2025, Why Choose Liquid Cooling Mining?

Bitcoin has now exceeded 120,000 US dollars. In the Bitcoin mining circle, the enthusiasm for Bitcoin mining has returned to its peak again. Compared with the last hot mining market, what is the difference in Bitcoin mining in 2025? ​

With the continuous improvement of the computing power of ASIC mining machines (the high-end model will reach about 860 TH/s in 2025), equipment heat dissipation has become a key issue affecting mining efficiency. Liquid cooling mining has shown many core advantages over traditional air cooling solutions due to its unique heat dissipation principle. After different mining machine models are adapted to liquid cooling solutions, the advantages are more prominent.

1. Heat dissipation efficiency is improved by orders of magnitude

Taking the Antminer S19 series as an example, the traditional air-cooled S19 Pro has a computing power of 110 TH/s and a power of 3250W. It relies on multiple sets of high-speed fans for heat dissipation during operation. Since the thermal conductivity of air is only 0.026 W/(m・K), in the high temperature environment in summer, the core temperature of the mining machine often soars to 70-85℃, which can easily trigger overheating protection and cause a large fluctuation in computing power. ​

The Antminer S21 XP Hydro, which uses a liquid cooling solution, has a computing power of up to 473 TH/s and a power of 5676W. The immersion liquid cooling solution it uses is one of the current mainstream liquid cooling solutions. The mineral oil or special coolant used in this solution has a thermal conductivity of 0.15-0.2 W/(m・K), which is 5-8 times that of air. In actual applications, the core temperature of the mining machine can be stably controlled at 50-60℃, which can ensure stable output of computing power even in a hot environment and greatly improve mining efficiency.

2. Significantly reduce energy costs

The common WhatsMiner M50, with air cooling design, has fan power consumption accounting for 8% - 15% of the total energy consumption (the fan power of a single mining machine is about 80 - 150W). If deployed on a large scale, the annual electricity bill for the fan alone is considerable. ​

In contrast, the MicroBT WhatsMiner M66s, which uses liquid cooling technology, is equipped with a cold plate liquid cooling device that can accurately dissipate heat from core components. Under the same computing power scale, the auxiliary energy consumption of this liquid cooling device (water pump + cooling tower) is only 30% - 50% of air cooling. Taking a small and medium-sized mining farm with 20 mining machines as an example, if the M66s liquid-cooled mining machine is selected, the electricity bill can be saved by about US$1,200 - 2,000 per year (calculated at US$0.05/kWh). In addition, the waste heat generated by the liquid cooling system can be recycled for heating or hot water preparation, further improving energy utilization.

3. Extend hardware life and improve stability

When the Avalon A1566 mining chip runs in a high temperature environment, the electron migration speed is accelerated, and the component aging cycle will be shortened by 30% - 50%, resulting in frequent equipment failures. In the traditional air cooling mode, the mining machine failure interval (MTBF) is usually 3 - 6 months.

The liquid cooling solution can significantly extend the mining machine failure interval through precise and stable temperature control. For example, the Bitmain Antminer S19k Pro, which uses liquid cooling, uses an integrated liquid cooling solution that can achieve efficient heat dissipation. Under this solution, the mining machine failure interval can be extended from 3 - 6 months of air cooling to 12 - 18 months, greatly reducing the cost of equipment replacement and maintenance. At the same time, the liquid cooling system has no vibration caused by high-speed operation of the fan, which can reduce mechanical failures such as loose interfaces and component shedding, so that the fluctuation rate of computing power output is controlled within 1% (usually 3% - 5% for air cooling), ensuring a stable and reliable mining process.

4. Optimize site utilization and environmental adaptability

Air-cooled mining machines need to maintain a distance of more than 1.5 meters to ensure air circulation, and the installed density per unit area is low. For example, the common Antminer S19j Pro usually has an installed density of 10-15 units/㎡.

Liquid-cooled mining machines can be densely arranged, such as the immersion liquid-cooled WhatsMiner M66s. The immersion liquid cooling equipment it is adapted to allows the mining machine to achieve efficient heat dissipation in a smaller space, and the installed density can be increased to 30-40 units/㎡, doubling the site utilization rate. In addition, the liquid cooling system can effectively isolate the operating noise of the mining machine, reducing the noise from 70-80 decibels of air cooling to below 40 decibels, and there is no need to open large-area ventilation openings, so that mining equipment can be deployed in places with high environmental requirements such as office buildings and residential areas, breaking through the site selection restrictions of traditional mines.

5. Adapting to the future needs of high-computing models

With the upgrade of ASIC chip manufacturing process (such as the popularization of 3nm process), the computing power density per unit volume continues to increase, and the air cooling solution is gradually approaching the upper limit of heat dissipation capacity. Taking the upcoming Bitmain S21e XP Hyd 3U as an example, its computing power will exceed 800 TH/s, and traditional air cooling is difficult to meet the heat dissipation requirements.

Mature liquid cooling solutions can easily adapt to such high-computing models. For example, when Bitmain was developing the next generation of mining machines, it focused on the optimization of liquid cooling technology. The dedicated liquid cooling equipment it developed can provide strong heat dissipation support for high-computing chips, ensuring that it can provide reliable heat dissipation solutions for future high-computing mining machines and ensure technical compatibility for long-term mining.

It should be noted that the initial investment cost of the liquid cooling solution is relatively high. For example, the cost of modifying a single mining machine with immersion liquid cooling is about 300-500 US dollars, which is more suitable for medium and large-scale mining farms (more than 50 mining machines). For home miners or small deployments, liquid cooling devices such as entry-level cold plate liquid cooling kits can be given priority, which can enjoy some cooling advantages while controlling costs.