Butterfly Labs 5 G/Hash ASIC Miner *UPGRADED TO 7 G/hash!*

This item is very well made. Case is a pretty painted aluminum. The device I have is running with the case off with a better than stock fan. It runs cool at a temperature of about 37C. The heat sink is cool to the touch.You will require a PC with an internet connection to run the mining software. It connects to the PC via USB. You can use cgminer, bfgminer or bitminter. It may run with others mining programs as well.I have an upgraded model and get about 8 GH/s (giga-hashes per second) with cgminer. Please note that these will vary and performance will also depend to some degree with which pool you are connected. I think that the performance also depends at the temperature that it is running at and the additional performance that I am getting may be due to the open case and upgraded fan. The fan is an 80mm fan and replaces the stock 80mm fan.When buying one of these, it is very important to compare these with other bitcoin mining options and the current mining difficulty. Currently (August 26, 2013) you will get mine about 0.0078 BTC per day for each GH/s you mine. This would be about 0.234 BTC per month per GH/s. Thus, this device will mine about 1.75 BTC (8 * 0.234) in the next 30 days. At the current Mt. Gox exchange rate of approximately $120 per BTC, this is about $210 per month. The difficulty is constantly going up reducing the amount mined per GH/s by about 25% per month. This device will probably earning about 1.35 BTC next month (i.e. 9/26 to 10/26).Thus using these assumptions, at 8 GH/s, you will earn a total of 5.75 BTC ($690) in the first 6 months or a total of 6.75 BTC ($810) in the first year. Using the same assumptions, if you start mining with one of these one month from now (i.e 9/26), you will earn only 5 BTC in the first year. Starting two months (10/26) from now the 12 month mining amount is about 3.8 BTC. You can do these calculations in a spreadsheet.Due to the effect described above, when buying one of these, the longer it takes before you receive it will dramatically change the total amount of BTC it will mine.The power draw is very low and this device should be profitable to run for a reasonably long time even if the BTC amount it earns is small. Note that since this requires connection to a computer running 24/7, if you do not already have a constantly running system, you will have to its additional power usage to the mining costs. There are very some low power systems you can use, some based on a raspberry pi.Concerning other options, you can easily build a 3 GH/s miner with 9 of the USB erupters, a USB hub and a USB fan. At the current price of about $45 each, this would cost 9*$45 plus USB hub (Anker 9 port 3.0 hub) at $60 plus USB fan at $10 = $475. That is about $160 per GH/s and the maximum price you should pay for bitcoin mining which is available for immediate shipping. Anything that is pre-ordered (i.e. delivered sometime in the future) should cost less, probably much less.One thing to note, Butterfly Labs only charges $275 (5GH/s non-upgraded unit) for these on pre-order but their delivery time is quite long, more than 60 days and historically much longer.

OS does not recognize it same with bitminter client. No instructions either, not even a URL to download drivers.Recommend antminer, that one worked as expected.

This thing has been great out of the box. I'm using the software I downloaded from Butterfly Labs. I did install a couple additional heat sinks and an extra fan to help keep it cool. It's not required by any means, but all electronics run better when they're not super hot.

As I write this review, the same manufacturer is offering an 800 GH/s Bitcoin Miner for $376, so I can't imagine why anyone would be willing to pay much money for this slower than treacle paperweight. At $19.95 it would be an interesting toy for those curious about crypto-currency, other than that, search Amazon for "Butterfly Labs" to see much better choices. For those who are suffering financial loss from the rapid obsolescence of mining hardware, consider donating your old hardware to charity and taking a tax write off. Charity thrift stores are one option. Schools with a strong technology/math focus are another.

by the time i got this, it was already almost useless.

Shipped as noted, item arrived safe and secure. Completely simple to connect, and to setup with specific software freely available online. Slogging away for more coins!

Rip off didn’t come with all the cords

Works great