Cryptocoin Mining?

[frowertr]

There are exceptions to everything.

I'm just concerned for people, not just here, but personal friends I have whom have invested their savings into cryptocoins. both through hardware purchases and direct acquisitions.

It's simply too risky. It should not be rewarded nor recommended.

Eh, there are risks in everything. Can't bury your head in the sand. If you want to get ahead in life sometimes you gotta take a chance.

People that invest their life savings into cryptocoins should know what they are getting into. Just like the stock market, there is risk in it and nothing is guaranteed.

I think the real lesson here is to not keep thousands (some had millions) of dollars worth of cryptos in exchanges. Isn't this the number one rule anyway?? People are surprised they lost their BTC with an exchange that had, at best, a checkered history??

With no government regulations there is nothing to hold them accountable. That is like asking a random guy on the street to hold your life savings for you while you go take a whiz in the bathroom and then be angry that they they ran off while you were zipping up. Why would you trust an exchange any more that you would that guy?

 

[Binky]

Crypto is as much gambling, as it is investing. It is extremely risky, but the potential rewards are very high too.

 

[chimaxi83]

When a manufacturer makes a gaming gpu card and gives a warranty on it for say 12 months, they're probably assuming that the card isn't going to be hammered 24/7 every day of every month. Now that quite a lot of people are hammering their card literally all the time doing gpu bitcoin mining, could this have and adverse effect on the warranty of newer up coming gfx cards? Maybe only have a 3, 6 or 9 month warranty instead of 12?

Nope. Some of us have old cards that have been crunching for years. The first thing to go? Fan bearings, it seems.

 

[JBT]

I've got a 7850, 7870 Tahiti, and a 290 mining. If the whole thing goes bust, I've got a Beast of a card, a great gaming card, and a pretty decent lower power. I won't be upset about it. I would have liked to gave gained something out of it, but it was a good hobby for awhile. But I don't think the whole thing will die. It crashed from $100 to sub $20 and went to the moon after that.

You would think with the right investment by an Exchange that wants to build a great site with lots of features they could make a killing!

 

[UNhooked]

All I know is that this is the first hobby *cough* obsession that is making me money instead of losing it

As long as I have enough to cover my electric bill I am good. Now for folks that buy 100 GPUs well, hopefully you haven't quit your day job.

 

[SunnyD]

If it all goes poop, I've already paid for my hardware so *shrug*.

In the meantime, BTC prices would have to go down to the sub-$200 levels before I'm not breaking even on paying for electricity.

 

[ultimatebob]

Terrible investment? Tell that to the people that mined LTC and BTC when it was under $1. They will laugh in your face.

Hey... I'm sure that a lot of people made money on .com stocks back in the mid 1990's as well.

That doesn't mean that they were a good investment in 1999-2000, though.

 

[pm]

Nope. Some of us have old cards that have been crunching for years. The first thing to go? Fan bearings, it seems.

I agree with this. On the two cards that I had issues with, it was the fans on both. I'm not sure if it's the bearings or not, but the fans died and I had to hit up Ebay and pick up new ones.

 

[frowertr]

Guess MAX didn't fork after all. It's actually holding it own today while most others are tanking. Kinda impressed.

 

[JumBie]

And so the ponzi scheme unfolds.

 

[IEC]

I agree with this. On the two cards that I had issues with, it was the fans on both. I'm not sure if it's the bearings or not, but the fans died and I had to hit up Ebay and pick up new ones.

Yes, especially if they are sleeve bearings... sleeve bearing + horizontal mount = fail.

Just like the fans on my Gelid Icy Vision for my R290 are failing after 3 months of 24/7 usage. The heatsink itself is decent but the fans are crap with low quality sleeve bearings.

 

[nwo]

Looks like all the cryptos are getting cheaper to buy/sell with BTC except for KDC :biggrin:

Thank you sunnyD!

 

[Subyman]

Terrible investment? Tell that to the people that mined LTC and BTC when it was under $1. They will laugh in your face.

Yeah, I remember getting 100 LTC in about a week on a 6850. Not too bad at all. I haven't sold anything. I'll hold out until it goes back to $1 haha.

Fox News is running "BITCOIN BUST" as their lead story today.

 

[Z15CAM]

In reference to Mt. Gox, here's the FOX News link to Major Bitcoin exchange website goes offline: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/02/25/major-bitcoin-exchange-website-goes-offline/

I do believe we need a World Currency where every dollar does not represent a dollar of debt, keeping us enslaved and where only 2% of the worlds population benefit from Federal Reserve Banks.

