Asics For Mining. List of the Best and Profitable Equipment in 2021.
Butcher79
Those involved in mining know that specialized devices called ASICs have the highest performance. They are reliable and highly efficient, although less versatile than GPU farms.
This article discusses the principles of ASIC for mining, as well as issues related to their acquisition, configuration and use. If you are new to mining, we have a handy guide on how to how to start mining on your own in 2021 without investments!
Content
- 1 What is ASIC, technical part
- 2 Asics for mining, the main parameters of choice
- 3 ASICs for Bitcoin mining, setup
- 4 The best types of ASICs for mining in 2021
- 5 Asic table with hashrate and mining efficiency
- 6 ASIC Mining Calculator Bitcoin, Zcash, Ethereum, Monero, Dash
- 7 Conclusion - payback, pros and cons
What is ASIC, technical part
ASIC (from the English phrase Application Specific Integrated Circuit) is a special device designed to perform cryptographic calculations related to the mining of digital currencies using one or more encryption algorithms.
These devices use integrated circuits designed to most efficiently perform the calculations of given hash functions, as well as specially designed cases and cooling systems.
Because of this, they have the following advantages:
- ⋅ high hashrate;
- ⋅ quick start, easy maintenance;
- ⋅ low power consumption per unit of computing power compared to other devices, such as video cards and processors;
- ⋅ good value for money, which should ensure high profitability and quick payback;
- ⋅ the presence of a reinforced case and a productive cooling system facilitate the installation and connection of equipment.
At the same time, they have a number of disadvantages:
- ⋅ the impossibility of carrying out calculations on algorithms that differ from those provided by the manufacturer;
- ⋅ increased noise and heat dissipation characteristic of high-performance server equipment and even more;
- ⋅ powerful ASICs, as a rule, 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 lists of equipment that has legal and regulatory restrictions regarding the use of information encryption devices;
- ⋅ rather fast obsolescence and impossibility of selling the 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 implemented as computer equipment.
Asics for mining, the main parameters of choice
Like any other mining equipment, when choosing ASICs for a consumer, the following parameters are the most important:
- ⋅ cost;
- ⋅ performance (hashrate),
- ⋅ mining algorithm;
- ⋅ profitability and payback periods;
- ⋅ complexity of connection and operation;
- ⋅ power consumption;
- ⋅ noise level;
- ⋅ warranty period of operation and availability of repair service;
- ⋅ other, less important indicators, such as weight, size, and others.
One of the options for mining cryptocurrencies is renting ASICs. You can order computing power on a cloud service, or rent it from local suppliers. When concluding a contract for mining in the cloud, you need to beware of scammers, and when looking for ASICs to rent from local companies, you need to take into account that no one will rent out profitable equipment, because it is more profitable to use it for your own needs.
ASICs for Bitcoin mining, setup
Bitcoin is the very first known cryptocurrency, having appeared back in 2009. At first, bitcoin mining was possible even on processors, but over time, with the increase in their popularity and cost, the complexity of computing when mining these coins increased more and more. The high price and the presence of demand led to the development of ASICs, which carry out calculations using the SHA256 encryption algorithm used in the bitcoin code.
Setting up ASICs for bitcoin and for other cryptocurrencies is approximately the same and involves the implementation of standard procedures, which include:
- ⋅ installation at the place of operation;
- ⋅ connection to the power supply of the required power;
- ⋅ connection to a local network and the Internet;
- ⋅ determination of the ASIC local address, which is necessary for its configuration. It is determined using the router menu or using any other computer connected to the same local network as the ASIC. A local network scanning program is launched on it and the address assigned by the router is determined.
- ⋅ connecting to ASIC via a local network through a browser and setting up its software, including entering account data on the pool (its address on the Internet, connection port, worker, password, and other necessary parameters);
- ⋅ launch and control of mining.
In order for ASIC to work out the money invested in it and make a profit, you need to ensure an uninterrupted connection to the power grid and the Internet. Get a convenient and secure crypto wallet, and be able to work on trading platforms in order to convert virtual coins into fiat if necessary.
The best types of ASICs for mining in 2021
The first miners on integrated circuits were created for the extraction of "digital gold". But, the expansion continues and devices for industrial mining take control of new ecosystems on the blockchain. mining machines Innosilicon G32, sharpened for the “GRIN” cryptocurrency, did not appear on sale. But on the Ethash algorithm ASICs captured a part of the market, the best in this segment is Innosilicon A10 Pro ETHMaster 500Mh, and soon the same manufacturing company should release a new mining machine Innosilicon A10 Pro+ 7GB with a fantastic hashrate of 750 Mh/s at a power consumption of 1350 W. ASIC miners are far superior to GPU rigs in energy efficiency. If things go on like this, the owners of red GPU rigs will have a hard time. Perhaps, in the end, mining on the Ethash algorithm with the help of video cards will become history. Vitalik Buterin’s team has almost completely resolved the issue with the transition of the big Ether ecosystem to PoS mining, but the Ethereum classic coin, after a 51% attack, made a hard fork with a change in algorithm, and now it is not available for ASICs. But gpu-miners have the opportunity to use outdated models of graphics adapters with a memory capacity of 3/4GB.
