Is ASIC miner worth my money?

I started to mine BTC recently with my single 7970, and I'm getting 590MH speed on it. Using some BTC profit calculators that I've found on the internet tell me I could earn ~$300-400 worth of BTC annually. Since I have only one PC that I use for work and gaming I can't have it mining all the time, so I'm considering getting an ASIC. I've been looking for information this whole morning and I haven't found a definitive answer on which ASIC I should buy, or should I buy one at all.

I've read some threads that say that the arms race for mining equipment has gone too far to actually be profitable and trading BTC is a better choice, is this true?

Currently I'm looking at BFL products, namely the 5 GH model since it's really affordable at $270, but reading about the mining difficulty rising contantly I get the feeling that this device will become obsolete pretty soon (right?). The next product that I'm considering is the 50GH model priced at ~$2500, which seems to pay itself back and net a nice profit, at least according to the online calculators.

So here's my bombardment of questions: Should I even consider getting the 5GH device? Does a $2500 ASIC REALLY give me a ROI and profit if I order it today (they seem to be in stock)? Can I still use my GPU occasionally to mine alt-coins to trade the for some BTC? Is it a good ivestment to buy BTC, say $50 each month, will it add up in the end?

Any advice is much appreciated :)

fnx

Posted 2013-11-28T09:45:19.237

Reputation: 23

Please, do not ask multiple questions in a single post. Make them separate. – Stéphane Gimenez – 2013-11-28T11:52:15.273

Oh, sorry for that... I thought it was easier this way. I will avoid multiple questions in the future! – fnx – 2013-11-28T12:18:35.633

I've noticed that 1 in 3 questions are closed over here...this sub site will never get out of beta phase if you keep culling all these questions – puk – 2013-12-05T13:15:34.380

Answers

In my opinion trading BTC has a higher potential of profit when compared to mining because of the sheer difficulty.

If you do decide to go for an ASIC. I would recommend Coin Terra GoldStrike1 2TH/s ASIC miners.They are expensive at 6,000 USD.But their Break Even time on January Batch is 4 Days.If they deliver through this is the only miner I feel could have the potential of profit. I would not recommend BFL as they seem to be taking an insanely long time to ship their products and there are other severe allegations made against them by their users.

Alternatively, You could go for Litecoin Mining and convert to Bitcoin later

Meterbuchus

Posted 2013-11-28T09:45:19.237

Reputation: 479

Thanks for your answer. Sadly $6000 is way too much for me, but I'm willing to spend ~$2500 if I can make some profit. Any other good alternatives at that price point? – fnx – 2013-11-28T11:18:38.907

Baby Jet 400 GH/s by Hashfast is around $2,250. But I don't know how effective it will be once the 2TH/s miners come into play.My advice would be to stay away at that price range. – Meterbuchus – 2013-11-28T13:42:06.190

In my experience, every time I've bought a miner, by the time I received it, if I had just spent my money buying BTC, I would have made a bigger profit. That being said, I'm a bit of a nerd so I look at mining as a hobby and if I can get my money back eventually (always have) while having fun nerding-out, I look at that as a win.

Bitlab.co

Posted 2013-11-28T09:45:19.237

Reputation: 724