Recently, “Chia” has become one of the most sought-after cryptocurrencies in China. Unlike ETH, which requires users to utilize GPUs for mining, this cryptocurrency, dubbed the ‘green Bitcoin’, allows users to take advantage of free space on primary storage devices like HDDs or SSDs for mining.
Specifically, Chia mining requires a large amount of free storage space, as the mining software runs many read/write operations. Simply put, the more free space on the hard drive, the more profit the miner can earn. Recognizing the demand from users, hardware manufacturers in China quickly released specialized SSD models specifically for Chia Coin miners.
Recently, motherboard manufacturer Onda has also launched a motherboard specifically designed for mining this cryptocurrency. With a design considered quite… “eccentric”, Onda’s motherboard named Onda B365 D32-D4 Magic Edition is equipped with up to 32 SATA ports, allowing users to connect 32 storage devices (HDDs, SSDs) simultaneously.
According to Wccftech, the Onda B365 D32-D4 Magic Edition based on the Intel B365 chipset features four DDR4 slots and one PCIe Gen 3.0 x16 slot and a single PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. However, to accommodate 32 SATA ports, this motherboard is twice the size of a standard m-atx motherboard (244mm x 244mm), measuring up to 530mm x 310mm. According to details provided by Onda, the Onda B365 D32-D4 Magic Edition has a total of six 6-pin connectors to power the SATA ports. The SATA ports can support a maximum storage capacity of up to 448 TB in both HDD or NVMe SSD formats. This means that Chia miners can simultaneously connect 32 14TB HDDs.
According to Wccftech, this motherboard is likely to become very popular soon, as Chia Coin mining is becoming more prevalent in the Asia-Pacific region. Data from Tomshardware shows that a series of HDD models with capacities ranging from 16 – 18TB from manufacturers like Seagate and Western Digital are always sold out in China. The prices of these HDD models have also skyrocketed, with increases of up to 66.4% before the Chia Coin craze took off.
Reference Wccftech