Bitcoin Mining - pragmatic or pie in the Sky?

[TeeDee]

Hello.

(I did do a search on Bitcoin and could only find 1 unrelated thread.)

Does anyone have any experience of Bitcoin Mining? I understand the concept and did some research on it some time ago to come to the conclusion ( which may be wrong so don't let me put you off! ) that actual mining for Bitcoin with a single Home PC for your every day user was a very , very , very long shot and did reflect the amount of time and energy ( be that digital ) to find one made it unrealistic to pursue.

So my question is for the more informed ( or just those that have equally wondered ) is am I correct? Am I wrong and missing the boat? Is there still life left in the bitcoin world and is it achievable on a single Home PC or do you need some massive CPU linked monstrosity to crunch numbers to get the most minimal of returns?

Intelligent answers sought but just for giggles I'll accept the silly ones also.

 

[georann]

I've tried it but by the time you factor in the electricity and degradation to your computer hardware, it just wasn't worth it. I have a very powerful PC (built myself) but the speed of mining is just too slow to make any reasonable amount of money. If I had started a year ago when I built this PC, it may have been worth while as the "difficulty" level was lower. Unfortunately now, everyone that does mine is using purpose built hardware at a much greater rate, making your home computer pretty much useless for mining.
If you have the money, investing in some purpose built hardware could potentially be quite profitable (assuming the exchange rate continues increasing) though.

Also its worth noting that the power of your CPU is fairly moot compared to your graphics card, as GPU mining is a lot faster. If you are going to mine, also join a mining pool as you will see a return quicker (mining of coins is shared between a group of people, and the payout is split after), and likely increase your profits.

 

[Adze]

Computational power now required to mine new bitcoins, coupled with the power requirements and the volatility of the exchange rate makes it quite risky. Mining on a home PC just isn't going to be practical - you need something with a lot of cores, GPUs from high end graphics cards seem to be in vogue. Prices for last years kit, on evilbay, seem to start around £300 and rise rapidly from there.

 

[georann]

If you are interested, there are a number of calculators on the internet that will test your hardware and tell you your potential profitability over time (factoring in electricity, increasing difficulty etc)

 

[TeeDee]

If you are interested, there are a number of calculators on the internet that will test your hardware and tell you your potential profitability over time (factoring in electricity, increasing difficulty etc)

Thanks , but I don't think its going to be for me - the thread was more to verify my own thoughts and limited research and only backs up my previous conclusions -many thanks to both for the input guys.