Editor's Note: This article comes fromZhikuang University (ID: gh_37c9e0eaf00a), reprinted by Odaily with authorization.
Editor's Note: This article comes fromZhikuang University (ID: gh_37c9e0eaf00a)and, reprinted by Odaily with authorization.About Ethereum mining, Zhikuang University introduced
and
"What is the difference between Ethereum mining and Bitcoin"
. Our point of view is also very clear: with medium and long-term hedging, Ethereum mining is a very good investment choice for the fiat currency standard; if it is judged that the medium and long-term is an upward trend, you can choose to deposit coins.
Today we will talk about how to choose a mining machine if you want to participate in Ethereum mining.
secondary title
Graphics card market landscape
Briefly introduce the market structure of discrete graphics cards. At present, the most upstream manufacturers of independent graphics cards are only AMD and Nvidia. It is difficult for other third parties to get involved in this field. The core GUP design of independent graphics cards is monopolized by these two upstream manufacturers.
Of course, in addition to the two of them, there is another GPU design manufacturer—Intel, but what Intel makes is a GPU integrated into the CPU, called "core graphics card", which is different from an independent display.
The GPU chip design with the most technical content of independent graphics cards is firmly occupied by AMD and Nvidia. In order to obtain greater production capacity and profits, the two major graphics card technology manufacturers authorize the production and processing of graphics cards into finished products, sales and other links to downstream graphics card production business.
The relatively low-end graphics card manufacturing market in the downstream presents a pattern of competition among many manufacturers. These downstream manufacturers get GPU chips and video memory from AMD or Nvidia, then design PCB boards, circuits, radiators, etc., and finally make finished graphics cards, paste their own trademarks, and earn profits. There are many manufacturers of this type of graphics card, and users have graded graphics card manufacturers. Sapphire, ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Dylan, Zotac GALAX, Colorful, etc. have good reputations. Of course, not all product models of graphics card brands with a good reputation are good, and the models generally recognized by users are generally high-end graphics card models.
secondary title
Custom machine and assembly machine
Customized machines are also branded machines. At present, the mainstream graphics card customized machines in the industry include Wolfshen mining machines, Innosigs mining machines, and Panda mining machines. The characteristic of customized machines is that mining machine manufacturers find graphics card processing manufacturers to produce graphics cards that meet their own requirements. This kind of graphics card generally only retains some functions necessary for mining, and other functions that are not related to mining will be castrated. This has also led to the fact that this kind of graphics card cannot do other things except mining, and basically has no residual value at all.
Of course, customized machines also have the benefits of customized machines, which are mainly reflected in two aspects.
In addition, some customized graphics card mining machines are about the same size as professional bitcoin mining machines, such as the Wolfshen B3 mining machine. This type of graphics card mining machine can get relatively cheaper electricity prices. This starts with the business model of the mining farm. The mining farm takes electricity in batches from the power station and sells it to hosting users to earn the price difference. Each machine hosting a machine with greater power consumption can earn more price difference. The payback period of the mine is shorter. Compared with the ASCI mining machine for mining Bitcoin, the graphics card machine not only has lower power consumption, but also has several times the volume of the ASIC machine. Hosting this graphics card machine will reduce the power consumption per unit of the mine, so the mine There will be price discrimination for graphics card machines, and the electricity bill will be higher than that of ASIC machines. Some customized machines have reached the size of ASIC machines, and have the opportunity to get cheaper electricity prices, which are more advantageous than larger assembled machines.
image description
Graphics card mining machine Wolf God B3, which is about the size of an ASIC mining machine
Assembled graphics cards generally use normal graphics cards. Even if they are not used for mining, they can be recycled and used in other industries such as games, with a higher residual value. The assembled graphics card mining machine mainly includes three parts, graphics card, platform and power supply. The platform integrates the motherboard, memory, hard disk, etc., and the platform is equipped with a graphics card, connected to the power supply, and can be mined.
image description
Compared with customized machines, the operation and maintenance of assembled graphics cards is more troublesome and requires more professional operation and maintenance personnel to manage.
To sum up:
The customized graphics card machine uses a customized graphics card. After continuous technical iteration and debugging by the customized machine manufacturer, the performance is more stable, and the operation and maintenance are more convenient; the body is smaller, and you can get a relatively cheaper hosting electricity price. The customized graphics card only retains the functions required for mining, and other functions are castrated, and there is basically no residual value at all.
