is interesting and has some sort of magic around. So don't let ignorant users (I mean those with simple answers "do no mine") to ruin your idea, if you wanna try, go for it. But make some calculations first.

Little advice
Calculate how much 1 Ghs cost you and compare price with some cloudmining service (e.g. PB minig current price is around 0.0028 BTC/Ghs). But also take into account you have to take care of setup and el. bills. while mining by own. 
Perhaps will be better for you to use their service. Sure, this also has pros and cons but final decision is up to you.

Good luck with your project.

Agree with him. Just a small theory of mine, when is the last time you heard of a wholeseller or manufacturer die in the industry? They are always the last to die. first to earn. Think about it.

[bitebiduchang]

Don't mine, just but bitcoins with the money.

[Sonny]

I know starting a project like this is not profitable but an interesting "potential" investment for the future.

Are you referring to a potential very high bitcoin price in the future?
IMO, the future price shouldn't be in consideration at all as you can use the money to buy bitcoin directly now.

[iawgoM]

I'm currently selling out my 10 GPU mining rigs - I did mine something durign the last year, but now it doesn't make sense any more. Just buy Bitcoins for money (you can afford to lose) and hold. With mining you always need to worry if everything is working, if devices are alive, are pools down, is electricity too expensive blah blah blah...that's for big guns now.

[Malok]

Might consider looking at some other cryptos besides BTC.  A lot of those can be mined/traded for a profit right now.