When choosing an ASIC miner, you should first of all pay attention to the hashrate and power consumption, as this will affect profitability. In addition, it is also important what operating algorithm the ASIC is configured for. Looking ahead, we can say that the most profitable option will be the Ethash algorithm, but it has its own risks, which we will talk about after calculating the payback. You should not pay attention to miners from unknown companies. The best producers are Canaan and Bitmain. In addition, you should be careful when purchasing used equipment, since there is no guarantee that you will have time to recoup this purchase. Taking into account these factors, we have compiled a list of the best ASICs for cryptocurrency mining in 2021 for your attention. Before reviewing the leaders, I would like to add that to increase performance, it is worth resorting to using various firmware. They will help both increase hashrate and reduce energy consumption.
ASICS are very noisy and generate a lot of heat!
How does mining on ASICs differ from mining cryptocurrencies on video cards (GPUs)
Video cards are more affordable and practical. Putting together a small rig does not require a huge investment, so this method is suitable for miners on a limited budget. In addition, a small farm can be installed in a separate room, on a balcony or garage, that is, it is not necessary to allocate a separate room.
ASICS are considered more cost-effective and profitable, but at the same time they are more expensive and it is impossible to keep them in an apartment due to the terrible noise. If we compare performance, then ASICs are an order of magnitude more powerful. Comparing within the same Ethereum cryptocurrency, you can see that a regular video card gives a hashrate of 30-50 MH/s, the best ones can give a hashrate of up to 80 MH/s. While Asika’s hashrate indicators reach 180-220 MH/s.
Conclusion
Does it make sense to buy an ASIC? – many miners face this question, especially now when coin mining capacity is constantly growing.
Of course it makes sense, especially if you have your own premises and inexpensive electricity. Let us remind you that due to the high noise level, you should not assemble a farm of ASICs (or even 1 ASIC) at home.
You can buy ASICs if you have free money, since when buying an ASIC, you will not be able to say exactly how long it will last: you can earn a lot of money on it, or you may not even recoup it.
pros
- High power = high hashrate
- Small dimensions
- Mining some of the most popular coins (Bitcoin, Litecoin and others)
The main feature of ASIC mining
Among other differences, perhaps the most important one can be highlighted. This is because ASICs do not know how to switch between different mining algorithms. That is, you must decide in advance what cryptocurrency you are going to mine and purchase equipment specifically for it. Often miners choose either Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Video cards, on the contrary, can easily switch from one algorithm to another. For example, you can switch from mining Ethereum to Monero if it becomes a more profitable coin. Some programs can even automatically determine the most profitable cryptocurrency for mining and connect to the desired pool. Of course, this cannot be done with ASICs.
Is it profitable to mine ether?
In order to understand how profitable mining is, you can calculate profitability on special calculator sites. For example, a very convenient resource is cryptocompare.com.
Let's enter the data that the manufacturers provided to us and analyze the results.
The calculation for NVMiner X8 will have the following indicators: profit for the week (as of May 18, 2018) will be $83.37. It won’t be difficult to find out how much our equipment will pay for itself:
2,230 / 83.37 = 27 weeks.
For NVMiner X12 there will be the following numbers:
- profit for the week – $126.54;
- payback – 25 weeks (3200/126.54).
And the last option is Antminer E3:
profit for the week – $52.73;
payback – 41 weeks (2,150/52.73).
Choosing an algorithm for mining
In this article we will give three of the best ASICs in 2022 for two main algorithms and three more for mining less popular virtual currencies. There are more of them, but these are the most popular scripts.
- SHA-256. This is an algorithm for mining Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Classic (BCH) and other forks of Bitcoin. According to recent studies, about 80% of all mining power in the world is spent on Bitcoin mining. After the halving in the spring of 2020, mining Bitcoin became much less profitable. At the time of writing this article, this is an unprofitable activity, and you can only gain profit with the latest generation ASICs. However, Bitcoin remains the number one cryptocurrency, and many continue to mine it at a loss, hoping that the rate will soon rise and the costs will eventually pay off.
- Ethash. This algorithm is used by the second largest cryptocurrency by capitalization - Ethereum, as well as Ethereum Classic, EOS and a number of other coins operating on the Ethash blockchain. Today, this algorithm is the most promising and almost the only one on which it is possible to earn normal money. Many people prefer to mine Ether on video cards, but ASICs are also suitable for this purpose.
