A mining farm is a structure that consists of special equipment aimed at mining cryptocurrency. The main incentive for creating a mining farm for its owner is the opportunity to generate income. Profit generation occurs upon finding blocks of cryptocurrencies that use the Proof-of-Work algorithm. The most interesting of them are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Grin, Bitcoin Gold, Monero and others. The profit will depend directly on the number of devices on the mining farm and on the cost of its maintenance.In most cases, large farms work in warehouses and hangars. If this is a small installation, then the miner can place it at home.To determine the equipment, namely its efficiency, miners use special services-calculators. Such resources give an approximate idea of earnings in a certain period of time.We will tell you later in the article about which mining farms are better to use, how to install them and how much you can earn on this.What is a mining farm?Types of farms for miningCPU farmsGPU farmsFPGA farmsASIC farmsHow the mining farm worksWhat you need for a mining farmAccessories for mining farmsThe necessary characteristics for profitable miningThe ratio of power and energy consumption of the deviceMemory size and speedComplexity of operationHow to choose mining equipmentHow to build a farm for miningPreparing for the installation of a mining farmHow to make a mining farmSetting up a farmHow and where to buy a mining farmMining Farm PricePayback of the mining farmWhat cryptocurrencies to mine on a farm in 2022GrinBitcoin GoldZencashZclassicRavenCoinMining farm with your own hands — useful tips and guidanceInstalling the caseInstalling the motherboardInstalling the power supply unitAdding a GPUBuying a ready-made mining farmWhat is a mining farm? A mining farm is a powerful computer system configured for cryptocurrency mining. In simple words, this is an installation that consists of two or more units of special devices located in one place, and aimed at mining cryptocurrencies by implementing complex calculations.So, as they are solved, the miner receives a reward, while the new extracted block, which directly contains this solution, is added to the cryptocurrency blockchain.In fact, managing a mining farm is no different from mining on a single device - the only difference is in scale.Thousands of pieces of equipment can work simultaneously on mining farms. It is for this reason that their main location is in areas with cheap but stable electricity supply. Note that the manufacturers of mining equipment own one of the largest mining farms in the world.And although it may seem that only the richest companies can manage a mining farm, in fact, everyone can create a similar one. All you need is a couple or more devices and an Internet connection. In addition, mining cryptocurrencies on a smaller scale is still profitable these days.Types of farms for mining CPU FarmsThese are constructions that implement the mining process based on the operation of the central processor.Today, CPU farms are the least efficient option for mining, but they still have the right to exist.After all, while mining bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum using central processors is initially a failed idea, CPU farms are great for mining cryptocurrencies using the Scrypt algorithm (for example, Dogecoin or DigiByte). Such farms are mainly popular among miners engaged in mining little-known coins, which in the future will probably be able to unlock their potential.GPU farmsThey are specialized electronic circuits that are commonly used in computers and gaming systems. In this case, they perform a wider range of operations, that is, cryptocurrency mining.Miners use the computing power of video cards to mine the widest range of coins. And although video cards are bundled with any computer, usually high-quality GPUs with higher computing power are used on this type of farms. Most often, video cards are used for mining Ethereum. FPGA farms Field Programmable Gate Array - devices that support programmable matrices, thanks to which, in fact, the process of cryptocurrency mining is carried out. This type is interesting to miners not because of the speed of production, but due to energy efficiency.So, if a typical video card with a bandwidth of 600 MHz/s consumes up to 400 watts of energy, then the FPGA provides a data transfer rate of 826 MHz/s with a power consumption of about 80 watts.But this is their only advantage, and therefore this type of farms has not been widely recognized among miners.ASIC farmsThese are constructions made of specialized integrated circuits designed to process a specific blockchain. And although ASIC miners are more expensive than their alternatives, the performance of these farms is also much higher than that of competitors. This type will be the optimal solution for mining coins on the Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash or Litecoin blockchains.How the mining farm works Let's start with the fact that the power level of the mining farm is ten times higher than this indicator for a home computer. In addition, this power is directed to a single operation (cryptocurrency mining), and is not used to support programs and the system as a whole, unlike, for example, the CPU.The result of the work depends on the number of devices and power. Note that miners participate in mining not for the sake of pleasure, but, first of all, for the sake of money.As the farm starts, the equipment performs complex calculations aimed at finding a specific number that satisfies one pre-defined and well-known condition, after which a block is created for which the miner receives a reward.So, the greater the power aimed at decoupling these calculations, the faster the solution will be found, and, consequently, the sooner the reward will be received.In order for the farm to work efficiently, its condition must