Mining Bitcoin is a hot business. Literally. Miners earn cryptocurrency by using graphics processing units to run complicated math equations that help secure the cryptocurrency’s blockchain. Running a GPU that hard and that long heats up the machine and when it gets hot, it can perform poorly or even break.
The problem gets worse when you add more GPUs to the mix. That many machines mining in such close proximity pulls in a lot of electricity and generates a lot of heat. Miners have gotten creative with their cooling solutions. The most expensive we’ve seen is the Redditor who spent $120,000 to create a tank of mineral oil to cool his rig.
Videos by VICE
The dankest we’ve uses a $40 mylar tent designed for growing weed.
YouTuber Yuri Murakami ordered a cheap marijuana grow tent online, stuffed his mining rig inside and used a system of ducts to bring in cool air and push out hot air. In his video, the contraption looks like a discreet AC unit sitting in the corner.
“This room used to get to about 85 degrees fahrenheit with no mining rig,” Murakami said in his video. “There’s no AC in this room. With this new cooling solution, I increased the number of GPUs from six 1080 Tis…to twelve 1080 Tis and the room temperature has decreased significantly. This cooling solution works very well. I highly recommend it.”
Marijuana grow tents have long been a discreet solution for the suburban grower who wants to control the temperature, light, and heat generated by their operation. The reflective interior of the mylar bag traps the heat and light and the vents redirect the distinct odor of the budding weed.
Murakami’s solution is just the latest in a long line of cooling solutions for keeping a mining rig cool. He’s also not alone and far from the first miner to light on this particular solution. As cryptocurreny has grown more popular, its co-opted the power grid, PC gaming parts, charity, and now marijuana growing accessories.
“The instant I open the tent, it is actually raising the room temperature,” Murakami said. According to Murakami and other YouTubers posting about their mining rig packed grow tents, the biggest problem with using the tents and a system of fans is all the noise it generates. “It’s fairly good, but it’s a little bit noisy right now because of the graphics cards. The inline fans are actually quieter than the graphics cards.”
