There is new info regarding Intel’s new crypto-mining accelerator chip, which has been shown to the public, during the 2022’s ISSCC event held on the 20th of February 2022. Bitcoin.com first reported the news on Intel’s plans to skill blockchain accelerator chips, as Intel executive Raja M. Koduri described Intel’s goals moving forward into the future.
The capabilities of the Bonanza Chip
A few researchers got the opportunity to get their hands on the bonanza chip, Paul Alcorn is one of those people and he tells all in his Tom’s Hardware report. Alcorn’s research clearly states that the chip is a combination of 300 other chips which provide an output of 40 [terahash per second (TH/s)] of performance. He also indicates that a second-gen chip is also in the works at Intel, known as the Bonanza Mine ASIC.
The Bonanza Mine System integrates four hash boards, four fans, a power supply and an Intel FGPA control unit which provides tremendous access to the user. An FGPA is a field programmable circuit that allows customers to change or reconfigure the hardware according to the use case requirements. In this case, that ought to be bitcoin mining, albeit after the manufacturing process.
The report shed further light on the specifications of the chip, “Each chip die measures 4.14 x 3.42mm, for a total of 14.16mm^2 of silicon, so these are comparatively small slivers of silicon,”. “The smaller die size improves yield and maximizes wafer area usage (up to 4,000 dice per wafer), thus helping maximize production capacity (though it does require more wafer dicing/packaging capacity).”
Intel Vs Bitmain
Though, Bitmain’s recent mining rig launch announcements end up being more profound than Intel’s specifications. For instance, in mid-November last year, Bitmain unveiled the Antminer S19 XP that boasts 140 TH/s. At the end of January this year, Bitmain announced that they were launching an even sturdier bitcoin mining unit called the Antminer S19 Pro+ Hyd. The firm claims that each unit produces 198 TH/s which is miles ahead of the XP variant.
Intel on the other hand previously has orders from tech firms looking to power the new BMZ1 and BMZ2 accelerators restricting from companies like Griid, Argo Blockchain, and Jack Dorsey’s Block (formerly Square). An S-4 filing linked to Griid does not mention the BMZ1 but the filing does discuss the integrated circuit product named BZM2.
How does the BZM2 measure up against Bitmain’s hardware?
According to the information that’s been released by Intel so far, the second-gen BTC miner will provide stable performance of 40.4THash/s by using 2,293 Watts of power. While also registering a lower power consumption of 56.97 joules per THash. When the BZM2 is pitted against the Bitmain hardware, the Antminer S19j ASIC Bitcoin Miner consumes 3,100 Watts to produce up to 90THash/s at room temperature, resulting in an efficiency of 34.5 joules per THash.
With these findings, we can safely conclude that the BZM2 is more efficient at the mining performance. Companies like Intel are adapting towards the future which is Cryptocurrency and bringing out the tech to facilitate the mining process. If you’re looking to upgrade your current gaming pc setup to a more modern one, which also has mining capabilities, then check this out!