AMD destroys Nvidia at Bitcoin mining, can the gap ever be bridged?

[Puffnstuff]

Do you own a pair of 480's as your only video cards?

Yes they are what I'm running.

 

[Keysplayr]

The only reason they can sell them is if they are profitable. Once the unit is no longer profitable then they will no longer sell. They are indeed speculating and tied to the exact same market. These machines don't have any other purpose.

So are bitcoins a virtual freight train running out of tracks?

 

[chimaxi83]

So are bitcoins a virtual freight train running out of tracks?

Not at all.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

So are bitcoins a virtual freight train running out of tracks?

It has a finite limit on how many coins can be made, so yes it's running out of tracks.

However that won't be for awhile, what's happening now is ASICs are doing what GPUs did to CPUs, making them obsolete - no profit devices. Of course it's not there yet, there is still some money to be made in gpu mining. How much defends on your initial investment. If you were to build a new part miner with low quality, non gaming components on a 7950 it would cost you about $600 to put it all together, break even point would be 7-8 months... So yeah it's not exactly amazing, but since it's not a controlled valuation there is no actual way to know when they breakeven point would be since nobody knows what a bitcoin will be worth in 7-8 months.

There are other crypto currencies such as litecoins which don't have the threat of ASICs coming down on them, a lot of gpu miners for bitcoins are simply switching over. Payout is nearly the same anyways, bitcoins are nearly dead but crypto currency on gpu farms doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon.

 

[AnandThenMan]

I'll ride the train until it runs out of track, it's been a great ride.

 

[chimaxi83]

It has a finite limit on how many coins can be made, so yes it's running out of tracks.

Technically, sure, but I wouldn't call it "awhile". Theoretically, we won't be around to see it.

Bitcoins are nearly dead

Define what you mean by this, exactly, because

crypto currency on gpu farms doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon.

seems to apply to BTC, too.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Seems to be pretty obvious, but do you know many people still using cpu to mine bitcoins, what about litecoins?

If you're still unsure, load up a bitcoin discussion website or watch a recent vblog on bitcoins on youtube.

 

[3DVagabond]

Would would any company sell a money making machine? If its not a massive pyramid scheme then they would runthem in house as fast as they could make them.

Why would anyone sell anything that other people use to make money?

 

[Will Robinson]

Its amazing how much all the non miners know about mining.:hmm:
Especially how its not profitable "enough".

 

[x3sphere]

I don't think hoarding the ASICs themselves would work, here's why:

- Massive dumping of coins on exchanges would cause the price to drop

- Possibility of a 51% attack would dampen faith in Bitcoin, causing price to drop. Diversification of these units is strengthening the network integrity.

- When profit margins on ASICs fall I wouldn't want to bet my business plan on 4 months of "possible" ROI. I'd rather have a more solid revenue stream. People will still buy these units if they can make money in <6 months, even if there is a bit of risk involved. By selling the units, they avoid any risks associated with mining, placing them on the buyer.

Short-term, yes... mining on the units seems very appealing, but I think these companies are thinking long-term.

 

[Xarick]

Cheaper than I expected:
Soo.. 10x better than a 79xx card for less money and less power.

https://products.butterflylabs.com/homepage/5-gh-s-bitcoin-miner.html

 

[ShintaiDK]

Cheaper than I expected:
Soo.. 10x better than a 79xx card for less money and less power.

https://products.butterflylabs.com/homepage/5-gh-s-bitcoin-miner.html

Yep, only fools uses GPUs to mine with.

And if you scale up in the ASIC selection, it only get worse. You can reach 100x the efficiency/cost factor vs GPUs.

 

[Xarick]

I guess though if you are going to own a card anyone why not make some free money. out of curiosity, how much can a person make on a 7950 if it only mined 8 hours a day?

 

[chimaxi83]

Yep, only fools uses GPUs to mine with.

And if you scale up in the ASIC selection, it only get worse. You can reach 100x the efficiency/cost factor vs GPUs.

Wait just a minute here. You mean to tell me that if you spend thousands of dollars, you can literally out-mine $300 GPUs?!

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/264/615/242.png[/url]

Only idiots speak their opinions as fact. Only idiots refute the [b]fact[/b] that we GPU miners, as the majority of miners are right now, make money every single day, mining with our prehistoric GPUs.

 

[Xarick]

Maybe I don't know how to use the calculation, but it seems to show me that one 7950 running 8 hours a day using only 300w If I got 600Mh/s with my current electric cost of .067 per Kw would take me a Nearly a year to pay back the cost of my 7950 at current difficulty? So only $400.. I realize that is a free $400, but still.. I can't figure out how you guys are making lots of money on this.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I think that the people who are selling the $1200 mining cards know something LOL.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Wait just a minute here. You mean to tell me that if you spend thousands of dollars, you can literally out-mine $300 GPUs?!

Did you note in the link it was 275$ for 5Gh? Not to mention the cost efficiency just gets better as you scale up. 1499$ gives you 66Gh at 620W.

How is your GPU doing again?

