Anyone mine bitcoin?

[Sava]

I have three different multi-GPU systems. It is time to put those lazy MFers to work. Does anyone here mine bitcoin?

I'm just learning how to do it and doing research now, but would appreciate learning from someone who does it.

Any tips or pointers?

I'm looking into hardware as well. But I want to make sure I can do this and turn it into something real. So far, the calculators are giving me good results. I estimate I could make about a 30% ROI with today's rates. That's ****ing awesome.

[Imran Siddiqui]

... like out of the ground?

[Dinner]

T is almost impossible to make mo ey at it these days.

[Sava]

T is almost impossible to make mo ey at it these days.

Not if you are good at math.

[Sava]

... like out of the ground?

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Considered it, but not doing it - waste of electricity, perhaps if I had a solar array and had no idea what to do with excess electricity.

[loinburger]

Be sure to check your electric meter / bill to make sure you're not actually losing money

[Dinner]

Not if you are good at math.

No really. It is designed to expenentually harder as time goes on and so many people have been doing it for so lo g that you'd need so much computing power regular people can't do it any more. There are people with banks of specialized machines all networked together and even with all that dedicated hardware churning 24/7 they still can't make enough to pay the electric bill for those machines much less recover sunk capital costs.

[Sava]

Be sure to check your electric meter / bill to make sure you're not actually losing money

The calculators I'm using for estimates include the cost of electricity.

[Sava]

No really. It is designed to expenentually harder as time goes on and so many people have been doing it for so lo g that you'd need so much computing power regular people can't do it any more. There are people with banks of specialized machines all networked together and even with all that dedicated hardware churning 24/7 they still can't make enough to pay the electric bill for those machines much less recover sunk capital costs.

I'm not interested in hearsay.

[Sava]

Fact is. This is happening. Running my existing hardware 24/7, the estimate is around $2,400 for the year in profit... including the cost of electricity. I doubt my rates are going to jump to an insane level so as to wipe all that out.

I'll do it for a month and see what the result is... three dual GPU systems should do well.

There are some particulars I'm not familiar with... where to exchange bitcoin for USD, for instance... and then there are security issues.

If I'm able to make a profit, I'll invest in hardware designed for this.

Here's what caught my interest:

After doing some estimates with my main PC hardware, I decide to price out a new system, similarly specced. I put the budget at $2000... I get around a $2400 return. $400 profit. 20% ROI

That's year one.

Year two (and I don't expect prices to remain stable... there will be ups and downs)... let's use the $2400 for the sake of our thought experiment.

I invest another $2000.

End of year for year 2: $4800
$2800 profit.
add my existing $400... that's $5200 I have at the end of year two... with an initial investment of $2000

Do you see where this is going?

Say I start with $4000 in year one.

Get the point?

If you guys are in doubt, go find a calculator and use my hardware... tell me what you come up with... I'd appreciate being corrected if I made a mistake.

i5 3570k
dual nvidia 970's

The big hurdle for bitcoin mining is the initial hardware cost. Beyond that, you have the labor. I have so much free time, this doesn't matter to me.

[Ben Kenobi]

You have to factor in cost and wear and tear and depreciation Sava. Plus opportunity cost.

After doing some estimates with my main PC hardware, I decide to price out a new system, similarly specced. I put the budget at $2000... I get around a $2400 return. $400 profit. 20% ROI

With a 2k PC, and assuming 3 years with the hardware, hardware costs alone are roughly 700 a year, not including repairs and maintenance.

You'd be losing roughly 300 a year per unit.

[Sava]

You have to factor in cost and wear and tear and depreciation Sava. Plus opportunity cost.

Long term hardware costs are not a concern. Replacing a $350 video card or processor is peanuts compared to building a new system.

For the sake of argument, I could use the first year figures, relying only on that ROI... it is still an insanely awesome way to make money.

[Ben Kenobi]

Replacing a $350 video card or processor is peanuts compared to building a new system

If you have to replace one a year, that's almost all your yearly profit. Plus you have to look at what 2k can do for you now. This is why I've not bought any gold - the money I have is more valuable elsewhere.

[loinburger]

Replacing a $350 video card or processor is peanuts compared to building a new system.

Using your numbers: you invest $2000 in a system, at the end of the year you've made $2400 but you've got to replace a $350 video card that's been running 24/7 for a year, leaving you with a net gain of $50, which is more trouble than it's worth. Definitely figure out the mean time between failures on your video cards if you're going to be doing this, since those strike me as the most likely and most expensive components to break.