How to Build an ASIC Miner?

Building an ASIC miner from scratch requires assembling the ASIC chips, control and hash boards, power supply unit, cooling system, and setting up mining software. If you are not very experienced with integrated circuits, thermal management of chips, and mining algorithms, you’ll be way out our your depth building an ASIC rig.

ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) miners have revolutionized the world of cryptocurrency mining. They offer unmatched efficiency and performance compared to general-purpose hardware like CPUs or GPUs. Given the high price tags of the best ASIC miners, many individuals are obviously interested in building their own from components ordered online.

However, it’s important to note that ASIC miners are not your average computers. They are specifically engineered for optimal efficiency in a particular task – mining cryptocurrencies (hence the Application-Specific part in the name). In this sense, building an ASIC miner would be more like building a PlayStation or an iPhone from scratch than assembling your own PC. Sure, theoretically, it can be done. But practically, no.

With that in mind, if you still want to find out what it takes to build your own ASIC miner from scratch, we’ve prepared a general overview of the steps you must take to create your own ASIC mining machine.

How to build an ASIC miner at home?

If you want to build an ASIC miner at home, you’ll need to obtain the essential components that power these miners. However, other than PSUs and control panels, most of these chips and components are not readily available to individual customers.

In addition, these chips are not your average plug-and-play type, like the CPU in your PC, for example. They need to be connected in a way that makes them as efficient as possible when solving complex equations that are part of the Proof of Work consensus algorithm. 

Understanding the components of an ASIC miner

ASIC miners consist of several different components. In a broad sense, these components are not that different from what you might find on a regular PC, but there are still several differences between the two. Here’s a quick overview:

• ASIC chip: The ASIC chips are at the heart of every ASIC miner. These specialized chips are designed to perform one specific task: mining cryptocurrencies.
• Hashboard: The hashboard is essentially the heart of the mining hardware. It contains multiple ASIC chips that are specifically designed for mining cryptocurrencies.
• Control board: Manages the operation of the hashboards, overseeing tasks like the distribution of work to the hashboards, monitoring their performance, and handling any errors or malfunctions. Offer interfaces (like USB ports or Ethernet connections) for connectivity with other devices or networks
• Power supply unit (PSU): The PSU is crucial for providing stable and sufficient power to your ASIC miner. A high-quality PSU ensures longevity and efficiency.
• Cooling system: Given the heat generated during mining, a robust cooling system is essential. This could range from basic fans to advanced liquid cooling solutions.

After a brief introduction to the components that make up ASIC miners, let’s examine the ballpark price range for the components needed to build an ASIC miner from scratch. For the purposes of this example, we are going to use components used in Bitmain Antminer L7, a popular ASIC miner that retails between $5,700 and $6,500, depending on the vendor.

Bitmain Antminer L7 specs:

• 3x Hash board – Price: 3x $249
• 360x BM1489 ASIC chips (120x per each hash board) – Price: 360x $16
• 1x Control board (7007 Version) – Price $60
• 1x Antminer APW12 1417 PSU – Price: $135
• 1x Water cooling kit (the system is originally air-cooled, but the fans are not available for sale online) – Price: $438

The above prices were sourced from Bitmain’s own website and Zeus Mining.

If you were to buy components that make up the Bitmain Antminer L7 individually, the total cost would amount to $7,149. That’s at least $650 more expensive than buying the miner directly from an official vendor. Not to mention all the hassle associated with actually building the machine and connecting all the smaller components in the right way. 

While the above list might make it seem that you just need to put together a couple of components and you’re good to go, that’s far from the case. If you are truly planning to buy each ASIC cheap and boards separately, you need to connect a bunch of controllers, capacitors, transistors, and more on your own, making the whole process insanely difficult and more expensive than buying a miner directly from a vendor.

The only way that assembling your own ASIC miner might be worth it is if you’re planning to build a fleet of ASIC machines and you manage to get a discount rate due to the quantities involved. Even then, you’d need resources and expertise that are usually only available to larger companies.

A hash board used in an ASIC miner consists of more than a dozen different chips, capacitors, and other integrated circuits, making the building process extremely difficult. Image source: Zeus Mining

Assembling your ASIC Miner: Quick guide

Hopefully, we’ve been able to demonstrate that building an ASIC miner from scratch is not a task that should be taken lightly. If you still want to build your own ASIC miner from scratch, despite the difficulties associated with it, you can broadly follow the next steps:

1. Installing ASIC chips
   Carefully install the ASIC chips onto the circuit board, ensuring proper alignment and secure connections.
2. Setting up the power supply unit
   Connect the PSU to your miner, paying close attention to the power requirements of the ASIC chips.
3. Implementing an effective cooling system
   Install the cooling system, ensuring it effectively dissipates heat from the ASIC chips and other components.
4. Configuring the control unit and software
   Set up the control unit, install the mining software, and configure the settings according to your mining needs.
5. Testing and troubleshooting
   Once assembled, power up your miner and perform tests to ensure everything is functioning as expected. Troubleshoot any issues that arise.

The bottom line

Building an ASIC miner yourself is not something we would suggest a non-experienced individual do. The process is very different than putting together a PC and requires a much higher degree of precision and a higher level of understanding of computer circuitry. If you want to mine Bitcoin, or any other cryptocurrency for that matter, you’re much better off buying one of the best Bitcoin miners. Not only will you save money, but you’ll also avoid potential maintenance problems or malfunctions that might arise from incorrectly assembling components of ASIC miners.