USB Mining

[paid2]

And someone won the lottery last year, and I've never won a big win. USB ASICs will definitely not be used by business miners.

The whole point of USB mining is that it is not designed for business miners, but for home miners and hobbyist miners.

It's like saying that paintball fans aren't interested in a T14 tank, it makes no sense, that's not the targeted market.

Having USB miners that run and consume almost nothing isn't stupid, if you're lucky you get a block, if you're not you've lost only very little electricity at the end.

Others use them to mine Testnet blocks, and that makes sense too.

[safar1980]

And someone won the lottery last year, and I've never won a big win. USB ASICs will definitely not be used by business miners.

The whole point of USB mining is that it is not designed for business miners, but for home miners and hobbyist miners.

It's like saying that paintball fans aren't interested in a T14 tank, it makes no sense, that's not the targeted market.

Having USB miners that run and consume almost nothing isn't stupid, if you're lucky you get a block, if you're not you've lost only very little electricity at the end.

Others use them to mine Testnet blocks, and that makes sense too.

How does this USB ASIC work? Can this ASIC work autonomously, or does it need a personal computer to run the mining software?
If you need a computer that has to be turned on all day, then this will require electricity costs.
Why are these USB ASICs so expensive?

[paid2]

How does this USB ASIC work? Can this ASIC work autonomously, or does it need a personal computer to run the mining software?
If you need a computer that has to be turned on all day, then this will require electricity costs.
Why are these USB ASICs so expensive?

You can run them on low-energy systems, like a raspberry pi.
Some people have servers or computers that run 7/24 anyway, so it makes no difference to them.
+ we're starting to see standalone USB miners appearing on the market, which solves this problem, and will probably be the case more often in the future.

Why are prices so high? I don't know, but it's easy to think that those who produce these USB miners don't benefit from the same rates as those who produce tens of thousands of ASICs for their components? Economy of scale is something to consider IMO

[Yamane_Keto]

Why are these USB ASICs so expensive?

I do not think that it is expensive because it is impossible to find a mining tool that costs you less than $ 200, but the price is not important, but rather a comparison of the price with TH / s. So I suppose you are asking why would I pay around $200 to get 200 GH? The reason for this is the density of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits on a small piece of "system-on-a-chip" (SoC) design, which causes them to heat up extremely quickly, forcing developers to reduce speeds and recommend that these devices be well-cooled.



It may be less noisy than other mining devices, but it is not profitable.

How does this USB ASIC work? Can this ASIC work autonomously, or does it need a personal computer to run the mining software?

It is a USB connection, so you can connect it to any source and you need to connect it to the Internet and build a small group of them as shown in the above figure, but as I explained to you, they are not profitable, so instead of buying 30 devices from them, I can buy Bitmain Antminer S9 (14Th) with a better return.

[stompix]

2 cents profit per day on a USB asic for 299 euros as an example of the worst investment in mining.

Why are these USB ASICs so expensive?

Somebody was selling the first batch for 800 on eBay back when it was launched, it's not a price that is set in stone.
Bitcoinmerch is selling it for $199 that's 50% cheaper and it's selling a 6x pack with hub and fans for $999, that's $166 a piece.

It's a 2021 design made in small batches that is now treated as a cool piece of history, that's why prices are so high.

Why are prices so high? I don't know, but it's easy to think that those who produce these USB miners don't benefit from the same rates as those who produce tens of thousands of ASICs for their components? Economy of scale is something to consider IMO

The s9, (although if I remember correctly the Compac F uses S17 chips) had 189 chips, the rest of the miner is cheap compared to chip prices nowadays so there goes the additional cost distribution for the manufacturer while with the USB is a ton of work on small batches, then there is the thing that Bitmain doesn't sell the chips directly at their production cost so far costlier. You can't build something with more work, and more customization while buying all the components from the guy who mass-produces and charges you extra for them and then compete with him.

[FP91G]

If you gather such amateurs of solo mining here, then it’s better to buy an old and proven ASIC BITMAIN AntMiner S9 for $200 and an ASIC noicebox for $200, and spend the rest of the dollars on electricity. Asics are more likely to catch a block in solo mining, but this is also a very difficult task.

[mikeywith]

And someone won the lottery last year, and I've never won a big win. USB ASICs will definitely not be used by business miners.
2 cents profit per day on a USB asic for 299 euros as an example of the worst investment in mining.

Everything has its own use case, not everyone is a businessman or a large investor who can afford to build a large farm, it's easy to tell OP to ditch the USB miner and go build a 100MW farm with all M50s or S19 XPs and make a few million dollars in profit, ya that would be a lot better than a few cents a day, but then that would be dumb advice.

