Just a few years ago, it was possible to mine cryptocurrency on a regular computer. Many online entrepreneurs liked this kind of income, and soon new miners literally flooded the global web. But over time, the complexity of mining has increased, and increased competition in the field of crypto mining has contributed to the emergence of special equipment for mining virtual coins - mining farms.
An ASIC miner is a setup designed for mining cryptocurrency. Moreover, human participation in this process is reduced to a minimum. The user is required to purchase equipment and configure a program to manage the mining farm.
It is worth noting that the optimal option for mining cryptocurrency for 2022 is cloud mining, since it pays off faster, is easier to learn (does not require any technical knowledge of connection and configuration) and is more stable, i.e. power is always available to you, there is no such situation when the equipment fails because You are renting power, not equipment. The rating of reliable cloud mining services is available here.
ASIC is the main tool for mining virtual money. Its operation is based on the Scrypt and SHA-256 algorithm. When choosing equipment, you must first pay attention to the hashrate and level of energy efficiency. In other words, to buy a high-quality ASIC, you need to choose a setup with the highest exchange profitability (the ratio of the speed of mining crypto coins to the amount of energy expended).
But if for some reason you decide to buy your own equipment, we will consider all the possible options below.
In principle, even today you can do mining on your home computer, provided it has a powerful GPU video card, and preferably a farm of 4-8 video cards. But still, the efficiency of such work cannot be compared with mining carried out using ASIC. The main difference is the speed of solving the hash. And if a miner makes it possible to earn income of thousands of dollars, then on a regular PC earnings will be limited to a hundred dollars a month.
The only reason why video card farms are still relevant is that ASICs have not been developed for many algorithms. their use is excluded by the mining algorithm itself for these coins. So for mining altcoins (any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin), video cards and GPU farms are still relevant.
In this publication, we will analyze all the options for mining cryptocurrency: the optimal configuration of a mining farm and ready-made solutions in the form of serial ASIC models.
What equipment is needed for cryptocurrency mining?
What equipment will I need? For mining, either graphics cards (graphics processing unit, GPU) or specialized devices - ASICs, special-purpose integrated circuits, which can cost from $1000 to tens of thousands of dollars, are suitable.
Some miners, especially for the Ethereum blockchain network, assemble rigs from video cards - this is a relatively inexpensive way to achieve an acceptable hashrate. In the photo below you can see a homemade mining rig that can be easily assembled at home.
Kinds
You've probably seen a GPU-based mining rig in pictures on the Internet or in programs. But there are other types, differing in the equipment used:
- FPGA. In this case, special FPGA modules are used. In terms of power, they are on par with conventional video cards, but are superior in terms of energy efficiency. They also require fewer resources to cool, which reduces costs. Now they are less common, as they were replaced by the next species.
- ASIC. If you were wondering how a Bitcoin mining farm works, here it is. Bitcoin mining is primarily performed by ASIC processors. The rigs assembled from them have enormous power that can cope with the high complexity of the BTC block. They have excellent profitability, but at the same time the cost is also at an appropriate level and is calculated in thousands of dollars.
How exactly does cryptocurrency mining occur? For what does the miner receive a reward?
For you to earn bitcoins, two conditions must match. One of them depends on your efforts, the other depends solely on luck:
- You must verify transactions per 1 MB. Everything is simple here.
- You must be the first of all miners to find a solution to a special mathematical problem.
This process is also known as Proof-of-Work.
- Good news: You don't need advanced mathematics. Essentially, each miner tries to be the first to guess a 64-digit hexadecimal number (hash) that is less than or equal to the target hash. This is where the main work lies.
- The bad news: The hash is picked randomly, and if you want to be first, you'll need a ton of computing power. To operate successfully, you need to have a high hash rate - the hash rate, which is measured in megahashes per second (MH/s), gigahashes per second (GH/s) and terahashes per second (TH/s).
That's a lot, a lot of hashes. If you want to understand how many bitcoins you have a chance to get with the hashrate available to you, you can use a mining calculator where you can select a specific hardware model (for both ASIC and GPU) and set your electricity cost.
Linthal
This farm is named after the Swiss village in which it is located. It is owned by Guido Rudolfi, co-owner of Alpereum. He is called the pioneer of Bitcoin in Europe. Previously, he already had mining farms, but in Zurich, it turned out to be not very profitable. Therefore, he traveled halfway across Europe to find the ideal place to create a new enterprise.