- Scrypt. A simple and understandable name for the algorithm. It allows you to mine Litecoin and several less popular altcoins such as Verge and DigByte. On average, it is now more profitable to mine with Scrypt than with SHA-256, but not as profitable as with Ethash.
- X11. The fourth algorithm in our collection. It is not popular and does not really bring in much income. This is an option for those who believe in the Dash cryptocurrency and want to mine it.
There are also other algorithms. It is worth paying attention to young altcoins. In the moment, their mining rarely generates income, but sometimes mining pays off tens or hundreds of times when the exchange rate rises sharply.
Antminer Z9 mini
The first deliveries of this equipment are planned for July 2022, since the trial batch will be shipped from the plant at the end of June.
- Algorithm: Equihash.
- Antminer Z9 mini hashrate: 10,000 Sol/s.
- Power consumption: 300 W.
- Price of Antminer Z9 mini from the factory: $1520 (shipping in August-September).
- Price of the first batch with delivery to Moscow: $2800.
- Antminer Z9 mini daily income: $36 (according to whattomine calculation).
- Expected payback for Antminer Z9 mini: 77 days.
Representatives of ZCash and Bitcoin Gold made statements in which protection from ASICs is considered a mandatory measure to combat centralization, which influenced the reduction in the price of the second batch. If forks do not occur, the owners of the first batch will receive good dividends from this purchase. Further, the growing hashrate in all networks with the Equihash algorithm will reduce profitability indicators.
Top 3 ASICs for Bitcoin mining in 2022
The leader in the ASIC market is undoubtedly occupied by the Chinese company Bitmain. Which is not surprising, since China occupies a dominant position and produces more cryptocurrencies than any other country. And it is from China that they order equipment, which is quite difficult, because sometimes you have to wait more than a month for delivery. However, this leadership is well deserved.
Bitmain Antminer S19 Pro
The model was released in 2022 and so far no one has been able to outperform the S19 Pro in efficiency. It consumes approximately 3100-3400 W, while producing about 110 TH/s (an order of magnitude higher than its competitors. There is a more budget analogue - Antminer S19 (without Pro). It costs a little less, but mines approximately 10% less per day cryptocurrencies.
With a Bitcoin exchange rate of $57,000, BTC mining brings in up to $33 per day. However, let’s not forget that Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency based on SHA-256, and sometimes you can earn more on altcoins. For example, with the Zetacoin token you can already gain profit and earn about $39 daily. The payback period will then be about a year, but we will hope for market growth of at least 50% in the next six months to a year.
Microbt Whatsminer M30s
Quite a powerful ASIC, the only non-Bitmain one in the top and, in general, perhaps its only worthy competitor. There is a standard model and also M30s++. On the plus side, the ASIC produces up to 100-110 TH/s, that is, the power is comparable to the Antminer S19 Pro. Energy consumption is also approximately the same - around 3100 W. In total, you can earn about $35 per day when mining Bitcoin, thus recouping the purchase in six months. On Zetacoin, crypto mining will bring in up to $40 per day, and the payback period will then be slightly less than six months.
Bitmain Antminer S17
In many ways very similar to the S19, but less powerful. It mines less, but also spends less electricity, so the daily income will be approximately the same. The difference is that in cryptocurrency you will be able to accumulate less over the same period with ASIC S17 and therefore it will be more difficult for you to recoup it even with expensive Bitcoin. In terms of price, the S17 costs about a third less than the last model.
Guarantee
A warranty on an ASIC is a very stretched concept. There is no guarantee as such. When buying equipment secondhand from resellers, most often you are buying a pig in a poke.
Even if you order an ASIC directly from the manufacturer, you also do not have a guarantee as such.
However, in 2022, Bitmain opened a service center in Russia. Now, owners of damaged ASICs just need to write to support on the official website and wait for instructions, after which they can send the ASIC to the specified address of the repair office in Russia.
So far, only Bitmain has done this. Yes, many other manufacturers have offices in different cities of the world, in addition to China, but they do not affect Russia.
In fact, before this service appeared in Russia, Bitmain ASICs and no other ASICs had any guarantee as such.
As for repairs, everything is a little simpler: in many cities of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, special ASIC repair workshops have opened (there are even opportunities to call specialists to your home). However, such services are not cheap at all.
Top 3 ASICs for Ethereum mining in 2022
When mining Ethereum, ASICs are used less often, giving preference to video cards. Often this is even more profitable. But some models show very good results. If we talk about manufacturers, then again Bitmain comes out on top.
