Baikal BK-D is a miner produced by the Baikal Tech team. The Baikal Tech team produces R & D designs. Since 2008, they've been researching and developing chips and software. In 2013, they successfully developed their Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA-256) chip, which led to an onslaught of miner release.
About Baikal BK-D
Released in June 2018, the Baikal BK-D soon became popular. It was the first Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) mining hardware that supports dual mining algorithms. Just like the ASICminer Gridseed, which could mine Bitcoin and Litecoin at the same time. The Baikal Miner BK-D works with Blake256R14 or Blake256R8 as its first algorithm with 280 Gh/s hash rate and LBRY or Pascal as a second algorithm with 70 Gh/s. The Baikal BK-D can mine any of the two algorithms simultaneously with a power consumption of 1100W total.
Algorithm
The Baikal BK-D works with a total of four algorithms Blake256R14, Blake256R8, Lbry, Pascal. The Blake256R14 is part of the Blake algorithmic family. Blake is a cryptographic hashing function, which is just an improved version of the SHA-256 algorithm. There are several versions, such as Blake 2b, Blake 2s, Blake 256r14, Blake 256r8.
Blake256 and Blake256r14 are the same; initially, Blake 256 used ten rounds of hashing, which the makers found less secure.
To further improve security, they increased the rounds from 10 to 14, hence Blake256r14 or Blake14r. The Blake256r14 algorithm isn't that widely used. The only minable coin is Decred. Decred is a popular altcoin, which is a hybrid consensus system and focuses on decentralization.
Lbry is a PoW(Proof Of Work) algorithm that uses SHA-256, SHA-512 mixed hash functions. It speeds up transactions and makes them more secure on the LBRY network. Like any other PoW, only CPUs are mined with the LBRY algorithm, but the Baikal BK-D is quite capable. One of the minable coins is LBRY Credits, which isn't that popular.
Pascal (Pathway Scoring Algorithm) is another algorithm the Baikal BK-D works. Its minable coin is the PascalCoin.
Hash Rate
Each algorithm has a hash rate and efficiency. The Blake256r14 has a hash rate of 320 Gh/s±10%, with a power consumption of 500W and an efficiency of 0.002 J/Mh. With the Blake256r8, Baikal BK-D can produce a top hash rate of 280 Gh/s±10%, a power consumption of 550W, and an efficiency of 0.002 j/Mh.
With the LBRY algorithm, this miner can produce a hash rate of 80 Gh/s, the power consumption of 550W, and efficiency of 0.006 j/ith Pa; it can generate a hash rate of 70Gh/s, consume 550W of power and produce an efficiency of 0.008 j/Mh.
Specifications
The Baikal BK-D comes with 310 x 115 x 135mm dimensions and a net weight of 6.5kg. It is small and compact, which helps it conserve space. It has two fans for cooling these fans to make sure air circulation is done correctly. Also, they make sure the device doesn't overheat through effective heat dissipation. Regarding interface and connectivity, the machine uses ethernet all the owner has to do to plug in the ethernet cable, set up algorithms and mining pools, and start mining.
It has an operating temperature of 0 - 40 °C that provides effective mining operations. The humidity is about 5 — 95%.
Noise Level
This device has a noise level of 65 dB. This miner's noise level is average as most miners have a noise level of 60db to 80db. With this noise level, the Baikal BK-D adopts an almost silent approach to mining.
Profitability
Profitability and ROI(Return Of Investment) are essential criteria for getting a miner. Profitability depends on the market condition and electricity rates in the area. Also, when the market favors the top coin, the miners get high profitability.