As a result, he settled on a village in the foothills of the Alps. There was a low cost of electricity, as well as optimal air temperature throughout the year. At the moment it is the largest farm in Europe.
Cloud mining - the optimal format for cryptocurrency mining
For the vast majority of users, cloud mining remains the best option for bitcoin mining in 2022, due to the flexibility of contracts and more favorable working conditions than mining on your own equipment.
Cloud mining is a model for earning cryptocurrency that creates groups (mining pools) with one goal: obtaining more income, compared to conventional distributed mining, through the management of equipment by a contractor who resolves all issues regarding technical and software components.
TOP 3 reliable cloud mining services according to Mining-Cryptocurrency.ru:
| Service | Grade | Detailed review |
| IQ Mining (editor's choice!) | 9.5 | Read review |
| HashFlare | 7.1 | Read review |
| Genesis Mining | 6.8 | Read review |
The criteria by which the rating is given in our rating:
- Profitability and profitability – we calculate payback periods, clarify the reality of mining.
- Prices and commissions – we take into account the validity of tariff plans and compare them with competitors.
- Deposit/withdrawal, discounts, reliability - we analyze reviews, test the correctness of accruals and withdrawals.
- Convenience of the platform and website – we evaluate functionality, errors and failures when working with the service.
- Features of the company are unique services and useful services, duration of work on the market.
- The final score is the average number of points for all indicators, determines the place in the ranking.
The full rating of cloud mining services can be found here.
What equipment to mine bitcoins with - ASIC
The days of Bitcoin mining through desktop computers and laptops are gone 6 years ago. Let's say more. If you think that Bitcoin is mined through video cards (GPUs), then you are seriously mistaken. To mine cryptocurrency “gold,” special-purpose integrated circuits (ASIC miners) are used.
This small installation serves one single task - cryptocurrency mining. ASIC does not solve any other problems. At this stage, such miners are the only profitable equipment for Bitcoin mining. GPU mining of BTC is not profitable.
Current models for Bitcoin mining: Antiminer S7, Antiminet S9, Antimner D3. The Bitmain brand produces these ASICs.
The key indicator for miners is power consumption and hashrate. The S9 model has a hashrate of 12,000 to 14,000 Gh/S (giga hash per second). Power consumption: 1300-1400 Watt. All these miners mine using the Scrypt algorithm.
The running Antiminer S9 model with a hashrate of 13.5 Th/S and a consumption of 1400 Watts will cost $2,200-2,500 or 150,000 rubles. You have to buy miners from the Chinese - only they produce them on an industrial scale.
Features of ASIC Antiminer S9 for Bitcoin mining
This summer, a new ASIC appeared in the world of cryptocurrency. If we characterize it in a few words, we can say that it is very powerful, very fast and quite expensive. The developers did not skimp on the most advanced technologies. Moreover, each individual element is far superior to earlier versions. Miners can buy ASIC AntminerS9 for two thousand dollars.
The new model has an updated version of the Bitmain interface, which takes minimal time to set up. In this case, the user can receive the necessary statistical information in real time. All information is grouped in appropriate tabs and categories, which greatly simplifies working with them. But the key characteristics of the installation are the following performance indicators:
- Energy consumption level is 1172 Watt/hour.
- Hashrate 11.85 TH/s.
It is quite obvious that a lot of money has been invested in the development of such equipment for Bitcoin mining, and it is unlikely that it will be possible to create it yourself, with your own hands. The creators of AntminerS9 managed to significantly increase the speed of mining virtual coins and at the same time reduce the level of electricity consumption. When comparing the S7 and S9 models, it becomes obvious that the hashrate has almost doubled. Such a powerful jump is fully justified, because the difficulty of production has also increased significantly.
In addition, the new version of ASIC is equipped with two coolers. The fans are located on the sides of the unit, thanks to which the processor is cooled much better and faster. Familiarization with the technical characteristics of AntminerS9 makes most crypto miners want to immediately buy equipment for Bitcoin mining.
But first you need to prepare enough free space for it, taking into account the dimensions of the model: 35x13.5x15.8 centimeters. The chips deserve special mention. If the S7 had 135 chips installed, then the new version already has 185.
