Is FPGA mining still worth it these days?

[Abiky]

With the advent of ASICs, CPU and FPGA mining has been a thing of the past. Most crypto enthusiasts mine altcoins with their GPUs, while others mine Bitcoin with ASICs. Every year, we see new ASIC hardware with more powerful hashrate and lower energy consumption. On the other hand, GPUs are becoming better over time, making them relevant in the crypto mining industry.

As for FPGAs, I haven't heard much about them (in the Blockchain industry) ever since ASICs took over crypto land. I've seen new FPGAs on sale across the web, but I'm not sure if it's still worth mining crypto with an FPGA these days. Because if you could still make money mining with an FPGA, then I believe that it's a great alternative to existing ASICs and GPUs.

Any thoughts?

[badbart]

With the advent of ASICs, CPU and FPGA mining has been a thing of the past. Most crypto enthusiasts mine altcoins with their GPUs, while others mine Bitcoin with ASICs. Every year, we see new ASIC hardware with more powerful hashrate and lower energy consumption. On the other hand, GPUs are becoming better over time, making them relevant in the crypto mining industry.

As for FPGAs, I haven't heard much about them (in the Blockchain industry) ever since ASICs took over crypto land. I've seen new FPGAs on sale across the web, but I'm not sure if it's still worth mining crypto with an FPGA these days. Because if you could still make money mining with an FPGA, then I believe that it's a great alternative to existing ASICs and GPUs.

Any thoughts?

I have a couple F1+s and they are not worth the money.  At this rate its going to take years to ROI.  Only way the F1s will pan out is a huge bull run or more algos developed.  For me from now on its GPUs, ASICs and CPUs.

[TheUltraElite]

Where exactly did you see the FPGA sale? It could be some older miner using them and are not selling off the hardware to someone else at a price because its is comparatively useless now.

ASICs are the way to go with any type of mining. I still cant remember of any altcoin that would be profitably mined with FPGA let alone worth recovering the cost of acquiring them and setting up the place, electricity and maintenance.

But I agree with @badbart that future altcoins may have something good for FGPAs running their algo but then again there would be the problem with newer hardware coming up to compete compared to older one being sold.

[cryptolumos]

ASICs are the way to go with any type of mining. I still cant remember of any altcoin that would be profitably mined with FPGA let alone worth recovering the cost of acquiring them and setting up the place, electricity and maintenance.

lol come on, clueless statement. Dont buy any hashaltcoin products, those guys pump em out like bitmain and have way way oversaturated the market.

[crairezx20]

I also heard that FPGAs are almost their mining any coins developers can make a new bitstream but they actually not sharing it they mostly ask you for another payment or wait for their release.

According to https://fpga.guide they are making a profit while mining on some known coins I don't if it's true but some people on reddit told me that they can make a better profit on mining with FPGA than GPU because there are developers always release a new bitstream free or for VIP users.

If you are going to buy FPGA I think much better to research first there are some FPGAs not worth it to try.

[Abiky]

Where exactly did you see the FPGA sale? It could be some older miner using them and are not selling off the hardware to someone else at a price because its is comparatively useless now.

ASICs are the way to go with any type of mining. I still cant remember of any altcoin that would be profitably mined with FPGA let alone worth recovering the cost of acquiring them and setting up the place, electricity and maintenance.

But I agree with @badbart that future altcoins may have something good for FGPAs running their algo but then again there would be the problem with newer hardware coming up to compete compared to older one being sold.

Yes. ASICs are definitely the way to go for crypto mining. There's no doubt in that. But FPGAs seem to be an interesting venture that could prove to become a viable alternative to GPUs or even CPUs if heavily developed over time. In the meantime, I'll be using an FPGA just to experiment or play with it a little. It could serve as a great learning/educational tool for crypto mining (just like an ASIC would nowadays). I've seen some FPGAs on sale (most of them are used) over at eBay with different price tags (depending on condition, and power). I could just buy one and keep it as a future mining device, in case a new cryptocurrency allows FPGA mining to become great again. But for real crypto mining, ASICs and GPUs are the norm these days.

