[vitalus]

If the cost exceeds the value of what you're mining, you're always better off putting that money directly into purchasing the cryptocoin instead.

Option 1: Spend $10 to mine $5 worth of BTC

Option 2: Spend $10 to obtain $10 worth of BTC

If the market goes up, you are better served by the latter option.

[elmar]

If you care about privacy normally mining your own coins it's the best way to get 100% privacy.

[mrgordon]

More like spend $500 for a graphics card and end up with a graphics card and $2000 in bitcoin

[colechristensen]

Nevermind the hardware, the electricity to run the hardware costs more than the coin generated.

[mrgordon]

Maybe for XMR but not in general

[mizzao]

And $2000 in electricity bills

[mrgordon]

Nah whattomine.com shows plenty of profitable coins to mine even if you assume California electricity costs and no price appreciation after mining.