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Topic: Should I buy Bitcoin miner S9/E9+/Avalon or Litecoin/Altcoin miner or only GPUs (Read 1020 times)

newbie
Activity: 92
Merit: 0
Ended up buying 4 Antminer L3+ because Litecoin's difficulty probably wont go that fast up but it's price shouldn't drop that much down (maybe rises instead) and currently using NiceHash's profitability caluclator and my ability to get one with PSU and shipping for €2k I calculated 3+ months for ROI.
newbie
Activity: 92
Merit: 0
Thanks everybody! But what you think about the diffuculty increase prediction of 5% increase in every 14 days that the calculator forecasts (link in original post)? In that case one should not buy ASIC miner at all now that maybe will be delivered at 28th Dec and then hell know when it'll arrive to Europe from minerwarez.com (China?). Shortly, do you believe that ASIC miners still are profitable in let' say in 6 months?
legendary
Activity: 1554
Merit: 2037
I second the thoughts on buying the Avalon 741's if you are going to invest in an Asic for BTC mining. Not only are they more reliable, but if you do run into an issue, from what I have seen and experienced myself, they have a quick turnaround time, in sorting out issues for hardware. Depending on the issue and your level of understanding, I have seen them send out the spare parts/machine without you sending the old one back. Obviously not always but a few trusted members received that level of service after providing all logs and history of equipment.

So based on customer service and reliability, and the fact that my 2 Avalon 741's consistently achieved 16TH/S I recommend them to anyone.
sr. member
Activity: 475
Merit: 265
Ooh La La, C'est Zoom!
S9s are still pretty unreliable and there can be issues straight out of the box. Repair isn't exactly cheap for these units in a lot of cases but if the price is right then go for it. I would personally try to buy an Avalon A7 before considering an S9. Bitcoin mining profits have stayed actually relatively good for the last year due to the price of bitcoin increasing. It's unclear from this point where difficulty and price will go, but for both I expect an upward trend. GPUs also require slightly more maintenance than ASICs, though one rig isn't a whole lot to worry about.

If I were going to buy an ASIC miner now, I'd definitely buy a Canaan Avalon 741. Yes, it's not as efficient as the Bitmain S9, but it's more reliable. If you can wait until the new year, you might keep your eyes open for a new miner from Canaan. The rumor is that it will be in the 14 TH/S range which will place it on par with the S9, and if it is more reliable, then it will be a winner in my book.

However, this IS the crypto currency miner space, and delivery dates are never what they are promised or rumored to be.

Check Canaan's website https://canaan.io/official-distributors/ to find a distributor in your country.
legendary
Activity: 1624
Merit: 1130
Bitcoin FTW!
S9s are still pretty unreliable and there can be issues straight out of the box. Repair isn't exactly cheap for these units in a lot of cases but if the price is right then go for it. I would personally try to buy an Avalon A7 before considering an S9. Bitcoin mining profits have stayed actually relatively good for the last year due to the price of bitcoin increasing. It's unclear from this point where difficulty and price will go, but for both I expect an upward trend. GPUs also require slightly more maintenance than ASICs, though one rig isn't a whole lot to worry about.
newbie
Activity: 92
Merit: 0
The S9 can run for years if you get a good one and I personally would go with an s9 if you are just planning on buying 1.

Thanks a lot for your advice, Fanatic! I was about to order 2 x S9 OR another GPU rig. The price is quite same really... 2xS9 = €3746 & 7 x GTX1070 + motherboar, CPU, PSUs, etc = €4000.

Just can't decide if to buy ASIC miner or GPU rig.... And if ASIC then Bitcoin miner or Litecoin or something else as the Bitcoin difficulty is going up. Today S9 Bitcoin mining is very profitable but what will it be in 4 months when warranty of S9 is almost ending but money isn't back yet.
hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 560
As far as hardware reliability goes the list is like this:

1. Avalon
2. Bitmain Antminer
3. Ebit E9


The Avalon will most likely have the longest shelf life. The S9 can run for years if you get a good one and I personally would go with an s9 if you are just planning on buying 1. The Other units are NOWHERE near as efficient.

newbie
Activity: 92
Merit: 0
I've bought already 8 x GTX1070 and waiting to deliver but I was suggested to invest 1/3 in just buying Bitcoin (before the price rised that $7k+ high recently), 1/3 in GPU mining and 1/3 in ASIC miners. As GPU is slower ROI but due to long lifetime (3y warranty from Amazon) and ability to mine whatever is currently profitable, it was easy to Google that 1070 is currently with best ROI and it's bought and should arrive next week.

Now what to do next with the rest of the 2/3 money I want to invest? Should I buy Bitcoin although it's expensive now? Or should I buy ASIC miners? Some minining Bitcoin and some Litecoin or other Altcoin to keep eggs in different baskets?  Also other coins' difficulty isn't rising that badly like Bitcoin's. Just don't know what to do.

OK, but let's say you suggest to buy ASIC, too as it's just with so quick ROI and efficiency. Then which one?

Of course S9 is most efficient but some say it lasts only around six months and also the warranty is only 6 months here in Europe and also when I use this calculator jblevins.org/btcmpc and enter hash rate 13500GH/s (it should be 14T but in forums I read that it’s rather 13,5T unless you overclock but it’s not a good idea). It costs here in Europe for me with shipping and PSU $2171 and it takes power 1360W and my $0.11kWh electricity cost. Now I entered also 180 days that is warranty and got result that profit is -$221. That’s fine if machine lasts another 6 months so here’s the first question – how long average they last? I understood that seller also repairs hash boards if they die. Another concern is that this calculator predicts difficulty increase 5% in 14 days but maybe it’s even more or less? We never know. Also, it considers that one BTC is $7247 but this is also in 6 months maybe much bigger. So putting all information together I can’t understand if I should buy few S9 or Ebit E9+ (some say in forums that it’s more reliable some that less reliable) ASIC miners, too or no?

So main question is if one should buy today in Europe having $0.11kWh electicity at all ASIC miners...? S9 or E9+ or Avalon or maybe older Antminer as some say that Antminers used to be more reliable and longer working but Bitmain has gone too greedy and now makes more crap than before. Longer ROI but lasts for longer so at the end of the day make more money. I want to make as much money as quick as possible like everybody else here:)
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