How to check a mining farm when buying

Mining farm

According to far-sighted crypto market participants, the crisis period is a good time to increase technical capacities. This is due to the decrease in prices for new equipment and the increase in supply on the secondary market. The article will help you learn how to check a ready-made mining farm when buying it. The information will also be useful for those who purchase used devices.

Features of buying a ready-made mining farm

Users with technical experience choose the path of independent assembly of the farm. An alternative way for miners without specialized knowledge is to purchase ready-made equipment from intermediaries.

Contractors undertake the full cycle of selection, configuration and delivery of the farm to the final buyer. In conclusion, specialists configure the software for mining, which will allow you to generate income from the first day of operation of the equipment.

Buying a mining farm through an intermediary guarantees quality work. Companies carry out the purchase in a period of up to three months.

Basic set of components of a farm for mining

Ready-made farms for mining crypto coins have the same architecture. It includes:

  • Motherboard.
  • Graphics 2-core (or more) processor.
  • RAM from 4 GB.
  • Power supply. In the case of increased volume of the total power of video cards blocks can be two or more.
  • Solid-state drive (SSD) of 60 GB or more.
  • Risers.
  • Adapters.
  • Rack for mounting equipment (rig).
How to check a mining farm when buying
Appearance of a mining farm

Additionally, video cards are configured with special software. Devices from different manufacturers support separate utilities.

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Card manufacturerGRU customization software
NVIDIA
    • GeForce Tweak Utility

    • GPU-Z

    • EVGA Precision X

    • MSI Afterburner

    • NVIDIA Inspector

    • RivaTuner

    • PowerStrip

    • ASUS GPU Tweak

    • NVIDIA System Tools with ESA Support

AMD
    • AMD OverDrive

    • PowerStrip

    • AMD GPU Clock Tool

    • MSI Afterburner

    • ATITool

    • ClockGen

The specialists will also install the necessary operating system for mining. Linux, HiveOS and RaveOS are suitable for working with most protocols.

What to pay attention to and how to check a mining farm when buying it

Compared to new equipment, buying on the secondary market needs more scrutiny. We recommend not paying for devices without inspection on the following points:

  • Compliance with the stated equipment. Model names, characteristics and number of components in the seller’s documents should correspond to the received devices.
  • Check the video card for the absence of a mining limiter (LHR). Manufacturers supplement the names of models with special indices.
  • Marking the motherboard, video card and power supply with the manufacturer’s serial numbers. They are a combination of letters and numbers. Identifiers of Gygabyte devices have the form SN (Serial Number) – 10 digits. MSI manufacturer’s marks consist of several alphanumeric blocks, which are indicated through a hyphen. Например, 602-V308-02SB140101295. The information in the serial numbers can confirm the place and date of manufacture. You can also check the authenticity of the equipment on the manufacturer’s official website.
  • Packaging integrity. Damage during transportation may cause malfunction of components. Also, the packaging and documents should be retained until the end of the warranty period.
  • Presence of all components, wires and connectors. New parts should be free of dust, dents and chips. On used ones, breaks, traces of corrosion, melted contacts, oil leaks are also inadmissible. Risers and cables should be tightly attached to the connectors.
  • The motherboard must carry from 6 to 12 graphics processors, as well as have PCI-E type connectors for connection. The number of these connectors equals or exceeds the number of graphics cards (GPUs). The power supply is connected to each GPU without using splitters by an independent cable.
  • Even operation of fans on the processor and video cards when the ready-made mining farm is connected to the network. In the first hour after startup, the noise level is at the maximum declared by the manufacturer.

Examples of ready-made farms for mining

The table below shows ready-made farms marked “In high demand” on the main sites selling mining equipment.

Model Number of video cardsCost
Mining farm on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 GPU.
4, 6, 8 or 12 pcs.
From 210,500 rubles.
Mining farm on GPU MSI GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER VENTUS.
12 pcs.
From 871,500 rubles.
Mining farm on GPU AMD Radeon 6800XT.
4, 6, 8 or 12 pcs.
From 266,500 rubles.
Mining farm on GPU AMD RX570 8Gb.
4, 6, 8 or 12 pcs.
From 142,000 rubles.

The main points when choosing a seller

There are dozens of agents on the market from private mining shops to companies representing equipment on an industrial scale. It is important to remember that the supply of out-of-stock components comes from warehouses in other countries, more often from China. The waiting time can be from 1 to 3 months.

Attention should be paid to:

  • Actual availability of components in warehouses.
  • The amount of prepayment and postpayment details.
  • Reviews of the seller’s reputation.
  • List of documents accompanying the purchase.
  • The order of actions in the event of a warranty case.
  • Availability and terms of warranty for services rendered.

Advantages and disadvantages of buying

The practice of previous years showed that cryptoasset mining turned into a good source of income during periods of the bull cycle. Bullrun was accompanied by a quick payback of farms in the period from 5 to 7 months.

This indicator can be calculated with the help of a mining calculator. Calculations are based on the cost of electricity and data on the consumption and processing power of the selected model of video card. Individual platforms are also able to take into account the size of the commission of a mining pool or cryptocurrency exchange.

However, at present, with the onset of a prolonged bear trend, the breakeven point has been pushed back dozens of times. The speed of equipment payback is directly related to the size of the energy tariff. The highest tariff is set in Moscow – 5.5 rubles/kWh. The lowest prices are set in the Irkutsk Region – 1.2 rubles/kWh.

The table shows the payback period of the best cards in terms of profitability, according to Whattomine service.

ModelMoscowIrkutsk region
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
5922 days (16 years)
2475 days (6 years and 8 months)
AMD Radeon RX 6800
3283 days (9 years)
1673 days (4 years and 6 months)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
11163 days (30 years)
3404 days (9 years)
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
3881 days (10 years and 7 months)
2141 days (5 years and 10 months)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
36666 days (100 years)
3537 days (9 years and 8 months)

Periods of lower current profitability force OEMs to cut prices by an average of 2-2.5 times. According to analysts, the reversal of the overall market trend is accompanied by higher device profitability and shorter payback time.

Conclusions

As of the end of 2022, mining is in the zone of decreasing profitability. Patient crypto miners are taking on the ongoing costs of electricity and maintaining the equipment. Previous shifts in market cycles have allowed prepared players to recoup costs and multiply investments.

How to check a mining farm when buying
Ethereum network complexity before and after the transition to Proof-of-Stake consensus

Frequently Asked Questions

⚡ Is it possible to mine Ethereum coin (ETH) after the transition to PoS consensus?

No. After September 15, 2022, Etherium can be mined by being an independent validator on the network. To create it, an asset of 32 ETH must be locked in the network.

✨ Is it possible to mine Bitcoin (BTC) using video card farms?

The power of farms using video cards is not enough for Bitcoin mining. ASIC miners are better suited for this purpose.

📢 The most popular crypto coins for mining.

According to the Minerstat service, cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum Classic (ETH), Ravencoin (RVN), Dogecoin (DOGE) are mined more often than others.

🔥 Is it possible to simultaneously mine different cryptocurrencies with one farm?

Yes, it is possible. This requires increased hardware performance and distribution of tasks to separate video cards.

📌 What factors can reduce the payback of a private crypto farm?

It is possible to pay off the equipment faster if the value of the mined currency rises and energy prices decrease.

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Author: Saifedean Ammous, an expert in cryptocurrency economics.

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