Hydro Cooled Miner vs. Air Cooled Miner – What’s Better for Crypto mining? – For investors venturing into Bitcoin mining, choosing the right cooling system is crucial. The debate between air cooling and hydro cooling is a significant one, with each method offering unique benefits and drawbacks. Let’s explore these two technologies to help you make an informed decision for your Bitcoin mining investment.
The best cooling system for crypto mining rigs between hydro and air cooling is a decision that depends on several factors. But, there must be a winner between hydro-cooled mining vs air-cooled mining. Here, we explore the two types of cooling Bitcoin mining rigs. But first, let’s get to know about Hydro cooled miner and air cooled miner along with their pros and cons.
What is Hydro Cooling?
Hydro cooling is the use of a liquid substance to cool heat-producing elements or components in a crypto mining device. Also known as liquid cooling, the cooled element doesn’t come into contact with the liquid. The heat on the components is absorbed by the coolant and a radiator helps cool the liquid which is in continuous circulation. Direct vs. Indirect Water Cooling In direct water cooling systems, water is circulated directly over the surface of the mining hardware, typically through water blocks or heat sinks attached to the components. On the other hand, indirect water cooling systems use a separate closed-loop system to cool a coolant, such as glycol or a specialized refrigerant. This coolant is then employed to indirectly cool the mining hardware via a heat exchangerAdvantages of Hydro or Liquid Cooling
- The cooling system isn’t as noisy as with an air-cooled system. This is because the work to cool the system isn’t left entirely to the fans.
- It improves a crypto mining device’s performance. A properly cooled system is bound to perform better than a system whose temperatures run wild.
- It has a visual appeal. Liquid coolants come in different colors and provide for the addition of RGB lighting which helps personalize a crypto mining rig.
Disadvantages Of Liquid Cooling
- It’s more expensive than air-cooling
- Requires professionals like Endless Mining to set up effectively to ensure there are no leaks
- Requires a higher maintenance care than air cooling
Air cooling – An Overview
As the name suggests, this is the use of cold air to cool a computing device like an ASIC. The system utilizes fans strategically placed on and in a device to help move hot air away from heat-generating components inside a Bitcoin miner. Air cooling is the most used by crypto currency miners to cool both GPU and ASICs used in the mining operation.Advantages of Air Cooling
- It’s cheap. Compared to liquid and immersion cooling, air cooling is cheaper to install and maintain
- It’s safer. Air cooling doesn’t employ any liquid coolant making it safer to use since it eliminates the possibility of accidental liquid leads when employing liquid cooling or short circuits when using immersion cooling.
- It’s easy to install and use
Disadvantages of Air Cooling
- Increases the electricity bill. A solely air-cooled system uses more electrical energy since fans also consume a considerable amount of electrical power unlike in an immersion or liquid-cooled system.
- It’s not as efficient as the other two types of crypto miner cooling methods.
- The cooling fans are noisy thus polluting the environment.