Quote from: xunker on July 15, 2011, 06:13:21 PM

Quote from: johnyj on July 15, 2011, 05:38:23 PM

Given the time and electricity cost, only those very high end card can generate a profit

It all depends on timeframe and investment.

As long as the kWH/BTC is less than the tradable price of BTC then it is profitable depending on how patient you are.

I started mining about 5 weeks ago, I bought a new midrange card for it. I have now just about broken even on that card with regard to the BTC I've generated. No, I can't quit my job, but it does effectively reduce the cost of the new card (that I can then use for games) to zero, assuming I cash in my BTC for "real money". Technically I have "profited".

"Profit" is relative. With regard to BTC a huge pitfall people hit is that PROFITABLE has to mean I CAN LIVE OFF THE MONEY GENERATED. That's simply not going to realistic and, frankly, trying to achieve that is reckless. True, some people do that, but some people also win the lottery, and spending your paycheck on lottery tickets is never considered a stable form of income.

Financially, profit is a positive difference between revenue and expenses. If you only count revenue as profit, you are ripping yourself off. Maybe you will profit psychologically, but is that what we're talking about?