Mining Hardware
Hardware is the component that performs the hash calculations.
There are different types of hardware:
- ASIC(Application-Specific Integrated Circuit): designed to perform a single task with maximum performance
- CPU(Central Processing Unit): designed to handle a wide range of tasks, but not at maximum efficiency for any specific one.
- GPU(Graphics Processing Unit): designed to perform a large number of calculations in parallel.
- FPGA(Field-Programmable Gate Array): designed to be reconfigurable hardware, adaptable to different.
In mining:
- ASIC: maximum energy efficiency for a single algorithm.
- CPU: mainly used for algorithms designed to be ASIC-resistant.
- GPU: flexible, capable of mining many different coins and algorithms.
- FPGA: a balance between efficiency and flexibility, but less commonly used.
For comparing and viewing ASICs miners, a useful resource is: AsicMinerValue
And for ASICs, GPUs, CPUs and FPGAs, a useful resource is: HashRate