Jump to: , Contents 1 2 3 4 5 An application-specific integrated circuit (abbreviated as ASIC) is an integrated circuit (IC) customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use.In Bitcoin mining hardware, ASICs were the next step of development after CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs.Capable of easily outperforming the aforementioned platforms for Bitcoin mining in both speed and efficiency, all Bitcoin mining hardware that is practical in use will make use of one or more Bitcoin (SHA256d) ASICs.Note that Bitcoin ASIC chips generally can only be used for Bitcoin mining.While there are rare exceptions - for example chips that mine both Bitcoin and Litecoin - this is often because the chip package effectively has two ASICs: one for Bitcoin and one for Litecoin.The ASIC chip of choice determines, in large part, the cost and efficiency of a given miner, as ASIC development and manufacture are very expensive processes, and the ASIC chips themselves are often the components that require the most power on a Bitcoin miner.

While there are many Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturers, some of these should be seen as systems integrators - using the ASIC chips manufactured by other parties, and combining them with other electronic components on a board to form the Bitcoin mining hardware.The pace at which Bitcoin ASICs have been developed, for a previously non-existent market, has seen some academic interest.One paper titled "Bitcoin and The Age of Bespoke Silicon" notes: The Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies online course by Princeton University notes: A timeline overview for CoinTerra's Goldstrike 1 chip also shows this as 8 months between founding the company and shipping a product.bitcoin mall of americaA Bitcoin ASIC's specification could be seen as having a certain hash rate (e.g.bitcoin solo mining 2017

Gh/s) at a certain efficiency (e.g.While cost is another factor, this is often a relatively fixed factor as the minimum cost of a chip will be determined by the fabrication process, while the maximum cost will be determined by market forces, which are outside of post-fabrication technological control.When reading the specifications for ASICs on this page is that they should be interpreted as being indicative, rather than authoritative.Many of the figures will have come from the manufacturers, who will present their technology in the best light - be that high hash rates that in practice may not be very efficient and require additional cooling, or very high efficiency at a cost of hash rate and risking being slow in the race against difficulty adjustments.bitcoin börse chinaComplicating the matter further is that Bitcoin ASICs can often be made to cater to both ends of the spectrum by varying the clock frequency and/or the power provided to the chip (often via a regulated voltage supply).phoenix litecoin mining

As such, chips can not be directly compared.Two proposals have been made in the past for attempts at comparing ASICs - Gh/mm² and η-factor.Gh/mm² is a simple measure of the number of Gigahashes per second of the chip, divided by its die area (area of the the actual silicon).This measure however does not take into account the node size which affects how many logical cells can fit in a given area.As a result, η-factor was suggested at the BitcoinTalk Forums which attempts to take the node size into account, by multiplying the Gh/mm² value by the half the node size, three times.elms bitcoin videoAlthough the merit of these approaches can be debated, ultimately these figures are not as important as the ones that detail what is required to make an ASIC work.bitcoin borse berlinIf an ASIC requires highly stable power supply, then the power supply circuitry on a board may be more expensive than for another ASIC.litecoin mit

If the ASIC has a complex communications protocol, additional relatively expensive components may be required.If an ASIC's die is large, fewer (rectangular slices) can be obtained from a (circular) wafer, defects affect its design dispropotionately, and cooling solutions are generally more complex compared to smaller die chips which in turn have other overhead.Chips with a BGA design are less simple to integrate than a QFN, requiring more expensive (inspection and testing) equipment.Nevertheless, for historic purposes they are included in listings here where sufficient information is available.bitcoin et banque de franceOne other oft-mentioned number statistic for an ASIC chip is the number of cores or hashing engines that are on the chip.bitcoin cooling solutionsWhile this number is directly related to performance, it is not necessarily a comparitive relation.

Bitmain Technologies' BM1382 calculates 63 hashes per clock cycle (Hz), while their more efficient BM1384 calculates 55 hashes per clock cycle.Similarly, while these hashes per clock cycle are spot-on for the claims regarding the number of cores, BitFury's BF756C55 is claimed to have 756 cores, but yields around 11.6 hashes per clock cycle.This is because the reference to cores sometimes mean different things, and certain designs result in less straightforward calculation[1] Nevertheless, when a designer makes claims regarding hash rates at certain clock frequencies, one can determine if A. there is a straightforward calculation and B. if the designer is being imprecise (rounding values) or even intentionally dishonest, as the ratio between clock cycles and hash rate should remain the same.List of Bitcoin mining ASICsThere are hundreds of Bitcoin alternatives out there.One term for these is Altcoins, another generic term is cryptocurrency.It’s only worth investing money and time into ones that will stay in existence and grow.