Approximate profitability of AntminerS9 at the moment
It is quite natural that such a large investment in the purchase of the latest ASIC model evokes a desire to find out what profit this investment will bring. The updated version of the device will replenish the crypto miner’s budget by an average of $7.29 per day (excluding the cost of electricity). At the same time, to calculate the profitability of Bitcoin mining equipment, the following indicators were taken:
- The reward for a mined block is 12.5 Bitcoins.
- Hashrate 11850 gigahash.
- Power does not exceed 1172 watts.
- With an electricity price of $0.02 per hour, its consumption per day is $0.48. It should be noted that to calculate the cost of electricity, indicators for the eastern regions of Ukraine as of October 2016 were used.
Even if the cost of electricity slightly exceeds the indicated figures, the result will still be quite impressive. If the user intends to buy Bitcoin-miner Asic, then it is best to make the purchase through a reputable online store. Only in this case can a freelancer be sure that he will receive a quality product with a guarantee. If ASICs are purchased through message boards or suspicious sites that sell goods at a big discount, then you may well come across scammers.
How to mine Ethrerum - video cards (GPU)
Ethrerum mining is only possible on video cards. Unlike Bitcoin, a different algorithm is used here – EthHash. Therefore, it is incorrect to compare the hashrate of ASICs and farms.
For efficient mining, miners combine GPUs into farms. To operate this design, you need a processor with PCI slots (number of slots = number of video cards), a powerful power supply, and a frame. The operation of the farms is accompanied by the release of heat from video card fans and a characteristic sound. Powerful installations are equipped with a cooling system.
Due to the growing interest in mining, the cost of video cards in the Russian Federation has doubled since the beginning of 2018. Those who want to start mining ether or other currencies often order equipment from the USA or China due to a shortage of equipment on the Russian market.
Against the backdrop of the cryptocurrency boom, cooperatives have emerged to create ready-made farms. Groups of such entrepreneurs buy video cards, motherboards, frames wholesale abroad and then sell them to the general population at retail. The cost of ETH mining farms ranges from $1,000 to $15,000.
Popular card models for mining Ethrerum and other altcoins using the EthHash algorithm:
- NVIDIA GTX 1080
- NVIDIA GTX 1070
- NVIDIA GTX 1060
- AMD RX 480
- AMD RX 580
We published a full review of all current video cards here.
Discount coupon for purchasing equipment for a mining farm in the Computeruniverse.ru online store
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An example of selecting equipment for a mining farm from GPU video cards
First of all, you need to decide what kind of mining rig you want. Let's say it will be designed for 4 video cards, or maybe 5, 6, 8 video cards? Do you need a more professional 12 card solution?
Based on these indicators, you will be able to answer how much it will cost you. I will take as a basis the simplest equipment for mining Ethereum and Zcash.
The first thing to start building any farm is, of course, choosing a motherboard. Here we are primarily interested in the number of PCI Express slots; in my case, 4 PCI Express slots are needed. To connect respectively four video cards for mining Bitcoin, Ethereum or Zikesh.
It is worth remembering that the processor, RAM, and other bells and whistles are not particularly important to us. The main thing is that the computer starts, has access to the Internet, and works stably without failures, since our final income in mining depends on all this.
In order to roughly estimate the prices, I went to the most popular store in Moscow, OnlineTrade.
- The assembly was based on the AMD FX-Series FX-6300 processor, price 4800 rubles, it is, of course, already outdated. But we are not going to play games on it.
- In order for our Bitcoin mining equipment to work stably, it will be enough. I chose a simple ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 motherboard for it with a price of 4,500 rubles and the presence of the desired 4 PCI-E slots.
- Now all that remains is to buy a simple 32 or 64 GB hard drive for the system. Install 4 or 8 gigabytes of RAM. And of course, start choosing video cards for our farm.
- At this point, you must decide for yourself which cryptocurrency you want to earn. Because the choice of equipment for mining ether, bitcoins, and zikesh is different. For example, you want to start mining Ethereum, the best solution for this would be video cards based on AMD Radeon, for example RX 480, 570, 580, 470.
- If you are interested in making money on video cards from Nvidia, then your eyes should fall on the Zikesh cryptocurrency. Which is produced by the GTX 1060, 1070, 1080, and 1080 ti video cards, which are many times better than their competitors from the red camp.
