Autotuning is a process where mechanisms control the optimal frequencies of the hash chips instead of treating the entire mining machine as a single unit. This means that high quality chips that can perform many hashes per second get a higher frequency and low quality chips with poor performance get a lower frequency. It is interesting to know that Autotuning involves setting various mining benchmarks in real time to increase efficiency and profitability. For example, Autotuning can optimize the power consumption of cryptocurrency mining hardware, adjust the hash rate according to network difficulty, and control the temperature and fan speed to prevent overheating of the mining device.
Autotuning can be done manually, or it can be automated using a dedicated application. With Autotuning, miners can optimize their digital currency mining process without having to monitor and apply tuning.
Examining the pros and cons of autotuning
As we said, if the network difficulty increases and the mining process becomes unprofitable, as well as energy losses, we need to find solutions to improve the performance of our equipment. Autotuning is one such solution. This approach has many advantages and many problems. Below are some of the most important advantages and disadvantages of Autotuning:
Advantages of Autotuning
- One of the advantages of autotuning is that this method independently increases the frequency of chips in the mine, which improves mining performance.
- Another major advantage of autotuning is that autotuning significantly reduces the complexity of the extraction process by increasing the frequency of the chips.
- Improving miner performance, Autotuning increases hashing rate and saves electricity.
Disadvantages of autotuning
- One of the disadvantages of autotuning is that it requires a lot of development and research opportunities, and because the development of autotuning projects is complex and difficult, manufacturers spend a lot of money to develop their own software and provide a lot of tools and costs to the industry.
- Another disadvantage of autotuning is that there is a difference in this method, it is not suitable for miners, and on the other hand, users are looking for details and information related to the product. Therefore, it is not very convenient for manufacturers to sell products with unpredictable characteristics.
Autotuning in cryptocurrency mining
ESIC mining devices consist of a large number of tiny computer chips that perform the hashing function. These chips are made from silicon used in microelectronics and semiconductors. Silicon chips have different electrical properties, so they are not exactly the same. Manufacturers are aware of this and publish performance specifications of their mining rigs down to the lowest tolerance. In other words, manufacturers who know the frequency that shows the best performance on lower quality chips also use that frequency on other chips in the device. Therefore, mining rigs may have more hash capacity unused. The automation of each device chip is the process that enables the ESIC function through software and firmware. Instead of using the same factory settings, this method uses all the potential available in each device chip for all of them. The end result is more profit for miners and a higher hash rate for the same energy consumption.
What is the purpose of autotuning?
In the method of improving device performance by auto-tuning, the desired goal is achieved by affecting the frequency. Of course in this method more details are needed to achieve a higher hash rate. Autotuning firmware is involved in this method, which instead of targeting the frequency of hash tables, will adjust the frequency of each chip individually. Actually, Autotuning is done for the purpose of determining and adjusting the matching frequency of each chip separately from the others.
In this method, a better quality chip is able to adapt to a higher frequency and a lower quality chip is unable to adapt to a higher frequency. In fact, the two methods of overclocking and autotuning can be combined. With this, apart from increasing the hash rate, the power consumption is also reduced.
Can we expect an increase in device performance with autotuning?
Fortunately, the factors that affect mining profitability are not just buying new equipment and cheap electricity. Among other effective methods in this field, the use of which has developed today, we can mention the optimization of the software installed on the devices. In short, we must say that the performance of ESIC devices is more and more interesting with the help of the Autotuning method, and in this way, the increase in the speed of the devices is achieved in the watts of power consumption. Therefore, miners will do their best to get maximum profit and efficiency from their equipment as soon as possible before complicating the income level. Therefore, by using the automatic tuning method, miners can improve the efficiency of ASIC and thereby increase their income in a short period of time.
In this process, due to the unevenness of the silicon, a small difference in the frequency of each chip can be observed. Therefore, by applying this method, some factories have found better performance than specified. Because no hardware manufacturer supports autotuning in their original firmware.
A look at the future of Autotuning
As the process of mining cryptocurrencies becomes more difficult and complicated day by day, it is certain that the miners will not be able to progress in their work without making changes to their mining equipment. On the other hand, it takes a long time to recoup this capital through the high cost of new equipment and the achievement of profit. So, we should explore other ways to improve the performance of the device like autotuning and overclocking. These two methods will help us a lot in overcoming the difficulty of mining by changing the frequency of the mining device and increasing the hash rate.
Also, anyone with years of experience in the mining industry should have witnessed its rapid growth. While auto-tuning is currently not a common practice and is used by a relatively small number of miners, it may become a requirement and standard for miners within the next 1-2 years.