Whether Crypto Currency is the answer or not I can't say but I have a feeling it may go by the way of Lincoln's Greenback.

 

[3DVagabond]

Funny thing is, this proves, without a doubt that "virtual currency" is a terrible investment. This sort of thing will happen again and again.

But yet, in a few weeks time, everyone will go right back to their happy little world where they believe they're gonna "get rich easy" with video cards.

It's all so stupid and it's time everyone stops falling into this trap.

There are lots of people who made tidy sums on Bitcoin. There are lots of people who make heaps of money on these crashes/dips. "Buy low, sell high" ring any bells? I have no idea what you are going on about.

 

[Virge_]

China is exploiting [redacted] these prices.. just watch BTC flow into the big red: http://fiatleak.com/

Profanity isn't allowed in the technical forums.
-- stahlhart

 

[DownTheSky]

IF you're smart you can do A LOT of money in Bitcoin. But being smart is not enough. You need experience.

I started from zero 2 months ago and did ok for myself. I've lacked experience and it showed. Could have done a lot better.

 

[JBT]

How Cash would be seen by the media if invented today. Funny read
http://www.coindesk.com/cash-invented-seen-media-today/


lol

“I was out in Bangkok two weeks ago, at a bar, and I forgot my Gucci wallet there,” said Mike Smith, a visiting tourist. “When I returned the next morning, my wallet was there but my cash was gone!”

and again...

Even criminals have not been immune to the risks of cash. The notorious ‘Silk Road’ drug-dealing marketplace mysteriously closed last week, after vendors and customers left envelopes full of cash (on which they had very clearly written their names) in an anonymous drop-box managed by the exchange.

“Theft of the cash due to a bug in the envelope-sealing process,” was cited as the cause.

While technical experts believe that it might be possible that the glue on the envelope was not correctly applied, they also warn that a ‘bill’ is basically a private and public key at the same time, and note that there might be dangers involved in letting anonymous criminals hold the private keys to your wealth.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

IF you're smart you can do A LOT of money in Bitcoin. But being smart is not enough. You need experience.

I started from zero 2 months ago and did ok for myself. I've lacked experience and it showed. Could have done a lot better.

No worries same here. We'll just kill it next time around.

Funny thing is, this proves, without a doubt that "virtual currency" is a terrible investment. This sort of thing will happen again and again.

But yet, in a few weeks time, everyone will go right back to their happy little world where they believe they're gonna "get rich easy" with video cards.

It's all so stupid and it's time everyone stops falling into this trap.

I didn't get rich, but I did pay off $6000 worth of hardware. And as a computer hardware enthusiast, you cannot tell me of any better hobby to have. I got to play with so many GPUs. And I learned a ton about trading patterns and movements in a very short period of time. My emotions in a market are much, much more controllable now than they were just 3-4 months ago. This was time very well spent.

I also still have ~20 BTC extra, but I'm not selling it. Instead, I'm going to try to keep obtaining more (via mining) and trading my BTC within the altcoin market (tax free way to obtain more), and when things get very dismal and just start moving sideways, that'll be the time for me to get setup for the next big boom. By next year, Gox news will be ancient history in this market, and a whole new set of suckers will enter the market buying BTC at $2000. Either that or it will be China AND India waking up and buying equally next time.

 

[IEC]

No worries same here. We'll just kill it next time around.

+1

 

[Hitman928]

Idle consumption is not affected by downvolting/overclocking etc because card switches to 2D clocks. My stock voltage is 1.25V.

Single FullHD display.

Sure, but I guess what I'm asking is what is your stock voltage? You did tests at 0.95V and 1.25V for mining, but I thought stock voltage was like 1.22V for a 7870? Is your stock voltage 1.25?

 

[Mark R]

Nope. Some of us have old cards that have been crunching for years. The first thing to go? Fan bearings, it seems.

I don't know about "years". I've lost 3 fans on my XFX cards in 2 months! Cards are a bit toasty, but they're still running.

 

[Virge_]

I don't know about "years". I've lost 3 fans on my XFX cards in 2 months! Cards are a bit toasty, but they're still running.

First thing I do is remove the stock fans and strap on aftermarket on each card.

 

[TeknoBug]

So what's going to happen to the world of mining after what happened today?

 

[Artorias]

Hopefully crash and burn so I can finally buy an AMD card for a sane price.

Sorry, but if you had your life savings in coins I don't know what to tell you.