Bitcoin Forum

ASIC machines are specially manufactured machines for bitcoin mining. What else can we do with these machines. Are there any other areas where we can use these devices?

No... If you pick up a really cheap and silent older ASIC, you can use it as a space heater while mining, but that's about the only other thing you can use them for...

There are four other recognised uses for ASICs depending on their physical size: Paperweight, book end, door stop and boat anchor.

In short, no. They really are that specialised for mining sha256d coins that they can't be used for anything else.

ASIC can do just one things...
but better than any other processor.
the problem of this machine is that when diff goes up, and will come out newest and powerfull miners.. probably like bitMain S10, the value of oldest S9/R4 will fall down really fast...
and you must be able to sell it fast to ensure yours ROI...

Don't forget the Block Erupter Bottle Opener.  Where is that pic?

ASICs meant for bitcoin mining are no good for anything except mining SHA2-256^2 cryptocurrencies.
ASICs in general can be used for other things, ASICs have existed since at least 1981.

Well if you are an engineer you can actually recycle some components of the asic, to build something else

but since the chip is not reprogrammable you are stuck with an useless thing

 Turn it into Broadband Internet Speed Tester maybe  ;D

Can Antminers be used for Altcoins? If so any examples? I did a quick search and didn't see any with a high network hashrate, so I assume few ppl can be using their Antminers for alts

Bitcoin miners can be used for any sha256 coin. That is what the hardware was designed to do. There aren't many sha256 coins because bitcoin miner asic are very prevalent which makes them hard to mine for newbies.

Can it be used in image processing systems, for example? Or can it be used to break different passwords?

High GPU cards are being used for image processing or password cracking experiments. ASIC machines are more powerful than GPU cards.

Can this be used for jobs?

You really didn't read the responses? Or do you just not believe us?

No, absolutely no. Why is that so hard to understand?

ASIC miners are only used for sha256 coins, it's unusable for any other coin, for example you can't mine ether, lite and etc coins with asic miner. At last antminers are usable for bitcoin mining and warming if you want 😃
For altcoin mining, you can to use baikal miner or gpus. Gpu is unique for both bitcoin and altcoin mining but not profitable.

Of course I read the answers. I wrote in terms of an alternative idea.
Maybe we can modify these devices. I do not know.
I wrote it to be a brain storm. Maybe we can modify the devices and do something different.

ASIC is an acronym for Application Specific Integrated Circuit.  The "Specific Application" these chips were made for is SHA256 hashing required to mine Bitcoin.

This subject has been treated so many times since their inception to Bitcoin that we all, who have been here a while, are quite tired of rehashing the subject.

I can appreciate your desire to brainstorm, but if you would do a search you'll find many of these types of threads, some with very technical explanations.  So if your were to do that research and then come up with a new/novel idea taking into account what has already been discussed you may get a different reception.

Have fun.

Then you have a scientist way of thinking because you do strongly believe that those ASIC miners do have another purpose or usage which you could already able to read on most people here that it cant be used on some things but only for mining bitcoin only but if you could able to find one then go back here and tell us :) Goodluck

GPUs just have proper memory architecture for such tasks (image processing), which fits this purpose. ASICs are pretty much like it's said before.

This is very informative thread, for me at least. Like the OP I also thought that ASIC machines can be used in some other fields. And now I know that the best second application of ASIC is as a room heater.

You answered first and got it right.

Think everyone else got it right here, they are designed for mining and mining alone. I think someone mentioned an engineer having the ability to disassemble it and use it for parts but I think that's about as far as you'll be able to get if you're thinking about other uses.

Well, if you are living in a very cold area then you could use the ASIC mining hardware to replace a heater. Plus you have the option to get paid Bitcoin or not while doing that.

ASIC's could also be used as a motor to power a small toy if you are interested in taking it a little bit further. You just need a battery to attach to it. I've also read that users on Bitcointalk have solar-powered mining devices that get paid as each day passes. With the proper wiring the ASIC mining rigs will be running on autopilot and you could introduce an Artificial Intelligence Chip to have the solar-powered system to run on its own and compute regular things quickly like math equations and even problem solve long questions.

Quantum Computer's aren't easy to obtain so these mining rig's compute the 3rd fastest.

I'm not sure there is much use for them, but i'm keeping a couple block erupters around as conversation pieces.

I read somewhere that someone re-purposed a few for encryption (not cracking, generating). The rigs were still mining but it wasn't the bits rolling in that was important, the hashes were intercepted, recorded, and rearranged into new keys. Might be on-par with the AES-128 stuff

So they were using an ASIC as a high-output PRNG?
How much data were they encrypting?

As far as I know it was for a proof of concept, haven't been following it for a while but it was an interesting alternative use.

It's been asked hundreds of times and it's still the same answer: nothing. They can generate heat, solve hashes but other than that they are useless. If you manage to find a better use for them then we're all ears!

This is the first time i see somebody claiming you can use an asic as a motor. I don't really believe this. Please provide proof.

I've seen other people claiming they could use asics to solve math problems. I dont believe that either (afaik, asic can only be used fror generating sha256d hashes, don't see a lot of math problems needing such a feature). Please provide proof.

This is the first time i see somebody claiming you can use an asic as a motor. I don't really believe this. Please provide proof.

[/quote]

The fan has a motor which can be re-purposed...

Just give it out to scrap dealers and earn some $$$ back. It's basically useless at this stage ( you can as well take out and sell the power supply unit and the cords while the rest go to scrap.

Enough replies. I'm locking the thread to prevent it being used as a sigspam dumping ground.