<p>BrtH's answer is 100% correct, but does assume you don't need the waste heat. If you're already using electric heat (not heat pump, actual dumping of electricity through resistors) or gas heating at comparable prices to heat your dwelling space (perhaps because the ambient temperature outside is so low that heat pump can't operate; if it can work you'd be better off saving up to buy one), then you break even on electricity for free, and only have to consider &quot;wear&quot; and whether you'll make any appreciable mining output at all. In this case there's a small chance it <em>might</em> make sense, but probably as some other proof-of-work coin you can exchange rather than as bitcoin itself.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T19:47:17.667Z
@JimmyJames well, it's rare to live in places where it's *always* cool, but there are lots of major cities where every dwelling needs heating most of the year.
Peteris
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-27T12:25:45.613Z
Well, it's summer here, so I don't need waste heat for space heating... but maybe I could attach the heat to a generator. Maybe if I made it efficient enough, it could generate more electricity than is used, and I could make a profit selling the excess energy. (-:
Christos Hayward
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-27T12:45:33.117Z
No, a heat generator cannot help. Only actually wanting all the waste heat can help.
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-27T22:40:37.463Z
I'd also like to point out that you're wandering off into *perpetual-motion thinking* which is guaranteed to get you wrong conclusions.
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T18:09:24.167Z
2020-08-26T18:09:24.167Z
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
<p><strong>Maybe</strong></p>
<p>Using a <strong><a href="https://www.cryptocompare.com/mining/calculator/btc?HashingPower=12.45&amp;HashingUnit=MH%2Fs&amp;PowerConsumption=65&amp;CostPerkWh=0.1&amp;MiningPoolFee=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bitcoin Profitability Calculator</a></strong> you can find this out by yourself.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.betterhash.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1050-mining-profitability-63.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This site</a> lists the hashing rate for a GTX 1050 for various algorithms. It doesn't list a hashrate for mining bitcoin, though (our first hint). But even taking the highest hash rate in the table (12.45MH/s) and entering it in the above calculator shows you could expect to mine 3E-9 bitcoins* per month, effectively nothing (and worth nothing).</p>
<p>A GTX 1050 consuming 70W** would consume 50.4KWH of power in that month, assuming a cost $0.1/KWH you would spend $5.04 in electricity, and would have next to no income from it.</p>
<p>As per above, <strong>NO</strong>, mining bitcoin with a GTX 1050 is not profitable.</p>
<p><strong>What about renting your hashing power?</strong></p>
<p>Using a NiceHash <a href="https://www.nicehash.com/profitability-calculator" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Profitability Calculator</a> you can figure this out by yourself.</p>
<p>For an example, I used the calculator to see how much Bitcoin could be generated by an NVIDIA GTX 1050. It said that that particular graphics has an expected earning 0.00096969 BTC in one month*. At current prices, this is worth $11.10 (all figures in USD)</p>
<p>Using the same figures for power as the previous example of $5.04/month leaves you with a <strong>profit of $6.06/month</strong>. You're not going to pay back your computer anytime soon with that, but you're not in the red either.</p>
<p><strong>What about other cryptocurrencies?</strong></p>
<p>Also worth mentioning that there are other cryptocurrencies which are more profitable than bitcoin with GPU mining. Here's an article on the <a href="https://www.finivi.com/cryptocurrencies-mine-gpus-2020/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Top 12 Best Cryptocurrencies to Mine Using GPUs in 2020</a>.</p>
<p><strong>To Conclude</strong></p>
<p>Mining Bitcoin by yourself is not profitable, but renting out your hash rate could be, and mining other cryptocurrencies could also be profitable. Leaving me with an answer of <strong>maybe</strong>.</p>
<p><strong>Footnotes</strong></p>
<p>*Note that revenue is based on actually mining a bitcoin. If you mine by yourself you gain either nothing or an entire Bitcoin (and the vast majority of the time you'll get nothing). If you join a large enough pool, the pool has a higher chance of getting the bitcoin than you do on your own and you will be rewarded proportionally to what you contributed to the pool, meaning your earnings will get closer to the expected value stated above. Most miners join pools to have a more stable income, but be aware that pools take a fee in the form of a percentage of your payout.</p>
<p>**This is for the graphics card alone. Your entire computer will be using more. If you have a power meter it might be worth measuring how much power your particular computer consumes when mining bitcoin.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T16:31:32.037Z
