Bitcoin Machines
We’ve talked about Bitcoins before, and even put together a list of 20 places where you can spend them. But a list of places to spend Bitcoins isn’t of much use if you don’t have any Bitcoins. Sure, you could go to a Bitcoin exchange such as Mt.Gox and exchange your money for Bitcoins, but there’s always security risks involved in doing so. If you decide to mine Bitcoins yourself, it’d probably take you forever just to mine one Bitcoin using an everyday computer rig. So, what’s a budding Bitcoin enthusiast to do?
Well, if you’re serious about getting into Bitcoin, and don’t want to deal with the potential dangers of online Bitcoin exchanges, then there’s only one thing left to do: invest in a Bitcoin mining machine. These are purpose-built computers where the one and only aim is to mine as many Bitcoins as possible, as quickly as possible.
Intrigued? Here’s a list of 5 machines that will be shipping in the near future. Make sure you have some cash to burn!
Recommended Reading: 10 Things You Need To Know About Bitcoins
1. Fast-Hash One
There are three machine models in the Fast-Hash One series of Bitcoin mining machines: the Silver Edition, the Gold Edition and the Platinum Edition. These are 19″ rack mountable Bitcoin machines, with the main differences being their expandability and the power of the included mining modules. All three machines come with one mining module, but can be upgraded to have six.
The Silver Edition is powered by a 64 GH/s module and tops out at 384 GH/s. The Gold Edition is powered by a 128GH/s module, with a maximum hash rate of 768GH/s. The Platinum Edition comes with the most powerful 256 GH/s module, and can go up to 1.536TH/s. Overall, when fully upgraded, these machines will mine anywhere from 0.2 up to 0.85 Bitcoins a day.
While the Silver Edition does not support expansion cases, both the Gold and Platinum Editions support up to six expansion cases, with each expansion case able to hold up to 16 modules, for even more mining power. The Fast-Hash One mining machines are available for pre-order.
Price: , 499 – 5, 999 for base units
2. CoinTerra TerraMiner IV
CoinTerra’s TerraMiner IV is a water-cooled Bitcoin mining machine powered by CoinTerra’s own in-house ASIC chips, the GoldStrike I. The TerraMiner IV is built on a 28nm process and comes in a 4U enclosure with a power supply included, which is a rarity in Bitcoin mining circles.
The TerraMiner IV has four ASIC chips, and with each boasting a 500 GH/s hash rate, it means that the TerraMiner IV has a total hash rate of 2TH/s. At the current mining difficulty, that translates to just over 1.1 Bitcoins a day. CoinTerra also claim that the TerraMiner IV is power efficient, although there are no numbers available yet to prove this claim.
The April batch for the TerraMiner IV is open for pre-orders.
Price: $5, 999
3. Hashfast Sierra
Hashfast’s Sierra is a high performance water-cooled Bitcoin mining machine powered by three Golden Nonce ASIC chips. It is built into a 4U rack mountable case and comes with two Seasonic power supplies built in.
The Sierra has a nominal hash rate of 1.2 TH/s, which translates to about 0.66 Bitcoins a day as of the time of writing. The thing with the Sierra, though, is that it doesn’t have an on-board controller, so you’ll have to connect the Sierra to a main control unit via USB. This main control unit can be anything that will run CGminer, a mining software.
The Hashfast Sierra is open for pre-orders and is guaranteed to ship by March 31, 2014.
Price: $6, 300
4. Black Arrow Prospero X-3
Black Arrow’s Prospero X-3 is powered by 20 Black Arrow Minion ASIC chips built into a 19″ rack mount unit. The Minion ASICs are built on a 28nm process and are an in-house design. The Prospero X-3 will also have a built-in LCD display that will show statistics and diagnostics.
The 20 Minion ASIC chips in the Prospero X-3 give it a hash rate of 2TH/s, good for about 1.1 Bitcoins per day as of the time of writing. The Prospero X-3 has been designed with up to 20% under- and overclocks in mind. It also supports the lightweight Stratum mining protocol.
The Prospero X-3 is available for pre-order and is scheduled to be available at the end of February 2014.
Price: $6, 999
5. KnCMiner Neptune
The KnCMiner Neptune is quite possibly the grand daddy of all Bitcoin mining machines. The Neptune is basically four modular 20nm ASIC boards, designed so that the machine will continue mining even if one (or more) of the boards fails. The Neptune follows up from their previous miner, the Jupiter, which was built on a 28nm process.
The Neptune has a minimum hashing speed of 3TH/s, which translates to about 1.66 Bitcoins a day. This is a vast improvement on the Jupiter, which was only able to mine 0.6 Bitcoins a day. KnCMiner also mention that they have the right to increase the speeds as it nears shipment, so the Neptune might end up being even faster once it gets into miners’ hands.
The KnCMiner Neptune is currently available for pre-order, and is scheduled to begin shipping in Q1/Q2 of 2014, limited to 1200 units.
