The best bitcoin mining machines you can buy represent application-specific integrated circuits, which represent hardware that was specifically designed to mine bitcoins. In the early years of its inception, Bitcoin miners used their regular computers to mine bitcoins, but the system wasn’t fast enough and was affected the performance of the computers. Miners moved to using the graphical processing units (GPUs) as they could hash data much faster (50 to 100 times) and used less power.
Then, in 2013, came ASICs, which quickly captured the bitcoin mining market as they used less power than CPUs or GPUs and made possible the development of bitcoin mining farms. With the ascension of other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum or Litecoin, traditional CPUs and GPUs are still used by miners, which is why companies like NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) are still enjoying a boost in sales of chips provided by higher demand from cryptocurrency mining. Recently, a new concept emerged, called “cloud mining”, which allows miners to rent computer power from a provider like Gensis Mining, but the concept is still fresh and prone by many scams.
Mining bitcoins involves identifying new transactions into a group of transactions called a block, which is a added to the blockchain (a distributed ledger that keeps all transactions). Each block includes a cryptographic hash of the previous block, but to be accepted, the new block must include a number called nonce (a number used once). To identify the correct nonce, miners might try different values. The current number of nonces that miners have to try before creating a new block stands at around 6.24 sextillion. The miner that identifies a new block gets a reward in bitcoins, which was initially set at 50 bitcoins per block, but was halved twice since then and currently stands at 12.5 bitcoins per block. As the limit of 21 million bitcoins in circulation is reached, the reward will amount to zero.
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But is bitcoin mining profitable? As with any business, it takes some initial investment in the form of a bitcoin mining machine, which can cost thousands of dollars, as you shall see in our list of 5 best bitcoin mining machines you can buy. In addition, bitcoin mining machines, or rigs, consume quite a lot of electricity. Recently, it has been estimated that the Bitcoin network is using 240 kilowatt-hours of electricity per transaction, or 32.53 terrawatt-hours (TWh) per year, which makes it the 62nd biggest consumer of energy in the world, above Serbia and just below Denmark. As Bitcoin price has surged past $16,000 and some estimate that the price could reach $100,000 next year, there are concerns that, as more companies engage in mining, the energy demand from the network will soar further, which could potentially affect the environment in countries that rely on coal-based power stations. At the same time, the cost of electricity eats into the profits, which is why many bitcoin miners are concentrated in China, where electricity is cheap (but is also mostly created through burning coal). In addition to bitcoin, you can take a look at other most profitable cryptocurrencies and coins to mine in 2017.
Therefore, as electricity consumption is a major factor in bitcoin mining, manufacturers of the best bitcoin mining machines you can buy, factor in electrical efficiency, which results in a higher price tag, but can pay off over the long run. Another important factor that manufacturers of best bitcoin mining machines take into account is the capacity or hash rate, which is the rate at which the bitcoin mining rig goes through mathematical problems per second. The best bitcoin mining machines you can buy have this capacity measured in Terra Hashes per second.
With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at 5 best bitcoin mining machines you can buy.
5. Avalon 721
Price: $850
Avalon 721 is manufactured by Chinese company Canaan and represents a great entry-level rig, which has a capacity of 6 TH/s and a power consumption between 850 and 1,000 Watts. Avalon 721 is based on 16nm chips, which makes it more energy efficient than its main competitor, AntMiner S7. The maximum number of ASICs that can be connected to the same controller is five, which results in a total hash rate capacity of 30-32 TH/s. Each Avalon 721 can mine around 0.049 bitcoins per month, which results in a monthly profit of around $811, which is a great return on investment excluding energy consumption costs.
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4. Avalon 741
Price: $1,800
Avalon 741 is an upgraded version of the Avalon 721, which has a capacity of 7.2 TH/s. In addition to higher capacity, Cannan also improved the cooling system to ensure a more stable operation of the 88 chips. Avalon 741 has a power consumption of around 1,150 Watts, but it doesn’t come with a power supply unit or a controller, so they have to be purchased separately. The mining rig can generate around 0.060 bitcoins per month.
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3. AntMiner R4
Price: $3,200
With a capacity of 8.6 TH/s, AntMiner R4 mines approximately 0.070 bitcoins per month, which translates into around $1,160 at the current prices. At 9kg, AntMiner R4 is heavier than the previously two mentioned best bitcoin mining machines you can buy, but it’s quiter at just 51 db, which is why it is the preferred choice of many people who want to mine bitcoins at home. In addition, it has a much lower power consumption of 845 Watts.
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2. AntMiner T9
Price: $1,600
On the second spot in the list of 5 best bitcoin mining machines you can buy is AntMiner T9, which has a capacity of 12.5 TH/s and has a great power efficiency at 0.126 joules per Giga Hash. Its power consumption stands between 1,450 Watts and 1576 Watts. AntMiner T9, which comes from the Chinese manufacturer Bitmain, can produce around 0.102 bitcoins per month.
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1. AntMiner S9
Price: $2,000
Finally, on the first spot among the best bitcoin mining machines you can buy is Bitmain’s AntMiner S9, which though has a high price tag of $2,000, also has a very high capacity of 13.5 TH/s and can mine around 0.115 bitcoins per month. It is also very power efficient at 0.098 Joules per Giga Hash and has a power consumption of around 1,232 Watts. However, the AntMiner S9 is also rather noisy and requires a serious cooling system, so it’s not very convenient to use at home, but, on the plus side, miners appreciate the easy set up process, which takes minutes to start mining bitcoins.
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These are the five best bitcoin mining machines you can buy. The two companies that manufacture them are Canaan, which makes Avalon miners and Bitmain, which is behind AntMiner machines. Both companies are China-based, which is not surprising since the bulk of miners are located there.
