As a newbie, is mining worth the effort?

Prototype

newbie

Activity: 13

Merit: 0

Quote from: Zealot on April 17, 2013, 06:09:00 PM

Thank you for that but in the mean time I was so frustrated by the "check the calculator" answer that I googled "litecoins MHs 6950" and eventually found out the MH/s value for my Radeon 6950 2GB.

So I'd be doing 350 MH/s in Bitcoin and 0.42 MH/s in Litecoin. That would be $1.068 net profit for Bitcoin and $2.178 in Litecoin with electricity at 0.10 $/KWh. But here's the funny thing. I have two Radeon 6950 (I only used one in the calculator). And I think one of them doesn't crash with the 6970 bios. So when I hit 710 MH/s I hit parity. Except if my electricity cost in not higher. Because if it's 0.12 $/KWh then I still won't hit net profit parity with Litecoin.
So what do you recommend me?

Find your card power output here in terms of wattage and Mhash for BTC https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

If you don't want to scroll hit ctrl+f and type in your model to search

Then go here http://www.bitcoinx.com/profit/

Plug in your numbers

Calculate and then determine power costs.

Analyze the numbers and determine if you can make profit under BTC.

If you cannot profit from BTC look at this site to determine if other coins would be worth their value mining. http://dustcoin.com/mining

It can provide insight to BTC vs other crypto currencies

You will know what to expect and can make an educated decision. Haven't seen anybody else make it any easier to figure out, but you still need to put in like < 10 min of work. Nobody is going to do it for you, so if you can't get that done then perhaps it isn't for you.

lpshowboat0099

newbie

Activity: 14

Merit: 0

Quote from: Zealot on April 17, 2013, 06:09:00 PM

Thank you for that but in the mean time I was so frustrated by the "check the calculator" answer that I googled "litecoins MHs 6950" and eventually found out the MH/s value for my Radeon 6950 2GB.

So I'd be doing 350 MH/s in Bitcoin and 0.42 MH/s in Litecoin. That would be $1.068 net profit for Bitcoin and $2.178 in Litecoin with electricity at 0.10 $/KWh. But here's the funny thing. I have two Radeon 6950 (I only used one in the calculator). And I think one of them doesn't crash with the 6970 bios. So when I hit 710 MH/s I hit parity. Except if my electricity cost in not higher. Because if it's 0.12 $/KWh then I still won't hit net profit parity with Litecoin.
So what do you recommend me?

Test it out. Your cards will likely differ from the hashrate values listed for the cards. Download a miner, preferably one that supports both SHA256 and Scrypt, make two copies of it (one for BTC and one for LTC), configure a mining pool for each, then test out each one to see the real-world hashrates you get for BTC and LTC. Do the test for the 6970 bios as well. I personally would think that with the real-world values, you'll still make more from mining LTC than BTC. Just note that the prices of BTC and LTC, as well as the ratio between the two, are EXTREMELY volatile and swing dramatically each day (especially for BTC). Just this month alone, BTC has adjusted from over $250 per coin down to $100, then down briefly to the $60-$70 range, and has ended up back up in the $90 range today. LTC was at $4.50 and is now down to $2. In truth, it is very worthwhile exploiting the volatility of the market while mining away the most profitable currency.

Zealot

newbie

Activity: 8

Merit: 0

Quote from: lpshowboat0099 on April 17, 2013, 05:46:57 PM

Since Zealot seems to be concerned with profit, here's a personal example in favor of mining LTC over BTC right now using the calculator quoted above assuming no cost for electricity and no fees:

GTX 570
BTC:
Hashrate: ~140 MH/s
Coin Per Day: .008 BTC
Profit @ Current Price per day: $0.726

LTC:
Hashrate: 220 kH/s (0.220 MH/s)
Coin Per Day: .613012 LTC
Profit @ Current Price per day: $1.554

As you can see, mining LTC with a GPU is more profitable than BTC (right now at current market prices)

Thank you for that but in the mean time I was so frustrated by the "check the calculator" answer that I googled "litecoins MHs 6950" and eventually found out the MH/s value for my Radeon 6950 2GB.

So I'd be doing 350 MH/s in Bitcoin and 0.42 MH/s in Litecoin. That would be $1.068 net profit for Bitcoin and $2.178 in Litecoin with electricity at 0.10 $/KWh. But here's the funny thing. I have two Radeon 6950 (I only used one in the calculator). And I think one of them doesn't crash with the 6970 bios. So when I hit 710 MH/s I hit parity. Except if my electricity cost in not higher. Because if it's 0.12 $/KWh then I still won't hit net profit parity with Litecoin.
So what do you recommend me?

joe9439

newbie

Activity: 10

Merit: 0

Quote

Here is a real noob question, what is "merged mining"?

