# 5.2 Mining Hardware ###### tags: `Blockchain` The following notes are taken from [Coursera](https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency/home/week/2) --- ### SHA-256 - General purpose hash function - Part of SHA-2 family: SHA-224, SHA-384, SHA-512 - Published in 2001, designed by the NSA - Remains unbroken cryptographically - Weaknesses known - SHA-3 (replacement) under standardization ![](https://i.imgur.com/mBGWdbY.png) ### GPU Mining - GPUs designed for high-performance graphics - high parallelism - high throughput - First used in Bitcoin ca. Oct 2010 - Implemented on OpenCl - Later: hacks for specific cards ### GPU Mining Advantages - Easily available, easy to set up - Parallel ALUs - Bit-specific instructions - Can dirve many from 1 CPU - Can overclock ### "Goodput" Observation: *some* errors are okay (may miss a valid block) Goodput: throughput x success rate Worth over-clocking by 50% with 30% errors ### GPU Mining Disadvantages - Poor utilization of hardware - Poor cooling - Large power draw - Few boards to hold multiple GPUs ### FPGA Mining - Field Programmable Gate Area - First used for Bitcoin ca June 2011 - Implemented in Verilog ### FPGA Mining Advantages - Higher performance than GPUs - excellent performance on bitwise operations - Better coding - Extensive customization, optimization ### FPGA Mining Disadvantages - High power draw than GPUs designed for - frequent malfunctions, errors - Poor optimization of 32-bit adds - Fewer hobbyists with sufficient expertise - More expensive than GPUs - Marginal performance/cost advantage over GPUs ::: success Bitcoin Mining ASICs dominate the industry right now ![](https://i.imgur.com/IKojyuI.png) ::: ### Bitcoin ASICs - Special purpose - approaching known limits on feature sizes - Less than 10x performance improvement expected - Designed to be run constantly for life - Require signigicant expertise, long lead-times - Perhpas the fastest chip dev ever ![](https://i.imgur.com/i0MG11G.png) ### Market Dynamics (2013/2014) - Most boards obsolete within 3-6 months - half of profits made in first 6 weeks - Shipping delays are devastating to customers - Most companies require pre-orders - Most individual customers should have lost - But the rising prices have saved them ### Professional Mining Centers Needs: - Cheap power - Good network - Cool climate ### The Future - Can small miners stay in the game? - Do ASICs violate the original Bitcoin vision? - Would we be better off without ASICs?