The QC-1 Crypto Heater Lets You Heat And Mine Simultaneously

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Most people know there's no such thing as perfect power conversion or utilization, which means the amount of power drawn from the mains grid isn't fully utilized, but instead transformed into heat. This thermal load is the reason why all your components rely on heat sinks and cooling fans, and why the more you push a system, the higher its thermal load will be. Cryptocurrency mining results in a notable heat load because it constantly keeps graphics cards at high utilization, and now a company called Qarnot wants to appeal to miners with the first crypto heat system.

Many miners try to find ways to remove heat from their mining systems to make them run more efficiently and be more reliable. Qarnot instead channeled all the heat a pair of GPUs generate to a radiator-shaped heat sink that, according to the company's somewhat optimistic statements, is capable of heating a 20 square-meter room. Now miners will be able to amass their cryptocurrency and stay nice and cozy while they do it.

Two Radeon RX 580 8G graphics cards are the computing force and main heating source behind the QC-1 system, which according to Qarnot is totally silent because all of its components are passively cooled and no mechanical drives are used (which can be a significant noise source). This isn't the first time Qarnot has released such a system: Back in 2013 it had introduced the Q.rad computing heater, which is still in production.

The price tag of the QC-1 is quite stiff, at 2900€ (approximately $3,600) and it doesn't include the shipping fee which is around $300. The product is still in pre-order phase and if you order it before March 20, Qarnot promises that it will deliver it to you before June 20. The whole system is described as plug-n-play with its set up requiring only 10 minutes. You just plug the QC-1 to the wall, give it access to the internet through a router, and enter your crypto-wallet's details into the mobile app. You can mine Ethereum as well as Bitcoin and Litecoin, however you probably won't want to waste any resources on BTC and LTC, given that ASICs completely took over the mining of those two coins years ago.

Besides the unique design, Qarnot provides a mobile app through which someone can monitor and control the system, or use a special boost mode that increases the heat output by 200W, bringing it to 650W in total. Even with the booster mode enabled, the provided amount of heat looks low for a 20 square-meter room, especially if this is located in a cold area. Through the same mobile app you can watch in real time how the crypto markets are trending and monitor the system's crypto performance. There is a web interface as well, along with a capacitive touch interface and LED indicators, which are installed on the QC-1.