The assembled graphics card machine is assembled with a normal graphics card, platform and power supply. If you don’t mine, the graphics card can still be used in other industries and has a high residual value. The stability of the assembly machine is relatively poor, and it needs more professional operation and maintenance personnel to manage it.
secondary title
How to choose a graphics card mining machine
After understanding the graphics card market and the two types of graphics card machines, should miners choose a custom machine or an assembled machine? Should I choose A card or N card? Decisions can be made from the following aspects.
1. Static payback cycle
The payback cycle is the most important indicator for choosing a graphics card. According to the machine's static daily output, power consumption, electricity cost, machine cost, and operation and maintenance costs, the payback period of the machine can be calculated. The shorter the static payback period, the better. The static payback period is affected by factors such as currency prices, difficulty of the entire network, and network congestion. There are potential risks in calculating the payback cycle based on static returns, and hedging can effectively reduce this risk.
Miners can choose whether to do hedging according to their own situation and judgment. If miners want to obtain definite, legal currency-based income, hedging is a very stable choice; if miners judge, in the medium and long term, the currency price is on an upward path , you can choose to deposit coins.
2. Residual value of mining machine
If the payback cycle is basically the same, the assembled machine has a higher residual value than the customized machine with castrated functions, and the assembled machine is given priority.
If it is a comparison between assembled machines, if the payback period is basically the same, try to choose a graphics card with high performance and a closer release time from the first-line graphics card brand, as this type of graphics card has a higher residual value.
If the indicators are compared, there is not much difference. If you want to choose between A card and N card, you are more inclined to choose N card. Relatively speaking, N card can mine more currencies. If you don’t mine Ethereum, There are other more choices.
There are many brands of graphics cards. If there is not much difference in other conditions, it is recommended to choose a high-performance graphics card model of a first-line graphics card brand with a recent release date.
image description
Incomplete list of A card and N card first-line graphics card manufacturers
There are many and complex factors that affect the price of a graphics card, and this article only introduces a few of the more common ones. For example, the release of new graphics card products will also affect the price of graphics cards. Just like the iPhone and other electronic products, the release of a new generation of iPhone will reduce the price of the previous iPhone. The most serious decline is often the next-generation product. This rule is also the same for graphics cards. Generally speaking, the release of a new generation of graphics cards has the greatest impact on the price of new products. When choosing a graphics card, you need to pay attention to the new product release plan of the graphics card manufacturer. For example, the RTX 30 series, which will be launched in the middle of this month, is twice as fast as the previous generation, but the price is comparable. After the release of the 30-series graphics cards, the current decline in some models of the 20-series graphics cards has been around 30%.
Assembled graphics card mining machines have a high threshold for operation and maintenance, and abnormal power outages and shutdowns may cause the assembly machine to malfunction. If you mine by yourself and do not have such operation and maintenance capabilities, the assembly machine is not recommended. If it is hosted in a mining farm, when selecting a machine, try to choose a mine that has graphics card mining machine operation and maintenance capabilities. With the operation and maintenance capabilities of the assembled graphics card mining machine, the essence of choosing a custom machine or an assembled machine becomes, judging which machine is more profitable and has a shorter payback period.
Summarize
4. Pay attention to memory capacity
When choosing a mining machine, special attention should be paid to the size of the video memory, especially the second-hand graphics card mining machine. During the Ethereum mining process, a DAG file will be generated. The mining process will always call and update this file. The file will increase at a rate of about 520M per year. At the end of this year, the file size will exceed 4G, and mining machines with 4G video memory will not be able to mine, so mining machines with 4G video memory cannot be selected. It is best to choose a mining machine with a memory size of 6G or above. In addition, it should be noted that some mining machines mark the memory size as 5G, but the actual available space is only about 4.5G, which not only affects the mining life of the mining machine, but may even cause frequent failures of the machine.
secondary title
Summarize
At present, it is a very good time window for the layout of Ethereum mining. How to choose mining machines scientifically is a very important part. This will largely affect the payback cycle and investment income of mining. The graphics card mining machine is mainly selected through the following aspects.
