Bitcoin Cash Mining Hardware: Guide for Best Components

In this post, I will walk you through all the Bitcoin Cash mining hardware you need in order to start mining BCH. I will also share with you the best BCH miners and any other hardware components you might need.

Mining BCH is very similar to mining BTC

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain. Thus, it shares the same SHA-256 algorithm with the Bitcoin network.

This means that Bitcoin mining rigs can also be used for Bitcoin Cash mining operations since the two blockchain networks share the same mining algorithm.

Compared to Bitcoin (BTC), BCH is preferred by many crypto miners because it offers a larger block size of 32 MB as opposed to Bitcoin’s block size of 1 MB.

Bitcoin Cash network also has a lower mining difficulty factor compared to Bitcoin blockchain. This means higher transaction speed at a much lower cost (gas fee or mining fee).

With a lower mining difficulty factor, it also means a much lower barrier to entry as mining rigs do not require such a high hash rate expected of BTC mining. This means cheaper and more affordable mining rigs for BCH.

Let’s take a look at which are the best Bitcoin Cash mining machines.

The best Bitcoin Cash Miners

Three major types of Bitcoin Cash miners are:

• Graphics Cards or CPUs
• Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)
• Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)

However, since Bitcoin Cash mining requires a very high hash rate to turn out profits, the first two options aren’t an option.

This leaves you with ASIC miners.

The best mining hardware devices for you to earn your sweet Bitcoin Cash mining reward are:

1. Bitmain AntMiner S19 Pro 

By far one of the most popular BCH miners, Bitmain AntMiner S19 Pro boasts a high hash rate of 110 Tera hashes per second (110Th/s).  It has a power consumption rating of 3,250W and an average price of around $3,000.

2. Bitmain AntMiner S9

One of the most affordable mining rigs is Bitmain AntMiner S9.

It comes at an average price of only $250.

However, it has a low hash rate of just 14 Th/s and a power consumption rating of 1323W.

Thus, to have the same hash rate as AntMiner S19 Pro, you will at about 8 of them.

Nonetheless, the S9 is suitable for those beginners who are on a shoestring budget. The major drawback is that it is very noisy and thus not suitable for home mining.

3. Bitmain AntMiner T19 

For those Bitcoin Cash miners who want to strike a middle way between hash rate and affordability, Bitmain AntMiner T19 comes as the best option.

At an average price tag of $1,500 and an impressive hash rate of 84 Th/s, you get more than half the hash rate of AntMiner S19 Pro at half the price.

4. Whatsminer M30S++

If you are looking for powerful mining equipment outside the Bitmain brand, then Whatsminer M30S++ is a great option.  

It has an average price tag of about $3,000 and a high hash rate of 112 Th/s.

5. Canaan AvalonMiner 1246

Another powerful alternative to the Bitmain brand is the Canaan AvalonMiner 1246.

It is a closer competitor to AntMiner T19 in terms of hash rate.

It has a hash rate of 90 Th/s.

However, it has a very expensive price tag of $3,800.

6. Dragonmint T1

With a hash rate of 16 Th/s and a power consumption rating of 1480W, Dragonmint T1 has an average price tag of $1,300.

Other hardware components you will need

Unlike CPUs and GPUs when mining with ASICs you don’t need a motherboard of RAM sticks. The only other hardware you will need is:

1. Power Supply Unit (PSU): A reliable power supply unit that can provide sufficient wattage to run the ASIC miner efficiently. Ensure it’s compatible with your specific ASIC model.
2. Cooling System: Adequate cooling solutions to prevent the ASIC miner from overheating. This may include fans or cooling liquid depending on your setup.
3. Rack or Housing (Optional): If you have multiple ASIC miners, you may need a rack or housing unit to organize and store them efficiently.
4. Surge Protector and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS): These can help protect your mining equipment from power surges and outages, ensuring the stability of your mining operation.

That’s about it.

Factors to consider in choosing your best mining hardware

Let’s face it. The mining hardware is not cheap. So you need to consider the following before you make a purchase.