- It is also worth noting that power consumption is very different between the two manufacturers. In case you decide to build a mining rig with more than 4 video cards. You will need to calculate the electricity consumption at full load. And based on this data, purchase additional power supplies for your computer and video cards. Often large farms, also known as rigs, are powered by 2 to 4 power supplies at once.
- The choice of power supply should be approached responsibly. To ensure that all your mining equipment does not burn out due to a short circuit. For example, the guys from CORSAIR provide a warranty of 3 to 5 years for their top power supplies. Thus, when buying a unit of 850 - 1000 watts and above, you can return it to a service center if it breaks down. Some use old decommissioned server power supplies to reduce the cost of construction. Which often run at 2250 watts, and are designed to work 24/7 under load. Each has its pros and cons if you want to sell your mining rig. Of course, a regular power supply will go away much easier.
After purchasing all the necessary equipment for mining Bitcoins. You will need to make a frame for a mining rig called a Rig. There is a lot of information on the Internet on how to make a farm frame correctly with your own hands. But it’s easier to buy a ready-made frame, its cost is no more than 1,500 rubles.
The fundamental difference in buying a GPU and ASIC
By purchasing an ASIC miner, you are forever tied to cryptocurrency mining using a specific mining algorithm. In the case of Antiminer S9, these are Sha-256 and Bitcoin. For profitable Litecoin mining, other miners have been implemented. If the difficulty of mining Bitcoin increases significantly, there will be no good options for changing direction. Only mining of Bitcoin forks is available.
Current ASIC models are produced in China. In the Russian Federation they sell used models with a certain level of wear. There are no guarantees for ASICs; repairs are almost impossible. Delivery of a miner from China takes 2-4 weeks. Due to tariffs on purchases over $1,000 online, miners often buy rigs from China itself.
Video cards give greater flexibility to the miner. It is possible to switch from mining one cryptocurrency to another. For example, from Ethereum to ZCASH.
One of the problems is the growing cost of GPUs and the operation of the farm itself. The installation takes up more space compared to ASIC, requires cooling and operation control.
Advantages: warranty, possibility of repair and secondary sale.
Electricity costs
The profitability of mining depends on electricity tariffs. In the Russian Federation it differs in different regions. In Moscow – 5.38 rubles/kWh, and in the Irkutsk region – 1.01 rubles/kWh. The difference is significant. The average cost in the country is 3.1 rubles/kWh. We will use this indicator to calculate monthly electricity costs.
Let's compare popular installations: a farm for 8 GTX 1070 cards and two ASIC Antiminer S9 13.5 Th/S miners. The cost of the equipment in both cases will be approximately $4500-5500. You can invest 3-3.5 thousand if you try hard.
The consumption of an 8x GTX 1070 farm averages 1.2 kWh. Two miners consume 2.6 kWh.
After calculation in the profitability calculator, the following figures for electricity consumption came out:
- GTX 1070 video cards:
- ASIC Antiminer:
Servicing ASIC will require twice as much electricity.
Table of electricity costs for mining different amounts of Ethereum, Bitcoin, USD.
| Sum | Electricity costs |
| 1 BTC | 31438 rubles |
| 1 ETH | 2206 rubles |
| 0.1 BTC | 3143.8 rubles |
| 0.1 ETH | 220.6 rubles |
| 1000 USD (BTC) | 7290 rubles |
| 1000 USD (ETH) | 6526 rubles |
The data is given taking into account the current difficulty of production, cryptocurrency rates and electricity tariffs.
Allied Control
In Hong Kong, the climate is humid and hot, but this circumstance does not stop miners; one of the largest farms in the world has been built here. According to some reports, she is among the top three.
High temperatures left their mark on the technical equipment of this complex. The company uses a unique double-immersion cooling technology. This not only allows you to effectively reduce the temperature, but also saves energy. This technology allows you to reduce noise during farm operation.
At the very beginning of the work, ASIC chips were used, but after the sale of the company, the chips were gradually replaced with analogues from BitFury. According to experts, this reduced the cost of the process.
Bitcoin farms - ready-made solutions for bitcoin mining
These complexes are not cheap, but they are already fully equipped with compatible elements, configured and ready to work.
