Free electricity... Should I buy a miner? (Antminer S1?)

[Bizmark13]

I'm currently living in a place that has free electricity included into the rent.

Now would it be profitable mining in my situation? And what type of miner should I buy? I was thinking perhaps something like an old used Antminer S1 would work quite well. I can find some selling online for $50 or less.

Sometimes I see them selling for crazy prices:

$11.50 NZD ($10 USD) here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/other/auction-812922764.htm

$30 NZD ($25 USD) here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=809053327

But more normal prices are around $50 NZD ($40 USD):

http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/other/auction-824247691.htm

And how much heat do these things create? It's summer here so it can get pretty hot sometimes. If they get too hot, then it might be better if I waited until winter. That way, my miner would also double as a heater and I wouldn't have to use my normal heater. Fortunately, it seems the difficulty isn't increasing like it used to anymore too so perhaps these things won't be completely outdated by then.

Oh, and I would prefer something not too loud.

Finally, how much BTC per day would I be able to get with 200 GH/s? 0.1 BTC? 0.05 BTC?

[Newar]

Check your contract for a "fair use" clause first.

[Searing]

Check your contract for a "fair use" clause first.

you could do this with free elec but at 1100watts each ( i suppose you could sell one on ebay) ...er even at 1100w for one
I kinda think your landlord would find out

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=903286.0

but for a group buy (he has done them before honest) 1000 usd includes shipping for 2 sp20's or 3.4TH and not a pre order
at all ..this is a good deal if you have REALLY free elec and as stated before and quoted above you cang get beat up on the 'fair use' clause ...myself
I think you could maybe get a way with it in a month more or less at best..then busted with one landlord walk thru of the apt

but with me and 15ckwh elec even the above don't fly vs just buying BTC

all i got .....take any with a grain of salt..i still figure at 1100w you will get busted ..just saying

[Amph]

with free electricity for sure, it's profitable, try some AS3, you need just to make roi on those, and then you are free for the profit

[philipma1957]

I'm currently living in a place that has free electricity included into the rent.

Now would it be profitable mining in my situation? And what type of miner should I buy? I was thinking perhaps something like an old used Antminer S1 would work quite well. I can find some selling online for $50 or less.

Sometimes I see them selling for crazy prices:

$11.50 NZD ($10 USD) here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/other/auction-812922764.htm

$30 NZD ($25 USD) here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=809053327

But more normal prices are around $50 NZD ($40 USD):

http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/other/auction-824247691.htm

And how much heat do these things create? It's summer here so it can get pretty hot sometimes. If they get too hot, then it might be better if I waited until winter. That way, my miner would also double as a heater and I wouldn't have to use my normal heater. Fortunately, it seems the difficulty isn't increasing like it used to anymore too so perhaps these things won't be completely outdated by then.

Oh, and I would prefer something not too loud.

Finally, how much BTC per day would I be able to get with 200 GH/s? 0.1 BTC? 0.05 BTC?

200gh = 0.077 btc a month  

https://bitcoinwisdom.com/bitcoin/difficulty

if you buy an s-1 for 10 usd and do the pencil mod down volt down clock  the machine will

a) be quiet
b) 140gh at 170 watts

guide

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

if you don't do the pencil mod it will do 180-200gh at 360 -400 watts

[buysolar]

cheapest price per gigahash miner will probably be an antminer s1. They produce about $24/month of btc right now. If electricity cost isn't a concern and you want to try out mining that's a great unit to start with. If you try it and like mining, then I'd switch to something more powerful after playing around with that for a few months. If your electricity is free then buying the less efficient miners for really cheap will give you the quickest pay back.

In your scenario, I'd get a used antminer s1 to get my feet wet. Then I'd use the earnings to add an antminer S3 in 2 months. Then I'd use the combined earnings to switch out the S1 with an antminer S5 in 4 or 5 months. Using this methodology you'll be earning about ~$150/month in btc within the next 5 months assuming a 2% rise with each difficulty adjustment and no change in the value of btc. This methodology leaves you with an initial cash outlay ~$50 and would be your lowest risk entry scenario into bitcoin mining.

