How to choose a good IPFS mining machine?

As the most valuable star chain in 2018, IPFS (FileCoin) is expected to be launched in June this year. Although rumors of "delayed launch time" appear every few days, the official has never made any statement. Therefore, friends who plan to invest in IPFS mining still need to prepare in advance, and don't be misled by rumors and lose the opportunity to mine FileCoin in the first batch.

We all know that the first batch of miners who mined Bitcoin and Ethereum made a lot of money. According to media reports, the average return rate of the first batch of Bitcoin miners was five times, and the average return rate of Ethereum was three times. This shows the importance of the "first batch" of mining. IPFS is known as a star-level main chain at the same level as Ethereum. The value of the first batch of mining is self-evident.

Figure 1: IPFS (FileCoin) is the best main chain project in 2018

Since IPFS (FileCoin) needs to contribute storage space and upstream and downstream bandwidth to get rewards, IPFS mining machines are not overly dependent on hardware, and are also much more "people-friendly" in terms of power consumption and other issues. Therefore, for miners, the initial investment cost is very low. However, because of this, many so-called "IPFS mining machine" companies have emerged on the market, and they are conducting large-scale false marketing in the name of mining. Here, the editor lists some of the so-called "advantages" currently on the market, hoping to help you choose a mining machine.

1. Select the system

Currently, many companies on the market claim that their mining machines are highly "configured", based on the X86 Windows system, and can mine while playing games. In fact, these so-called mining machines are just traditional DIY machines, which are just dressed up as IPFS mining machines. There are several reasons for this:

1) These machines all use pirated Windows systems, which are inherently insecure and pose a great threat to the staked coins mined by IPFS.

2) Hard disks are generally very small and cannot meet the storage space requirements of IPFS

3) The voltage of the external hard disk is unstable, the USB port is also unstable, and the noise problem and other hardware wear problems are obvious when the computer is turned on 24 hours a day.

Figure 2: The configuration of a mining machine published on the market, without specifying the system information or expansion slots

Therefore, the editor recommends that when choosing a mining machine, the core system should preferably be Linux. Currently, more than 95% of the global server market chooses Linux, which has been verified by time, and Windows is not recommended as an operating system.

2. About Hard Drive

There are many discussions on the hard disk space of IPFS mining machines on the market, which is also the primary consideration for the public when purchasing IPFS mining machines. In fact, the editor recommends thinking from the following directions:

1) How much budget do you need to invest? For example, if you want to invest tens or hundreds of millions, you must basically choose multiple disk slots + high-quality IDC hosting resources. In addition, you also need to pay attention to the purchase of hard drives. The editor recommends 8TB x 12 disk slots or 24 disk slots, because the cost-effectiveness is much lower than that of 10TB helium hard drives, and the investment cost is lower.

2) If you just want to participate in mining and invest a few thousand or tens of thousands of dollars, then the requirements for disk slots are not high, but you must consider the scalability. If a mining machine does not even have an expansion disk slot, then basically you have to PASS it directly. The editor recommends that it should be able to expand to at least 16TB. Choose a mining machine with a high cost performance, such as the Hummingbird H1 of StarBit, which is 1999, supports 20TB expansion, and uses the IPFS OS based on the Linux system.

3) Don’t be obsessed with the number of disks. More disks mean more noise, more investment, and more power consumption. You still need to know your investment goals clearly. If you just want to make a small investment and put it at home, 2 disks are enough. If you really want to invest a large amount, then go for more than 12 disks and find IDC hosting.

3. Technical deployment of the main chain

Currently the main chain is not online yet, and anyone who claims they can mine FileCoin is a scammer (storj can mine but the returns are not very good). Reliable companies are generally working overtime to develop their own IPFS systems, rather than fooling people every day.

In fact, IPFS mining is not that complicated. Due to the particularity of distributed storage, ordinary investment miners do not need to understand too much technology. A good mining machine system can basically allow users to achieve "one-click mining", so there is no need to worry too much in this regard.

The above are some simple tips for selecting IPFS mining machines compiled by the editor. I hope it can be of some help to you.