 

[UaVaj]

Would would any company sell a money making machine? If its not a massive pyramid scheme then they would run them in house as fast as they could make them.

great minds think alike. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

too late to get on this train with gpu mining. those asic machine (avalon3 / 80,000 megahash) are monsters compare to gpu (hd7970 / 600 megahash).

when this pyramid inevitability bust. some folks are gonna be stuck with those expensive dedicated asic machine. at least the gpu folk can still play games. the biggest losers will be the one with the worthless bitcoins.

 

[Keysplayr]

I'll ride the train until it runs out of track, it's been a great ride.

I might go for one of those Butterfly Labs cubes. Then again I might not. Anyway, about 275 bucks and about 9 times the hash rate of a 7970 at 48x less power consumption than 9 7970s let alone 6x less than one 7970. With these devices around for bitcoin mining, there is no reason to use a GPU for it.

If I were a 24x7 miner, and use AMD or Nvidia GPU's to mine for bit coins, I'd sell them and purchase a few of these cubes. Or at least barebones FPGAs.

It's also a far "greener" option than any GPU could offer. Bitcoins are kind of a pyramid scheme, and it will eventually run down to nil, so get in while you can I guess.

 

[Keysplayr]

Wait just a minute here. You mean to tell me that if you spend thousands of dollars, you can literally out-mine $300 GPUs?!

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/264/615/242.png[/url]

Only idiots speak their opinions as fact. Only idiots refute the [b]fact[/b] that we GPU miners, as the majority of miners are right now, make money every single day, mining with our prehistoric GPUs.[/QUOTE]

Sigh.... Actually, for 274USD one can out-mine NINE 300+ dollar ( $2700.00 ) GPUs. At the same time use 48x less power than those 9 "7970s".

You were saying something about idiots a few moments ago? Care to elaborate?

 

[Cloudfire777]

In the comments on that video, somebody states that by his math, at 5.5 GH/s that would generate about 1 dollar every 30 minutes. Is this accurate? I have no idea. So 48 bucks per day. 336 bucks per week. 1344 bucks per month at 24x7 operation. Subtract the power usage cost for 30W at full load.
What do you end up with? Also deduct 275 bucks for the 5GH/z cube.

You will make about $1100/month with the Bitcoin value today. Electricity cost is around $10 per month depending where you live.

The problem however is this: IF Butterfly Labs push out thousands of these 5.5 Gh/s devices out to the public, plus the other 50+Gh/s miners, difficulty will skyrocket putting sort of a resistance on all miners including ASICs. Which means they will mine less Bitcoins per month even though the hashrate is high. So the clue here is to get a hold of these ASICs ASAP and ride the wave until the rest hits the market. Or pray that you are one of the few lucky ones who recieve them.

 

[Keysplayr]

You will make about $1100/month with it. Electricity cost is around $10 per month depending where you live.

The problem however is this: IF Butterfly Labs push out thousands of these 5.5 Gh/s devices out to the public, plus the other 50+Gh/s miners, difficulty will skyrocket putting sort of a resistance on all miners including ASICs. Which means they will mine less Bitcoins per month even though the hashrate is high. So the clue here is to get a hold of these ASICs ASAP and ride the wave until the rest hits the market. Or pray that you are one of the few lucky ones who recieve them.

That is quite impressive, actually. But these devices don't do Litecoins, right? As of now GPU's are the better choice? What's to stop somebody from coding the cube to do Litecoins? Or am I thinking about this the wrong way?

 

[UaVaj]

with that math.

why stop with that one with only 5.5 GH/s when you can get the avalon 3 with 80 GH/s. $16000/month.

this guy is running 15 avalon. he is banking $240,000/month.
http://assets2.motherboard.tv/conte.../no-slug/f0b179a6182631c7dfcaf913875cecf6.jpg

 

[Keysplayr]

with that math.

why stop with that one with only 5.5 GH/s when you can get the avalon 3 with 80 GH/s. $16000/month.

this guy is running 15 avalon. he is banking $240,000/month.
http://assets2.motherboard.tv/conte.../no-slug/f0b179a6182631c7dfcaf913875cecf6.jpg

"with that math"

Why, is the math wrong?

What's the initial Investment cost of one of those avalon boxes? Some people might not have it. At first anyway.

 

[Cloudfire777]

That is quite impressive, actually. But these devices don't do Litecoins, right? As of now GPU's are the better choice? What's to stop somebody from coding the cube to do Litecoins? Or am I thinking about this the wrong way?

Nope, ASIC or FPGA can`t mine Litecoins. They are specifically built for Bitcoins meaning they are really unefficient with Litecoins.

I haven`t read much about it, but I know thats a branch of Bitcoin network where GPUs still are reasonable profitable.

with that math.

why stop with that one with only 5.5 GH/s when you can get the avalon 3 with 80 GH/s. $16000/month.

this guy is running 15 avalon. he is banking $240,000/month.
http://assets2.motherboard.tv/conte.../no-slug/f0b179a6182631c7dfcaf913875cecf6.jpg

Thats so sick. Ideal hardware for the right time. Lucky bastard.
But good luck getting a hold of these Avalon`s btw. They are not easy to find. Batch #1 sold from Avalon have been shipped. Batch #2 have just recently begin shipping. Batch #3 was outsold within 5 minutes it was for sale. They are not shipping yet. God knows when Batch #4 is for sale