ASIC mining – description, instructions, popular miners 2022

When it first appeared and was still a little-known and totally unpopular asset, mining was engaged exclusively by “geeks” – in order to maintain and develop the idea. At that time, digital currencies were mined mainly on graphics processors. But very soon it turned from a “hobby for computer geniuses” into a very profitable business. It was then that the question arose of developing innovative equipment, which would bring mining to a new level, an industrial one. And so China invented a chip-based device for Bitcoin mining – the first asic miner. How to mine cryptocurrency on ASIC in 2022, tells ProstoCoin.

What is an ASIC?

ASIC (“Application Specific Integrated Circuit”) is a microcircuit configured to do one specific type of work, in this case, to decipher the algorithms on which the cryptocurrency is based. It is the “single-purpose focus” that allows an ASIC system to mine much faster and better than its multitasking counterparts (processors, video cards). In the cryptocurrency community ASIC is rarely referred to as a system, more often referred to simply as an “asic”. 

It is worth recalling that every digital currency functions on the basis of this or that . Accordingly, mining asics are developed specifically for a particular algorithm.

For example, ASICs for mining cryptocurrencies based on the following algorithms:

• SHA-256 (bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Syscoin, Peercoin, Namecoin, etc.);
• X11 (Dash, Pura currencies, etc.);
• Ethash (Ethereum currencies, Ethereum Classic, Metaverse ETP, Ubiq, etc.);
• Scrypt (Litecoin, Dogecoin, B3Coin, Bitdeal currencies, etc.);
• Equihash (Zcash, Komodo, etc.);
• Blake(2b) (Decred, Siacoin).

For some algorithms there is no need to buy expensive asics. They can be easily replaced by cloud mining with returns up to 300% per annum. So, offers contracts for 1, 2, 5 years and open-ended for coin mining on SHA-256, Ethash and Euihash algorithms. Contract prices start at $17 per year.

In technical terms, an ASIC miner is a unit that contains:

• boards (chips);
• A memory block that provides software operation of the ASIC-mainer;
• a fan;
• Connectors for connecting external devices;
• housing and connecting elements.

ASIC-mining is a much less energy-consuming process than video card mining; accordingly, the question “which is better, asics or video cards” is irrelevant. To catch up with an asic in terms of performance (which is affected by asic quality of your video card), you will need to build a whole farm of dozens of GPUs, but in terms of power consumption the farm will not reach the level of an asic.

First asics were incredibly compact and attached to the system via usb. Today such devices are no longer relevant, because they have become unprofitable. The current generation of ASIC-mainers is much more impressive in size. ASICs are divided into 2 types, depending on the size of the device, its power and energy consumption:

• professional;

Home.

Home ashiks are more compact, almost noiseless, have a power supply up to 600 watts, while their professional counterparts are many times more bulky and noisy, but they are much more powerful and energy efficient. They also differ significantly in price.

The most popular models of ASICs

At the present time, the most popular and reliable manufacturers of ASICs are considered to be the following companies:

• Bitmain;
• Baikal;
• PinIdea;
• Innosilicon;
• Ebang Communication;
• Halong Mining.
• Let’s consider these manufacturers’ asics in the context of mining algorithms.
• SHA-256 Algorithm

The first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and some other cryptocurrencies use the SHA-256 algorithm. This algorithm is deciphered by the following popular asics:

• Asic Bitmain Antminer S9 (14 TH/s; 1340W);
• Asic T9 Antminer by Bitmain (11.5 TH/s; 1450W);
• Asic Bitmain Antminer V9 (11.5 TH/s; 1450W);
• WhatsMiner M3 ASIC Miner (12.5 TH/s; 1576W);
• DragonMint T1 by Halong Mining (16 TH/s; 1600W);
• Ebit E10.1 Miner 18T from Ebang Communication (18 TH/s; 1600W).

X11 Algorithm

Dash runs on this algorithm. Many companies have developed the most powerful miners, which in a short period of time significantly increased the complexity of the network, which led to a drop in profitability of mining on X11. This algorithm is deciphered by the following popular asics:

• Bitmain’s Asic Antminer D3 (19.3 GH/s; 1100W);
• A5 DashMaster x11 asic miner from Innosilicon (32.5 GH/s; 750W);
• DR-100 PRO by Pinidea (22 GH/s; 900W);
• Giant X10 from Baikal (10 GH/s; 630W).
• Blake Algorithm (2b).

