What is an ASIC miner?
- Author
- CRYPTO PORT Editorial
- Published
- Updated
- Reading time
- 4 min
In short
An ASIC miner is a machine built around a chip that does one thing: compute a specific hash function. It is orders of magnitude more efficient than a general-purpose CPU or GPU, but it becomes worthless the moment the target algorithm changes. Bitcoin mining today is effectively an ASIC-only field.
Key points
- A circuit hard-wired for one hashing algorithm
- Vastly more hashes per watt than general hardware
- Useless if the target algorithm changes
- Heat and noise make siting it difficult
Definition
Mining hardware built on an application-specific integrated circuit that is optimised for a single hash function and cannot perform general computation.
A CPU can do anything, but only a fraction of its circuitry serves any one task. A GPU is good at running the same calculation in parallel. An ASIC goes further and etches only the needed operations into silicon, leaving nothing idle — which is why its hashes-per-watt figure is in another league.
Bitcoin mining moved from CPUs to GPUs to FPGAs and finally to ASICs. Once purpose-built hardware appears, general hardware simply cannot keep up. Conversely, when Ethereum switched to proof of stake, the equipment aimed at it lost its purpose overnight.
ASICs generate serious heat and noise. In a home, cooling, electrical capacity and neighbours become the real constraints, so most units live in dedicated facilities. Hardware generations also turn over quickly, and each new model pushes older ones down the pecking order.
Watch out for
- · A change to the target algorithm can leave the hardware with no use at all
- · The used market carries faulty units and ones that miss their rated output
- · Home electrical capacity and noise limits are often the binding constraint