Bitcoin Mining Hardware Guide

bitcoin mining chips

The best Bitcoin mining hardware has evolved dramatically since 2009

At first, miners used their central processing unit (CPU) to mine, but soon this wasn't fast enough and it bogged down the system resources of the host computer. Miners quickly moved on to using the graphical processing unit (GPU) in computer graphics cards because they were able to hash data 50 to 100 times faster and consumed much less power per unit of work.

During the winter of 2011, a new industry sprang up with custom equipment that pushed the performance standards even higher. The first wave of these specialty bitcoin mining devices were easy to use Bitcoin miners were based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) processors and attached to computers using a convenient USB connection.

FPGA miners used much less power than CPU's or GPU's and made concentrated mining farms possible for the first time.

Today's modern and best bitcoin mining hardware

Application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners have taken over completely. These ASIC machines mine at unprecedented speeds while consuming much less power than FPGA or GPU mining rigs. Several reputable companies have established themselves with excellent products.

Bitcoin Mining Hardware Comparison

Currently, based on (1) price per hash and (2) electrical efficiency the best Bitcoin miner options are:

AntMiner S7

AntMiner S7 Bitcoin Miner
  • 4.73 Th/s
  • 0.25 W/Gh
  • 8.8 pounds
  • Yes
  • N/A
  • AntMiner S7 Bitcoin Miner
  • 0.1645
 

AntMiner S9

AntMiner S9 Bitcoin Miner
  • 13.5 Th/s
  • 0.098 W/Gh
  • 8.1 pounds
  • Yes
  • N/A
  • AntMiner S9 Bitcoin Miner
  • 0.3603
 

Avalon6

Avalon6 Bitcoin Miner
  • 3.5 Th/s
  • 0.29 W/Gh
  • 9.5 pounds
  • No
  • N/A
  • Avalon6 Bitcoin Miner
  • 0.1232

For a comprehensive comparison of bitcoin mining hardware.

Best Bitcoin Mining Hardware

bitcoin mining chip sheet

Two major factors go into determining the best bitcoin mining hardware: (1) cost and (2)electricity efficiency.

Bitcoin mining is difficult to do profitably but if you try then this Bitcoin miner is probably a good shot.

ASIC Bitcoin Mining Hardware

Application-specific integrated circuit chips (ASICs) are bitcoin mining hardware created solely to solve Bitcoin blocks. They have only minimal requirements for other normal computer applications. Consequently, ASIC Bitcoin mining systems can solve Bitcoin blocks much quicker and use less less electricity or power than older bitcoin mining hardware like CPUs, GPUs or FPGAs.

As Bitcoin mining increases in popularity and the Bitcoin price rises so does the value of ASIC Bitcoin mining hardware. As more Bitcoin mining hardware is deployed to secure the Bitcoin network the Bitcoin difficulty rises. This makes it impossible to profitably compete without a Bitcoin ASIC system. Furthermore, Bitcoin ASIC technology keeps getting faster, more efficient and more productive so it keeps pushing the limits of what makes the best Bitcoin mining hardware.

Some models of Bitcoin miners include Antminer S5, Antminer U3, ASICMiner BE Tube, ASICMiner BE Prisma, Avalon 2, Avalon 3, BTC Garden AM-V1 616 GH/s, VMC PLATINUM 6 MODULE, and USB miners.

AntMiner U2

AntMiner U2 Bitcoin Miner
  • 2 Gh/s
  • 1.0 W/Gh
  • 0.8 ounces
  • Yes
  • N/A
  • AntMiner U2 Bitcoin Miner
 

BPMC Red Fury USB

BPMC Red Fury USB Bitcoin Miner
  • 2.5 Gh/s
  • 0.96 W/Gh
  • 1.6 ounces
  • Yes
  • N/A
  • BPMC Red Fury USB Bitcoin Miner
 

GekkoScience

GekkoScience Bitcoin Miner
  • 9.5 Gh/s
  • 0.33 W/Gh
  • 0.8 ounces
  • Yes
  • N/A
  • GekkoScience Bitcoin Miner

Best Bitcoin Cloud Mining Services

For those not interested in operating the actual hardware then they can purchase Bitcoin cloud mining contracts. Being listed in this section is NOT an endorsement of these services. There have been a tremendous amount of Bitcoin cloud mining scams.

Hashflare ReviewHashflare offers SHA-256 mining contracts and more profitable SHA-256 coins can be mined while automatic payouts are still in BTC. Customers must purchase at least 10 GH/s.

Genesis Mining ReviewGenesis Mining is the largest Bitcoin and scrypt cloud mining provider. Genesis Mining offers three Bitcoin cloud mining plans that are reasonably priced. Zcash mining contracts are also available.

Hashing 24 ReviewHashing24 has been involved with Bitcoin mining since 2012. They have facilities in Iceland and Georgia. They use modern ASIC chips from BitFury deliver the maximum performance and efficiency possible.

Minex ReviewMinex is an innovative aggregator of blockchain projects presented in an economic simulation game format. Users purchase Cloudpacks which can then be used to build an index from pre-picked sets of cloud mining farms, lotteries, casinos, real-world markets and much more.

Minergate Review: Offers both pool and merged mining and cloud mining services for Bitcoin.

Hashnest ReviewHashnest is operated by Bitmain, the producer of the Antminer line of Bitcoin miners. HashNest currently has over 600 Antminer S7s for rent. You can view the most up-to-date pricing and availability on Hashnest's website. At the time of writing one Antminer S7's hash rate can be rented for $1,200.

Bitcoin Cloud Mining Review: Currently all Bitcoin Cloud Mining contracts are sold out.

NiceHash Review: NiceHash is unique in that it uses an orderbook to match mining contract buyers and sellers. Check its website for up-to-date prices.