Merged mining enables you to earn namecoins along with bitcoins. They don't require any extra effort if the pool has them enabled. They're not worth much but it's a nice bonus because you can trade them for at least some bitcoins.

I use bitminter as my pool because they share transaction fees and have merged mining. They have really nice stats too.

pandapeluche

newbie

Activity: 6

Merit: 0

buy some coins. let it value

joe9439

newbie

Activity: 10

Merit: 0

Quote

Since Zealot seems to be concerned with profit, here's a personal example in favor of mining LTC over BTC right now using the calculator quoted above assuming no cost for electricity and no fees:

GTX 570
BTC:
Hashrate: ~140 MH/s
Coin Per Day: .008 BTC
Profit @ Current Price per day: $0.726

LTC:
Hashrate: 220 kH/s (0.220 MH/s)
Coin Per Day: .613012 LTC
Profit @ Current Price per day: $1.554

As you can see, mining LTC with a GPU is more profitable than BTC (right now at current market prices)

I'm mining on my A10-5800K. I'm getting 85MH/s SHA-256 and 55KH/s Scrypt. So that's $0.44 a day for bitcoin mining and $0.38 for litecoin. So it just depends on your hardware I think. A lot of cards do about an equal amount of MH and KH so in that case litecoin would be worth it.

I've been mining bitcoin and exchanging for litecoin. I think it's a better position to be in. Bitcoin is overvalued and litecoin is undervalued in my opinion.

One thing that I have a problem with litecoin is the mining pools available. They're not as well developed as with bitcoin yet and they're not really clear on some things like whether or not they share transaction fees. I'll personally be staying with bitcoin even if it's 5 or 10% less profitable than litecoin because the litecoin pools are a lot more shady and likely to collapse for now, taking your earnings with them. I wish bitminter would hurry up and start doing litecoins!

WordSurfer

newbie

Activity: 4

Merit: 0

Quote from: Prototype on April 17, 2013, 05:06:03 PM

As long as you have a Radeon card w/ opencl support you should be good to go. Read up on cooling the card and be sure to monitor temperatures if you are going to give it a shot. If you have done any overclocking in the past you need to apply these skills here. Set up a performance profile in MSI Afterburner, or whatever you use for mining and other profiles for gaming, etc.

Assuming you are mining BTC:

Read around to see what others have done and what to probably expect from the make/model card in use. The settings for your GPU cores should be pushed up to the max stable. Lower the clock speeds on the memory as low as you can get them in order to reduce heat output. Test, monitor, test, and monitor some more.

Also look for a pool that does merged mining. Mine collects NMC as well for no additional effort and enhances the efficiency of the operation (not by much mind you).

Good luck

Here is a real noob question, what is "merged mining"?

sweeppicking

member

Activity: 83

Merit: 10

Quote from: lpshowboat0099 on April 17, 2013, 05:46:57 PM

Quote from: gongomanny on April 17, 2013, 05:37:49 PM

Quote from: Prototype on April 17, 2013, 05:19:14 PM

Quote from: Zealot on April 17, 2013, 05:14:52 PM

Quote from: lpshowboat0099 on April 17, 2013, 04:54:50 PM

I wouldn't mine BTC in the case of only having access to a video card / cpu for mining. If you really want to mine, though, there are other currencies such as Litecoin (LTC) that offer more fulfilling mining opportunities for the average person.

This is what I don't understand. What do you mean by "fulfilling"? Shouldn't it be a matter of net profit? How much you make in your pocket at the end of the month, quarter, year?
Please, enlighten me, how much money will I be making per quarter in Litecoin vs Bitcoin?

Since everybody's mileage may vary, I would suggest using a profitability calculator. There are plenty of open ones available here on the forum, as well as ones like the one on bitcoinx. There are also calculators that compare different crypto currencies, etc.

yes, for example here
http://allchains.info/calc.html

I dont mine because while with my 1 GPU i could be profitable about 1 dollar per day, it is not worth the time to monitor it or potential failure of some component...

