Are USB ASIC miners still worth it?
Posted on Dec 8, 2013 by
Paul WhiteMonths ago my ego told me to buy 20 USB ASIC miners, and start mining for
bitcoin, but I instead restrained myself from this purchase. Now looking back I regret not going ahead with my mining operation, as
Bitcoin now hovers around $765 each. At the time I was consideirng this,
Bitcoin was around $82 each. But the question still remains. Is it too late to get into the
Bitcoin mining game?
Are USB ASIC miners still worth it?
Lets just assume you are going to buy some USB ASIC miners.
We will use the current going rate on ebay which is about $50 each.
Each of these Miners run at about 330 Mhps.
This gives you a Hashing Rate of 6.6 Mhps per Dollar.
Then there are the new Red and Blue Fury USB Miners.
which cost $300, and hash at about 2.5 Ghps.
This gives you an 8.3 Mhps per Dollar.
For most users USB ASIC miners are the way to go. Video Cards cost too much and consume too much electricity. Video Card Based Mining may still be viable if you want an easy way to heat your home office, but during the summer months its out of question.
What kind of Return will USB bitcoin mining yield me?
Keep in mind that the price of
Bitcoin is extremely volatile. As of his posting
Bitcoin was hovering around $765 / each. a week ago they were close to $1000 each. If you want to
calculate the profitability of Bitcoins visit this page.
Before you get too excited keep in mind that I am just multiplying the 24 hour rate by 30 , and then by 12 to get the montly and yearly values. This would be fine if the Difficulty rate was to stay the same, but it is likely to get harder which means 12 months from now your hardware will only be mining a fraction of what is started out as. Based on estimates around the web, the Red Fury would take about 9 months to pay for itself.
| Hardware | Cost | Hash Rate | 24 Hours | 1 Month | 1 Year |
| USB Block Erupter | $50 (Ebay) | 333 Mhps | .0002 | .006 | .072 |
| USB Red Fury | $300 (Ebay) | 2.5 Ghps | .0018 | .54 | 6.48 |
| Butterfly Labs Monarch | $4680 | 600 Ghps | .4266 | 12.79 | 383.94 |
Monarch from Butterfly Labs
Looks like Butterflylabs is at it again. This time they are selling a divice that looks like your typical gaming card. PCI-E interface, Double bay thickness. Advertised to only consume 350 watts and yield 600 GHps. Priced at $4,680. Its new hardware like this that drives the network's hashing rate higher, and with it the difficulty level, making all other hardare almost irrelavent. Of course actually getting one of these cards in your hands is another matter. Butterfly labs is known for Preorders with unknown delivery dates.
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