Just like with any investment, it’s best to buy at a low price.In some cases that means buying them at a low price on an exchange, and for others it’s mining them with specially designed computing machines.Running a Bitcoin and Altcoin mining operation, I like to look for Altcoins to mine that are going to go up in value.If I can mine many of them while they are inexpensive and easier to mine, and I keep as many as possible after paying my bills, I’ll end up being very profitable.Before delving in Altcoins, it’s worth looking at Bitcoin.It has a huge installed base.It will be around for a long time.It is the standard and has so far proven to be solid.It does have a few issues that could lead to problems, but these will get worked out.No one wants to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, and no one that is invested in the Bitcoin ecosystem will actually go so far as to destroy it.Let’s discuss that ecosystem, and use that as one of the measures of Bitcoin or an Altcoin’s viability.

There are many people involved in making Bitcoin or an Altcoin (let’s just say Coin) work.These include: The cryptocurrency space is just in its infancy.There is going to be a lot of growth in this space in the coming years, and the rising tide will lift many boats.For a Coin to survive long term, it has to have at least the following: So where does Bitcoin stand in this measure?The Bitcoin codebase works well.It has some issues in that it currently can’t process many transactions at a time.But it is well understood, works, and has scaled so far.It need some improvements, and the different stakeholders  have different political agendas.The miners are the big deciders in Bitcoin.They make most of the money, and the ones who ultimately make the decision on what new code gets accepted.They join their miners to the mining pools who support the policy they want.The miners want to make money forever.They want their coinbase block reward, as well as transaction payments.When the coinbase block reward goes to zero, transaction payments are going to be the only way for them to make the money they need to keep running their operation.

Miners probably operate nodes and pools as well, and I would expect they provide funding to developers.They have the datacenters, tech support, and the incentive to make the entire transaction infrastructure work.They could also employ programmers that can add to and update the codebase.Bigger miners are Bitmain, BitFury, Genesis Mining.Because it’s the first and biggest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin has many ecosystem partners like Coinbase, Kraken, Electrum, Blockchain.info, and BitPay.There’s a lot to like about Bitcoin.It’s proven,  and people understand it.The feature implementation is slow, some people say too slow.The people that are pushing for more general and broader usage are hampered by the slow changes in the main Bitcoin code.And not all features should be put into the main Bitcoin codebase.Because people want more features, that leads to the creation of Altcoins, and also projects that build on top of the Bitcoin blockchain.These Bitcoin extension projects are usually called sidechains.

serves a few different purposes for people: You don’t need my opinion on Bitcoin.Take look at for reference.I mine for Bitcoins using the latest and best SHA-256 ASIC mining technology.Right now that’s Bitmain Antminer S9’s.Bitcoin mining calculations with Bitmain Antminer S9 Let’s take a look at some of the Altcoins out there using a template.is designed to be more flexible and useful than Bitcoin.The code is written for smart contracts and automated action.The Internet of Things will be able to have devices talk to each other and pay each other small amounts of Ethereum to make things happen automatically.Ethereum is going to be around for a while.There was a code base split, leading to Ethereum Classic.These two systems have the ability to go in different development directions.They will both be around for a while.Ethereum mining calculations with 6 rig GPU miner using AMD RX480 Ethereum Classic is also available for mining.It’s a fork of Ethereum, and has it’s own community developing in a different direction than Ethereum.

I used to mine Ethereum on my GPU miners, and I might again.I may also mine for Ethereum Classic.There are other coins that are more profitable to mine with my GPU miners right now, though.is a creation of banks.I included it in here because it is high up on the list of Coinmarketcap.I don’t like it.But let’s look at it anyway.I have no use for Ripple.I can’t participate in it, haven’t bothered to understand it, and don’t care about it.has been around a long time.It is almost, but not quite like Bitcoin.It’s value compared to Bitcoin has languished.It has a large community of miners and ecosystem supporters.Maybe Litecoin is making a comeback?Litecoin mining calculations with Antminer L3: Unfortunately the Bitmain Antminer L3 is only available in China right now, and I am guessing at the price for when it is for sale outside of China.I expect it to be available to the rest of the world soon.There are other coins that are popular that use Scrypt as well, so Litecoin miners can be used to mine those if they are more profitable.