You didn't use a bitcoin profitability calculator. You used a NiceHash profitability calculator which has nothing to do with mining bitcoin.
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T16:36:31.213Z
But be careful not to pitch your answer so as to give an impression that mining bitcoin has a guaranteed return. In order to win your fraction of a bitcoin you have to contribute to a mining pool that succeeds in solving a block. Mining bitcoin is a lot like playing the lottery, and joining a syndicate doesn't mean you'll win every month
Caius Jard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T19:14:16.420Z
@CaiusJard in terms of having to earn bitcoin to have revenue, if you join a large enough pool it becomes pretty consistent and less of a luck issue. Also, the first word of my answer, in bold, is "Maybe". Hardly an endorsement of guaranteed anything.
Aubreal
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T19:18:22.663Z
I was merely pointing out how it reads; it reads like you say "maybe it will profit", and then launch into some figures that sound like they occur all the time (like interest from a bank) leaving the "maybe it will be a profit" tied to "maybe because it will pay X per month so if you can make your costs Y...". Don't shoot the messanger; I'm just trying to tell you how I, as a third person, perceives it to read. I think it's a good answer if it makes it more clear that, in essence *mining is gambling* with no guarantees
Caius Jard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T19:23:15.370Z
@CaiusJard I understand what you mean. I'll edit to make it clearer.
Aubreal
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T22:47:43.887Z
@CaiusJard Your statement is really not true. There are mining pools that pay per hash or offer a pay per hash option. Most people don't want this option because they make more by taking just a small amount of risk. F2POOL, for example, guarantees a particular minimum reward per share generated that is roughly equivalent to your 2.5% less than your expected yield from the block reward if solo mining. (You also get a share of the transaction fees, but that's based on an algorithm that has some risk for the miner.)
David Schwartz
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-27T05:00:11.850Z
You should write an answer, David
Caius Jard
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-27T13:27:56.667Z
@NateEldredge that's why I mentioned that "*there are other cryptocurrencies which are more profitable than bitcoin with GPU mining.*" and linked an article that listed a dozen of them in my answer.
Aubreal
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-27T13:54:57.583Z
@DavidSchwartz thanks for the feedback, I edited my answer to add a bitcoin profitability calculator alongside the nicehash calculator and make it clearer.
Aubreal
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T16:04:55.133Z
2020-08-27T13:58:49.850Z
2020-08-27T13:58:49.850Z
Aubreal
<p>My understanding, from a relatively old source, that it used to be that hobbyists would get bitcoins from mining on their private computers, but that more recently there was a heavy shift to e.g. Iceland where geothermal electricity is cheaper.</p>
<p>What is the expected value of mining bitcoin with spare computrons from laptop including an NVidia Geforce GTX, in the USA near Chicago as far as utilities go? If the expected value is (say) 105% of electricity burning up, what are the chances of breaking even? Does it have (say) a 10% chance of doubling an investment, or are we talking a financial lottery ticket where one minute's mining could theoretically return thousands of dollars worth of BTC, but the expected amount of crunching to get the winning lottery ticket is impractically long?</p>
<p>I've seen some discussion suggesting that Bitcoin is even more volatile than traditional currency, and I'd be a bit surprised at being told, &quot;It's entirely worth it; go ahead.&quot; However, I wanted to ask, and confirm my expected answer about whether mining bitcoin is profitable in a reasonable amount of time.</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T11:45:16.023Z
Christos, I believe it's out by like a factor of 100 (!) these days to try it with an everyday home computer.  As everyone has pointed out this (good) question should be migrated.
Fattie
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-26T22:36:41.320Z
@Fattie: You're a few zeros short.  A factor of 10000 or 100000 is closer to the mark.  Compare for instance the hash rate per unit energy figures (MHash/J) between [graphics cards](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Non-specialized_hardware_comparison) and [ASICs](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison), where the best of the latter are barely profitable if electricity is very cheap.
Nate Eldredge
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-27T10:23:09.643Z
@NateEldredge , an excellent point !
Fattie
<mining-hardware><mining-profitability><gpu-mining>
Does mining bitcoin on a laptop have an expected revenue exceeding the cost of electricity and wear and tear on the computer?
Christos Hayward
# Does mining bitcoin on a laptop have an expected revenue exceeding the cost of electricity and wear and tear on the computer?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-08-25)