1. Mining method

The mining method that you choose has a significant impact on the kind of mining equipment that you will have to acquire and the initial investment that you need to make. Three main mining methods are:

• Solo mining – In this method, you choose to operate as a sole proprietor. Thus, you bear the entire costs, risks, and rewards of mining. The main challenge with solo mining is that your rewards are large but infrequent while you still need to pay the energy bill every month.
• Pool mining – In this method, you choose to operate as a partner in a joint venture. You share your hashing power with others and whenever a machine in the pool adds a block the reward is shared amongst the pool proportionately to the hashing power.
• Cloud mining – In this method, you lease the equipment and running costs from a cloud mining company. This is an option for those who want to bear the initial investment at the lowest minimum possible. All that BCH miners need is to become members of a cloud mining pool and only pay for usage. The cloud provider bears the cost of the mining equipment. The BCH miner only pays for the hash rate used. This is the riskiest option as there have been many scams.

2. Mining profitability

Your focus should be on efficiency and profits. When it comes to crypto mining rigs, the most powerful devices aren’t necessarily the most profitable.

In terms of crypto mining profitability, the mining performance of your cryptocurrency mining operations depends on power efficiency and block reward value. The block reward value refers to how much the block reward covers the crypto mining costs incurred to gain it.

Determining mining profitability can be such a daunting task. Luckily, a Bitcoin Cash mining calculator can help you carry this task effortlessly.

Some of the best BCH calculators include Coinwarz, Whattomine, and Minerstat. If you want detailed information on how to use a Bitcoin Cash mining calculator, then, 99Bitcoins provides the most detailed explanation.

3. Hardware optimization

Different mining machines have different ratings, pricing, and performance. Thus, to get the best mining equipment for your mining operations, you need to establish mining hardware optimization criteria.

The following are important elements of these criteria:

• Hash rate
• Power consumption
• Power efficiency
• Performance optimization
• Software compatibility

(a) Hash rate

The rate at which your mining equipment can solve mathematical puzzles thus yielding a new block is known as the hash rate. A high hash rate means a higher chance of finding a new block and thus gaining a block reward.

Mining machines’ hash rate is measured in terms of solutions per second (Sol/s) or hashes per second (H/s). Most mining graphics cards are rated in terms of H/s since they are less powerful. However, powerful ASIC machines are rated in terms of Tera sols per second (TSol/s) or Tera hashes per second (TH/s).

Other factors being the same, the higher the hash rate the higher the mining profitability.

(b) Power consumption

The biggest cost factor of any crypto-mining process is power consumption. Electricity costs depend on how much power your mining equipment draws from the power supply source.

Higher electricity costs mean lower profits.

(c) Energy efficiency

How do you strike a balance between the need for a high hash rate and the need for lower energy consumption? Energy efficiency is this balance. Given the same hash rate, more energy-efficient mining equipment will have lower power consumption. Thus, greater profits per hash rate.

Energy efficiency refers to how much hash power (H/s) a given mining hardware yields per unit of power consumption. Other factors being the same, the higher the energy efficiency, the greater the profitability.

(d) Software compatibility

The hardware that you choose should be compatible with your preferred software.

4. Finance

All investment decisions, including initial investment outlay for your own hardware, depend on finance. Once you’ve considered the above three factors, the next thing is to weigh out your choices against your budget and financing options. Look out for the best option that is within your budget and financing options.

Apart from cash financing, depending on your jurisdiction, several credit financing options exist. These include:

• Credit purchase
• Hire purchase
• Finance lease
• Finance loans

Ideally, if the interest cost is lower than the lifetime savings made in acquiring more energy-efficient mining equipment (which you would have not otherwise afforded to acquire through a cash basis), go for the credit financing option. Lifetime savings refers to total savings made over the expected lifespan of the mining equipment.

Steps to successful mining

The following four steps will guarantee you successful Bitcoin Cash mining operations:

1. Acquire the mining hardware

Depending on your chosen mining method, go for cryptocurrency mining hardware that is optimized, maximizes mining profitability, and meets your financial considerations.

