While some may argue that the cryptocurrency gold rush has tapered off a bit recently, there are still plenty of reasons why you’d want to buy the best mining rigs and mining PCs that money can buy.
If you invest wisely, it means you can still make a decent amount of money from mining, but which is best for you?
Before we get into our list of the best mining rigs and best mining PCs, we should explain some key differences between the two types of hardware.
The best mining PCs, are desktop computers that can also be used for other day-to-day tasks, such as working on and gaming. Meanwhile, mining rigs are specially-designed for one purpose only: to efficiently and effectively mine crypto currencies such as Bitcoin.
This means you won’t be able to use a mining rig for other tasks, but it does mean you’ll be getting the very best mining results thanks to the best mining rigs being designed to eke out the maximum return when running.
However, if you’re weary of spending money on something that can only mine, then buying the best mining desktop PC is the way to go, as it means you’re also getting a top PC to do other things with as well, though your mining returns won’t be quite as good.
If you still want to build your own mining rig or PC, check out our guides on the best mining GPUs, best mining CPU, best mining motherboards and best mining SSDs to help you get started.
Shark Mining is a well-regarded company that makes some excellent pre-built mining rigs. Its Shark Mini is a compact rig that comes with four GPUs. The base model comes with AMD RX 570/580, but your can configure it to have a NVIDIA GTX 1070 GPU or 1070 Ti GPU, which could net you an extra profit, and you can also add a touchscreen display for keeping an eye on the rig. Shark Mining estimates a profit of $200 a month if you mine ZCash , and up to $300 a month with Ethereum if you use the base model with, though of course that could change.
The Alienware Area 51 Threadripper Edition is a fantastic gaming desktop PC, and it’s also one of the best mining PCs money can buy, thanks to the powerful components inside, including AMD’s Threadripper processor, which offers plenty of cores for multitasking. Crucially, it also has some of the best mining GPUs installed as well. There’s loads of space in the eye-catching chassis for upgrading when you need to, though with all Alienware products, it’s pretty expensive. You can configure the Alienware Area 51 Threadripper Edition, however, so you can ensure you get a model that suits your needs and budget.
The Bitmain Antminer S17 Pro has some of the best advertised performance specifications, and comes with three different modes for advanced mining: normal mode, low power mode, and turbo. While the ASIC comes with a top hashrate of 53 TH/s, you will need to run it in the lower modes at times to help prevent over-heating. Even still, the S17 Pro is one of the more efficient ASICs out there, with a power rating of 39.5 J/TH. However, because of its high specs it is currently out of stok, and we await for Bitmain to restock the model and advertise a new price.
Application-specific integrated circuit chips (ASICs) differ from other mining rigs as they don’t utilize GPUs to do the mining, which means price and power consumption is reduced. They can also solve Bitcoin blocks faster, which means they are definitely worth looking into. The Antminer D3 is an ASIC miner from Mineshop.eu is a good mid-range miner that has a hash rate of 19.5 GH/s. Definitely one to consider if space is at a premium.
This is another fantastic gaming PC that also doubles as a versatile mining PC. Thanks to its powerful components, you’ll be getting some good returns when you put it to mining, and the excellent cooling system of this PC means it can run for long periods of time without overheating – or getting too noisy. It’s another expensive outlay, but one that could quickly pay off if you mine wisely.
Read the full review: MSI Infinite A
Shark Mining has another entry in this list of best mining rigs, this time with its Shark PRO mining rig. Like the Shark mini, this is a well-built device for mining that comes with a range of configuration options. The base model comes with six AMD RX570/580 cards, but these can be upgraded to NVIDIA GTX 1070, GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1080 Ti or NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti GPUs (2080 Ti won’t be available until October, but you can pre-order). It’s an expensive rig, but the build quality and potential profit makes it a very tempting choice if you’re serious about mining.
The PandaMiner B5 Plus is a brilliantly put together miner that’s compact and attractive, while also being excellent at making profits when mining for cryptocurrencies. However, it is very expensive, and due to its popularity it can often be sold out. Luckily Pandaminer has a number of different models to choose from.
The Corsair One has been among the best gaming PCs ever since it came on the scene a few years ago, and the Corsair One i160 only takes things to the next level with Nvidia Turing graphics and Intel Coffee Lake Refresh processors. If you have the budget, then this is a brilliant mining PC, as it combines some of the latest, and most powerful, gaming tech, which in turn gives you phenomenal mining performance. If you also like to game, then this is a brilliant, but expensive, purchase.
Read the full review: Corsair One i160
