Bitcoin crash...

[Pitbull]

Looks like Bitcoin mining is going downhill. Hopefully it completely implodes soon and that will put a large amount of ATI 69xx cards on the second hand market at reasonable rates. Miners inflated the prices for us games on the cards by quite a bit for us gamers, its time for us to catch a break. I could use a cheap 6970 for xfire.

 

[samuelmorris]

It wouldn't be the first time. I stopped mining in July as that's when the cost of electricity outweighed the financial income from running it. The only people who lasted this long presumably dont' pay utility bills.

 

[FireBean]

It's been going down hill. There is just no value in it unless just to make afew free bucks from ignorant investors.

 

[samuelmorris]

I managed to profit around £50 by the time it collapsed, which I'm fairly happy with considering it took no work on my part and I already owned the hardware for gaming purposes.

 

[CompMage]

Yea I tired it for a while but could not make enough to make up for the increase of my utility bill. Since I've turn my gaming box off durring the day and at night when I'm a sleep it's dropped $30 a month.

Plus the idea of running my gpu full tilt for days on end just sounds like a bad idea.

 

[Dethred]

Didn't see this coming.

 

[Tisca]

I was waiting for this and knew it was coming. Checked bitcoin forums in hope of finding great deals on 6990's but they still go for pretty much new price. I guess even new ones are out of stock and not enough people selling their mining gear at the same time.

 

[mdk30]

I was waiting for this and knew it was coming. Checked bitcoin forums in hope of finding great deals on 6990's but they still go for pretty much new price. I guess even new ones are out of stock and not enough people selling their mining gear at the same time.

The stock isn't that bad really... at least not nearly as bad as it was a month or two ago. I just picked up a 6990 for $689 shipped from NewEgg earlier this week for example.

 

[Nathan_P]

2nd hand cards cards maybe available soon, but i'm not sure i would want one - they will have been flogged to within an inch of their lives.

 

[collegeboy69us]

Seems that's pretty much all that happens today -- bubble after bubble.

dot com bubble, housing bubble, loan bubble, bit coin bubble, credit bubble, gasoline bubble

Currently the big one: the education bubble. Luckily I got out of A&M during the great times and didn't come away owing 150K for a degree that wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.

Next up: medical bubble, retirement bubble!

 

[DarkStryke]

The only good thing I can say about miners is I was able to pawn off an old 5870 & 5850 for near what I paid retail like 18 months previous to that.

 

[stealthy123]

I wish I coulda cashed in on this thing.

I bet the only dude who made out like a bandit is the guy who came up with it and a few of his friends.

 

[Tisca]

I wish I had mining since the beginning like most of us. I heard of BC first time around April 2011 just before the peak and my first and last impression: sounds too good to be true. Generate money P2P, bigger ROI than most investments, no serious regulation etc. There is no "get rich quick", no matter how much people want to believe. If you don't pay for electricity or you invested in solar panels early AND you understand to exchange to real money what you mine then you could pull it off.

I follow mostly because the gear aspect of it all. They will soon be handing out low-end AMD cards, those good value ones that were so popular. Few took into account also resale value in their investments.

 

[Yakk]

Bitcoin was good times.

I stopped mining a few months ago, mostly out of boredom when trading became worthless, but made quite a bit of cash mining & trading, all good things must end I suppose.

Back to other projects for this system.

 

[chithanh]

I think that bitcoin has now reached the end of the craze. It will still be around as long as you can buy stuff with it, and given the lack of (anonymous, cryptographically secure, non-government controlled) alternatives, that will still be the case for some time.

 

[NickJames]

From almost $50/each to $2. I laughed, so glad I got rid of my 5870's for cost.

 

[Kardonxt]

I wouldn't count on getting a lot of 69xx cards for cheap. The money was in 5 series cards because they cost less and produced the same mhash and 6 series cards.

 

[ballpoint]

We still haven't seen the commercial real estate bubble burst.. don't forget about that.

 

[Lorien]

Bitcoin was good times.

I stopped mining a few months ago, mostly out of boredom when trading became worthless, but made quite a bit of cash mining & trading, all good things must end I suppose.

Back to other projects for this system.

For sure. People laughing and happy about the collapse sound petty and ignorant.
I made well over $2k in cash profit after energy costs + a 5760x1200 Eyefinity setup with crossfire 6970s that paid for itself + other hardware (mobo, ram, cpu) that is worth more now in dollars than what I paid for in bitcoins.

P.S: I also did stop mining a while ago. Been enjoying my eyefinity setup with the Diablo 3 beta

 

[oddmanout]

Happy for those that were able to catch in on the craze at the right time. Alot of people seem to forget that a currency is only as strong as the organization that releases them.

Once firms stop taking Bitcoins as payment, then the value is dead.

 

[samuelmorris]

For sure. People laughing and happy about the collapse sound petty and ignorant.
I made well over $2k in cash profit after energy costs + a 5760x1200 Eyefinity setup with crossfire 6970s that paid for itself + other hardware (mobo, ram, cpu) that is worth more now in dollars than what I paid for in bitcoins.

