What are the pitfalls of buying a mining machine? Niche graphics card mining machine

In the previous series of articles on mining pitfall prevention, we reviewed common pitfalls, including pitfalls of futures mining machines, pitfalls of small-coin mining machines, pitfalls of second-hand mining machines, and coupons that retail miners cannot get. Those articles basically talked about ASIC mining machines.

In fact, in addition to ASIC mining machines, graphics card mining machines and FPGA mining machines also occupy a large part of the mining market share . There are actually not many currencies that have professional ASIC mining machines.

Several currencies with ASIC mining machines, source: Mining Coin Network

Like ASIC mining machines, graphics card mining machines also have many pitfalls, and the graphics card mining machine market is more niche, and the degree of specialization and transparency are not that high. It is easier for novice and white miners to fall into the trap.

Today, we will sort out the relevant content about graphics card mining machines, hoping to help everyone avoid detours and better avoid risks.

01
Graphics card mining machine and its advantages

The evolution of mining equipment has gone through four stages: personal computers (CPU), graphics card mining machines (GPU), FPGA mining machines and ASIC mining machines.

For relatively mature PoW currencies such as BTC and LTC, the computing power has long been monopolized by ASIC mining machines, but some small currencies, such as anonymous coins GRIN and XMR, are still mainly mined by graphics card mining machines. In addition, although the consensus mechanism of Ethereum (ETH) 2.0 is to be transformed into PoS, it is still mined by graphics card mining machines at this stage, and the Ethereum ASIC mining machine E7 developed by Bitmain has not been launched on the market.

In terms of computing power, GPU miners cannot compete with ASIC miners, but GPU miners also have their own advantages:

First of all, graphics card miners can mine more currencies and are more flexible. Unlike ASIC miners that can only mine currencies with fixed algorithms, graphics card miners can mine most currencies. They can choose to mine the currency with the highest return and switch flexibly.

Secondly, the residual value of the graphics card mining machine is higher. In the previous article of Zhikuang University, "How to calculate the residual value of the mining machine? Where will the scrapped mining machine go?", we introduced that the graphics card of the graphics card mining machine can be sold at 60% to 70% of the price of the new card after it is removed, and the "platform" of the graphics card mining machine can be sold for 500 to 1,000 yuan. In contrast, the residual value of the ASIC mining machine is pitiful, and a scrapped ASIC mining machine hardware can only be sold for about 30 yuan.

Finally, there is a lot of room for DIY in graphics card mining machines. ASIC mining machines are packaged when they leave the factory, and their power, computing power, and energy efficiency are fixed. Although some models of mining machines can be changed by downclocking, overclocking, etc., the range of change is not large; in contrast, graphics card mining machines have a lot of room for operation. In addition to the official packaged graphics card mining machines, miners with strong hands-on ability can also go to the market to buy CPUs, graphics cards, motherboards, memory, hard drives, power supplies, and chassis according to their own needs, and then assemble them themselves.

02
The pitfalls of buying graphics card mining machines

ASIC mining machines require chip development, which requires a large amount of capital and technical talent in the early stage. The threshold is high and the risk is high, so there are only a handful of manufacturers that can produce ASIC mining machines. Graphics card mining machines do not require the development of dedicated chips. The most important component, graphics cards, is ready-made, and the capital threshold and technical threshold are lower. During the cryptocurrency bull market in 2017, more than half of Huaqiangbei graphics card dealers tried to assemble graphics card mining machines themselves to participate in mining.

When ordinary users buy graphics card mining machines, they need to avoid the following pitfalls:

1. The new machine is equipped with a second-hand graphics card

The assembly threshold of graphics card mining machines is relatively low, which gives some unscrupulous mining machine manufacturers a "chance to make a fortune". Some of the new mining machines they sell are not packed with brand new graphics cards, but second-hand or even third-hand graphics cards. After simple refurbishment, ordinary people have no ability to identify them. Such mining machines often have insufficient computing power and high failure rates after being put on the shelves.

2. Tampering with graphics card information by flashing BIOS

The most important component of a graphics card mining machine is the graphics card. The performance and quantity of the graphics card directly determine the computing power of the mining machine. Some unscrupulous second-hand dealers of graphics card mining machines will tamper with the information of the graphics card by flashing the firmware, so as to sell low-end graphics card mining machines at the price of high-end mining machines.

For example, the GPU core chip of AMD graphics cards has not printed any model parameters for many years, and the RX470~RX580 graphics cards have a similar PCB solution. By flashing the BIOS, part of the graphics card information can be changed, making it impossible to judge whether the graphics card packaged in the mining machine is the lowest-end RX470 or RX580 through the GPU core.

Here is a brief explanation of BIOS. It is a control program that controls various working states of the graphics card, including core operating frequency, video memory operating frequency, power consumption limit, operating voltage, video memory timing and other core parameters. Flashing BIOS means replacing the original program with a new control program, thereby tampering with certain core parameters to achieve a better energy efficiency ratio. This is a bit like flashing firmware on an ASIC mining machine to achieve overclocking and downclocking.

If the graphics card has its BIOS flashed, once it is detected by the graphics card manufacturer, they will no longer provide warranty service.

In addition to the above two pitfalls, the pitfalls that you will encounter when purchasing ASIC mining machines are also difficult to avoid for graphics card mining machines . I will not give examples one by one here.

