How to choose an ASIC miner for a European project

Begin with the site, not the product catalogue. Record continuous power available for mining, voltage and phase configuration, the delivered electricity price, expected operating hours, intake-air conditions, maximum acceptable noise and whether the heat has a useful destination. Capacity written on a grid connection agreement is not necessarily the same as continuous capacity available at the miner sockets.

Also decide what the project must optimise. A constrained grid connection may favour efficiency per unit of power. A heat-reuse project may care more about stable thermal output and controllability. A hosting deployment may prioritise models already supported by the operator. Write these priorities down so a later price discount does not quietly change the engineering brief.

• Continuous usable power in kW after other site loads and design margin
• Delivered electricity price, including grid, taxes and contracted fees where applicable
• Permitted noise, airflow path, ambient temperature and dust conditions
• Operating objective: output, efficiency, flexible load, heat supply or fleet compatibility

Use the manufacturer's current specification for the exact model and variant, then confirm the offer names that same variant. Similar product names can cover air-cooled, hydro and immersion versions with different voltage, current, cooling and installation requirements. Record hashrate, power at the wall and efficiency together; none of the three is useful in isolation.

For economic modelling, separate the machine specification from uncertain inputs such as coin price, network difficulty, pool performance and uptime. Test at least a base case, a downside case and the site's maximum electricity-price case. Treat calculator output as a scenario, not a promise, and keep the date and data source next to every assumption.

• Exact model, algorithm, nominal hashrate and tolerance
• Wall power and efficiency at the specified ambient condition
• Input voltage, current, connector and network requirements
• Base, downside and electricity-price stress scenarios

A fleet is a continuous electrical and thermal load. A qualified designer should verify distribution capacity, protective devices, conductor sizing, connectors, earthing, selectivity and emergency isolation for the actual jurisdiction and installation. The equipment documentation and declaration of conformity are inputs to that review, not substitutes for it.

Nearly all electrical input ultimately leaves the space as heat. Air-cooled units need a controlled intake and exhaust path that prevents hot-air recirculation. Hydro or immersion equipment adds pumps, heat exchangers, fluid specifications, leak strategy and control logic. Noise must be assessed at boundaries and occupied spaces, not only beside one unit in a warehouse.

• Single-line electrical design and socket-level load schedule
• Normal, hot-day and failure-mode airflow or liquid-cooling calculations
• Condensation, filtration, dust, leak and fire-response plan
• Noise measurement or prediction at the relevant receiver locations

The lowest invoice price can become the most expensive route if the batch, condition, delivery responsibility or warranty process is unclear. The written quotation should identify the exact model and quantity, whether units are new or used, price and VAT treatment, Incoterm or delivery scope, estimated dispatch window, payment route and what happens if availability changes.

Before deployment, define who performs intake inspection, firmware baseline capture, monitoring, diagnostics, cleaning and warranty evidence collection. Confirm whether third-party firmware, tuning or physical modification affects the manufacturer's warranty. Keep serial numbers, photos, logs and correspondence in a project record.

• Seller identity, exact batch and written condition statement
• Delivery, VAT, customs and insurance responsibility
• Warranty route, exclusions, turnaround assumptions and spare-unit policy
• Monitoring access, alert ownership and maintenance responsibility

Put every shortlisted model into the same table. Include purchase price only after technical fit is marked pass, conditional or fail. Add the number of machines the site can run continuously, total wall power, expected heat output, required infrastructure changes, service route and scenario results. This makes hidden differences visible and gives the approver a traceable decision.

Recheck the sheet immediately before ordering because specifications, availability, prices and network economics change. If one critical input is unverified, label it as an open item rather than replacing it with an optimistic estimate.

• Technical fit and unresolved conditions
• Fleet power, cooling and infrastructure cost
• Procurement, delivery and service risk
• Dated economic scenarios and approval owner