Something like R606 by GekkoScience does nearly 2th at 80w, costs next to nothing to run, and has an ok chance of hitting a block compared to an S9 that consumes 1000w and needs to be placed somewhere far so people can fall asleep, so for anyway who doesn't want to spend much on the power bill, run a silent small miner for a lottery, USB sticks are a great option. 

[philipma1957]

And someone won the lottery last year, and I've never won a big win. USB ASICs will definitely not be used by business miners.
2 cents profit per day on a USB asic for 299 euros as an example of the worst investment in mining.

Everything has its own use case, not everyone is a businessman or a large investor who can afford to build a large farm, it's easy to tell OP to ditch the USB miner and go build a 100MW farm with all M50s or S19 XPs and make a few million dollars in profit, ya that would be a lot better than a few cents a day, but then that would be dumb advice.

Something like R606 by GekkoScience does nearly 2th at 80w, costs next to nothing to run, and has an ok chance of hitting a block compared to an S9 that consumes 1000w and needs to be placed somewhere far so people can fall asleep, so for anyway who doesn't want to spend much on the power bill, run a silent small miner for a lottery, USB sticks are a great option. 

yeah pretty much r606 or the Apollo are cheap to run.

I play with an old L3+ using a good platinum ATX psu.

I set it to 80% speed for hash
I set it to 12% speed for fans
I solo mine Doge.

I run it in a cold spot in my home that needs a space heater in the summer as ac makes the runs too cold.
Same spot is too cold in the winter so it needs a space heater in the winter.
So I would be running a space heater on low or running this L3+

[FP91G]

Something like R606 by GekkoScience does nearly 2th at 80w, costs next to nothing to run, and has an ok chance of hitting a block compared to an S9 that consumes 1000w and needs to be placed somewhere far so people can fall asleep, so for anyway who doesn't want to spend much on the power bill, run a silent small miner for a lottery, USB sticks are a great option.  

I correctly understood that if the Terminus R606 Pod Miner is overclock to 1 terahesh, then it will consume 120 watts? In the last post, I wrote about 200 dollars for ASIC BITMAIN AntMiner S9, and this is my mistake. This ASIC can now be bought for 35-40 dollars And it's better to take 3 pieces for 100 dollars for spare parts. This is the price with the power supply. A modern noicebox will allow you to install this ASIC even in an apartment. I'm willing to bet that this is more profitable than buying an expensive R606 for 0.7-1 terahash.

[mikeywith]

I correctly understood that if the Terminus R606 Pod Miner is overclock to 1 terahesh, then it will consume 120 watts? In the last post, I wrote about 200 dollars for ASIC BITMAIN AntMiner S9, and this is my mistake. This ASIC can now be bought for 35-40 dollars And it's better to take 3 pieces for 100 dollars for spare parts. This is the price with the power supply. A modern noicebox will allow you to install this ASIC even in an apartment. I'm willing to bet that this is more profitable than buying an expensive R606 for 0.7-1 terahash.

The R606 can do 2.1th at 88w, i hear your argument but it is like saying instead of buying motorbike, it is cheaper to buy a truck, everything has it is own use case, some people want a simple plug-n-play solution they can insert into their PC or Raspi and off they go, that is totally different from buying an S9, doing all the modifications, getting a noise box (which won't reduce the noise to the point that you can sleep next to). 

[FP91G]

I correctly understood that if the Terminus R606 Pod Miner is overclock to 1 terahesh, then it will consume 120 watts? In the last post, I wrote about 200 dollars for ASIC BITMAIN AntMiner S9, and this is my mistake. This ASIC can now be bought for 35-40 dollars And it's better to take 3 pieces for 100 dollars for spare parts. This is the price with the power supply. A modern noicebox will allow you to install this ASIC even in an apartment. I'm willing to bet that this is more profitable than buying an expensive R606 for 0.7-1 terahash.

The R606 can do 2.1th at 88w, i hear your argument but it is like saying instead of buying motorbike, it is cheaper to buy a truck, everything has it is own use case, some people want a simple plug-n-play solution they can insert into their PC or Raspi and off they go, that is totally different from buying an S9, doing all the modifications, getting a noise box (which won't reduce the noise to the point that you can sleep next to). 

I read in the specifications that the overclocking limit is 1.1th and the manufacturer does not guarantee stable operation with such overclocking.
Let's do a little math. I buy 3 ASIC BITMAIN AntMiner S9 14th for $100 and start mining on one ASIC in solo. For a year I will pay 400 dollars for electricity. And I'll buy a good noisebox for $200. After 2 years, I will get tired of the experiment and I will lose $1100, but I will still have AntMiner S9 bricks and noisebox
I think the buyer of Terminus R606 will lose more money if this ASIC costs $400.

