On this page4 sections
Cooling is usually treated as an afterthought, decided once the hardware is ordered. That is backwards. Cooling determines which models are available to you, how dense you can build, what your infrastructure costs, and whether you can operate at all in a residential location or a warm climate.
Air
The default and the simplest. Machines arrive ready to run on a shelf or in a rack, and the infrastructure is airflow: intake, exhaust, filtration and enough separation between hot and cold sides. Capital cost is the lowest of the three, spares are everywhere and any technician can work on it.
The tradeoffs are noise and heat density. Air cooled miners are loud enough to rule out most locations near housing, and in warm climates the machines derate exactly when ambient temperature peaks. Dust is a maintenance item you never fully solve.
Hydro
Liquid runs through cold plates inside the machine and heat leaves through a dry cooler or a water source. Hydro units run far quieter, hold stable chip temperatures in climates where air cooled hardware struggles, and allow much higher density per rack.
In exchange you build a loop: manifolds, pumps, plumbing, leak detection and usually three phase power. That is real construction, and it only pays back at a certain scale. Hydro is also less forgiving of poor workmanship than air.
Immersion
Machines sit in tanks of dielectric fluid. Operation is close to silent, temperatures are very stable, dust disappears entirely and hardware life often improves. Density is the highest of the three.
The cost is the tank infrastructure, the fluid itself, handling procedures and a maintenance routine that is genuinely different from anything a dry site does. Pulling a machine for service is messier, and not every model is built for immersion.
Deciding in the right order
- Location first. Noise limits and ambient climate rule options in or out before any spec sheet is opened.
- Infrastructure budget second. Hydro and immersion move spend from the machines to the building. Compare total cost to first hash, not machine price.
- Target density third. If your power capacity is large relative to your floor area, liquid routes stop being optional.
- Then the hardware. Only at that point does the model shortlist make sense.
Run this against your own numbers
Tell us your power situation, your site and the scale you are aiming at. We come back with a hardware shortlist and a firm quote.