I would absolutely love to get into GPU mining. However, we really need AMD/NVIDIA to start churning out more cards. We currently have this contentious battle going on between the crypto GPU miners and the hardcore gaming community. There just simply aren't enough high end new GPUs on the retail market to meet the demand. As the laws of economics go, supply goes down, demand goes up, along with the pricing. Gamers want the cards to obviously game and consider "saving it from the mines" when they get their hands on these new cards. The crypto miners don't care about gaming and just want the high hash rates with lower power consumption. Cards are going for well above their retail price from third party sellers to meet the demand. Amazon, NewEgg, etc. You won't find many, if any, retail sellers. All are private third party sellers who are selling well above MSRP.
I want to get into GPU mining badly however I think I am going to have to resort to waiting until the cards become more profitable. One card going for $1,000 won't make too much of a dent in mining. So the initial investment of a few thousand dollars is pushing me away.
As soon as they get cheaper. I am buying in.
I agree 100% with everything you said. For me right now I'm in it to learn. This all goes in cycles, as we have been taught time and time again. :D
I have some things I want to try with lubuntu / turning off pieces of hardware/ custom os I doubt most people go through the trouble of doing. I really want to fine tune the system and the mining software. I haven't had the time recently but made some changes so I should have time to get to work now.