Is mining still worth it?

[AndrewBUD]

Yes nerdy past time Hobby...

[MoinCoin]

If you can produce GH/s sureley - if not i think its just not worth the time.

[AndrewBUD]

I produce a few gh/s and it's for fun... my little hobby

[puffn]

Yeah, but like any business, you have to conservatively predict revenues, control costs, and put your time in to make money.

[CoinDiner]

how much data is actually sent to me as I mine?

is it true you have to download 1GB of data the first time you start?

[steveme]

how much data is actually sent to me as I mine?

According to perfmon (Win7), I'm receiving about 1.8k/sec of data

is it true you have to download 1GB of data the first time you start?

The bitcoin client has to download the entire blockchain before you can start sending & receiving coins

[Gabi]

how much data is actually sent to me as I mine?

is it true you have to download 1GB of data the first time you start?

Welcome in the bitcoin world, i suppose you are new.
Data sent? Not a lot

Downloading 1GB? More like the whole blockchain, but only if you run the standard bitcoin client, not required to mine (unless you want to solo mine)

The bitcoin client has to download the entire blockchain before you can start sending & receiving coins

Only the standard client. A light client don't need the whole blockchain

[CoinDiner]

how much data is actually sent to me as I mine?

According to perfmon (Win7), I'm receiving about 1.8k/sec of data

Thats not a lot!
Is it a constant stream of that size or does it flucutate?

whats that over a 24 hour period roughly?


 

Welcome in the bitcoin world, i suppose you are new.

Hi     yeah only 7 posts old

Downloading 1GB? More like the whole blockchain,

is this bigger than 1GB?

I plan to do pool mining (if thats the right term!)

[steveme]

According to perfmon (Win7), I'm receiving about 1.8k/sec of data

Thats not a lot!
Is it a constant stream of that size or does it flucutate?

whats that over a 24 hour period roughly?

On my PC (720 Mhash/sec) I'm seeing about 1k/sec over a 3 minute window, which will be mostly work being received from the pool, calculated and sent back (i've also got the bitcoin-qt wallet running, so it may be doing something) YMMV

Downloading 1GB? More like the whole blockchain,

is this bigger than 1GB?

I plan to do pool mining (if thats the right term!)

You don't need the bitcoin-qt wallet if you're going to pool mine, and use an online wallet (e.g. http://blockchain.info/wallet)

If you want to run the bitcoin-qt wallet on your pc, it'll need to download the whole blockchain (about 1.8GB), and the continuously update itself

[CoinDiner]

ok Thanks Steveme

I will checkout the online wallet

[macromode]

Think of mining as a fun, nerdy hobby. With careful planning and operations, you'll make a profit. But the profit alone shouldn't drive you to start mining. It's taken me almost a year to break even on hardware costs, so clearly, this wasn't the kind of profitable venture that one would want to get into to make dough. But it's been fascinating and fun. Breaking even is just icing on the cake.

[gonella]

actually, I think it is worth, but I am a little bit worry about the life time of the card(GPU and FPGA).

I did not find any thing relate it.

[wildgift]

I think it's worth it if you are a gamer and can use the cards for playing games.  Though you'll fall short of breaking even on bitcoins, they'll subsidize your gaming habit.  Presumably, you'll only play a few hours a day at most, and the rest of the time, the cards are just sitting there doing nothing.

This is somewhat like the reasoning that people pan for gold.  The ones who are good at it say they make around $30k per year.  That's a pretty meager wage, but for someone who enjoys being outdoors, in the stream, it's a pretty good job.  Expenses are limited, and rent is cheap (if they rent at all - that land out there is cheap).  If you love the work, you're going to enjoy life.

[photoa6155]

Whats the general consensus on mining if BFL actually releases there ASIC unit in October and ships it at that time. It would seem that even mining with fpga will be worthless in a few weeks of customers receiving units.

[humanitee]

If 1 TH is actually achieved by BFL, FPGA mining will no longer be profitable unless there is a huge increase in Bitcoin price. It would be a better investment to consider getting in with a pool of people and getting a BFL or buying into a similar scheme on GLBSE.

[wildgift]

I just realized that btc mining is profitable if mom and dad pay for the graphics card, computer, electricity, housing, and taxes.

No wonder people are willing to sell their services for 1 btc.

[mig91]

I just realized that btc mining is profitable if mom and dad pay for the graphics card, computer, electricity, housing, and taxes.

No wonder people are willing to sell their services for 1 btc.

my girlfriend buy a new psu for me 

[Panzer1]

Well, it depends on the hardware you have, especially your GPU.

[silentseawolf]

Hobby miner here, a good way to keep your expensive gaming hardware from getting lazy.  I have been mining a year, and have hit the  break even point, all the money i dumped into hardware is back. 

[klear]

Hobby miner here, a good way to keep your expensive gaming hardware from getting lazy.