Digital Media Concepts/Relationship of GPUs and Bitcoin Mining

Overview

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have many uses, but one notable use would be for mining cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin. The way this is done is GPUs are put through concentrated work, for example, they are used to calculate hashes when they find a specific standard.

Energy Consumption

Before the use of GPUs, central processing units (CPUs) were typically used to mine cryptocurrencies. Although they have changed the methods they use to mine crypto, it still consumes a significant amount of power to operate. Normally, when seen on a PC used for gaming, they typically have one GPU, but in a mining rig, there are usually up to three GPUs on one singular rig.

Commonly, one rig would need to have a minimum of 600 Watts of power to work and keep on 24/7, by the hour, about roughly 300W to 1kW of power is used. With such a high amount of power being used, people speculate concerns about the environmental well-being.

To put into perspective just how much energy that is, it is estimated that roughly 91 terawatt-hours (TWh) is consumed and used for Bitcoin which is more than some countries like Finland use.

Cooling

One critical aspect when considering mining is cooling. One of the three most common forms of cooling for mining is air cooling. Air cooling is the utilization of multiple fans and ventilation systems to properly distribute cool air around the heat that's made from the mining rigs.

The second most common form of cooling used is hydro cooling . Hydrocooling is the use of water as a cooling method that extracts heat from the mining rigs. To be more specific, the water is circulated into a closed-loop system which is in direct contact with the components that are producing the heat.

The third most common form of cooling is immersion cooling. Immersion cooling is where the mining hardware is submerged in a thermally conductive liquid. This liquid can efficiently absorb the heat from the hardware and circulate that liquid into a heat exchanger. Through the use of immersion cooling, mining rigs are then able to operate at much higher speeds without having to overheat, resulting in the output of a higher hash rate.

Pros and Cons

Air Cooling

Pros:

• Cost: Typically, air cooling systems are not as expensive and more affordable in comparison to the other two methods.

• Maintenance: Air cooling systems are simple to manage and don't need much knowledge to take care of.

• Availability: These systems can be commonly found and easy to obtain.

Cons:

• Less Efficient: Although they are easily obtainable, they are not as efficient in removing heat.

• Flexibility: Large-sized mining rigs might find it hard to manage the amount of heat being generated due to the lack of efficiency.

• Noise: Because the fans are continuously running, these systems will create a lot of noise.

Hydro Cooling

Pros:

• Temperature: Hydro cooling provides quality control for the temperature, which gives the hardware more stability resulting in higher life span and reliability.

• Flexibility: This type of cooling system can work comfortably in largely sized mining operations and help with expansion.

• Energy Cost: With the use of water as its source of cooling, energy costs could potentially be lower than using other forms of cooling.

Cons:

• Framework: Hydro cooling must need accessibility to a dependable and clean source of water for proper usage.

• Maintenanceː These systems need to be regularly checked to prevent issues like leaks.

• Availability: Due to this type of cooling system starting to be used only recently in mining crypto, the amount of manufacturers is limited.

Immersion Cooling

Pros:

• Heat Dissipation: Immersion cooling gives a very efficient amount of heat dissipation with the use of the non-conductive thermal liquid.

• Power Rate: These cooling systems make the hardware capable of running at higher speeds which results in increasing the hash rate output per machine.

• Dust and Corrosion: Due to the hardware being submerged inside the liquid, they are less likely to collect dust and corrode which will, in turn, extend the component's lifespan.

Cons:

• Investment: Immersion cooling systems are expensive to start up because they involve certain equipment and liquids.

• Maintenance: The maintenance for these systems is very complex without the required knowledge.

• Compatibility: There is a certain amount of hardware that is compatible with immersion cooling.

Market

In recent times, the demand for GPUs has exponentially risen with the uprising of crypto mining and gaming. Due to this uprise, for quite some time there was a shortage of GPUs, and prices for them shot up. This shortage started in the early days of COVID-19 with everyone needing to get a PC/laptop.