Alternatively if you want to risk more capital on the mining venture,

spondoolies ~$3500 unit gets you ~2.0btc per month at the current difficulty  (loudness may be a concern to you)

spondoolies ~$700 unit gets you ~0.54btc per month at the current difficulty (loudness may be a concern to you)

antminers  ~$420 unit gets you ~0.42btc per month at the current difficulty

[purpl3haze]

cheapest price per gigahash miner will probably be an antminer s1. They produce about $24/month of btc right now. If electricity cost isn't a concern and you want to try out mining that's a great unit to start with. If you try it and like mining, then I'd switch to something more powerful after playing around with that for a few months. If your electricity is free then buying the less efficient miners for really cheap will give you the quickest pay back.

In your scenario, I'd get a used antminer s1 to get my feet wet. Then I'd use the earnings to add an antminer S3 in 2 months. Then I'd use the combined earnings to switch out the S1 with an antminer S5 in 4 or 5 months. Using this methodology you'll be earning about ~$150/month in btc within the next 5 months assuming a 2% rise with each difficulty adjustment and no change in the value of btc. This methodology leaves you with an initial cash outlay ~$50 and would be your lowest risk entry scenario into bitcoin mining.

Alternatively if you want to risk more capital on the mining venture,

spondoolies ~$3500 unit gets you ~2.0btc per month at the current difficulty  (loudness may be a concern to you)

spondoolies ~$700 unit gets you ~0.54btc per month at the current difficulty (loudness may be a concern to you)

antminers  ~$420 unit gets you ~0.42btc per month at the current difficulty

loudness x 100000
thats the only problem i have now with my free elec mining set up

[notlist3d]

Check your contract for a "fair use" clause first.

I'm wondering if he is a student a some student housing has a locked in rate.  It's been a bit but I know last time I had a student apartment they had a clause most they could charge you was 25 a month over standard housing bill. 

I personally would look at a little newer and powerful (S3 or better).  But with "free" electricity you have lots of options.

[Argwai96]

If you truly have unlimited free electricity (you probably don't) then you are going to want to find the cheapest machine based on $/gh while being able to buy something that is power dense enough that you can get enough 'bang' for your free electricity buck. Even though the s1 will only be ~$0.25 per gh at $50, it is going to take up a lot of room when compared to other machines. You will quickly run out of room buying up a lot of s1s

As mentioned above you would probably be better off going in on the group buy for the SP20s which will cost ~$0.35 per gh but the machine will be roughly the same size as the s1 but will have ~7x the hashpower. Additionally it will save you on PSUs as you will end up spending less money on power supplies (which are not free)

[notlist3d]

If you truly have unlimited free electricity (you probably don't) then you are going to want to find the cheapest machine based on $/gh while being able to buy something that is power dense enough that you can get enough 'bang' for your free electricity buck. Even though the s1 will only be ~$0.25 per gh at $50, it is going to take up a lot of room when compared to other machines. You will quickly run out of room buying up a lot of s1s

As mentioned above you would probably be better off going in on the group buy for the SP20s which will cost ~$0.35 per gh but the machine will be roughly the same size as the s1 but will have ~7x the hashpower. Additionally it will save you on PSUs as you will end up spending less money on power supplies (which are not free)

The SP20 are a heck of a machine.  With underclocking it is going to be a player for a while.   

I would agree even with "free" power S1 just is not a whole lot of hashing power.  You can use the same amount of power for a lot more hash.    And still profit.

[Argwai96]

If you truly have unlimited free electricity (you probably don't) then you are going to want to find the cheapest machine based on $/gh while being able to buy something that is power dense enough that you can get enough 'bang' for your free electricity buck. Even though the s1 will only be ~$0.25 per gh at $50, it is going to take up a lot of room when compared to other machines. You will quickly run out of room buying up a lot of s1s

As mentioned above you would probably be better off going in on the group buy for the SP20s which will cost ~$0.35 per gh but the machine will be roughly the same size as the s1 but will have ~7x the hashpower. Additionally it will save you on PSUs as you will end up spending less money on power supplies (which are not free)

The SP20 are a heck of a machine.  With underclocking it is going to be a player for a while.   

I would agree even with "free" power S1 just is not a whole lot of hashing power.  You can use the same amount of power for a lot more hash.    And still profit.

It really would not make very much sense for the OP to underlcock (undervolt) his miners if he is not paying for electricity.

[Bizmark13]

Check your contract for a "fair use" clause first.