[mikeywith]

I read in the specifications that the overclocking limit is 1.1th and the manufacturer does not guarantee stable operation with such overclocking.

The miner is guaranteed to run at 1.5TH from under 100 DC watts at stock voltage and do it nearly silently. Better performance isn't guaranteed, but is probably attainable. Take for example the test unit I had running 1.8TH at 70 watts, or the above-photographed machine which pulled down almost 2.1TH from 88 watts (on stock voltage, no voltage tuning) for over a week:

Let's do a little math. I buy 3 ASIC BITMAIN AntMiner S9 14th for $100 and start mining on one ASIC in solo. For a year I will pay 400 dollars for electricity. And I'll buy a good noisebox for $200. After 2 years, I will get tired of the experiment and I will lose $1100, but I will still have AntMiner S9 bricks and noisebox
I think the buyer of Terminus R606 will lose more money if this ASIC costs $400

.

It is not just the profit vs cost, not sure how do i explain it better, you keep talking about noise boxes, have you tested them? Because I have and those not near as silent, the heat generated by 3*S9s will need some serious cooling, it is not easy to run an industrial mining gear like the S9 at home.

If we talking big scale, of course those USB miners are a bad option, way to expensive for their hashrate.    

[paid2]

I read in the specifications that the overclocking limit is 1.1th and the manufacturer does ot guarantee stable operation with such overclocking.
Let's do a little math. I buy 3 ASIC BITMAIN AntMiner S9 14th for $100 and start mining on one ASIC in solo. For a year I will pay 400 dollars for electricity. And I'll buy a good noisebox for $200. After 2 years, I will get tired of the experiment and I will lose $1100, but I will still have AntMiner S9 bricks and noisebox
I think the buyer of Terminus R606 will lose more money if this ASIC costs $400.

People who turn to small USB-type ASICs don't think like that. They want no noise, and minimal power consumption. Basically, they're letting your Asics USB sleep like a permanent lottery ticket.
S9s consume a lot more energy, and (for example) no European (or almost no European) would want them, because the lottery ticket would be too expensive. What's more, as mikeywith said, even with a box, they're still infinitely noisier than USBs. Their PSU alone is louder than a USB miner.

Those who buy USB miners are not in a race for efficiency and are not necessarily looking for the lowest price per Th/s. They are looking for an opportunity to mine solo in a symbolic way, without the constraints of a conventional ASIC.

[mikeywith]

People who turn to small USB-type ASICs don't think like that. They want no noise, and minimal power consumption. Basically, they're letting your Asics USB sleep like a permanent lottery ticket.
S9s consume a lot more energy, and (for example) no European (or almost no European) would want them, because the lottery ticket would be too expensive. What's more, as mikeywith said, even with a box, they're still infinitely noisier than USBs. Their PSU alone is louder than a USB miner.

Those who buy USB miners are not in a race for efficiency and are not necessarily looking for the lowest price per Th/s. They are looking for an opportunity to mine solo in a symbolic way, without the constraints of a conventional ASIC.

Ya, I think FP91G is thinking within a very narrow aspect of "cost vs hashrate", given my power rate and space I would most likely not buy a USB a miner due to the cost per th, but say I moved to a small flat in a country where power is pretty expensive, I have no dedicated 220-20A circuit where I can run an industrial miner, no empty room to host the miner in the first place, or any other reason that deem using an industrial grade miner at home impossible, yet I want to still get a shot to find a block, then I would certainly buy a USB miner.

[safar1980]

I correctly understood that if the Terminus R606 Pod Miner is overclock to 1 terahesh, then it will consume 120 watts? In the last post, I wrote about 200 dollars for ASIC BITMAIN AntMiner S9, and this is my mistake. This ASIC can now be bought for 35-40 dollars And it's better to take 3 pieces for 100 dollars for spare parts. This is the price with the power supply. A modern noicebox will allow you to install this ASIC even in an apartment. I'm willing to bet that this is more profitable than buying an expensive R606 for 0.7-1 terahash.

The R606 can do 2.1th at 88w, i hear your argument but it is like saying instead of buying motorbike, it is cheaper to buy a truck, everything has it is own use case, some people want a simple plug-n-play solution they can insert into their PC or Raspi and off they go, that is totally different from buying an S9, doing all the modifications, getting a noise box (which won't reduce the noise to the point that you can sleep next to).  