Let's look at the five most popular and interesting solutions for mining bitcoins. Attention: prices and performance of equipment are current at the time of writing, but since the cryptocurrency exchange rate and the complexity of the Bitcoin network are changing rapidly, check the information before you decide to buy a particular device.
CoinTerra TerraMiner IV
CoinTerra's TerraMiner IV is a water-cooled Bitcoin earning machine from CoinTerra that is equipped with ASIC chips, GoldStrike I. TerraMiner IV is made using the 28nm process technology, and comes with a 4U addition with a power supply, which is considered a rarity in Bitcoin earning circles.
TerraMiner IV is equipped with 4 ASIC chips, each of which outputs up to 500GH/s, which means that the total power of TerraMiner IV is 2TH/s. At the moment, earning Bitcoin is quite difficult, and this system will allow you to mine up to 1.1 Bitcoins per day. CoinTerra also claims that TerraMiner IV is energy efficient, although these claims have not yet been backed up by any statistics or evidence.
Price: $5999 (check current price with equipment suppliers)
Hashfast Sierra
Hashfast's Sierra is a high-power, water-cooled Bitcoin earning machine. The machine's performance is based on Golden Nonce ASIC chips. The machine is built into a 4U rackmount housing and comes with two built-in Seasonic power supplies.
Sierra offers a nominal rate of 1.2TH/s, which works out to approximately 0.66 Bitcoins per day. However, it should be noted that the Sierra does not have a built-in controller, so you will have to connect the machine to the main control center via USB. The control center can be anything with CGminer software installed.
Price: $6300 (check current price with equipment suppliers)
Fast-Hash One
Fast-Hash One series consists of 3 machines for earning Bitcoin: Silver, Gold and Platinum versions. These are 19-inch Bitcoin machines, the difference between which lies in the expansion capabilities and power of the installed modules. All three machines are equipped with one earning module, but the capabilities allow you to increase them to 6.
The Silver version is equipped with a 64GH/s module and allows you to increase the power to 384GH/s. The Gold version is equipped with a 128GH/s module, and can be expanded to 768GH/s. The Platinum version is equipped with a 256GH/s module, and it is possible to increase the power to 1.536TH/s. Overall, if you get to the maximum power, these machines will allow you to mine between 0.2 and 0.85 Bitcoins per day.
While the Silver version does not support expansion packs, the Gold and Platinum versions support up to 6 expansion packs, with each pack capable of holding up to 16 modules, allowing for a greater degree of power. Fast-Hash One machines are available for pre-order.
Price: $2499-$5999 (check current price with equipment suppliers)
Black Arrow Prospero X-3
The Black Arrow Prospero X-3 is equipped with 20 Black Arrow Minion ASICs built into a 19-inch rackmount housing. ASIC Minion chips are based on 28nm process technology. The Prospero X-3 is also equipped with an LCD screen that displays statistics and diagnostics.
This configuration of Prospero X-3 allows you to get power up to 2TH/s, which mines up to 1.1 bitcoins per day. The system also supports the lightweight Stratum protocol.
Price: $6999 (check current price with equipment suppliers)
KnCMiner Neptune
KnCMiner Neptune can be said to be the great-grandfather of Bitcoin earning machines. Neptune consists of 4 modular 20nm ASIC boards, designed in such a way that the machine will continue to operate even if one or more boards fail. Neptune inherits a lot from the previous system, Jupiter, which was based on 28nm process technology.
Neptune allows you to achieve a minimum power of 3TH/s, which translates to mining up to 1.66 bitcoins per day. This is a pretty solid upgrade to Jupiter, which allowed you to earn only 0.6 bitcoins per day. KnCMiner also state that they plan to increase power in the near future, so it may end up that miners will have more powerful systems on their hands.
KnCMiner Neptune is currently available for pre-order. The batch is limited to 1200 units.
Price: $12,995 (check with equipment suppliers for current prices).
BitFury
The farm of this company is located in Georgia, on the territory of the Tbilisi economic zone. Double immersion cooling technology is also used here. The farm consumes electricity from the local hydroelectric power station.
Thanks to low energy prices, as well as low labor costs, mining costs are low. Therefore, the company is constantly increasing its capacity in this country. It is expected that by the beginning of next year this farm will definitely become the largest in the world.