My understanding, from a relatively old source, that it used to be that hobbyists would get bitcoins from mining on their private computers, but that more recently there was a heavy shift to e.g. Iceland where geothermal electricity is cheaper.

What is the expected value of mining bitcoin with spare computrons from laptop including an NVidia Geforce GTX, in the USA near Chicago as far as utilities go? If the expected value is (say) 105% of electricity burning up, what are the chances of breaking even? Does it have (say) a 10% chance of doubling an investment, or are we talking a financial lottery ticket where one minute's mining could theoretically return thousands of dollars worth of BTC, but the expected amount of crunching to get the winning lottery ticket is impractically long?

I've seen some discussion suggesting that Bitcoin is even more volatile than traditional currency, and I'd be a bit surprised at being told, "It's entirely worth it; go ahead." However, I wanted to ask, and confirm my expected answer about whether mining bitcoin is profitable in a reasonable amount of time.

Thanks,

**Tags:** mining-hardware, mining-profitability, gpu-mining

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: username_0, I believe it's out by like a factor of 100 (!) these days to try it with an everyday home computer.  As everyone has pointed out this (good) question should be migrated.  
> **username_2**: @username_1: You're a few zeros short.  A factor of 10000 or 100000 is closer to the mark.  Compare for instance the hash rate per unit energy figures (MHash/J) between [graphics cards](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Non-specialized_hardware_comparison) and [ASICs](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison), where the best of the latter are barely profitable if electricity is very cheap.  
> **username_1**: @username_2 , an excellent point !  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2020-08-26. Score: 1

BrtH's answer is 100% correct, but does assume you don't need the waste heat. If you're already using electric heat (not heat pump, actual dumping of electricity through resistors) or gas heating at comparable prices to heat your dwelling space (perhaps because the ambient temperature outside is so low that heat pump can't operate; if it can work you'd be better off saving up to buy one), then you break even on electricity for free, and only have to consider "wear" and whether you'll make any appreciable mining output at all. In this case there's a small chance it *might* make sense, but probably as some other proof-of-work coin you can exchange rather than as bitcoin itself.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: @JimmyJames well, it's rare to live in places where it's *always* cool, but there are lots of major cities where every dwelling needs heating most of the year.  
> **username_0**: Well, it's summer here, so I don't need waste heat for space heating... but maybe I could attach the heat to a generator. Maybe if I made it efficient enough, it could generate more electricity than is used, and I could make a profit selling the excess energy. (-:  
> **username_3**: No, a heat generator cannot help. Only actually wanting all the waste heat can help.  
> **username_3**: I'd also like to point out that you're wandering off into *perpetual-motion thinking* which is guaranteed to get you wrong conclusions.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2020-08-26. Score: 0

**Maybe**

Using a **[Bitcoin Profitability Calculator](https://www.cryptocompare.com/mining/calculator/btc?HashingPower=12.45&HashingUnit=MH%2Fs&PowerConsumption=65&CostPerkWh=0.1&MiningPoolFee=1)** you can find this out by yourself.

[This site](https://www.betterhash.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-1050-mining-profitability-63.html) lists the hashing rate for a GTX 1050 for various algorithms. It doesn't list a hashrate for mining bitcoin, though (our first hint). But even taking the highest hash rate in the table (12.45MH/s) and entering it in the above calculator shows you could expect to mine 3E-9 bitcoins\* per month, effectively nothing (and worth nothing).