P.S: I also did stop mining a while ago. Been enjoying my eyefinity setup with the Diablo 3 beta

The graphics in Diablo 3 really aren't impressing me that much so far...

 

[Himajin]

For sure. People laughing and happy about the collapse sound petty and ignorant.
I made well over $2k in cash profit after energy costs + a 5760x1200 Eyefinity setup with crossfire 6970s that paid for itself + other hardware (mobo, ram, cpu) that is worth more now in dollars than what I paid for in bitcoins.

P.S: I also did stop mining a while ago. Been enjoying my eyefinity setup with the Diablo 3 beta

I thought Blizzard said Eyefinity wasn't going to be supported... Was it hard to set up?

 

[Piotrsama]

From almost $50/each to $2. I laughed, so glad I got rid of my 5870's for cost.

It never reached $50.
Highest was $30 and it didn't last more than a day.
The maximum sustained value was around $15.

I wouldn't count on getting a lot of 69xx cards for cheap. The money was in 5 series cards because they cost less and produced the same mhash and 6 series cards.

+1

We still haven't seen the commercial real estate bubble burst.. don't forget about that.

And Apple stock

 

[Yakk]

I managed to profit around £50 by the time it collapsed, which I'm fairly happy with considering it took no work on my part and I already owned the hardware for gaming purposes.

The only good thing I can say about miners is I was able to pawn off an old 5870 & 5850 for near what I paid retail like 18 months previous to that.

For sure. People laughing and happy about the collapse sound petty and ignorant.
I made well over $2k in cash profit after energy costs + a 5760x1200 Eyefinity setup with crossfire 6970s that paid for itself + other hardware (mobo, ram, cpu) that is worth more now in dollars than what I paid for in bitcoins.

P.S: I also did stop mining a while ago. Been enjoying my eyefinity setup with the Diablo 3 beta

Lots of people made money from Bitcoins, directly or indirectly. I made quite a good amount myself, and had a lot of fun doing it using $0 venture capital. From a percentage point of view, no other investment I have made can measure up to $0 venture capital, less than 4 hours to setup from reading to working model & generated a 4 figure profit in a couple months. It's all good.

And yes the people laughing at the collapse of bitcoin are definitely not the sharpest tools in the shed because even those laughing possibly made money selling their stuff & don't realize it.

 

[Harry1969]

2nd hand cards cards maybe available soon, but i'm not sure i would want one - they will have been flogged to within an inch of their lives.

That's why I'm weary of second hand 5870's. I'd love to buy one for CF, but like you said it could be on it's last leg.

 

[brainfried]

That's why I'm weary of second hand 5870's. I'd love to buy one for CF, but like you said it could be on it's last leg.

They'll actually be subject to less wear than a card used for gaming. Bitcoin mining will keep the card at a relatively stable temperature. A card used for gaming with be subject to expansions and contractions from temperature fluctuations.

 

[FireBean]

They'll actually be subject to less wear than a card used for gaming. Bitcoin mining will keep the card at a relatively stable temperature. A card used for gaming with be subject to expansions and contractions from temperature fluctuations.

Agreed. When a video card starts to artifact, is isn't the GPU in most cases. It's all the solder point, and the heat and cooling of the entire card creates micro-fractures in the solder. I have re-flowed multiple devices now and they all have come back to life. Everything from an Alarm Clock to 8800GTX and PS3 (3rd time now).

 

[DarkStar02]

Agreed. When a video card starts to artifact, is isn't the GPU in most cases. It's all the solder point, and the heat and cooling of the entire card creates micro-fractures in the solder. I have re-flowed multiple devices now and they all have come back to life. Everything from an Alarm Clock to 8800GTX and PS3 (3rd time now).

Throwing dead video cards/XBOX 360s/PS3's in the oven is a great way to bring them back to life.

 

[Jalidi]

Thank god I got out of this around the middle of August when BTC started crashing through $10. I cashed out all the coins I had accumulated through six weeks of grinding, about 750 bucks, which basically paid for my video cards. Probably would've made more if I had become aware and started mining sooner than the first week of June. But that ship has sailed and is in the process of sinking now. I don't even think I could recoup my electricity costs with it trading at just over $2 per BTC at this point. It was an interesting experiment though.

 

[Gorankar]

BC was designed as a proof of concept, and it seems to have been built with a limited life span in mind imo. It's crash wash almost a guaranteed thing imo.

I do beleive it will be replaced by something similar. And that it will last as long if not a bit longer. While a secondary, anonymous, monetary system, that is controlled by market forces, and not people that own banks, appeals to me. I understand that, were any such secondary monetary system to become popular enough to threaten the control it currently gives the banks over governments and people, it will be outlawed to prevent that loss of control, while claiming that it was the freedom to operate such a system gives the criminal elements of this world. Or the banks will simply subvert the system. They can certainly throw however much cash they want at it to get the job done.

I want anonymity for myself, but don't believe politicians, criminals, ex criminals, or the super rich should have the same anonymity. A definite double standard on my part, I know. It is also part of why such a monetary system will never work long term. Meh, just my opinion, forget about it.