has code that is similar to Bitcoin.It splits the mining profits between miners (45%), node operators (45%), and infrastructure team (10%).Payouts to the infrastructure team are determined by projects and put to the vote of the node operators.Dash is actually one of the Altcoins I like the most.It extends Bitcoin with rapid transactions and privacy through coin mixing using Masternodes.To be a masternode operator, you need to own 1000 Dash.Right now there are about 4000 masternodes.The Dash infrastructure team is working on PR and creating payment tools.I think they have the potential to be the digital cash replacement.As an example, watch this video created by the Dash team: Dash mining calculations with Baikal Giant A900: Dash is definitely on the upswing.The interesting thing about the X11 miner from Baikal is its low poer usage.The amount of profits per amount of electricity used is much higher than any other Coin out there.is similar to Bitcoin, but using different crypto.

It is very new, and it has extended Bitcoin with advanced crypto for complete anonymity.I think it is still overvalued, but it might grow into its value.Developers are rewarded by 20% of mined coins for first 4 years.There is a good list of answers to o ’s.There are two main types of transactions, T stands for transparents, and are just like Bitcoin transactions.Z stands for shielded transactions, and are anonymous.Z transactions are much more computationally intensive, and are only supported in the wallets on PC’s with powerful CPU’s for now.It’s possible to receive Zcash or Zclassic on a PC wallet with a T or Z transaction, and send it out using either type of transaction.Calculations with 6-rig GPU Miner with RX480-8G: I think Zcash is going to be around for a while.It fills a need for private transactions, is supported by a strong team, and has good community and ecosystem support.is a fork of Zcash with two changes.There is no slow start on mining rewards, and there is no developer reward.

It’s community has developed rapidly, and it looks like there is cross-contribution of code between Zcash and Zclassic developers.It looks like a Coin that is going to be around for a while.I think Zclassic is going to do well.I think people like the technology, and some were a little put off by the inability to participate as part of the Zcash team.Just like with Zcash, there is a need for private transactions, it’s supported by a strong team, and has good community support.If there is more support from exchanges and hardware wallet manufacturers, it will do well.is based on Cryptonote, an algorithm designed for only private transactions.It appears to be doing well, and there are many supporters of the Coin.It appears to have the ability to be successful, but I don’t like it.Whenever I try to dig into the specifics of using it, it’s security, and the ecosystem, I find I don’t want to be part of that.I’m wrong a lot, though, and may be wrong in this case.Here’s some info on Monero.

Calculations with 6-rig GPU Miner with RX480-8G: Monero is profitable to mine, but Zcash, Zclassic, and Ethereum are more profitable to mine right now than Monero.If Monero gets good wallet support on Windows, gets a mobile wallet, and gets hardware wallet support, it will definitely help it to grow and prosper.Bitcoin is definitely worth investing time and money into.So are the Altcoins that have a purpose, have a way of compensating the different members of the community, and continue to develop and add new features.The others will fall by the wayside.If you are looking to purchase Altcoins for investment, you have to look at the fundamentals, and at the price.If you are going to mine them and keep a portion of them for a long time, you need to look at the fundamentals and current mining profitability.But if you are going to mine them and immediately exchange them for Bitcoin, then you don’t need to care about the fundamentals, just the current mining profitability.The links above to Coinwarz will take you to a calculation screen based on the current price compared to Bitcoin, which changes all the time.

So it’s worth checking back periodically.What am I doing for mining?Right now (Feb 2017) I am: ASIC miners are a big investment.Fortunately they are not limited to one Altcoin.GPU miners are more flexible, and as long as there is an Altcoin that is profitable to mine, GPU miners will be worth the money and time to run them.I also think some of the cryptocurrencies are going to be increasing in value faster than Bitcoin.For example, Dash has gone from 9 per dollar to 20 in just a few months.What am I invested in?There are definitely some people who publicly proclaim that Bitcoin is going to be big cryptocurrency, and all the others are going to fade away.That is a simple and uninformed analysis, and easy to make if one does not bother to do any research and testing.Similarly, there are many commentators and naysayers who like to burnish their own reputation by being negative about everything having to do with Altcoins.There’s also those who make sky-high projections.A lot of this is based on hearsay and opinion.