[asako]

So ASRock is releasing a motherboard that is designed specifically in mind to min Bitcoins for you.

For the first time in history a PC electronic circuit board is designed to make money for you.

Quotes from the pcgamer article.

ASRock has just released a new motherboard series designed specifically to mine for Bitcoins. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time PC hardware has been built with Bitcoins in mind. Actually, these are the first PC components built to, theoretically, make you money.

Let's back up a little bit. Bitcoins are the internet-based, peer-to-peer currency, as explained in the video above. At about 0:30 in the video, the narrator mentions Bitcoin mining in passing, but it deserves a little more attention. The miner is an application that solves math problems to generate coins, but in order to curb inflation and stabilize this decentralized currency, every time a Bitcoin is created, the algorithms needed to make the next one get a little more complex. After years of this process and over $400 million worth of Bitcoins now floating through the electronic ether, the algorithms are getting brutal enough to make a gaming rig groan as it chews through them.

Enter: the ASRock Pro BTC-series motherboards. These babies sport enough room for six graphics cards (GPUs are the mining tool of choice) and some extra power connectors to light up all that hardware. There's no price listed yet, but considering the http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/29/bitcoin-forgotten-currency-norway-oslo-home have seen, it could be a worth investment for those interested. On the other hand, Bitcoin is prone to http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/10/amid-silk-road-uncertainty-bitcoin-value-drops-over-20-in-3-hours/, so maybe it's best not to joke around with money you can't afford to spare.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/11/15/asrock-releases-motherboards-designed-to-mine-bitcoins-generate-internet-moolah/

Your thoughts on this?

[T. tacks Rims]

Heh, Bitcoins were the reason why you could not get a high end video card back in '09.....

[JUan Martinez]

As Economics 101 taught me: If it seems like easy money, it won't be for long.

I wonder how this mobo will do for the suite of @Home projects, though.

[Miragel Ginza]

nevermind, weird link.

[Luis Longoria]

For Folding, GPUs and multi-socket server systems are the way to go.

[OTTO]

Yep, more people mining is going to drive the value down. Should be interesting to see if the material value can keep up with the inflation.

[jessica breen]

This is actually incorrect. GPUs are not the choice for mining Bitcoins anymore - FPGA (field programmable gate arrays) are the way to go if you are serious about mining for Bitcoins. See http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bitcoin-mining-make-money,3514-5.html for more info.

[Josh Lozier]

There was a German guy or whatever he was who had a Bitcoin account or whatever from 2009 so this year he tried to remember his account password he finally remembered it and saw he had I think it was 250,000 Euros and he used his home PC I don't even remember where I read this I will try to look it up unless someone else finds it. But that is what I remember reading in the article. I could be wrong though. It's what I remember though.

[Horror- Puppe]

With Bitcoin mining, eventually the costs to keep the mining going outweigh the earnings. In the long run, you're doing nothing but losing money unless you're carefully calculating every last piece of the puzzle. Too many variables can drive up the cost for the typical person.

The risk isn't worth it.

[Monika Fiolek]

Wow, it's awesome of ASRock to supply free electricity with their motherboards

[Jordan Moreno]

Pretty much this. At the rate the blocks are being mined up these days, you'll hardly be mining enough with this to break even with the bills.