This algorithm is deciphered by the following popular asics:

• Asic A3 Antminer from Bitmain (815 GH/s; 1275W);
• Giant-B from Baikal (80 GH/s; 300W);
• DragonMint B52 Blake2b Miner from Halong Mining (3.83 TH/s; 1380W).
• Scrypt Algorithm.

Lycoin and many more promising cryptocurrencies operate on the Scrypt algorithm. This algorithm is decrypted by the following popular asics:

 

• Bitmain’s Asic Antminer L3+, an improved version of the Asic L3 (504 MH/s; 800W);
• A6 LTCMaster from Innosilicon (1.23 GH/s; 1500W);
• A4+ LTCMaster from Innosilicon (620 MH/s; 750W).

Cryptonight Algorithm

Note: Not to be confused with Cryptonote. Cryptonote is the technology and Cryptonight is the hashing algorithm that the technology uses. It is worth noting that Cryptonote and Scrypt consume a lot of RAM.

Such popular coins as Monero, Electroneum and Bytecoin work on Cryptonight algorithm. This algorithm is decrypted by the following popular asics:

• Asic Antminer X3 from Bitmain (220 KH/s; 550W);
• Giant-N from Baikal (20 KH/s; 60W);
• DragonMint X2 Miner from Halong Mining (248 KH/s; 490W);
• DragonMint X1 Miner from Halong Mining (124 KH/s; 245 watts).
• Ethash Algorithm (Dagger Hashimoto)

Previously, this algorithm was only decrypted with video cards, but that changed after Bitmain manufacturer Bitmain released the world’s first asic for ether, the Antminer F3, in 2018.

The best ASIC miners as of early 2021

The miners in this selection have the most favorable performance to power consumption ratio. This is what makes them an excellent choice, in terms of mining profitability.

Payback on ASIC miners

One of the most important questions in the context of the profitability of the mining business is how quickly the ASICs pay for themselves. The payback period of an ASIC miner is the time it takes for the acic you purchase to recoup the cost of its purchase (i.e., the initial investment). That is when the mining of digital currencies will start to bring the long-awaited profit.

It is quite logical that the payback of different devices will be different, because it depends on the following parameters:

• the hash rate of the miner;
• the cost of the miner;
• The correct setup of the equipment;

 

The digital currency that you are mining.

Nowadays, you can calculate the payback of the selected ashik very easily. The most usual mining profitability comes to the rescue. There you will need to simply select a cryptocurrency that you are going to mine (the complexity of the network and the rate of cryptocurrency affects the payback period of the equipment), specify the cost of the equipment, your costs for mining (electricity tariff) – and in a couple of seconds you will know for what period your miner will pay back.

Usually, asics pay for themselves in about two years. Don’t expect a return on investment before 10-14 months. In addition, if the complexity of mining increases, therefore, the payback period will increase to 20 months.

If you want to start mining, but do not want to invest in expensive equipment and wait many months for the first profit, try . With it, you can rent capacity without buying it. That way you will save a significant amount of money and you will start earning from the very first day.

How to assemble an ASIC miner with your own hands
The price of an asic is “biting” and not everyone is willing to invest a large sum of money in their business at the initial stage. If you want to save money, there is another option – a homemade asic miner. But how to make your own asic? Of course, to do this you must have an exact idea of what kind of machine it is and how exactly it is set up. An ASIC miner usually consists of the following elements:

ASIC boards, which are arranged in special slots parallel to each other and on which microchips are placed. There are usually multiple boards in one miner;

A memory block, which is a very important component of a miner and is responsible for ensuring its proper functioning;

The power supply, which converts the AC current into DC, which guarantees the stability of its supply. The miner runs on AC power, but the microchips are powered by DC voltage;

Fans, which also play an important role in ensuring the smooth operation of the device, because they are responsible for the timely removal of heat (the mining process is accompanied by a large amount of heat), and thus protect the device from overheating. It is very important to use a reliable cooler in your homemade miner, or even better to install several fans. Also, as a rule, radiators are installed on each of the boards to dissipate heat;

connectors for communicating with external devices. You should understand that the miner will need to be connected to other devices and provide the necessary outputs for this;

enclosures. Of course, the fruit of your efforts must be placed in some kind of housing. In the latest models, manufacturers use an aluminum enclosure, as this allows for better heat exchange. You can use either an aluminum box or an enclosure made of any other thin-walled metal. It is very important to ensure efficient hot air extraction (openings in the housing must be provided).

