What would you build with for mining if you had $2000-$2500 to spend on it?

[DoubleY]

Title says it all.

 

PCPP links please? <3

[megadarkwood]

GET ALL THE 7950's!

[FloRolf]

not sure if mining is worth it at that budget. no expert though...

[DoubleY]

not sure if mining is worth it at that budget. no expert though...

For litecoins? Yes. Bitcoins? Probably not.

[DoubleY]

GET ALL THE 7950's!

Which ones?

[megadarkwood]

Which ones?

THE CHEAPEST ONES!

[DoubleY]

THE CHEAPEST ONES!

Is sandwiching cards together a bad idea?

Especially because they are non-blower style coolers...

[megadarkwood]

Is sandwiching cards together a bad idea?

Especially because they are non-blower style coolers...

BUY ALL THE EXTENSIONS!

[DoubleY]

BUY ALL THE EXTENSIONS!

Then where do I put the cards? On a potato?

[Vitalius]

I would buy an Avalon unit.

Build? Not worth it.

[DoubleY]

I would buy an Avalon unit.

Build? Not worth it.

Do those work with litecoins? I heard that ASIC don't work soo...

[megadarkwood]

Then where do I put the cards? On a potato?

IN A MILK CRATE!

[Bonsai99]

Which ones?

Ones with unlocked voltage and good cooling so e.g. Sapphire.

[megadarkwood]

Do those work with litecoins? I heard that ASIC don't work soo...

no they do not..

[DoubleY]

IN A MILK CRATE!

<pic 1>

<pic 2>

What fracking motherboard is that? It apparently has PCI-E lanes placed throughout the whole thing

[megadarkwood]

What fracking motherboard is that? It apparently has PCI-E lanes placed throughout the whole thing

Nope, uses these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008BZBFTG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008BZBFTG&linkCode=as2&tag=cptbr-20

[DoubleY]

 

Nope, uses these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008BZBFTG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B008BZBFTG&linkCode=as2&tag=cptbr-20

 

Can you daisy chain those? @megadarkwood

[megadarkwood]

 

 

 

Can you daisy chain those? @megadarkwood

 

Like to make it taller? I guess, I wouldn't.

[Vader]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/26HGK

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/26HGK/by_merchant/

Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/26HGK/benchmarks/

 

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($35.98 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($104.99 @ NCIX US) 

Memory: Kingston Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($64.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($58.99 @ NCIX US) 

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7990 6GB Video Card  ($999.99 @ NCIX US) 

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($188.98 @ Newegg) 

Total: $1723.90

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-22 16:52 EST-0500)

[Vitalius]

Do those work with litecoins? I heard that ASIC don't work soo...

You... don't get it. 

An Avalon can make enough BTC in a month to pay for itself. And probably buy another Avalon.

[Cyphex]

You... don't get it. 

An Avalon can make enough BTC in a month to pay for itself. And probably buy another Avalon.

No, it can't. A 1TH miner can, a 63GH one can't do anything at the current difficulty.

[DoubleY]

No, it can't. A 1TH miner can, a 63GH one can't do anything at the current difficulty.

Aaaaand that's why I dont want to do bitcoins.

[Vitalius]

No, it can't. A 1TH miner can, a 63GH one can't do anything at the current difficulty.

Hmm, you are kinda right. I didn't realize the difficulty was so high. So you are right in that I was wrong where I said an Avalon could pay for itself and possibly another Avalon in a month.

However, if I bought an Avalon unit, I would break even in 73 days according to this calculator.

 

I would make $37 per day. 

One very very important thing you have to realize when BTC mining is that you can't look at the numbers today and use that to calculate whether you will break even or have a profit. BTC's price changes too much for that to even be remotely reliable.

If BTC gets over $1000 one day (It's probably gonna happen within 6 months, depending on the news and events regarding Bitcoin), then that "$37 per day" was really "$50 per day". My profits for that time period actually goes up because my total BTC is increasing linearly (even considering increases in difficulty) relative to the price, which can very easily increase exponentially ($150 to $500? I call that exponential). 

My point is, even if I got the equivalent of $37 worth of BTC a day, that will go up as the price does. The point isn't to view the BTC as money now, but as money later. Because that's when you will actually use it, and the price will most certainly be different then. 

Also, I wouldn't say "A 63GH one can't do anything at the current difficulty" if it can pull $37 a day. Also, that's considering the power usage. $37 is kind of a lot when you basically have to do nothing.

If I mine 0.02BTC over a 3 day period, and BTC's price increases from $100 to $500, I didn't make $2 over those 3 days, I made $10 over those 3 days. And the longer I hold onto my BTC, the more I made over that time period. 

[RuecanOnRails]

Instead of building a separate and dedicated mining rig, consider "upgrading" your current computer(s).

 

Mining Litecoin or other scrypt based coins is the way to go. USB ASIC's, or most ASIC's will not see the returns you may think. http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1oto74/thinking_of_ordering_an_asic_there_is_most_likely/

I'd also point out by that everyone should avoid Avalon miners for their company is pretty bad. From mining on their pre-orders before shipping, to general shipping delay scams, and their recent attack of the Bitcoin network via CoInvalidation.

 

I'd suggest splitting your budget between buying coins directly and mining hardware. You don't want to be stuck with only mining hardware if the difficulty or price jumps up before you can mine some.

 

Look into buying some 7950's for your current computer. Use risers to separate and keep them cool. You can build a GPU rack to mount fans and keep it looking "decent" There's no need to purchase an entirely dedicated mining rig... Unless you wanted to make a GPU farm with a minimum of 24 GPU's across 6 dedicated rigs.

[RuecanOnRails]

However, if I bought an Avalon unit, I would break even in 73 days according to this calculator.

 

 

Try this calculator. http://mining.thegenesisblock.com/ It uses recent difficulty trends to predict future increases, allowing a much more accurate estimate for the mid term.

The calculator you used previously is fairly static, and assumes the difficulty will only increase very little over the course of a full year. Therefore it's stats are generally good for only 2 weeks until the next difficulty change.

 

You find out more about the current, previous, and next estimated difficulty here. http://bitcoinwisdom.com/bitcoin/difficulty