BLOCKCHAIN ABC "Сryptocurrency mining farms"

Mining is a process of creating new blocks in blockchain for the cryptocurrency reward. Miners’ activity provides the integrity of entire blockchain. The competition among miners always grows, and lucky blocks generating profit go to participants with the most powerful equipment. To enhance their chances, miners assemble comprehensive cryptocurrency mining farms and unite into pools.

The article explains the purpose of ASICs with video cards and reveals the way of assembling your own farm.

Mining farms

A mining farm is a complex of computing equipment, representing a chain of devices connected to one or several computers.

While previously one has used regular computers for digital currency mining, now there is special equipment for this purpose. Depending on it, farms can be divided into three types:

• GPU farms that obtain cryptocurrency using video cards;
• CPU farms where central processors serve as miners;
• ASIC farms consisting of hardware designed specially for mining (ASICs).

Video card (GPU mining)

Mining  on video cards is a conventional way to obtain cryptocurrencies where several video cards are connected to a single board. Profitable GPU mining will require at least 4 video cards with large memory. For example, to mine Ethereum, one will need a video card with at least 4 GB of RW memory.

Processor (CPU mining)

It is processors that are responsible for the main operation in this mining type. Similar to video cards, they are connected to the motherboard. Nevertheless, mining on processors has recently lost its popularity, as its efficiency is most frequently lower than the one on video cards.

ASIC (ASIC mining)

ASICS are the most popular today. They have the most powerful features among presented equipment and the lowest energy consumption. We have discussed ASICs in a separate article.

How to assemble a mining farm

To install a powerful farm, one should invest in high-quality equipment and find a source of cheap electricity. Mining farm earnings depend on:

• the manufacturer of chips or video cards. One should take into account what video cards are appropriate for mining of certain cryptocurrencies: for instance, AMD video cards are convenient for Ether mining. The mismatching of video cards can lead to the low efficiency and thus the loss of profit;
• the amount of computing tools. The best possible number of video cards or ASICs is 4-6 units. However, the more the better.

Besides, one should consider the role of expenditures for farm maintenance. It primarily refers to electricity: for example, only one ASIC has an output from 900 to 1300 W. Sometimes, it can be even higher.

At the same time, the farm assembling will require the following equipment:

• a motherboard with several slots for video cards or ASICs;
• a 60-160 GB hard disk drive;
• a processor;
• video cards or ASICs;
• a power supply unit;
• adapters and auxiliary power devices;
• a cooler for extra cooling or a ventilator.

It is better to install all components on one frame. It will look like a computer mainframe but the open-type one, because the air should be circulated within the mining farm. Wood and aluminum are the most popular materials for the frame, as they are relatively cheap and can reject heat.

Individual attention should be paid to the farm maintenance. Equipment becomes hot during operation. Therefore, to make devices last longer, one should cool them off. For this end, one can equip video cards with extra coolers or put powerful ventilators near the farm. Another way is to buy water units: devices for the water cooling of video cards and processors. They are sold in common appliance stores.