Batch and Revision
Batch and revision mean more than the model name. Two ASICs with the same label can carry different boards, chips, and firmware requirements.
Why one model comes in different flavors
Over a model's lifetime the manufacturer changes plenty: chips arrive from different fabs, control boards move through revisions, fans and sensors get swapped. Outside it is the same ASIC, inside it is a different set of parts living by different rules.
Firmware takes the hardest hit. A custom firmware or an SD card image is written for specific boards: on one batch it fits like a glove, on the neighboring batch it will not boot, or boots crooked. The phrase "fits model X" without a batch attached is worth little.
Spare parts follow the same story. A fan with a different tachometer, a control board of another revision, a hashboard with chips from another vendor: all of it is formally "from the same model" and practically incompatible. Buy spares by the markings on your own part.
You identify the batch by the production date on the label, the serial number, and the markings on the boards themselves. When buying several ASICs, it pays to ask for one batch: one set of spares, one firmware image, the same behavior under load.
The short version
| What changes within a model | chips, board revisions, fans |
| What it breaks | firmware, SD images, spare parts |
| Where to look | label, serial number, board markings |
| When buying several | ask for ASICs from one batch |
| Spare parts rule | by the part's markings, not the model |
How to live with this in practice
Write down the production date, serial, and board revisions for every ASIC: one table saves hours on every repair and every flash.
Before flashing, look for reports on your exact batch, not the model: someone's success on another revision guarantees nothing.
Test a new image on one ASIC, not on the whole fleet at once: if the batch turns out mixed inside, you find out cheaply.
When shopping for spares, carry photos of your markings: on the words "for the S19" a seller will sell whatever he has.
A case from practice
Ten ASICs of one model, bought in two rounds, split cleanly down the middle: the firmware image went onto six right away, four went to brick until a rollback through SD. The production dates were half a year apart, and the control boards turned out to be different revisions. Since then every purchase order carries the line "one batch", and life became duller and cheaper.
Related terms
Where to go next on the site
Hardware
- ASIC Miner knowledge base
- ASIC Chip and Hashboard knowledge base
Guides
- ASIC Manufacturers knowledge base
Questions and answers
How do I learn the batch before buying
Ask for the production date and a photo of the label with the serial. A seller who cannot show that has already told you a lot.
Is it true that chips from different vendors mean different quality
Different behavior, rather: other frequencies, another response to undervolting. Not necessarily worse, but do not mix them in one calculation.
What if my fleet is already a mixed bag
Run an inventory and group by batches: keep firmware, profiles, and spares per group. That is an hour of work and the end of surprises.
How the terms connect
Every link in the chain is clickable. Orange marks where you are now.
Looking for an ASIC miner
The catalog holds 212 models. You can compare them by hashrate and by joules per terahash, then plug your own rate into the calculator and see what stays in your pocket.
Page written and checked by Denys Klimchuk. Updated .