Since Zealot seems to be concerned with profit, here's a personal example in favor of mining LTC over BTC right now using the calculator quoted above assuming no cost for electricity and no fees:

GTX 570
BTC:
Hashrate: ~140 MH/s
Coin Per Day: .008 BTC
Profit @ Current Price per day: $0.726

LTC:
Hashrate: 220 kH/s (0.220 MH/s)
Coin Per Day: .613012 LTC
Profit @ Current Price per day: $1.554

As you can see, mining LTC with a GPU is more profitable than BTC (right now at current market prices)

Days behind when LTC was like 4.5 USD you buy a GPU and pay it by mining for one week u.u

lpshowboat0099

newbie

Activity: 14

Merit: 0

Quote from: gongomanny on April 17, 2013, 05:37:49 PM

Quote from: Prototype on April 17, 2013, 05:19:14 PM

Quote from: Zealot on April 17, 2013, 05:14:52 PM

Quote from: lpshowboat0099 on April 17, 2013, 04:54:50 PM

I wouldn't mine BTC in the case of only having access to a video card / cpu for mining. If you really want to mine, though, there are other currencies such as Litecoin (LTC) that offer more fulfilling mining opportunities for the average person.

This is what I don't understand. What do you mean by "fulfilling"? Shouldn't it be a matter of net profit? How much you make in your pocket at the end of the month, quarter, year?
Please, enlighten me, how much money will I be making per quarter in Litecoin vs Bitcoin?

Since everybody's mileage may vary, I would suggest using a profitability calculator. There are plenty of open ones available here on the forum, as well as ones like the one on bitcoinx. There are also calculators that compare different crypto currencies, etc.

yes, for example here
http://allchains.info/calc.html

I dont mine because while with my 1 GPU i could be profitable about 1 dollar per day, it is not worth the time to monitor it or potential failure of some component...

Since Zealot seems to be concerned with profit, here's a personal example in favor of mining LTC over BTC right now using the calculator quoted above assuming no cost for electricity and no fees:

GTX 570
BTC:
Hashrate: ~140 MH/s
Coin Per Day: .008 BTC
Profit @ Current Price per day: $0.726

LTC:
Hashrate: 220 kH/s (0.220 MH/s)
Coin Per Day: .613012 LTC
Profit @ Current Price per day: $1.554

As you can see, mining LTC with a GPU is more profitable than BTC (right now at current market prices)

joe9439

newbie

Activity: 10

Merit: 0

I'm using hardware that I already have to mine. I'm not investing in anything since ASICs are coming out and the price is too unstable. Just too many questions and too much uncertainty. My brother had a 5770 just laying around not being used so I'm using that and sending him some of the earnings.

I think there is more money to be made trading coins actually. I made like 10% trading between BTC and LTC on BTC-E.com yesterday which is faster than I was making mining. I think it's a good bet to buy litecoins if you're taking a long position. I think people are going to lose interest in Bitcoins when it's unprofitable because of ASICs and the price is going to fall. It's difficult to predict what's going to happen though.

gongomanny

sr. member

Activity: 301

Merit: 250

Ɓιтcσιη

Quote from: Prototype on April 17, 2013, 05:19:14 PM

Quote from: Zealot on April 17, 2013, 05:14:52 PM

Quote from: lpshowboat0099 on April 17, 2013, 04:54:50 PM

I wouldn't mine BTC in the case of only having access to a video card / cpu for mining. If you really want to mine, though, there are other currencies such as Litecoin (LTC) that offer more fulfilling mining opportunities for the average person.

This is what I don't understand. What do you mean by "fulfilling"? Shouldn't it be a matter of net profit? How much you make in your pocket at the end of the month, quarter, year?
Please, enlighten me, how much money will I be making per quarter in Litecoin vs Bitcoin?

Since everybody's mileage may vary, I would suggest using a profitability calculator. There are plenty of open ones available here on the forum, as well as ones like the one on bitcoinx. There are also calculators that compare different crypto currencies, etc.

yes, for example here
http://allchains.info/calc.html

I dont mine because while with my 1 GPU i could be profitable about 1 dollar per day, it is not worth the time to monitor it or potential failure of some component...

sweeppicking

member

Activity: 83

Merit: 10

Quote from: Zealot on April 17, 2013, 05:32:02 PM

Quote from: sweeppicking on April 17, 2013, 05:30:44 PM

It's sad, you can buy perfect mining hardware for a few dolars but you pay a lot of money for use it.
I'm form Argentina and i mine bitcoins and litecoins 24 hours for day with my 3 watercooled 7970s and a 6870 card and just pay like 20 dolar ever month... Cry

Just sad...

What do you pay 20 dollars for? Or do you mean you get paid 20 dollars every month?

I pay 20 dolars for electricity every month. that's all...