Bitmain Antminer F3
The price of Antminer F3 is about $1800. For this money, it provides about 180 MH/s, consuming 800 W of electricity. Profit per day at the time of writing this review is about $6. This is not bad compared to Bitcoin miners, but quite low compared to GPU performance. For the same money you can buy 2-3 Nvidia 1080 video cards, which in total will give $7.5 - $12.2 per day with lower energy consumption.
Bitfily GPU Miner E3
A very good ASIC that stands out from the rest. It costs about $700 less than the previous one, but at the same time it is ahead of it in terms of hashrate (about 200 MH/s, according to some sources up to 230 MH/s). Its electricity consumption is also higher, but overall it turns out to be more profitable. GPU Miner E3 can bring in about $5 per day when mining Ethereum. That is, in fact, almost the same as Antminer F3, but at a lower price.
Bitmain Antminer G2
Another noteworthy ASIC for Ethash. technical characteristics are similar to Miner E3, power consumption is almost identical. The hashrate of Bitmain Antminer is slightly higher, on average 220 MH/s. Bitmain loses in price - the price of this model is about $2400. That is, with a profitability of $5.5 per day, the equipment will be recaptured in a little less than a year and a half.
ASIC for Ethereum - what is it, technical part
ASIC ETH (from the English phrase ApplicationSpecificIntegratedCircuit) is a device designed to perform cryptographic calculations associated with mining digital currencies using one or more encryption algorithms. ASICs use integrated circuits designed to perform the most efficient calculations of specified hashing functions, as well as specially designed housings and a cooling system.
They have the following advantages:
- high hashrate;
- quick start;
- ease of care;
- low power consumption per unit of computing power compared to other devices, such as video cards and processors;
- The presence of a reinforced housing and a powerful cooling system facilitates installation and connection of equipment.
At the same time, they have a number of disadvantages:
- impossibility of calculations using algorithms different from those provided by the manufacturer;
- increased noise and heat generation typical of high-performance server equipment and even more;
- powerful ASICs require the purchase of a separate power supply;
- it is difficult to find specialists and components for their repair;
- the potential to be included in the list of equipment that has regulatory restrictions regarding the use of information encryption devices;
- fairly rapid obsolescence and impossibility of selling equipment after a significant increase in the complexity of mining, which reduces profitability. Unlike ASICs, mining farms on video cards retain residual value even when the profitability of mining falls, and therefore can be sold as computer equipment.
Top 3 ASICs for altcoin mining
So, Bitcoin and Ethereum have already been taken apart. But it happens that other cryptocurrencies provide greater profit. Sometimes these are even altcoins that are not included in the top hundred. If you are ready to invest in mining these coins, then here are the ASICs that are suitable for you.
Goldhell HS3
The ASIC is designed for mining the Handshake (HSK) cryptocurrency using the algorithm of the same name. In itself, mining this currency with this particular ASIC is extremely profitable, but quite risky. The cryptocurrency was launched only in 2022, and now it is not even among the top hundred in terms of capitalization. That is, there is no guarantee that the course will be maintained. However, right now you can earn up to $20 per day by mining HSK, and Goldhell HS3 itself costs around $4,500. The total payback period is 225 days.
Bitmain Antminer Z3
ASIC for mining altcoin ZCash using the Equihash algorithm. So far, this is the only model on which you can make good money on Zcash, and it appeared relatively recently, in June 2022. Now it can be bought for about $5,000, and the daily profit is up to $18.
Innosilicon A10 ETHMaster 500Mh
Innosilcon is weaker in terms of hashrate, but at the same time cheaper. It can be found in the range of $2200-2400. Power consumption is about 890 W, and the hashrate on Ethereum Classic is 500 MH/s. In total, you can earn up to $5.5 per day. The bonus of Innosilicon A10 when mining ETC is that you can always switch to Ethereum, because they have a common algorithm.
To buy a miner for Ethereum, you need to choose the best one
Let's consider three TOP models that have the highest hashrate and profitability.
Bitmain Antminer E9 - ASIC for Ethereum, which can be purchased for $15,000
Characteristics:
- Algorithms supported: Ethash
- Hashrate: 3 GH/s
- Consumption: 2556 Wh
- Efficiency: 0.85 Joule/unit hashrate
- Manufacturer: Bitmain
- Model Bitmain Antminer E9
- Fans: 7pcs
- Start of sales: summer 2021
- Website: bitmain.com
This ASIC mines the following coins: Ethereum, Callisto Network, Akroma, Pirl, Nilu, Expanse.