A GTX 1050 consuming 70W\*\* would consume 50.4KWH of power in that month, assuming a cost $0.1/KWH you would spend $5.04 in electricity, and would have next to no income from it.

As per above, **NO**, mining bitcoin with a GTX 1050 is not profitable.

**What about renting your hashing power?**

Using a NiceHash [Profitability Calculator](https://www.nicehash.com/profitability-calculator) you can figure this out by yourself.

For an example, I used the calculator to see how much Bitcoin could be generated by an NVIDIA GTX 1050. It said that that particular graphics has an expected earning 0.00096969 BTC in one month\*. At current prices, this is worth $11.10 (all figures in USD)

Using the same figures for power as the previous example of $5.04/month leaves you with a **profit of $6.06/month**. You're not going to pay back your computer anytime soon with that, but you're not in the red either.

**What about other cryptocurrencies?**

Also worth mentioning that there are other cryptocurrencies which are more profitable than bitcoin with GPU mining. Here's an article on the [Top 12 Best Cryptocurrencies to Mine Using GPUs in 2020](https://www.finivi.com/cryptocurrencies-mine-gpus-2020/).

**To Conclude**

Mining Bitcoin by yourself is not profitable, but renting out your hash rate could be, and mining other cryptocurrencies could also be profitable. Leaving me with an answer of **maybe**.

**Footnotes**

\*Note that revenue is based on actually mining a bitcoin. If you mine by yourself you gain either nothing or an entire Bitcoin (and the vast majority of the time you'll get nothing). If you join a large enough pool, the pool has a higher chance of getting the bitcoin than you do on your own and you will be rewarded proportionally to what you contributed to the pool, meaning your earnings will get closer to the expected value stated above. Most miners join pools to have a more stable income, but be aware that pools take a fee in the form of a percentage of your payout.

\*\*This is for the graphics card alone. Your entire computer will be using more. If you have a power meter it might be worth measuring how much power your particular computer consumes when mining bitcoin.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: You didn't use a bitcoin profitability calculator. You used a NiceHash profitability calculator which has nothing to do with mining bitcoin.  
> **username_7**: But be careful not to pitch your answer so as to give an impression that mining bitcoin has a guaranteed return. In order to win your fraction of a bitcoin you have to contribute to a mining pool that succeeds in solving a block. Mining bitcoin is a lot like playing the lottery, and joining a syndicate doesn't mean you'll win every month  
> **username_5**: @username_7 in terms of having to earn bitcoin to have revenue, if you join a large enough pool it becomes pretty consistent and less of a luck issue. Also, the first word of my answer, in bold, is "Maybe". Hardly an endorsement of guaranteed anything.  
> **username_7**: I was merely pointing out how it reads; it reads like you say "maybe it will profit", and then launch into some figures that sound like they occur all the time (like interest from a bank) leaving the "maybe it will be a profit" tied to "maybe because it will pay X per month so if you can make your costs Y...". Don't shoot the messanger; I'm just trying to tell you how I, as a third person, perceives it to read. I think it's a good answer if it makes it more clear that, in essence *mining is gambling* with no guarantees  
> **username_5**: @username_7 I understand what you mean. I'll edit to make it clearer.  
> **username_6**: @username_7 Your statement is really not true. There are mining pools that pay per hash or offer a pay per hash option. Most people don't want this option because they make more by taking just a small amount of risk. F2POOL, for example, guarantees a particular minimum reward per share generated that is roughly equivalent to your 2.5% less than your expected yield from the block reward if solo mining. (You also get a share of the transaction fees, but that's based on an algorithm that has some risk for the miner.)  
> **username_7**: You should write an answer, username_6  
> **username_5**: @username_2 that's why I mentioned that "*there are other cryptocurrencies which are more profitable than bitcoin with GPU mining.*" and linked an article that listed a dozen of them in my answer.  
> **username_5**: @username_6 thanks for the feedback, I edited my answer to add a bitcoin profitability calculator alongside the nicehash calculator and make it clearer.  

---

