Notes from the hardware desk.
Practical writing on choosing, buying and importing mining hardware.
The breakeven power price, and why we ask for yours first
Every machine has an electricity price above which it stops making money. Work that number out and most of the hardware decision answers itself.
28 Aug 20263 min read DeploymentSizing power and cooling before the hardware arrives
The machines are the short lead time. The electrical and thermal capacity they need is the long one, and it has to be finished before the first pallet lands.
21 Aug 20263 min read HardwareEfficiency, not hashrate, decides what you pay per coin
Hashrate is what sells a machine. Efficiency is what you live with every day it runs. Here is how to read the number that actually drives your electricity bill.
14 Aug 20262 min read HardwareThe spec sheet fields that decide whether a machine fits
Hashrate and efficiency get compared to death. The fields underneath them are the ones that determine whether the unit can physically go where you intend to put it.
7 Aug 20262 min read DeploymentAir, hydro or immersion: matching cooling to your site
The cooling route you pick decides which machines you can even consider, how loud your site is, and how much you spend before the first miner is switched on.
31 Jul 20262 min read DeploymentThe first 72 hours, from pallet to stable hashrate
Most of the failures a fleet will ever have happen in the first three days. Almost all of them are avoidable with a slower start.
23 Jul 20263 min read OperationsHosting or your own site: what the choice really costs
Hosting looks like the simpler option and often is. The comparison people get wrong is not the rate per kilowatt, it is everything the rate does not include.
16 Jul 20263 min read ProcurementNew or used: how to decide, and what to ask
Used hardware is not a lesser product, it is a different trade between capital cost and efficiency. The risk is not the age of the machine, it is the vagueness of the description.
9 Jul 20262 min read ProcurementOne batch or several: how to phase a buildout
Buying the whole fleet at once is simpler and usually cheaper per unit. Buying in steps is slower and usually smarter. Which one wins depends on how certain your site actually is.
2 Jul 20262 min read OperationsUnderclocking, overclocking and custom firmware: tuning a fleet
The same hardware can be run for maximum output, maximum efficiency or maximum life. Which one you should pick is decided by your power contract, not by the benchmark scores.
25 Jun 20264 min read LogisticsFrom order to hashing: what happens in between
Most of the time between paying for hardware and seeing it hash is spent on things buyers never see. Knowing the steps makes lead times predictable instead of anxious.
18 Jun 20262 min read LogisticsWhere mining hardware can and cannot go
Some destinations are impossible, some are merely slow, and the difference is worth establishing before money moves rather than after.
11 Jun 20263 min read LogisticsImporting ASIC miners into the United States, step by step
Mining hardware is an ordinary commercial import with a few unusual edges. Here is who does what, what customs expects to see, and the handful of mistakes that strand pallets.
4 Jun 20263 min read LogisticsIncoterms for miner imports, in plain words
Two quotes for the same machines can differ by a wide margin purely because of three letters. Here is what those letters move between you and the seller.
27 May 20262 min read DeploymentContainer, warehouse or retrofit: where to put the machines
The building decision sets your cost per megawatt, your time to energisation and how easily you can leave. Three routes, and the honest case for each.
20 May 20264 min read DeploymentThree phase power for a mining site, in plain terms
Most modern miners are three phase machines, and most new sites are wired for something else. This is the vocabulary you need before you talk to an electrician.
13 May 20264 min read ProcurementReading a hardware quote: what to check before you pay
A quote is a contract in waiting. Six things decide whether it is a good one, and the unit price is only the first.
6 May 20262 min read HardwareAntminer, Whatsminer and SEALMINER: how the three brands compare
Three manufacturers cover most of the SHA-256 market. They are not interchangeable, and the differences that matter are rarely the ones on the front of the spec sheet.
29 Apr 20264 min read ProcurementPayback on a mining rig: how to work it out without fooling yourself
Every calculator online will tell you a machine pays for itself in nine months. Here is the version that survives contact with a real site, and the three inputs that quietly ruin the honest one.
22 Apr 20263 min read OperationsHashprice explained: the number that tells you what a machine earns
One figure collapses coin price, network difficulty and transaction fees into a single answer to the only question that matters: what does a terahash pay today.
15 Apr 20263 min read ProcurementWhat does a Bitcoin miner cost, and what moves the price
The number on the machine is the smallest part of the answer. Here is how ASIC pricing is actually built, why the same model carries three different prices in the same week, and what else lands on the invoice.
8 Apr 20264 min read OperationsChoosing a mining pool: what the payout schemes actually mean
FPPS, PPS+ and PPLNS are not marketing labels, they are three different ways of moving risk between you and the pool. Which one suits you depends on how much variance your cash flow can absorb.
1 Apr 20263 min read