Eobot ReviewStart cloud mining Bitcoin with as little as $10. Eobot claims customers can break even in 14 months.

MineOnCloud Review: MineOnCloud currently has about 35 TH/s of mining equipment for rent in the cloud. Some miners available for rent include AntMiner S4s and S5s.

Full List of Mining Hardware

MinerCapacityEfficiencyPrice
AntMiner S1180 Gh/s2.0 W/GhN/A
AntMiner S21000 Gh/s1.1 W/GhN/A
AntMiner S3441 Gh/s0.77 W/GhN/A
AntMiner S42000 Gh/s0.7 W/GhN/A
AntMiner S51155 Gh/s0.51 W/GhN/A
AntMiner S5+7722 Gh/s0.44 W/GhN/A
AntMiner S74.73 Th/s0.25 W/GhN/A
AntMiner S913.5 Th/s0.098 W/GhN/A
AntMiner U12 Gh/s1.25 W/GhN/A
AntMiner U22 Gh/s1.0 W/GhN/A
AntMiner U363 Gh/s1.0 W/GhN/A
ASICMiner BE Blade11 Gh/s7.72 W/GhN/A
ASICMiner BE Cube30 Gh/s6.67 W/GhN/A
ASICMiner BE Sapphire0 Gh/s7.59 W/GhN/A
ASICMiner BE Tube800 Gh/s1.13 W/GhN/A
ASICMiner BE Prisma1400 Gh/s0.79 W/GhN/A
Avalon Batch 166 Gh/s9.35 W/GhN/A
Avalon Batch 282 Gh/s8.54 W/GhN/A
Avalon Batch 382 Gh/s8.54 W/GhN/A
Avalon2300 Gh/sN/AN/A
Avalon3800 Gh/sN/AN/A
Avalon63.5 Th/s0.29 W/GhN/A
bi*fury5 Gh/s0.85 W/GhN/A
BFL SC 5Gh/s5 Gh/s6.0 W/GhN/A
BFL SC 10 Gh/s10 Gh/sN/AN/A
BFL SC 25 Gh/s25 Gh/s6.0 W/GhN/A
BFL Little Single30 Gh/sN/AN/A
BFL SC 50 Gh/s50 Gh/s6.0 W/GhN/A
BFL Single 'SC'60 Gh/s4.0 W/GhN/A
BFL 230 GH/s Rack Mount230 Gh/sN/AN/A
BFL 500 GH/s Mini Rig SC500 Gh/s5.4 W/GhN/A
BFL Monarch 700GH/s700 Gh/s0.7 W/GhN/A
BitFury S.B.N/AN/AN/A
Bitmine.ch Avalon Clone 85GH85 Gh/s7.65 W/GhN/A
Black Arrow Prospero X-1100 Gh/s1.0 W/GhN/A
Black Arrow Prospero X-32000 Gh/s1.0 W/GhN/A
Blue Fury3 Gh/s1.0 W/GhN/A
BTC Garden AM-V1 310 GH/s310 Gh/s1.05 W/GhN/A
BTC Garden AM-V1 616 GH/s616 Gh/s1.05 W/GhN/A
CoinTerra TerraMiner IV1600 Gh/s1.31 W/GhN/A
DrillbitN/AN/AN/A
HashBuster Micro20 Gh/s1.15 W/GhN/A
HashBuster NanoN/AN/AN/A
HashCoins Apollo v31100 Gh/s0.91 W/GhN/A
HashCoins Zeus v34500 Gh/s0.67 W/GhN/A
HashFast Baby Jet400 Gh/s1.1 W/GhN/A
HashFast Sierra1200 Gh/s1.1 W/GhN/A
HashFast Sierra Evo 32000 Gh/s1.1 W/GhN/A
Klondike5 Gh/s6.15 W/GhN/A
KnCMiner Mercury100 Gh/s2.5 W/GhN/A
KnC Saturn250 Gh/s1.2 W/GhN/A
KnC Jupiter500 Gh/s1.2 W/GhN/A
KnC Neptune3000 Gh/s0.7 W/GhN/A
LittleFuryN/AN/AN/A
Metabank120 Gh/s1.42 W/GhN/A
NanoFury / IceFury2 Gh/s1.25 W/GhN/A
NanoFury NF24 Gh/s1.35 W/GhN/A
BPMC Red Fury USB2.5 Gh/s0.96 W/GhN/A
ROCKMINER R3-BOX450 Gh/s1.0 W/GhN/A
ROCKMINER R4-BOX470 Gh/s1.0 W/GhN/A
ROCKMINER Rocket BOX450 Gh/s1.07 W/GhN/A
ROCKMINER R-BOX32 Gh/s1.41 W/GhN/A
ROCKMINER R-BOX 110G110 Gh/s1.09 W/GhN/A
ROCKMINER T1 800G800 Gh/s1.25 W/GhN/A
Spondooliestech SP10 Dawson1400 Gh/s0.89 W/GhN/A
SP20 Jackson1.3-1.7 Th/s0.65 W/GhN/A
Spondooliestech SP30 Yukon4500 Gh/s0.67 W/GhN/A
Spondooliestech SP31 Yukon4900 Gh/s0.61 W/GhN/A
Spondooliestech SP35 Yukon5500 Gh/s0.66 W/GhN/A
TerraHash Klondike 165 Gh/s7.11 W/GhN/A
TerraHash Klondike 6418 Gh/s7.06 W/GhN/A
TerraHash DX Mini (full)90 Gh/s7.11 W/GhN/A
TerraHash DX Large (full)180 Gh/s7.11 W/GhN/A
Twinfury5 Gh/s0.85 W/GhN/A
Avalon USB Nano33.6 Gh/s0.85 W/GhN/A
GekkoScience9.5 Gh/s0.33 W/GhN/A