Before you start assembling a mining asic, you need to draw a schematic diagram, purchase all the necessary equipment, and decide on the size of the device. If you are going to install the miner in your home, it would not hurt to make it as compact as possible, as well as to take care of noise insulation (use a special box). In addition, be sure to calculate the profitability of your home-made ashik, because your creation may well be ineffective.

In general, to build your own asic is possible only if you know something about it. For beginners it’s better to start with and rent the device remotely.

What kind of ASIC to buy?

If you have evaluated your capabilities and realized that you cannot build your own miner, you can buy a ready-made product. However, the choice of the device must also be done wisely. First of all, you need to decide with what algorithm you are going to work, and then get acquainted specifically with miners that decode this particular algorithm. When choosing an ashik, you should pay attention to the following parameters of the device:

Hashrate – this is a key indicator, which determines how many coins you will be able to mine and for what period of time. The higher the hash rate, the faster your ashik will go through the values needed to sign a block, the faster it will be able to mine coins, the shorter the payback period of your miner and the more profit you will be able to make in the future. Older models of miners can’t boast good hash rates (for example, Avalon Asic, Asic Neptune, Asic S7 hash rate is much less than 10 TH/s, which means that buying such a miner will not be profitable for you). More recent models produce a more impressive hash rate (e.g., Bitfury Asic B8 hash rate of 49 TH/s, Asic miner x11 – about 32 TH/s), but the power consumption of such miners is quite high. Accordingly, it is better to look at miners with medium hash rates (e.g., asic d3, asic m3).
Microprocessor frequency. This parameter also plays an important role, because it is the CPU frequency that determines the hash rate. The frequency at which an ashik’s processor is running determines the performance of your machine and the number of operations the ashik can perform per second. Hash rate and microprocessor frequency are not the same thing. When choosing a miner, be sure to pay attention to this parameter. The higher the frequency, the better.

Power consumption. This indicator also determines the payback period of your miner, as well as the size of your future profits. The higher the power consumption of your machine, the more you will spend on electricity bills. Unfortunately, this is a double-edged sword: the more powerful your equipment is and the higher its hash rate, the more electricity it will consume. You need to choose an option that will have the highest hash rate possible while consuming the least amount of power possible.

Price. Perhaps the most important question is how much an asicic costs. The second important question is where to buy an asic. The higher the hash rate, the higher the CPU performance, the lower the power consumption, the more expensive an asic is going to cost you.

How to connect an asic miner

Connecting and setting up an asic is a fairly simple process. Of course, each device comes with a manual, where each step is painted in detail, but in principle, all asics are installed in about the same way.

To install an asic miner, proceed as follows:

First, connect the power supply of the asic. To do this, connect the connectors from the power supply to the device body (you will hear a characteristic click), and one of the connectors to the system control panel. As a rule, the outputs are the same and the sequence of connection is not important;

then connect the network cable to the router;

perform a test run. If you have connected everything correctly, the network connection lights will come on, and the fans will start running at a low speed;

Determine the IP address of your miner. To manage your hardware, you need to know what IP address has been assigned to your asycu. You can either use various utilities or go to the router’s home page with your browser and find the appropriate settings;

then go to the miner’s web interface for management, where you will be able to choose the settings that interest you, namely: specify the mining pool, adjust the frequency of the microprocessor, power, update the firmware, etc;

then you have to save the settings, after that your asik will reboot and then will be ready to work. You can check the status in a special tab, where the main processes are displayed, and you can check the cryptocurrency mining statistics in your mining pool account.

Please note that you must ensure that your miner has an appropriate temperature mode, because in case of overheating, a protection mechanism will work and your device will shut down.

These recommendations are rather general, so you should carefully read the instructions and only then proceed to setting up your ashik. If you do not speak any foreign languages (the instructions may not necessarily be translated into Russian), then you should search for a high-quality overview of the model of the miner you are interested in on the net.

Conclusion

Despite the ever-increasing complexity of the network and the frantic competition in the industry, the mining business is currently very popular among professionals, as well as among beginners or amateurs. In this article we talked about the notorious asik mining, learned what it is, and discussed the most popular models of miners, how to build an asik yourself or how to choose the perfect model for yourself.
In general, the mining business can bring good profits, if you organize the process correctly. In our country this business is quite promising, because electricity tariffs are quite low, which allows you to minimize the mining costs. Such services offer remote data centers at . We hope that this article has helped you to understand this issue.