I read in the specifications that the overclocking limit is 1.1th and the manufacturer does not guarantee stable operation with such overclocking.
Let's do a little math. I buy 3 ASIC BITMAIN AntMiner S9 14th for $100 and start mining on one ASIC in solo. For a year I will pay 400 dollars for electricity. And I'll buy a good noisebox for $200. After 2 years, I will get tired of the experiment and I will lose $1100, but I will still have AntMiner S9 bricks and noisebox
I think the buyer of Terminus R606 will lose more money if this ASIC costs $400.

This asic, with its power supply, has a maximum consumption of 120 watts
"1 x Power Adapter DC 12V/10A.
6 X GekkoScience COMPAC F 2.1+TH/S
The Compac F Is The Most Powerful USB Bitcoin Miner Ever Made – That Actually Turns A Profit In Most Cases. This Rig Includes Active Air Cooling On Each Miner. Those Miners Can Peak Much Higher Wattage Compared To The Older Version."
https:// delete

[paid2]

This asic, with its power supply, has a maximum consumption of 120 watts
1 x Power Adapter DC 12V/10A.
6 X GekkoScience COMPAC F 2.1+TH/S
The Compac F Is The Most Powerful USB Bitcoin Miner Ever Made – That Actually Turns A Profit In Most Cases. This Rig Includes Active Air Cooling On Each Miner. Those Miners Can Peak Much Higher Wattage Compared To The Older Version.

Please don't post this link, it is a well known scam : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5436634.msg61650149#msg61650149
(confirmed by sidehack himself)

Let's not help these scammers with their referencing and advertising

[NotFuzzyWarm]

@safar1980
Please delete that link - it is a known scam site that Sidehack has been trying to get shutdown for well over a month.

[Yamane_Keto]

1 x Power Adapter DC 12V/10A.
6 X GekkoScience COMPAC F 2.1+TH/S
The Compac F Is The Most Powerful USB Bitcoin Miner Ever Made – That Actually Turns A Profit In Most Cases.

Talking about USB Bitcoin Miner is nonsense caused by the extremely rare possibility of Solo Miner Nets $215K in BTC Using a Mini USB Rig and it was exploited badly by some articles and YouTube channels as the USB Rig was 8.3 TH/s (note that per device is less than 500 GH/s)

USB miner is something to try and it is not possible to make a good profit with it. you need a mining ring to make about ~3/day for some altcoins which is not so profitable.

[FP91G]

Let's do a little math. I buy 3 ASIC BITMAIN AntMiner S9 14th for $100 and start mining on one ASIC in solo. For a year I will pay 400 dollars for electricity. And I'll buy a good noisebox for $200. After 2 years, I will get tired of the experiment and I will lose $1100, but I will still have AntMiner S9 bricks and noisebox
I think the buyer of Terminus R606 will lose more money if this ASIC costs $400

.

It is not just the profit vs cost, not sure how do i explain it better, you keep talking about noise boxes, have you tested them? Because I have and those not near as silent, the heat generated by 3*S9s will need some serious cooling, it is not easy to run an industrial mining gear like the S9 at home.

If we talking big scale, of course those USB miners are a bad option, way to expensive for their hashrate.    

I suggest to buy 3 ASICs of AntMiner S9 14th, so that 1 ASIC can be used for mining, and 2 others for spare parts. When the first ASIC breaks down, I will use the second one, and when the third one breaks down, it is already possible to assemble a working ASIC from spare parts. AntMiner S9 is well designed for this.
My comrades tested noise boxes, 40-50 decibels noise level in the noise box. For a balcony, this can be used.
And now calculate the cost of acquiring USB ASICs for hashrate at 14th, power consumption and noise level from 7 pcs COMPAC F 2.1.

[mikeywith]

And now calculate the cost of acquiring USB ASICs for hashrate at 14th, power consumption and noise level from 7 pcs COMPAC F 2.1.

Some people don't want 14th, a noise box and all that, they just want a chance to solo mine a block, there is no way you are getting 40 db on an S9 running at 14th unless it's freezing cold and fans are sitting near idle at 20-25%, a very difficult condition to be met giving that the noisebox will increase temps regardless, 50-55 db is more like it, ya if you put it in a different room it could work, but again, not everyone has a spare room.

Also, while an S19 gives you 7 times the hashrate (2 vs 14), it also uses 7 times more power, someone who pays 10 cents per kWh will only have to pay  6$ a month while still getting a chance to hit a block, vs paying $90 a month running an s9, in just a few months the power bill alone will surpass the cost of the USB miner, you see we can keep going back and forth of how something is better than the other, but we will get nowhere because as I said, everything has it's own use case.