Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Hardware => Topic started by: lemnick on December 24, 2016, 09:58:36 AM



Title: Question about mining hardware
Post by: lemnick on December 24, 2016, 09:58:36 AM
Is it possible to reprogram preexisting hardware such as an antminer s6 to work with other currencies?


Title: Re: Question about mining hardware
Post by: HagssFIN on December 24, 2016, 10:07:13 AM
1. There is no such miner as Antminer S6.
2. Yes, they can mine any SHA-256 cryptocurrency.


Title: Re: Question about mining hardware
Post by: gt_addict on December 24, 2016, 10:14:15 AM
But you have to weigh up the cost of actually mining a different sha256 coin as most aren't worth mining as that aren't worth that much. But if you're not worried about profit and doing it as a hobby then go for it.


Title: Re: Question about mining hardware
Post by: lemnick on December 24, 2016, 10:22:19 AM
any experience with zcash? would I know it uses a different hash algorithm, would it be worth it to even use ACIS or FPGA hardware with that hashing?


Title: Re: Question about mining hardware
Post by: gt_addict on December 24, 2016, 11:26:11 AM
Personally I've never looked into zcash. If it doesn't use an algorithm which someone has already produced an ASIC for then you'll have to use GPUs, which means you'd get more help in the altcoins section ;)


Title: Re: Question about mining hardware
Post by: takagari on December 25, 2016, 12:40:30 AM
any experience with zcash? would I know it uses a different hash algorithm, would it be worth it to even use ACIS or FPGA hardware with that hashing?

I think you need to look into how the coins work a bit more. there are different methods to mining, not all miners or mining methods work on all coins.
Sha256 is what the asic miners will mine. GPU is used for others. etc.


Title: Re: Question about mining hardware
Post by: leowonderful on December 25, 2016, 12:47:21 AM
Zcash has a different algo that's only supported by gpus for now and it's price is steadily dropping. Block reward is linearly increasing but it's likely that the coin will only be viable for a little while. I'd suggest XMR and ETH (4GB gpu as DAG is growing) if you're new to the scene.


ASICS are generally only for X-based coins and Quark as well as Scrypt and SHA256. This is basic info and more can be found here as well as on other sites. Make sure your electrical cost is below 0.1$/kwh first, else you won't make much mining.


Title: Re: Question about mining hardware
Post by: isoneguy on December 25, 2016, 04:13:19 AM
Asics cannot be reprogrammed. They are capable of calculating a single algorithm...with the exception of that baikal miner and any FPGA's, you can reprogram the controller by pointing it towards a different pool via command line or IP connection.

You can mine anything that is compatible with the asic's predetermined algorithm.

Once you figure out how to run your asic...please be careful and do your own research :D