This summer, Bitmain is releasing a new Ethash miner called Antminer E9, which is expected to have a hashrate of 3 GH/s with a power consumption of only 2556 W and an energy efficiency of 0.85 J/M. If we compare Antminer E9 with graphics cards, it will be equal to 32 RTX 3080 graphics cards in terms of performance.
Thus, the Antminer E9 will offer performance similar to a 32x Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 for Ethereum mining with GPUs optimized for a hashrate of around 100 MH/s, but with a power consumption of approximately 1/3 of the power of the graphics cards themselves.
There are other competitors in the ETH ASIC market, namely Innosilicon and Linzhi.
Innosilicon's new ETH miner, the Innosilicon A11, will deliver 2100 MH/s Ethash hashrate with just 2300W power consumption, while newcomer Linzhi and their Linzhi Phoenix ETH miner can deliver 2600 MH/s hashrate for Ethash with 3000-watt power consumption. 3500W.
Innosilicon A11 ETH is an Ethereum miner that can be purchased for $16,000
Characteristics:
- Algorithms supported: Ethash
- Hashrate: 2100
- Consumption: 2300 Wh
- Memory: 8 GB
- Manufacturer: Innosilicon
- Model Innosilicon A11 ETH
- Dimensions: 130 x 220 x 390mm
- Fans: 4pcs
- Start of sales: April 2021
- Website: innosilicon.com
This ASIC mines the following coins: Ethereum, Callisto Network, Akroma, Pirl, Nilu, Expanse.
The Innosilicon A11 ETH miner is another promising next generation ETH ASIC miner. It will provide a hashrate on the Ethash algorithm of 2100 MH/s with a power consumption of only 2300 W and has 8 GB of memory.
Innosilicon is probably the best choice for Ether mining. There is now a lot of talk about a new generation of ASIC Ethash miners for mining Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrency, which have already been released, or are planned to be released in the 1st-2nd quarter of 2021. Currently, the older model Innosilicon A10 Pro ETH is the most productive GPU-based miner for the Ethash algorithm with a hashrate of 500 MH/S, a power consumption of 950 W and a price of ~$4388 according to the company's official website.
Reviews of the best ASIC models for 2017-2018
Let's consider the most powerful and popular models:
Antminer S9 with 13.5 Th/s ~ $2700
- HashRate: 13.5TH/s ±5%;
- Power consumption: 1350W;
- Energy efficiency: 0.1 J/GH;
- Voltage: 11.60 ~13.00V;
- Processor: 189x BM1387;
- Dimensions: 350mm(L)*135mm(W)*158mm(H);
- Cooling: 2x 12038 fan;
- Operating temperature: 25 °C to 40 °C;
- Connection: Ethernet;
Antminer R4 ~ $1000
- Hashrate: 8.6th/s (can vary in the 5% range);
- Power consumption: 845 W;
- Energy efficiency: 0.1 J/Gh;
- Noise level: 52dB (at ambient temperature 35°C);
- Processor: BM1387;
- Number of processors: 126;
- Voltage 11.60 ~13.00V;
- Dimensions: 515mm (length) x 100mm (width) x 222mm (height);
- Connection: Ethernet;
Antminer S7 ~ $500
- Hash Rate: 4.73 TH/s ±5%;
- Power consumption: 1293W;
- Energy efficiency: 0.25 J/GH;
- Voltage: 11.60 ~13.00V;
- Processor: 135x BM1385;
- Dimensions: 301mm(L)*123mm(W)*155mm(H);
- Cooling: 2x 12038 fan;
- Operating temperature: 0 °C to 40 °C;
- Connection: Ethernet;
Avalon 6 ~ $559.95
- Hashrate: 3.65 TH/s
- Energy efficiency: 270 J/th*s;
- Input voltage: no less than 11.6 V;
- Controller OS: software from Avalon;
- Dimensions: 354 mm x 136 mm x 150 mm;
- Cooling: cooler 12038 with 3800 rpm;
- Network controller: Raspberry Pi (version B or B+);
- Requires external power supply;
- Rated power: 990 W;
- Maximum power: 1200 W;
Antminer S5 ~ $139
- Hashrate: 1155 TH/s;
- Processor: BM1384;
- Network: Ethernet;
- Cooling: 1 fan model 12038 + 2 radiators on the working boards of the device;
- Power consumption: 590 W;
- Energy efficiency: 0.51 J/gh;
- Temperature: 0-35°C;
- Dimensions: 298 mm x 137 mm x 155 mm
