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Bitcoin mining advice

A quick word of advise to someone that's new to bitcoin mining, or even just thinking about starting into it.


One thing I've learned through experience is that you don't want to invest into "USB Miners" these are mining hardware like Block Eruptors, Red Fury's Antminer U1's and U2's. It may seem like they're a cheap way to get into mining, but i can honestly say, it's just not worth it.

Around 7 or 8 months ago when i started into mining, I began using my computer at home and then setting up mining software on 20 or so computers in my college for 8-10 hours a day, 4 or 5 days a week. I figure, the computers are going to be on anyway. Either way, This was an interesting way to get into it, I say interesting because obviously even months ago this wasn't what some people like to call, "profitable", although I was intrigued by doing it and monitoring how much yield i could get out of them and maybe if i expanded to 25-30 computers, it could become worth while!

Computer lab

The long and the short of it is that it wasn't. Each computer shot out about 30-33Mh/s and even if i did 30 computers i'd only end up with a max of around 990Mh/s (less than 1Gh/s). This is where I began starting to think about purchasing hardware specific for mining, and boy was I excited. I bought 4 Antminer U1's and 4 Red Fury's, also 1 Block Eruptor (For the record, the Block Eruptor is arguably the worst purchase I've made in my life).

USB miners

After I got my fill of the joy of USBs (#sarcasm) I moved into units that had a much faster speed and also a slightly steeper learning curb. Technobit Hex16c's were my new units, I loved the idea that you plug them into a computer power supply and from there you can just usb them into the back of your computer, swap a couple drivers and you're all set and so i thought i was.

Now I'm not saying these are bad bitcoining units, HOWEVER, I must say my piece about purchasing bitcoin mining hardware on the internet, and more specifically, EBAY. I had some terrible run-ins with basically dead hardware i got off ebay, $86USD per Hex16c was okay, and i knew i could pay them off as long as they had the longevity i believed them to. I was poorly mistaken and one was sold to me with a short (A short that was so bad it killed power supply's as soon as it was plugged in... yeah, 3 of my power supply's from my house are now resting in a pile of e-waste). The other 3 died out fairly shortly after, most likely from all the traumatic power surging fun they experienced earlier.
Hex16c's installed in computer case

Hex16c

So just be cautious of what hardware you chose to purchase because GPU and/or CPU mining is irrelevant and won't get you anything.

Here's a little comprehensive list of mining hardware to make sure you make an informed decision.

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Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

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