2. Acquire the right mining software

You have a choice between the following major software for Bitcoin Cash mining operations:

• Awesome Miner
• EasyMiner
• MultiMiner

So far, Awesome Miner is considered the best by many BCH miners due to its multiplatform support.  It supports Windows machines, Linux-based mining OS, Android, iOS, and the web. However, you can choose your ideal software program that meets the minimum software requirements for your own hardware.

Other mining software worth mentioning include Nicehash, MinerGate, BTCMiner, BFGMiner, CCG Mining, and CGMiner.

3. Set up the mining operation

To carry out a successful BCH coins mining setup, do the following:

(a) Choose the mining wallet

Bitcoin Cash network has its own native wallet – the Bitcoin Cash Wallet. You can then transfer from this wallet to any other hot online wallet of your choice.

However, should you desire to keep your block reward safe, you may opt for a hardware wallet. Some of the great hardware wallets to store your mining reward include:

• Ledger Nano X
• Trezor T
• KeepKey
• NGRAVE Zero
• ELLIPAL Titan
• BitBox02
• SecuX V20

(b) Join the Bitcoin Cash mining network

We’ve seen the three main mining methods. Each of these methods represents an option for joining the Bitcoin Cash network. As we’ve also discussed, each of these options has a significant impact on your initial investment decisions. In addition, it has an impact on how much you get as your BCH mining block reward.

The following are the top 3 options for joining the Bitcoin Cash mining network:

(i) As a solo miner

If you are happy going it alone as a sole proprietor, then joining the network as a solo miner is your best option. In solo mining, the costs, risks, and rewards are entirely on your shoulders. This also means heavy initial investment since you must bear the high hash rate demand alone.

(ii) As a pool miner

If you want to go the partnership way, join the Bitcoin Cash network as a pool miner. This means that you share the costs, risks, and rewards. You share the hash rate contribution and also share the mining reward that comes out of that contribution.

Since you don’t have to bear the entire cost of the hash rate, your initial investment will be much lower compared to a solo miner. This is because you will only need to acquire mining hardware that fits your required hash rate contribution to the pool, not the entire mining hash rate.

To become a pool miner, you need to join a Bitcoin Cash mining pool. Some of the best mining pools to join include:

• ViaBTC
• BTC.com
• AntPool
• Bitcoin.com
• F2Pool
• Poolin

When joining a BCH mining pool, it is important to consider pool fee, transaction fees, mining reward schemes, minimum hardware requirements, and software requirements.

The BCH mining pool’s reputation also matters. Ideally, join one of the largest mining pools in the crypto industry since it has an established reputation. You can diversify your risk by joining several mining pools. Since different mining pools have different pool URLs, you can connect your mining equipment’s IP address to several mining pools provided that your mining hardware and software allow it.

(iii) As a cloud miner

As a cloud miner, you do not need to acquire any mining hardware. The only hardware you need is an ordinary computer (desktop, laptop, or smartphone) plus an internet connection. Simply join a mining pool and start mining.

Cloud mining is ideal in situations where you cannot afford the mining equipment. It is also ideal in situations where electricity costs are exorbitant or in jurisdictions where mining is banned. However, your net reward will be much lower as the cloud mining provider takes a huge chunk of your mining reward to cover mining costs plus administrative costs.

(c) Start mining

Now that you are set up, you can start mining a new block of Bitcoin cash.

4. Successfully manage your mining operations

Always remember that, as a crypto miner, you are in business. Keep finding new ways to optimize your mining operations and thus maximize profits.

FAQ

Up Next

How to Mine Bitcoin Cash (BCH): Best Guide for Beginners

Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin except that it has a larger block size. For a miner, this can translate into more frequent rewards. Mining Bitcoin Cash involves solving complex mathematical problems to validate transactions and secure the network. In this article, we will explore the various aspects of mining Bitcoin Cash, including understanding the basics, choosing the right hardware and software, and maximizing profitability. By the end of this article, you will have a comprehensive understanding of how to mine Bitcoin Cash and optimize your mining operation. Continue reading.