I only intend to get a few dollars out of this per week. It's not like I'm going to be running a massive mining farm in my bedroom!

A small 5-fin oil heater uses 1000 watts anyway and even the tiniest ones use 500 watts so it's not like the landlord will notice if I replace it with a miner which does the same job (heating) but with an extra income on the side. In fact, our rooms already come with heaters so I could just turn that off and use the miner for heating during winter:

200gh = 0.077 btc a month  

https://bitcoinwisdom.com/bitcoin/difficulty

if you buy an s-1 for 10 usd and do the pencil mod down volt down clock  the machine will

a) be quiet
b) 140gh at 170 watts

guide

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

if you don't do the pencil mod it will do 180-200gh at 360 -400 watts

Not a bad idea. I would prefer a quieter machine. I could buy two and have them hash at ~300GH/s and still consume less power than a single non-clocked S1.

Also 0.077 BTC sounds low but it doesn't seem that terrible once you realize it's free money and I could resell the miner anytime. Sure wish it was more though.

And for everyone else, thanks for the suggestions to get more powerful hardware but here in New Zealand, other than the occasional Gridseed or Block Erupter, it seems that 99% of miners are Antminers. See:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/SearchResults.aspx?searchString=bitcoin

Plus, I'm a poor student so those $40 USD Antminer S1's are my only option other than USB miners which will never ROI. I don't have the thousands to spend on 1TH/s+ equipment (and even if I did, my landlord probably wouldn't be happy about it).

[spazzdla]

You should be able to get a used S3 for 2-300.

[ProudMiner]

I think that an antminer S5 is you best option because the have relatively low power consumption and they produce low noise.
Spondoolies SP20 is also a good option but the fan is loud according to reviews.
I personally have a fishtank and I intend to buy some prisma blades, just the blades and immerse them in cooling fluid. It's the cheapest and quietest option.

[mwizard]

I think that an antminer S5 is you best option because the have relatively low power consumption and they produce low noise.
Spondoolies SP20 is also a good option but the fan is loud according to reviews.
I personally have a fishtank and I intend to buy some prisma blades, just the blades and immerse them in cooling fluid. It's the cheapest and quietest option.

Some of the S5 reviews are saying the S5 is not that quiet. 

Similar in noise to the noise from a vacuum cleaner according to https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=919018.0  .

[philipma1957]

I think that an antminer S5 is you best option because the have relatively low power consumption and they produce low noise.
Spondoolies SP20 is also a good option but the fan is loud according to reviews.
I personally have a fishtank and I intend to buy some prisma blades, just the blades and immerse them in cooling fluid. It's the cheapest and quietest option.

the s-5 is crazy loud worse then the sp20

[Bananana]

I think that an antminer S5 is you best option because the have relatively low power consumption and they produce low noise.
Spondoolies SP20 is also a good option but the fan is loud according to reviews.
I personally have a fishtank and I intend to buy some prisma blades, just the blades and immerse them in cooling fluid. It's the cheapest and quietest option.

the s-5 is crazy loud worse then the sp20

Change the fan and the noise would go away. They ship with really bad fans.

[philipma1957]

I think that an antminer S5 is you best option because the have relatively low power consumption and they produce low noise.
Spondoolies SP20 is also a good option but the fan is loud according to reviews.
I personally have a fishtank and I intend to buy some prisma blades, just the blades and immerse them in cooling fluid. It's the cheapest and quietest option.

the s-5 is crazy loud worse then the sp20

Change the fan and the noise would go away. They ship with really bad fans.

I actually think the op should look for 2 s-3's  he has free power.

 2 s-3's clocked to freq 200 are really quiet and get 800gh using about 640 watts he could run two on his 850 watt psu.  and some s-3's cost about 150 or less on ebay

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40%7CR40&_sacat=0&LH_BIN=1&_sop=16&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=100&_udhi=139&_nkw=antminer%20s-3&_dcat=179171&rt=nc&_pppn=r1

he can buy some at 138 or less 2x 138 = 276 he has a psu.  so he can do 2 clocked at freq 200 pull 600 watts maybe 640 watts pretty quiet.  800 gh earns him about  280 + 40 by june  so he would pay the 280 off and make 40 bucks with very safe numbers. for the estimate.

[BTCish]

I wish i hd electricity included in my rent, i would mine with some s3 and now s5 too.