be monitored. Depending on the scale, both one person and an entire team can monitor the correct operation of the equipment.It is necessary to regularly check the system for possible errors and information about the operation of mining pools.To avoid getting viruses and other malicious software into the system, it is not recommended to download firmware for overclocking equipment from third-party resources.If devices with a hashrate indicator that do not comply with the standards are detected, the problems should be confirmed and resolved in a timely manner. If the problem is not fixed on the spot, then the equipment should be given for repair or returned to the manufacturer for maintenance.What you need for a mining farm In order for the mining farm to bring the desired income, its owner needs to take care not only of the correct assembly of the structure, but also of certain components that will facilitate its maintenance.Accessories for mining farmsFor an effective mining process, the farm must consist of the following components (let's look at the example of a farm for mining from video cards):The motherboard. A powerful motherboard will be able to increase the working life of the farm (ASRock, AFOX, Gigabyte, Asus).The power supply unit. Mining consumes a huge amount of electricity. It is recommended to use a power supply with a power of at least 750 W, depending on the needs (GreenVision, Chieftec, Aerocool).Processor (AMD, Intel).Video cards. The optimal number of cards for one farm is 4-6 units, with a speed of at least 400 x / s (Nvidia, AMD, Sapphire, Gigabyte, Asus).RAM. For the installation to work effectively, you will need at least 4 GB of RAM.Vertical-mounted cables help connect graphics cards to the motherboard (Atcom, HQ Tech, Cablexpert).The hard disk, in fact, is only needed to install the mining farm software (from 60 to 120 GB is enough).You will need a fan for additional cooling (NSI, Zotac Polit, Gigabyt).The Linux operating system is considered the best operating system for mining. However, Windows or iOS are still excellent alternatives to it.Accessories - monitor, keyboard, mouse and USB cables. You will need them to set up a mining farm.The case for assembly - will help to fix all the components of the installation.The necessary characteristics for profitable miningThe selected mining farm must have certain characteristics so that its owner receives income from mining:The ratio of power and energy consumption of the deviceFirst of all, we pay attention not only to the cost of mining equipment, but also to its return. The fastest payback is the main goal of every miner. Therefore, the ratio of power and energy intensity will directly affect the amount of income received.Memory size and speedThey affect the availability of algorithms for mining. Cards with a small amount of memory are unable to extract a large range of hashing algorithms.The amount of memory of a mining farm based on video cards must be at least 4 GB.The efficiency of mining depends on the speed, and, accordingly, its profitability.Complexity of operationWhen it comes to video cards, the best option here is an installation that includes from 4 to 6 GPUs.On the other hand, the number of installed video cards directly affects the stability of the farm, as well as the level of complexity of configuration and operation — respectively, the fewer of them, the easier it is to configure the farm.How to choose mining equipmentNote that only cryptocurrencies built on the POW consensus mechanism participate in the mining process.However, since different blockchains use different algorithms (SHA-256, Equihash, X11, and others), the hardware requirements differ for each coin mined.Read more: What is SHA-256In many cases, devices are designed to solve only one of these algorithms. For example, the equipment used for mining Monero (XMR) will be less effective when mining Bitcoin (BTC) or even inefficient. But at the same time, the mining of many cryptocurrencies can be implemented on the same device. The choice and the expected financial result will depend on the coin.How to build a farm for mining Decide on the room.Decide on a coin for mining;Create a wallet for storing coins;Install mining software;Join the mining pool;Set up a mining farm.Below you will find a description of each step with all the details.Preparing for the installation of a mining farmThe first step is to determine the scale of the activity. If this is an installation that includes up to several dozen cards, then it can be assembled at home. But if these are hundreds, or even thousands of devices, then there can be no question of a residential building. First of all, they are very noisy and have a high heat transfer. This may cause inconvenience when placing in the apartment.In addition, mining farms require certain conditions for effective operation, including moderate humidity and indoor temperature, in the presence of a powerful source of electricity.You should decide in advance which cryptocurrency will be mined by the mining farm. To determine the most profitable coins, they usually use yield calculators, which will be described below. As soon as the coin is selected, it remains only to decide on the equipment and start mining.But how will the user get his coins if he does not have a wallet for storing cryptocurrencies? Yes, in any case, you will have to create a cryptocurrency wallet. This can be a mobile application, a hardware device or a web application that will receive a reward with the possibility of subsequent storage.Next, we join the mining pool, install the software and configure the mining farm.Note that currently professional miners mainly use farms made of GPU and ASIC. But the latter are much more efficient at mining than the GPU, given their targeted functionality.How to make a mining farmWhen buying equipment, first of all, it is worth checking it for damage. This