Topic: New setup- assume free power - page 2. (Read 1617 times)

hey thanks for the response! as you can see im still pretty much new to all this, so bear with me. With the formula you used, the return is half a bitcoin in a year and change? Is that solo or mining pool? Does that factor in the % of getting supremely lucky and getting a block reward (25 coins)? 

and if you could simplify it even more, assuming free electricity, how is mining even worth it at all? How are the businesses which make specialized mining rigs sell things if its a losing proposition of say $1000 per $1500 spent?

Online calculators use the following formula to figure out your expected earnings per day.  So, if you had those S3s mining right now:

The numbers aren't based on whether or not you mine in a pool.  You also need to account for the changing difficulty - which I'm sure the numbers you've provided do not.  You've based your projections on a static difficulty rate, whereas the reality is the difficulty rate is anything but static.

You need to realize that the BTC network adjusts the difficulty every 2016 blocks to try and maintain a 10 minute block generation time.  If you look at the historical difficulty charts, you'll see that it is constantly rising... sometimes ridiculous amounts... others very little.  Most online calculators will assume a 20% increase every jump by default.  Personally, I think that's not sustainable, but that's a completely different discussion

Anyway, if I use the same numbers you've given - up front hardware costs, free power, etc.. and assume you will not get your miners until next Friday at the earliest... with a difficulty increase of 20% every 2016 blocks...

By December 18 of 2015 you will have made a 0.4755BTC return.

That's the doomsday scenario where every single difficulty increase between now and then is 20%.  If you change that number to a 10% increase...

By January 9 of 2016 you'll have made a 4.436BTC return.

As you can see, there is a significant difference.  So, what do you do with all of this?  Take it with a grain of salt and decide for yourself if you want to commit your cash to mining hardware

hey guys, i have been mulling over whether or not to try my hand at some mining as an investment for the past 6 months. If anyone could correct anything I say or tell me how my assumptions are wrong (or better yet right) please do so.

If i were to have the following setup, how profitable would it be over say 12 months:

5 Antminers S3-B5- $1948.35 USD
expected speed - 441 GH/s * 5 = 2000 Gh/s or so
$Kw/hr = $0.00 (lets assume it is and will stay free)

Time Frame   BTC Coins   USD   Power Cost (in USD)   Pool Fees (in USD)   Profit (in USD)
Hourly   0.00246606            $1.43        $0.00   $0.00                                               $1.43
Daily       0.05918551    $34.22   $0.00   $0.00                                               $34.22
Weekly   0.41429855          $239.55   $0.00   $0.00                                               $239.55
Monthly   1.77556520          $1,026.63   $0.00   $0.00                                               $1,026.63
Annually   21.60270999     $12,490.69   $0.00   $0.00                                            $12,490.69

Now this is based on the exchange rate around $550, it could hover around or go higher so the numbers towards the end of the year would be slightly higher in profit. If we assume free electricity, what do you guys think of this, is it very possible? is this based on a solo scenario, or are profitability calculator found online all based on pooling?