When mining hardware is already optimized for high hash-rate and low power draw, the next frontier of improvement often lies in firmware—the software layer that controls miners’ chip voltage, clock speed, fan curves, thermal profile, and workload scheduling. Upgrading or overhauling firmware can yield meaningful efficiency gains—often in the 5-15% range—and at scale, that translates into sizeable cost savings and higher margins.
Here’s how firmware overhauls work, why they matter, and how Bitmern’s model leverages them for hosted miners.
Why Firmware Matters for Efficiency
Firmware is the control system between your ASIC hardware and your mining environment. It determines how aggressively chips are driven, how cooling is managed, and how power is consumed. Without optimized firmware:
- Your miner might run at stock voltage or clock settings which are safe, but not ideal for your hosting environment (power cost, ambient temperature, cooling capacity).
- Cooling and fans might run conservatively, leaving thermal headroom unused, but costing extra watts.
- Chips might be undervolted or overvolted without full adaptation to the ambient conditions, causing waste or early degradation.
When firmware is updated or tailored for your environment, you can squeeze more hashing power or the same hashing power at lower watts—thus improving your efficiency.
How Overhauls Can Yield ~10% Efficiency Gains
Firmware upgrades can deliver substantial gains—often around 10%—through several levers:
- Under-clocking or undervolting: Lowering voltage slightly while maintaining hash-rate reduces power draw. Some miners report 10%+ savings by tuning firmware.
- Optimised chip calibration: Firmware can better balance each hash board and chip, reducing rejected shares and wasted computation.
- Smarter fan & thermal management: Better fan curves and thermal profiles reduce cooling power and allow chips to operate closer to ideal temperature.
- Adaptive fault detection & optimisation: When firmware monitors chip performance, it can automatically throttle under fault, reset faulty boards quickly, switching tasks to efficient boards.
- Workload scheduling / firmware profile options: Some firmware allow switching between “max hash” vs “max efficiency” modes depending on power cost or ambient conditions. For example, Bitmern notes that firmware updates allow efficient operations under “controlled environment & cooling” scenarios.
These gains may seem small individually, but when applied to hundreds of TH/s across many machines, the cumulative effect on power bills and profitability is significant.
How Bitmern Uses Firmware Upgrades to Benefit Hosted Clients
Bitmern emphasises firmware as part of its hosting value proposition:
- Their article “How Firmware Updates … Unlock Extra Hashrate” notes the hosting environment (cooling, power, monitoring) provides the conditions for firmware to deliver gains.
- Because Bitmern handles infrastructure (cooling, power, monitoring), firmware gains are more easily realized—clients benefit without needing to manage firmware themselves.
- By offering firmware optimisation as part of the hosting service rather than leaving it to the client, Bitmern helps reduce power cost, extend hardware life, and improve margin.
Practical Recommendations for Firmware Benefits
As a miner or investor, here are key steps to leverage firmware to boost efficiency:
- Ensure your hosting environment is stable—cooling, ambient temperature, power quality matter. Firmware gains only fully hit when hardware isn’t constrained.
- Check firmware version and profile—ask your provider what firmware version your miner runs, what efficiency gains they’ve documented.
- Consider “efficiency mode” vs “max hash”—If power cost is high, running a slightly lower hash at significantly lower watts may yield better ROI.
- Monitor key metrics after upgrade—compare power draw (watts) for the same hash-rate before vs after firmware update; track fan speeds, chip temps.
- Maintain rollback & monitoring—firmware upgrades may introduce new issues; ensure you have fallback and can monitor for unintended consequences (e.g., increased rejected shares, instability).
- Discuss with your hosting provider—make sure firmware upgrade is included in hosting contract or service, and that upgrades are tested before deployment.
Final Thoughts
Firmware overhauls aren’t flashy like new ASIC launches, but they are one of the most cost-effective levers to improve mining operation efficiency. A well-managed firmware update may yield ~10% or more improvement in joules per terahash, translating into lower power cost and stronger margins. For hosted miners through Bitmern, firmware optimisation is baked into the service—they handle infrastructure, monitoring, and upgrades so you can benefit from these gains without needing to manage every technical detail.
