I believe it's too late in the game for GPU unless the price of BTC skyrockets another 100% from current prices ($150)...
I agree with you about the ASIC having a single purpose, however, GPUs will have a single purpose soon as ASIC gets deployed.
The only reason I keep mining is because it's profitable for me since I already paid for my GPUs and rigs a while back, especially at the current BTC prices.
Makes little to no sense to invest $1700 in a rig that won't get a return of investment anytime soon.
At the most, you'll be mining 3.5 GHash per Rig (given you install 4 high end GPUs such as 7990's) and even then, that's a $4000 rig easily and you'll be making 0.30 BTC a day 9 BTC per month at current price/difficulty you're looking at 6 months ROI and that if if the difficulty remains the same, which it certainly won't after ASIC is fully deployed... so maybe you'll have an ROI of a year or more...
the 7990's you can't get them for less than $800 and I don't see ANYONE selling an used high end top of the line card for any other reason than being broke and needing the money or to buy drugs! LOL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131483&Tpk=radeon%207990&IsVirtualParent=1
As you can see, $900 and out of stock, and NONE on ebay
one on amazon: for $1,700 http://www.amazon.com/Radeon-HD-7990-Grafikkarten-GPUs/dp/B009RBP2WY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1364326503&sr=8-3&keywords=radeon+hd+7990
in other words, dream on buying one of those at less than $800!
No way, no can do, impossible right now.
Not trying to shot your project down, just trying for you to be aware of what you can and cannot do and what you should and shouldn't do
best of luck!
I agree with you about the ASIC having a single purpose, however, GPUs will have a single purpose soon as ASIC gets deployed.
The only reason I keep mining is because it's profitable for me since I already paid for my GPUs and rigs a while back, especially at the current BTC prices.
Makes little to no sense to invest $1700 in a rig that won't get a return of investment anytime soon.
At the most, you'll be mining 3.5 GHash per Rig (given you install 4 high end GPUs such as 7990's) and even then, that's a $4000 rig easily and you'll be making 0.30 BTC a day 9 BTC per month at current price/difficulty you're looking at 6 months ROI and that if if the difficulty remains the same, which it certainly won't after ASIC is fully deployed... so maybe you'll have an ROI of a year or more...
the 7990's you can't get them for less than $800 and I don't see ANYONE selling an used high end top of the line card for any other reason than being broke and needing the money or to buy drugs! LOL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131483&Tpk=radeon%207990&IsVirtualParent=1
As you can see, $900 and out of stock, and NONE on ebay
one on amazon: for $1,700 http://www.amazon.com/Radeon-HD-7990-Grafikkarten-GPUs/dp/B009RBP2WY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1364326503&sr=8-3&keywords=radeon+hd+7990
in other words, dream on buying one of those at less than $800!
No way, no can do, impossible right now.
Not trying to shot your project down, just trying for you to be aware of what you can and cannot do and what you should and shouldn't do
best of luck!
There are other alt-currencies to mine, I also use programs such as BONIC for distributed computing as well as video encoding and other more basic uses of such GPUs. ROI is not my primary motivation for mining *coin, I like the concept and want to help with the development of alt-currencies. It is similar to crunching data for cancer cures with BOINC, while mining does have the possibility of monetary payback its more about the work than the profit. Three sources for a GPU at a given hour or day does not determine that those cards cannot be had for less than $800, you reference one scenario with someone needing money which is one viable method of getting the GPUs. There is also those that want the latest and greatest like the Titan GPU or the upcoming 8000 series Radeons which will gladly dump the 7990's to get them. Of course there are also those miners that have moved or are moving to the ASICs, when they determine that the equipment performs correctly there may be a few of these high quality GPUs and complete rigs find their way to the market as well. Its not about instant satisfaction or the need to gain a ROI within x number of days. There is no such thing as impossible!
Thanks for the info and well wishes!
You seem to contradict yourself in your statements, you don't care about ROI, but you want to buy the latest and greatest GPUs? I don't think you know exactly what you want and you need to do further research. You can easily mine alt-currencies with smaller cards if you're not looking to profit from this.
Again, I think you're ahead of yourself in the research stage and you need to define your objectives.
Best of luck and feel fre to ask questions if you need help.