The same thing happened with the Zcash cryptocurrency, the “ASIC-resistant coin” team and half of its forks have stopped putting a spoke in the wheels of ASICs developers and do not regret it at all. Device Innosilicon A9++ ZMaster, powered by the Equihash algorithm, brings the greatest benefit by mining the Horizen (ZEN) token. Their main competitors, Bitmain, did not stand aside and released Antminer Z11, which is in no way inferior to Innosilicon A9 ++ ZMaster. And then Z15, which surpasses all ASICs on the Equihash algorithm. For mining on SHA-256, the Chinese mining giant Bitmain has developed a new ASIC S19 Pro 110 Th/s.
While the price of bitcoin was in the corridor between $10 and $000, SHA-11 mining machines were profitable only at an electricity cost of 000/256 US cents per kilowatt. Bitcoin miners worked for the future, expecting a rise in prices for cryptocurrency. And they did not lose, as of 5/6/8.01.2021, 16 hours Moscow time, one bitcoin coin costs $41. It is quite possible that by the end of January, digital gold will rise in price by another $500 or even more. So, now the profitability of devices on integrated circuits for bitcoin mining has increased significantly. Big Ethereum and other altcoins are slowly getting more expensive, the miners are having a hot time.
We list the most highly productive ASICs that you can currently buy on the market:
Innosilicon A10 Pro+ 7GB
- Price: €10,500;
- Algorithm: Ethash
- Hash rate: 750 mh/s;
- Current profit without electricity deduction: $75/day;
- Power consumption: 1350 W;
- Dimensions: (L)362mm (W)136mm (H)285mm;
- Weight: 8 kg.
Deliveries will begin in January 2021.
Innosilicon A10 ETHMaster 500Mh with 6G memory
- Price: $3888;
- Algorithm: Ethash
- Hashrate: 500 MH/s (±5%);
- Current profit without deducting electricity: $50;
- Power Consumption: 9500 W;
- Dimensions: (L)360mm (W)136mm (H)282mm;
- Weight: 8.1Kg.
6 months warranty from the official Innosilicon service center.
iBeLink BM-K1
- Price: $3008;
- Algorithm: Kadena
- Hashrate: 5.3 TH/s (±5%);
- Current profit without deducting electricity: $26.50;
- Power Consumption: 800 W;
- Dimensions: (L)399mm (W)131mm (H)157mm;
- Weight: 6.6Kg.
Kadena is a new blockchain startup from American developers. A platform for launching smart contracts, that is, a direct competitor to the Ethereum blockchain. Given that the project is supported by such whales as JPMorgan Chase & Co., as well as the USCF fund, and investment companies Asimov Ventures, MetaStable Capital, Kilowatt Capital, Multicoin Capita, it can be called quite promising. And yet, buying Innosilicon A10 ETHMaster, you risk much less. There are dozens of coins on the Ethash blockchain, but iBeLink BM-K1 mines one altcoin. However, let everyone decide for himself.
Bitmain Antminer S19 Pro
- Price: $2493;
- Algorithm: SHA-256;
- Hashrate: 110 TH/s;
- Current profit without deducting electricity: $34;
- Power consumption: 3250 W;
- Dimensions: (L)370mm (W)195,5mm (H)290mm;
- Weight: 15.5Kg.
The first batch was shipped in August 2020. Now there is an increased demand for bitcoin mining machines, even the outdated Bitmain Antminer S11 model is profitable. And any newer ASIC models for bitcoin mining can be safely bought at a reasonable price, investments will certainly pay off with interest.
Bitmain Antminer Z15
- Price: $1565;
- Algorithm: EquiHash
- Hashrate: 420KSol/s;
- Current profit without deducting electricity: $23;
- Power Consumption: 1510 W;
- Dimensions: (L)245mm (W)132,5mm (H)290mm;
- Weight: 5,9Kg.
6 months warranty from the official Bitmain service center.
In order for integrated circuit devices to work as long as possible, you need to make sure that they do not overheat. ASICs should not be placed in rooms with high temperature and humidity. Also, they make a terrible noise. Obelisk immersion miners have been out of production for a long time, and low-noise Baikal have lost their relevance. Therefore, it is better to operate ASIC miners in separate non-residential premises, for example, in garages, or use the services of specialized mining hotels.
