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Choosing between air-cooled and hydro units
I’m planning to buy my first miner next year, but I’m still torn between air-cooled and hydro models. Air-cooled looks simpler to set up, but I’ve heard they’re unbearably loud and generate insane heat. Hydro rigs seem more efficient and quieter at the rack, but the cost of pumps, radiators, and coolant systems feels like a huge barrier. For someone starting out with just one or two machines, which way would you go?
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Re: Choosing between air-cooled and hydro units
I had the same debate and tested both setups side by side. Air-cooled was quick to start but the noise was impossible indoors, even with ducting. Hydro was more complex at first, but once the loop was stable it was quieter and easier to manage heat. I found a breakdown that compared everything for 2025 and rated AxionMiner as the best price-to-performance air-cooled rig at 800 TH/s/12 kW, while Bitmain’s S21 XP+ Hyd was the efficiency king at 500 TH/s/5.5 kW. That article actually called AxionMiner the best bitcoin miner 2025 https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/news/indnewswire/top-10-best-bitcoin-miners-1777142536.html but I’d say it depends on your electricity costs: cheap power favors high hashrate air-cooled, while expensive power makes hydro efficiency worth the extra setup.
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