Zealot

newbie

Activity: 8

Merit: 0

Quote from: sweeppicking on April 17, 2013, 05:30:44 PM

It's sad, you can buy perfect mining hardware for a few dolars but you pay a lot of money for use it.
I'm form Argentina and i mine bitcoins and litecoins 24 hours for day with my 3 watercooled 7970s and a 6870 card and just pay like 20 dolar ever month... Cry

Just sad...

What do you pay 20 dollars for? Or do you mean you get paid 20 dollars every month?

sweeppicking

member

Activity: 83

Merit: 10

It's sad, you can buy perfect mining hardware for a few dolars but you pay a lot of money for use it.
I'm form Argentina and i mine bitcoins and litecoins 24 hours for day with my 3 watercooled 7970s and a 6870 card and just pay like 20 dolar ever month... Cry

Just sad...

Zealot

newbie

Activity: 8

Merit: 0

Quote from: Prototype on April 17, 2013, 05:19:14 PM

Quote from: Zealot on April 17, 2013, 05:14:52 PM

Quote from: lpshowboat0099 on April 17, 2013, 04:54:50 PM

I wouldn't mine BTC in the case of only having access to a video card / cpu for mining. If you really want to mine, though, there are other currencies such as Litecoin (LTC) that offer more fulfilling mining opportunities for the average person.

This is what I don't understand. What do you mean by "fulfilling"? Shouldn't it be a matter of net profit? How much you make in your pocket at the end of the month, quarter, year?
Please, enlighten me, how much money will I be making per quarter in Litecoin vs Bitcoin?

Since everybody's mileage may vary, I would suggest using a profitability calculator. There are plenty of open ones available here on the forum, as well as ones like the one on bitcoinx. There are also calculators that compare different crypto currencies, etc.

But why would I even need them? It should just be a matter of the currencies having a stable parity. Like EUR/USD being on parity with CHF/USD (Swiss Franc) and EUR/CHF because otherwise people would exploit one of them. In virtual coins terms it should mean that if there are too many people converting Litecoins to Bitcoins then Litecoins would devalue against Bitcoins.

Prototype

newbie

Activity: 13

Merit: 0

Quote from: Zealot on April 17, 2013, 05:14:52 PM

Quote from: lpshowboat0099 on April 17, 2013, 04:54:50 PM

I wouldn't mine BTC in the case of only having access to a video card / cpu for mining. If you really want to mine, though, there are other currencies such as Litecoin (LTC) that offer more fulfilling mining opportunities for the average person.

This is what I don't understand. What do you mean by "fulfilling"? Shouldn't it be a matter of net profit? How much you make in your pocket at the end of the month, quarter, year?
Please, enlighten me, how much money will I be making per quarter in Litecoin vs Bitcoin?

Since everybody's mileage may vary, I would suggest using a profitability calculator. There are plenty of open ones available here on the forum, as well as ones like the one on bitcoinx. There are also calculators that compare different crypto currencies, etc.

Zealot

newbie

Activity: 8

Merit: 0

Quote from: lpshowboat0099 on April 17, 2013, 04:54:50 PM

I wouldn't mine BTC in the case of only having access to a video card / cpu for mining. If you really want to mine, though, there are other currencies such as Litecoin (LTC) that offer more fulfilling mining opportunities for the average person.

This is what I don't understand. What do you mean by "fulfilling"? Shouldn't it be a matter of net profit? How much you make in your pocket at the end of the month, quarter, year?
Please, enlighten me, how much money will I be making per quarter in Litecoin vs Bitcoin?

daglitch

newbie

Activity: 7

Merit: 0

It is still very much an option to mine IMO.

Prototype

newbie

Activity: 13

Merit: 0

As long as you have a Radeon card w/ opencl support you should be good to go. Read up on cooling the card and be sure to monitor temperatures if you are going to give it a shot. If you have done any overclocking in the past you need to apply these skills here. Set up a performance profile in MSI Afterburner, or whatever you use for mining and other profiles for gaming, etc.

Assuming you are mining BTC:

Read around to see what others have done and what to probably expect from the make/model card in use. The settings for your GPU cores should be pushed up to the max stable. Lower the clock speeds on the memory as low as you can get them in order to reduce heat output. Test, monitor, test, and monitor some more.

Also look for a pool that does merged mining. Mine collects NMC as well for no additional effort and enhances the efficiency of the operation (not by much mind you).

Good luck

sdhayes12345

member

Activity: 79

Merit: 10

Agreed with above poster.

Topic: As a newbie, is mining worth the effort? (Read 2094 times)