“Cryptocurrencies” is a term on everyone’s lips today who is at least somewhat familiar with the world of the Internet. Every day we hear news about the next growth of Bitcoin, the fork of Etherium, and the emergence of promising new altcoins. Even if you don’t know what these are, but you want to learn how to make money online, this article (check the source) will be useful for you. In it, we will talk about cryptocurrency mining farms.
WHAT IS MINING
If you already know how the world of cryptocurrencies works and how they are mined, you can skip this section of our article. But for newcomers this process will be interesting.
Most cryptocurrencies have no owner. That is the advantage of “new money”. They are managed in a decentralized way. And anyone is responsible for issuing tokens. They are mined using anyone’s computing equipment. Electronic devices, by solving certain mathematical problems, produce tokens. Such mathematical problems are necessary to validate transactions between cryptocurrency users.
In the Bitcoin system, each token transaction must receive up to 120 confirmations. And only after that it is recognized as legitimate. The equipment involved in such confirmation receives a reward. Which ends up in the wallet of its owner.
The process of using its computing power to validate transactions is called mining. The term means “mining. It has often been used to refer to gold mining. So it began to be applied to the “new gold,” Bitcoin. And then to the rest of the cryptocurrencies.
People engaged in this type of activity are called “miners. This term also refers to special, ready-to-use equipment for mining tokens.
Initially, Bitcoin mining was done with ordinary computers. But the network grew, and the performance of home computers was not enough. Video cards were used, and then special farms. Which combined several video cards for efficiency.
WHAT IS A MINING FARM
When the passive participation of the PC to support a normal transaction rate of Bitcoin (the first cryptocurrency) was not enough, craftsmen began to use special equipment. Clever people quickly figured out that it was possible to make decent money by mining. Modern mining is essentially a voluntary rent of one’s power. And, like any other rental, it brings income – explains Kirill Yurovskiy.
Just like with real estate or vehicle rentals, the more expensive the rental property is, the more income can be made. In the case of Bitcoin mining, mining farms have such value. They are a combination of several video cards and a cooling system. The more processing power of the equipment, the more tokens you can get. Combining multiple video cards is a great way to build equipment to generate a steady income.
What is a mining farm in simple terms? It is a place to grow Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Without such farms, most cryptocurrencies would not be able to function. Unfortunately, targeted Bitcoin mining is not exactly profitable today. But there are hundreds of other cryptocurrencies that can be earned by mining.
BITCOIN MINING FARM
We hope you understand how cryptocurrencies are mined. To “grow” the most popular token, Bitcoin, you need more powerful equipment than for other cryptocurrencies. PC graphics card manufacturers could not keep up with the growing demand for powerful components. And at one time there was a shortage of them on the market.
In order to get a reward of a few satoshi (Bitcoin’s bargaining chip), it is necessary for the equipment to unravel a new block before others. And the better the characteristics of the farm, the more satoshi you can get. Today more and more miners mining the very first cryptocurrency are switching to special ASIC mining equipment. It is already built for the needs of mining. Whereas even the most powerful video cards cannot meet all the needs of such business. The thing is that they are designed for other purposes – video games. And to get ahead of other “diggers” and solve the block, it is important to use a modern device with a high hash rate.
HOW A MINING FARM WORKS
Technically, bitcoin mining is a compilation of the numbers of a new block. The system “gives out” a hash function for which the calculations are made. This hash function consists of tens of numbers, and a new block of tens of thousands of numbers. Once the block is solved, it is entered into the registry, and the system gives the miners a new hash function. The reward for the block is 12.5 btc. But it is divided by the number of pool participants who were involved in this calculation. The relevance of the mining farm in 2017 for Bitcoin mining is zero. But there are other cryptocurrencies.
The equipment used to mine Bitcoin uses the SHA-256 algorithm. Therefore, it can be used to mine other cryptocurrencies “working” on this algorithm: Steemit, DigiByte, Peercoin, Namecoin, Zetacoin, Ocoin, Tekcoin, etc.
This is important to know before you buy a turnkey bitcoin mining farm, specifically when purchasing the ASIC miners that are popular today. The fact is that they are already initially “sharpened” for a particular algorithm. This means that they can be used to mine a limited number of cryptocurrencies. Which is their weak point.
Today, even with a powerful mining farm there is no benefit of working alone. Therefore, many miners join together in pools. This increases the possibility of block calculation. Learn about the most popular pools, as well as the conditions of their membership can be found on specialized forums of people engaged in such business.
WHAT YOU NEED FOR A MINING FARM
Recent events show that Bitcoin mining on the above-mentioned farms is not effective. But with such equipment you can start mining other cryptocurrencies. There are a lot of them nowadays. We have written a step-by-step instruction on how to assemble a mining farm. So, the main components of the farm:
The frame
It is an open case. Consisting of racks for fixing video cards. It is advisable to make the frame from the corners under the dimensions of those video cards that will be used in such a design. Today it is not hard to find such a frame on sale. But you can make it yourself. Frame for the Mining Farm looks something like an aquarium without glass. To weld or assemble such on the bolts is very simple.
Video card
Even before you buy video cards, you need to buy a motherboard. It should support the characteristics of your video cards. Up to six video cards can be connected to a single motherboard. Choosing equipment for a mining farm is about picking the video cards that will have the best power/consumption ratio. The higher the power consumption, the more you have to pay for power. Among the miners there is even such a term as “work for the outlet. That is, earnings that will at best cover the cost of electricity.
Power Supply
Choosing a power supply is far from an easy question to decide when building your farm. The more video cards will be running, the more powerful the power supply unit should be. It should be chosen with 150-200 watts of spare of the video cards consumption. For the best performance of such equipment it is important that this component of a mining farm has enough PCI-E connectors to connect the video cards directly.
Cooling system
Mining farms generate quite a lot of heat, which needs to be dissipated. If this is not done, it can put such expensive equipment out of operation. To ensure the proper operation of the ventilation system it is necessary to have a distance of 9-10 cm between the video cards. The heat can be removed from them with the help of ordinary floor fans. If there will be several trusses installed in the room, it is necessary to install a forced ventilation system.
WHERE TO BUY A TURNKEY MINING FARM
Ready-made turnkey farm is the best way to acquire the equipment for mining without having the necessary technical knowledge and time to assemble them. Today you can buy ready-made farms on specialized websites, miners forums and Chinese online stores.
But with each passing day, video card-based farms are receding into the background. Their place is taken by special miners. That is, ready-made modules for mining. It is enough to connect them to the Internet, make the necessary adjustments and start working.
Such miners are sold on Aliexpress. The most popular models are:
- Antminer S9. The device is capable of providing 13 trillion hashes per second. You can mine cryptocurrencies on the SHA-256 algorithm.
- Antminer D3 15 GH/s X11. One of the best miners of the popular cryptocurrency Dash / Hash rate of 15 GH / s.
- IBeLink 22 GH/s X11 BATCH 1. Another cryptocurrency miner on the X11 algorithm.