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Questions tagged [asic]

"Application-Specific Integrated Circuit" - An integrated circuit (chip) specifically designed for one task only. Similar to FPGAs, ASICs may be the low-power-consumption future of Bitcoin mining. As with FPGAs they are very power efficient but carry a comparatively higher up-front cost.

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In the ASIC-age, is it worth starting mining Bitcoin at home?

I have recently learned about Bitcoin and would like to get rich quickly into mining. I have control of a laptop library full of ancient computers powerful gaming PC cluster of GPUs an old ASIC, I got for three times its worth off eBay a cluster…
Murch
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Bitcoin Mining ASICs used for cryptographic application? Rainbow tables?

What is the potential that the ASICs being developed for mining could be used for other cryptographic applications such as building rainbow tables? I know that for instance those that crack GSM with rainbow tables utilize systems similar to those…
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Do these new ASIC miners really pay for themselves in 5 days?

The Bitforce 50GH/s miner costs $2,500 today, and according to the following calculation it would mine enough coins in about 5 days to pay for itself. I am sure I am missing something here. Why would they even sell this hardware at all? Surely it…
Simon
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Is Butterfly Labs reputable / Should I preorder the SC Jalepeno?

I'm somewhat new to the mining scene but I'm a bit familiar with everything. I see that GPU mining will become much less cost effective over the next year or so, especially around December when the block reward size drops to 25 BTC. As an entry…
dv90
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How does AsicBoost work?

The AsicBoost paper by Timo Hanke and Sergio Demian Lerner describes a way of increasing ASIC performance by 20%. It's a bit sparse on the details, though. What are they optimizing?
Nick ODell
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What does it mean for a cryptocurrency to be ASIC-resistant?

I guess the question I'm asking here is what does it take for an altcoin to be ASIC-resistant? What does it need to have?
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What's the difference between an ASIC and an FPGA? Which is better for mining?

I'm a software guy with only the most basic of hardware training/knowledge so while I understand the basic concepts of ASICs and FPGAs the details are beyond me. What are the primary differences and, more importantly to my purposes, how do those…
David Perry
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Why are companies selling mining hardware instead of using it themselves?

I'm not (yet) using Bitcoin, and I'm just approaching this world as of now. I stumbled upon some merchants that sell mining hardware (with some GH/s). But I've yet to understand what they gain, apart from the upfront cash. The reason one should buy…
Helios
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What is more effective than ASIC mining?

Considering that mining progressed from CPU, to GPU, to FPGA, and now ASIC mining... have we finally hit the end of the road for technological advancement? What future optimizations can occur after ASICs are widespread?
makerofthings7
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What are ASIC miners actually doing?

I'm trying to understand Bitcoin mining (software-wise), and I wonder how ASIC miners are different? I'm going through this minimal Bitcoin miner Github repository. Which part of Program.cs are ASICs optimizing (I guess Program.cs line 90)? Where…
ewooycom
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Is it worthy to use "bitcoin usb block erupter"

I was searching for Mining hardware on internet and found that a new technology is available known as "bitcoin usb block erupter" for mining bitcoins as 300MH/S I just want to know if it is useful to use these hardware instead of GPU mining and how…
Vaibhav Gautam
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Why do the creators of ASICs not just keep them for themselves?

If ASICs are able to mine BC so fast, why are the creators of these machines even selling them? If they just created them to mine with them themselves, they could get so many BC and in turn make BC worth so much (as BC for the rest of us would be so…
Robby
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Is there time-to-failure data available for any of the BFL products?

Butterfly Labs (BFL) is offering a few mining products which look to be based on some sort of FPGA or ASIC but I can't find any reliable data on what parts they're using or their manufacturing techniques. I'd like to factor device cost into the…
David Perry
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Why do leading ASICs manufacturers sell their chips?

I understand that some people have access to cheaper electricity than others. However why not just open mining facilities in the parts of the world offering the lowest cost structure? If that is not possible, then a joint miner with those miners…
John Adamson
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Can ASIC or FPGA boards be used to mine Litecoin?

I know that Litecoin was designed to be mined with a CPU but then someone figured out how to mine it with a GPU. Has anyone figure out how to mine Litecoin with an ASIC or FPGA boards, and if not is it conceivably possible? (and by that I mean…
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