New Proto Rig Miner Release Discussion

So, the Proto Rig miner just dropped at Core Scientific's place, and there's a lot of buzz around it. They're pushing the software as open source and it's modular, which is cool. No more extra psus or fans when you wanna upgrade. Here are some specs: 9.4 kw/ft density, 14.1 j/th efficiency, and 20% savings with each upgrade.

Looks pretty slick, kinda like a server rack. But honestly, with the Antminer S21 XP at 13.5 J/TH and the S23 rumored at 11 J/TH, this efficiency just doesn’t stack up.

Totally see the server rack vibe. Check out these pics from the presentation, they look good. And yeah, the specs are interesting too.

True, Bitmain is usually the king in efficiency over Whatsminer. But Whatsminer has a reputation for solid build quality, so a watt or two might not matter to everyone. That said, this Proto Rig looks pricey, maybe way more than Chinese miners. Not sure how it'll compete.

Exactly, the big deal is availability. Bitmain has that monopoly for a reason, their supply chain is solid. Block might have a hard time breaking into this space.

Design matters less for miners, it's all about maintenance and quality. If one ASIC board fails, can the rest still run? That’s what I care about.

Modular design is supposed to let you swap hashboards easily, right? Pretty sure that’s the whole point of this setup. Check their blog, they explain it.

Started a Facebook Group for the Proto Miner! Hoping they’ll release smaller units for home use instead of just the expensive ones. Time will tell if it’s worth it.

Nice, I’ll check out that group.

No tariffs on this, supposedly. The chip is from overseas but everything else is made in Georgia. Just a 7% sales tax there. I’m only getting back into mining if they change the tax rules in the USA.

Yeah, I get that. Only diving back into mining if they change how income from mining is taxed. It’s tough to make it work otherwise.

Just sent you a PM about that. I should probably log in more often. I’ll jump back into mining if they only tax on selling crypto, not on mining it.

I posted on Facebook about how this gear might signal the end of mining for me. If it’s 810th at $4500 and gives 14 watts, the difficulty will skyrocket.

I heard Block is planning hobby units, which could be fun. But if they change tax rules, difficulty will probably go way up. Big miners will just HODL instead of selling.

Let’s hope they allow credit card buys. I’m done buying with BTC, just using credit now.

No pricing yet, and early adopters might get burned.

They’re already sold out at $2k above retail for 2025. Looks like we’ll wait until 2026 for more. Probably bulk orders first, so we might miss out.

Yeah, even if the price is right, it's hard to believe they sold so many units already to cause a 5% jump in hash rate.

Could be 30k units contributing to that jump, or maybe other miners are helping out.

For me, it’s more of a thought experiment. I’ll consider it if they drop the income tax on mined crypto. Being made in the USA is a plus but there are still a lot of ifs.