Asic table with hashrate and mining efficiency
(including Asiki, which are just going on sale)
| Model | Hesreit | Efficiency |
|---|---|---|
| ASICs for mining on the SHA256 algorithm | ||
| Bitmain Antminer S19 Pro | 110 Th / s | 29.5W/Th |
| Bitmain Antminer S19 | 95 Th / s | 34W/Th |
| MicroBT Whatsminer M30s | 88 Th / s | 38W/Th |
| Bitmain Antminer S17 + | 76 Th / s | 40W/Th |
| Bitmain Antminer S17e | 64 Th / s | 45W/Th |
| Cheetah Miner F5i-60T | 60 Th / s | 47W/Th |
| Bitmain Antminer S17 | 59 Th / s | 40W/Th |
| Canaan Avalon 1166 | 68 Th / s | 47W/Th |
| Innosilicon T3+ | 67 Th / s | 49W/Th |
| Bitmain Antminer T17 | 64 Th / s | 50W/Th |
| MicroBT Whatsminer M21S | 58 Th / s | 57W/Th |
| Canaan Avalon 1146 | 56 Th / s | 57W/Th |
| Bitmain Antminer T17e | 53 Th / s | 57W/Th |
| Ebang EBIT E12+ | 50 Th / s | 45W/Th |
| ASICs for mining on the Equihash algorithm | ||
| Bitmain Antminer Z15 | 420kh/s | 3.6W/kh |
| Innosilicon A9++ ZMaster | 140kh/s | 11W/kh |
| Bitmain Antminer Z11 | 135kh/s | 10.5W/kh |
| Innosilicon A9+ ZMaster | 120kh/s | 11.25W/kh |
| Bitmain Antminer Z11J | 105kh/s | 13.5W/kh |
| ASICs for mining on the X11 algorithm | ||
| StrongU STU-U6 | 420 Gh / s | 5 W / Gh |
| Spondoolies SPx36 | 540 Gh / s | 8 W / Gh |
| FusionSilicon X7+ | 320 Gh / s | 6.25 W / Gh |
| FusionSilicon X7 | 262 Gh / s | 4.9 W / Gh |
| ASIC for mining on the K12 algorithm | ||
| BlackMiner F1+ | 65 Gh / s | 13.85 W / Gh |
| ASICs for mining on the Blake algorithm (14r) | ||
| StrongU STU-U1++ | 52 Th / s | 42W/Th |
| MicroBT Whatsminer D1 | 44 Th / s | 52W/Th |
| Bitmain Antminer DR5 | 34 Th / s | 53W/Th |
| ASICs for mining on the Lyra2REv2 algorithm | ||
| FusionSilicon X1 | 12.96 Gh / s | 85 W / Gh |
| Dayun Zig Z1 Pro | 13 Gh / s | 115 W / Gh |
| ASICs for mining on the Blake 2B algorithm | ||
| Obelisk SC1 Dual | 1.10 Th / s | 818W/Th |
| Obelisk SC1 Slim | 550 Gh/ | 0.8 W / Gh |
| ASICs for mining on the Scrypt algorithm | ||
| Innosilicon A6 + LTC Master | 2.2 Gh / s | 955 W / Gh |
| Bitmain Antminer L3++ | 596 Mh/s | 1.75W/Mh |
| ASIC for mining on the Tensority algorithm | ||
| Bitmain Antminer B7 | 96kh/s | 5.5W/kh |
| ASIC for mining on the CryptoNight algorithm | ||
| Antminer X3 | 220kh/s | 2,27kh/s |
| ASICs for mining on the Ethash algorithm | ||
| Innosilicon A10 Pro+ 7GB | 750 Mh/s | 1.75W/Mh |
| Innosilicon A10 ETHMaster 500 | 500 Mh/s | 1.5W/Mh |
As can be seen from the table, even recently released ASICs have a wide spread in their profitability. For example, when comparing Innosilicon products with their competitors' equipment for mining Ethereum, a two- to three-fold difference in energy efficiency is visible, which proportionally affects the income of miners.
ASIC Mining Calculator Bitcoin, Zcash, Ethereum, Monero, Dash
There are many resources on the Internet that allow you to calculate the profitability of mining on various ASICs. Usually, mining profitability calculators automatically take into account the current mining difficulty and calculate the possible earnings after entering data regarding the Asic hashrate and power consumption. In addition, it is possible to take into account other parameters that affect income (commissions, energy tariffs, etc.). Many services have a database of the main parameters of ASICs and video cards popular in crypto mining. The best online cryptocurrency mining calculator is WhatToMine.
Bitcoin Asic Mining Calculator is available at https://wattomine.com/btc. For example, if you want to find out how much Asik Antminer S17 mines per day, just enter the speed (73Th), consumption (3000 watts) and the cost of electricity (0,06 USD) in the appropriate fields and click the button "Make a calculation».
