When comparing ASIC miners, people still tend to focus on the purchase price or headline hashrate first. In practice, I think energy efficiency is becoming the more important metric, especially for miners who are not operating at very low industrial electricity rates.
A simple comparison illustrates the problem. Two machines can deliver similar hashrate, but if one consumes several hundred watts more continuously, the difference becomes significant over a full year.
For me, the key metrics when evaluating hardware are:
- efficiency in J/TH;
- actual wall power consumption rather than manufacturer figures alone;
- electricity price;
- expected network difficulty growth;
- machine reliability;
- cooling requirements;
- resale value after 12–24 months.
The interesting question is where the break-even point is.
For example, would you rather buy an older ASIC at half the price but with noticeably worse efficiency, or pay more upfront for a current-generation machine?
I am especially interested in opinions from people running miners at different electricity costs.
At what electricity price do you personally stop considering older-generation ASICs?
In most cases yes, because electricity is a recurring cost while hardware is a one-time expense. A cheaper ASIC can become much more expensive over time if its power efficiency is poor.
For me, efficiency becomes the deciding factor once the miner is expected to run for years. A cheaper ASIC may look attractive upfront, but poor power efficiency can erase that saving pretty quickly.