To avoid these pitfalls, it is actually very simple. Find a reliable mining machine dealer and buy graphics card mining machines from well-known brands .

03
The pitfalls of assembling your own graphics card mining machine

Since the DIY space of graphics card mining machines is large and the assembly threshold is low, many miners will choose to go to the market to buy related accessories for assembly. However, there are many tricks in purchasing accessories and assembly, and novice miners will fall into traps if they are not careful.

1. CPU

For computers, the CPU is the most important component, not just any other. However, for graphics card mining machines, the CPU is almost the "most useless" component, although it is indispensable.

Many novice miners do not understand the ins and outs of this, and think that just like computers, they must spend thousands of dollars to buy high-end multi-core CPUs. In fact, this is not necessary, and an ordinary CPU of about 50 yuan is sufficient. Mining is an industry that pays great attention to cost control and careful calculation. You should try to cut down on the expenses of the mining machine as much as possible, so as to accelerate the return on investment.

In addition, there are some CPUs on the market that are directly integrated into the motherboard. This type of CPU usually has poor performance. If it is used to mine Ethereum, it will not make much difference, but it will be a bit difficult to mine some other small currencies, and it is easy to lose computing power.

2. Graphics card

The main force of the graphics card mining machine is undoubtedly the graphics card, which is also the most expensive component in the mining machine. A mainstream graphics card mining machine usually has 6 to 8 graphics cards.

At present, NVIDIA and AMD occupy the largest share of the graphics card market, and the graphics card models they have launched are dazzling. For novices, it is not recommended to buy "old" low-end graphics cards because their depreciation value is very low.

NVIDIA and AMD have different optimizations for different algorithms. In the early days, due to the low proportion of electricity costs, the difference between N cards (NVIDIA) and A cards (AMD) was not obvious. However, as the competition in mining became more and more fierce, the proportion of electricity costs increased, and the advantage of N cards in energy efficiency ratio became more and more obvious. Through actual measurements, the energy efficiency ratio of N cards and A cards differed by 20% to 30%.

In addition, N cards are more suitable for mining small currencies. N cards are supported by the CUDA computing platform launched by NVIDIA, while A cards can only use OpenCL. After the new small currency mining algorithm comes out, the performance of mining software written in CUDA is often higher than that of software written in OpenCL .

If you are mining Ethereum, you also need to pay special attention to the graphics card's memory. According to the information on investoon.com, on December 24 this year, the DAG file of Ethereum will reach 3.99G, which means that 4G graphics cards can no longer mine Ethereum. Therefore, for miners who want to mine Ethereum, they should choose 6G or 8G graphics cards.

Speaking of video memory, let's especially mention the P106 graphics card. Nvidia's graphics card comes in two types, one of which uses Samsung chips and the other uses Hynix chips. When mining Ethereum, the computing power of the P106 graphics card with Hynix memory will be about 10% lower, but there is little difference when mining other currencies.

3. Motherboard

There are three main schemes for current graphics card mining machines: ordinary motherboard + adapter board + extension cable, multi-slot motherboard + extension cable, and direct plug motherboard. Of the three schemes, direct plug motherboard is undoubtedly the most convenient, but it also has its disadvantages, that is, the spacing between graphics cards is not large enough, which easily leads to heat dissipation problems.

In addition, the most important thing to pay attention to about the motherboard is stability. It is not recommended to install more than 8 graphics cards on the motherboard, otherwise it is easy to encounter graphics card driver problems. (Note: Linux systems generally do not have driver problems)

4. Power supply

The power supply is a very important component in the graphics card mining machine, and you cannot be greedy for small and cheap parts. The temperature of the mining machine is very high when it is running. If the power supply quality is very poor and an explosion occurs, it may not only make the graphics card scrapped, but also cause a safety accident. Therefore, you must purchase a power supply of a well-known brand from a regular channel.

In addition, due to the power conversion efficiency, if there is no margin for actual power consumption, the mining machine will not run or the performance will be wasted. Therefore, when purchasing a power supply, you should choose a power supply that is larger than the actual power consumption.

In addition to the CPU, graphics card, motherboard, and power supply, assembling a graphics card mining machine also requires accessories such as a hard disk, memory, and chassis. When DIYing a graphics card mining machine, you also need to pay attention to the interfaces of each accessory and the interface of the adapter cable to ensure that they match.

04
Hosting of GPU mining machines

The business model of the mining farm is to make money from the price difference of electricity. They buy electricity from power plants at low prices and sell it to miners at a higher price. The more electricity they sell, the more money they make. Compared with ASIC mining machines, graphics card mining machines are large in size and consume less power, so they are not popular in many mining farms.

In addition, graphics card mining machines are more "delicate" and have higher requirements for mining farms. The mining farms need to be dust-proof, moisture-proof, and anti-static, and the power supply must be stable. Therefore, when choosing a hosting mining farm, there are more factors to consider than ASIC mining machines.

Later, we will introduce the pitfalls of mining farm hosting, so stay tuned.

05
Conclusion

In summary, graphics card mining machines have more currencies to choose from, higher residual value, and more room for DIY. For novice and white miners, it is the most cost-effective and convenient option to directly find a reliable mining machine dealer to buy a well-known brand of graphics card mining machine, and it can also avoid falling into many pitfalls. But for some experienced miners, it may be more cost-effective to buy accessories and assemble mining machines by themselves.

What other things do you know about GPU mining machines that need attention? Feel free to share in the comment section.