The Zcash mining profitability calculator is available at www.cryptocompare.com/mining/calculator/zec.
Ethereum mining profitability calculator is available at https://eth.pp.ua/ru/calc/.
The Monero mining profitability calculator is available at www.coingecko.com/en/coins/monero/mining_calculator.
The DASH mining profitability calculator is available at www.coinwarz.com/calculators/dash-mining-calculator.
Generalized information about the most profitable ASICs at the moment is available on the resource https://www.asicminervalue.com/, which takes into account the current rate of cryptocurrencies, and also displays the income from mining for different models. This site presents a ranking of the best ASICs for mining, even taking into account those that will go on sale. It can also be used as an ASIC mining income calculator by entering the electricity cost data corresponding to the local tariff at the bottom of its pages.
Conclusion - payback, pros and cons
An analysis of the ASIC market demonstrates the fact that many devices released more than a year ago are already practically unprofitable or bring very little income.
Even the latest ASIC models for bitcoin mining have a payback period of over 6 months. ASIC cannot be rebuilt to a different algorithm or sold to gamers. True, on average, 20-30 altos fall on each of the popular mining algorithms, but the profit on each of them is different. Get the most profitable token at the moment and if you do not consider it suitable for long-term storage, then exchange it on a cryptocurrency exchange for a more solid cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin or Ether. It is better not to keep all assets in obscure altcoins.
The new ASICs for mining Ethereum, which has always been considered protected from them, have an energy efficiency greater than mining a farm on video cards. For instance, Asic Innosilicon A10 ETHMaster at speed 500 megahash consumes only 850 watts per second (1,72 watts per 1 megahash). Similar in speed rig from 10 GTX 1080Ti (500 megahash per second with an ETHlargementPill tablet) will consume at least 1300 watts (2,6 watts per 1 megahash) even at the most optimal power saving settings (650 millivolts per core when downvolted by nvidiaInspector).
Video cards of the new Nvidia RTX 3080 series can be overclocked on Ethereum up to 100 Mh / s while consuming 240 watts. To compare in hashrate with ASIC Innosilicon A10 ETH Master, you need to assemble a rather modest mining farm of 5 gpu devices. True, it will consume two and a half times more and will cost you about $ 2000 more than an ASIC miner. But on the other hand, video cards in mining, on average, live twice as long, have a manufacturer's warranty of 3 years, and not 6 months, like ASIC. In addition, GPUs can be rebuilt for a different mining algorithm or sold on the secondary market. But, there are still very few new cards in mining, and traditional models are seriously lagging behind ASICs. Over time, even more efficient devices may appear on the Ethash algorithm.
Here is a comparison table:
| Model Features | Innosilicon A10 ETHMaster | 10 pcs GTX 3080 | 10 pcs AMD Radeon RX 580 GB8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hesreit | 750 | 1000 | 320 |
| W consumption | 1350 | 2400 | 980 |
| Energy Efficiency W/Mh | 1.75 | 2,4 | 3 |
However, this does not suit all cryptocurrency developers. Some are switching to PoS, others are changing the mining algorithm. A video card with regular maintenance can work in a rig for three years. ASIC will not be able to withstand such a long period. When Ethereum goes to PoS, and the classic changes the mining algorithm, video cards will be able to rebuild, and devices based on integrated circuits running on Ethash will lose profitability. ASIC, of course, is more efficient, but it must consistently generate profit for at least a year. Nobody needs an unprofitable, used ASIC, and it often happens that devices on integrated circuits lose their relevance faster than they fail.
Mining is an investment in the future. Of course, you can immediately withdraw earned assets to fiat, but the time will come when you will regret it. Without extreme need, it is better not to sell the crypt, except to use it for trading. But keep in mind making money on the volatility of the digital coin rate is even more difficult than mining. The main thing is not to panic in a downtrend, a year ago BTC was worth $3000, and then it rose again and still remains the most promising coin. There are more and more options for passive income. For example, staking or profitable farming, the same Ethereum will soon move to POS and the coins accumulated in mining will work for you. Funds invested in cryptocurrency mining will bring a guaranteed income.
If until recently someone could object, today all cryptoskeptics have swallowed their tongues. Bitcoin can be sold for 38 thousand US dollars, even investors who bought digital gold during the boom at the end of 2017 more than recouped their investment. Well, those far-sighted people who invested in bitcoin during the crypto winter, when for 1 BTC they gave less than four thousand greenbacks, can now afford to move to a new house, or change a Lada for a BMW.
But today's price is not the limit. Perhaps there will be another price correction, after which the rate of popular crypto coins will soar even higher. Good luck to you!