Thanks for the reply's. I understand that. I think i have a decent understand of where bitcoin is right now. I have bought some BTC and am going to be holding it, and I know that will be exponentially more than i'll ever be able to mine. At this point i guess it's a technical challenge and I want to see what different types of hardware can do.  Plus, this is a really cool way for me to educate myself more about hardware and software.  Would welcome any more general advice about BTC etc...