Pleb mining has to be viewed in terms of opportunity cost.
An electric radiator typically runs at 1500w. The cost and heat output is nearly identical to an s9 running at full power 1450w.
It costs the same to run and heats the same... but the s9 also mines bitcoin. It has a Bitcoin subsidy so it is marginally cheaper to operate. (This only gets better as btc price goes up)
So what's the tradeoff? Noise.
But that can be mitigated. With mods, the s9 is quieter than my desktop computer <500 watts. It's quieter than my air filter at <1000w. It's quieter than my bathroom fan at any power level.
An electric radiator tends to run $200-300
An s9 on Kaboomracks is roughly $125 and the mods required to make it whisper silent at <1000w runs about $50-150.
At that point the tradeoff is simply a little bit of proof of work to make the relatively simple modifications. If you can plug in plugs and turn a screwdriver, you can do the necessary mods.
Comment below if you want specific product recommendations.