I also heard that FPGAs are almost their mining any coins developers can make a new bitstream but they actually not sharing it they mostly ask you for another payment or wait for their release.

According to https://fpga.guide they are making a profit while mining on some known coins I don't if it's true but some people on reddit told me that they can make a better profit on mining with FPGA than GPU because there are developers always release a new bitstream free or for VIP users.

If you are going to buy FPGA I think much better to research first there are some FPGAs not worth it to try.

Interesting. I didn't know about this before. This site seems like a wonderful resource about everything related to FPGA mining. It's a good find. Thank you very much. I believe that FPGAs are much easier to configure than an ASIC itself. Also, FPGAs have a lower barrier of entry than ASICs. Even if ASICs are much more cost-effective than the former, I'd prefer FPGAs because of their "programmability".

Despite this, I believe that ASICs will continue to dominate the crypto industry for a very long time. As long as Bitmain is still out there producing new ASICs every once in a while, FPGAs may never rise to their former glory 

[grendel25]

With the advent of ASICs, CPU and FPGA mining has been a thing of the past. Most crypto enthusiasts mine altcoins with their GPUs, while others mine Bitcoin with ASICs. Every year, we see new ASIC hardware with more powerful hashrate and lower energy consumption. On the other hand, GPUs are becoming better over time, making them relevant in the crypto mining industry.

As for FPGAs, I haven't heard much about them (in the Blockchain industry) ever since ASICs took over crypto land. I've seen new FPGAs on sale across the web, but I'm not sure if it's still worth mining crypto with an FPGA these days. Because if you could still make money mining with an FPGA, then I believe that it's a great alternative to existing ASICs and GPUs.

Any thoughts?

Yeah, I have thoughts.  I'm enthusiastic for FPGAs as sort of the latest dimension to POW.  My blindspot is ASICs... I've never used them but there have been times I wish I had some sitting around to take advantage of spot opportunities.  Eventually, I should have an ASIC on standby just for that kind of thing.

Basically, GPUs are still viable but less profitable at the moment.  FPGA tend to be profitable but also very expensive with long ROI times.  GPUs could surge at any moment based on success of various GPU oriented projects. 

CPUs are really neat too.  Randomx could get good.  ARM mining, also compelling... sure it's CPU but I'm thrilled for ARM devs to be getting into the user/desktop as well as potential mining applications.

My electricity costs are high, .18 cents so I do a lot of speculation mining and that has worked out.  Raven is a good example for GPUs but such opportunities can be fleeting.  I have my GPUs and CPU hosted by me.. but I have some FPGAs hosted and I love that (with some exceptions... like when the hosted miners are down for maintenance)

If I were to sum it all up, I would say diversify.   For any platform: CPU, GPU, ASIC, FPGA... look for the most flexible options at your price point.  What will mine the most algorithms the most efficiently.  Consider hosting if it keeps your costs down while still giving you flexibility.

But for FPGA's specificallly... you really have to look at costs and be realistic about profit ratios.  I've seen what are basically snicker-doodle boards going for $350-$450 dollars touting profitability but only at the scale of .25 cents per day of revenue with 5 to 10 cents of that going to power costs .  I think it adds up to something like 4 years recapture of equipment costs if you have free electricity... And a lot of good or BAD things can happen in 4 years.  I doubt the warranty on the board will be that long.  Of course, that's doing math in an awful market too.  Bitcoin at $10K or even $20K+ makes a huge difference in all this.  So... yeah, still plenty of room for FPGAs in all this.

[boris1044]

FPGA has several advantages; such as being faster than GPU and more flexible than ASIC, meaning FPGA can be very profitable mining coins that are ASIC-resistant. Therefore, FPGA shouldn't compete with ASIC, but with GPU

Similar to GPU, FPGA can also change algorithms which makes them adaptable. However, unlike GPU, you need to build both the digital circuit design and the software. It’s not user-friendly, as learning how to use it might take weeks to months and learning to even develop the FPGA might take months to years.

So unless you are good with programming, I don't think it's worth it these days.