can be either an already assembled mining farm, or its components for assembling with your own hands.So, we start with checking the cables. Next, the graphics processors, the power supply and all other accessories are connected to the motherboard. We check the GPU drivers for the fact that they are updated and proceed to the next stage.Setting up a farmAt this stage, you should download the mining software: BFGminer, CGminer, NiceHash. Note that this software is freely available, you can download it on the developer's website or through unofficial binary files for Mac users.Let's look at the configuration process using the example of the CGminer program.We load the program and execute the following command line arguments:Unpack cgminer into a folder. We give the folder a name.We clamp the Windows and "R" keys at the same time.Enter "cmd" and press "Enter".We use the cd command, then go to the directory where the cgminer zip file was downloaded.Enter "cgminer.exe – n".So, next, a list of devices available on the computer will appear, among which there will be customizable video cards.If the list of available video cards does not appear, it means that the settings were made incorrectly and the procedure should be repeated.At this stage, the miner should already have a cryptocurrency wallet registered and an account created in the mining pool. As we get access to the pool data, we enter commands into the bat. file, activating it with a double click. Here is the guide:«C: \ Cgminer \».The URL of the mining pool server.The server port number.The user's username.The name of the Worker.Password.Cgminer software shows the hashing speed of both CPU and GPU.Note that on average, the data processing speed on video cards is about five times faster than mining on the processor.How and where to buy a mining farm The purchase process should not cause any special inconvenience. The main thing is to decide on the right model. So, you can make a purchase either directly from the equipment manufacturer or from its dealers.As for the first option, in this case, the consumer protects himself from overpayments and possible fakes, but in return he receives it only after a few months. Of course, if it is on the shelves of the manufacturer at all.In most cases, dealers instantly disassemble models that are in demand among miners. Therefore, if the manufacturer does not have equipment due to increased demand, or because of decommissioning, then you can search for the model on sites specializing in the sale of mining equipment. When buying equipment on the dealer's website, it will be delivered much faster, although the price may be an order of magnitude higher. In addition, if the search for new models has not been successful, then there are a large number of resources on the Internet offering used equipment for purchase.To buy a mining farm, it will be sufficient to specify the model of the requested equipment in the search bar, after which a list of sites offering similar models for purchase will appear.In addition to Internet sites, sellers place ads for the sale of equipment on thematic forums, in specialized groups in social networks, in Telegram messengers, etc.Mining Farm Price For competitive mining, miners must invest in powerful hardware, such as a GPU or ASIC. But how much does a mining farm cost? The design will cost the buyer from a thousand dollars to several tens of thousands, depending on the scale of activity.Equipment prices are very unstable and are subject to changes every day. There is a high probability that the miner will be lucky to buy a used structure in good condition, which will be an order of magnitude cheaper than buying a new one.Note that miners prefer farms made by Nvidia. Compared to AMD, the "green" video cards produce coins with greater efficiency and with much less energy consumption.Payback of the mining farm Mining is one of the most profitable ways to get coins. But this activity requires a willingness to invest. Thus, the miner needs to have good equipment before starting production.But even if you build an expensive non-standard rig for cryptocurrency mining, no one can guarantee its profitability. In order to calculate how much profit a miner will receive from the operation of a mining farm by mining a certain coin, you should use the profitability calculator. Such a service will give an idea of the approximate terms of return on investment based on the calculation of the daily profit from the work of the farm. Here are some examples of popular services:CryptoCompare is another popular mining profitability calculator. For calculations, you must specify the following parameters: hashing power, the cost of energy consumption and the size of the pool commission (if necessary). The calculator will calculate the profit coefficient per day or per month.WhatToMine offers to calculate the income from mining on the GPU and ASIC. It is only necessary to select the necessary equipment and the system will automatically calculate the hashrate. However, it is worth noting that the user interface of this resource is not as easy to use as in previous services.Let's look at the example below to see what profit miners get from cryptocurrency mining. For example, if you decide to mine Ethereum on a farm of 4 Nvidia 1080Ti video cards, the income will be about $3.41 per day or $85 per month.In addition to the power and energy intensity of the equipment itself, when calculating the payback of the installation, it is worth considering:The cost of equipment to support miners, including shelves for its installation, power supplies, cables, accessories, and the like.The cost of electricity during the operation of all devices, in addition to the mining farm.The cost of uninterrupted and stable Internet access.Network complexity (the level of complexity increases over time).The equipment can quickly become outdated, and therefore there is a need to update the components.Costs incurred due to downtime. The equipment tends to fail, so it is necessary to take this point into account when calculating the profitability of mining.Shipping costs and customs fees.The cryptocurrency exchange rate. This factor is the most unpredictable of all, and there is always a chance that the mined coin will become worthless. Thus, there are no guarantees that the investment will pay off, even if the cryptocurrency market goes up.What cryptocurrencies to mine on a farm in 2022 Before you start mining any cryptocurrency, it is worth studying its course and evaluating the prospects for development. A useful tool for this is the analytical service CoinMarketCap.Below is a list of the TOP 5 coins that are interesting for mining in 2022:GrinGrin is a relatively new cryptocurrency based on the Cucatoo31+ and CuckARood29 algorithms. It is interesting from the side of ensuring the confidentiality of transactions, which are based on the MimbleWimble technology.Grin has an unlimited number of coins, which certainly attracts miners. The complexity of mining changes dynamically in accordance with the hashrate of the network. Reward for mining: 60 GRIN per block. The current market value is $0.44 according to CoinMarketCap.Bitcoin Gold The Bitcoin Gold project officially started on October 24, 2018. The main task is to return mining from large farms to PCs, for which the transition from the SHA-256 algorithm to Equihash was carried out.Thus, the Bitcoin Gold cryptocurrency does not support mining on ASIC.Mining reward: 12.5 BTG per block. The current market value is $27.9 according to CoinMarketCap.ZencashZencash is a representative of a fairly extensive family of cryptocurrencies based on the Zerocoin protocol, released in May 2017. At the same time, the cryptocurrency was formed as a fork of Zclassic (a fork of Zcash). Zencash can be called an intermediate solution between the previous two. ZEN miners get 88%. The current market value is $46.14 according to CoinMarketCap.ZclassicZclassic is another fork of the popular and widely used cryptocurrency Zcash. The fundamental difference from the parent coin is that the entire reward goes to the miners, and 20% of the extracted ZEC goes to the addresses of the developers. The current market value is $0.28 according to CoinMarketCap.RavenCoinThis fork of bitcoin appeared in 2018 and already boasts high liquidity. Today, the cryptocurrency occupies the 57th position in the CoinMarketCap rating with a market capitalization of more than $159 million. It uses the X16R algorithm and the PoW protocol. Mining reward: 5000 RVN (blocks are mined every minute). The current market value is $0.15 according to CoinMarketCap.In addition to the above cryptocurrencies, it may be interesting to double mine coins like LBRY or DECRED on additional GPU memory. It is better to mine coins on the processor, such as Loki, Monero or Sumocoin.Watch a useful video on how to properly assemble a mining farm and make cryptocurrency mining more profitable in 2022:Profitable mining farm in 2022 Mining farm with your own hands — useful tips and guidanceCreating a mining farm with your own hands may be of interest to those miners who do not want to spend money on buying a ready-made structure.Installing the caseThe first thing we need is a case. It is recommended to use an aluminum frame, as they are more rigid and flame-repellent, unlike wooden ones. It will help to hold the equipment. If the farm consists of 4 video cards, you can use an old computer case, a box, a rack, etc. as a frame.Installing the motherboardPlace the motherboard on a flat, non-static surface and carefully insert the cable into the connector. Place the motherboard in the case and secure it with screws.Be careful that the motherboard does not touch the metal surface, since metal surfaces are current conductors.Installing the power supply unitIt is necessary to connect the motherboard to the power supply. It is advisable to connect all additional cables that may interfere. Sometimes it can be difficult to fix the wires carefully, so be patient.The next thing you need for the GPU. This is to take the power cables and place them next to each place of the GPU along the structure.Adding a GPUBefore you start connecting the GPU to the motherboard socket, fix them in the case. After that, connect all the cables to the GPU. The advantages of mining on the GPU will outweigh mining on the processor. So, a mining farm on a GPU will cost more than a CPU, but it will have a higher hashing power. It will also support the mining of a wide range of cryptocurrencies with different hashing algorithms, which also brings additional benefits.A mining farm assembled with your own hands can be cheaper from a financial point of view, but it is unlikely to justify itself in terms of time and labor costs compared to the finished design. Therefore, before choosing a solution, it is necessary to carefully calculate everything. Buying a ready-made mining farmIf you want to start mining as soon as possible, buying a pre-mounted farm may be the best solution. It will cost more, but it will save time (in the sense that the miner will be able to start returning his money much faster).Many companies offer to buy a ready-made assembly at a price of $2000 or more, depending on the selected characteristics.Any of them will pay off in at least a year. If there is no experience in creating farms, then it is better to go this way.Note that in addition to the difficult assembly, it will take much more effort to manage a large mining farm on the GPU than when managing an ASIC data center. In this regard, large players choose the second option, leaving mining on video cards to small companies and individuals.If a miner can afford mining on an ASIC farm, then he will get not only a simpler farm, in terms of equipment management, but also more efficient cryptocurrency ...