Guide · Oct 16, 2026 · 5 min read
Why the same bitcoin miner comes in different hashrates, and which one to buy
Open the store and one model, the Whatsminer M60S++, is listed in fifteen sizes from 202 to 234 TH/s. They are not different machines. Here is why they differ, what changes between them, and how to pick one with a sum you can do yourself.
One model, fifteen sizes
Pick any popular miner in our store and you will find the same name listed several times with different hashrates. The air-cooled Whatsminer M60S++ has fifteen listings, from 202 TH/s to 234 TH/s. The Antminer S21+ Hyd has four, from 319 to 395 TH/s.
A newcomer reasonably asks whether these are different machines. They are not. They are the same design, in the same case, that came off the line testing at different speeds. Each listing is a size of one model, and the manufacturer sells them as such: MicroBT's own shop page lists the M60S++ at 218 TH/s from 3,379 W, one point inside the range we stock.
Spread differs from model to model. The Whatsminer M70S comes in six sizes, from 250 to 260 TH/s, a gap of only 4%. The M60S++ spans 16%. The wider the range, the more it matters which size you are looking at, and the more the price per terahash tells you that the listing price alone does not.
The chips come out of the factory unequal
A miner is a board of identical-looking chips, and no two chips are identical underneath. D-Central's glossary says it plainly: "Chip binning is the manufacturing practice of testing each ASIC die and sorting it into performance bins." Chips that can run faster, or run the same speed on less power, go into the faster bins.
The maker then builds machines from chips of similar grade and rates each one for the speed its chips can hold. That rating is the size you see in the listing. It is a nominal figure, so a machine's real output sits a little either side of it, which our guide to why a miner's hashrate reads lower than its spec sheet explains.
Same case, same design, same shelf. The size is how fast its chips tested.
What changes between sizes, and what barely does
Power rises almost in step with hashrate. The 202 TH/s listing draws 3,131 W and the 234 TH/s one 3,510 W, so a size that does 16% more work draws 12% more power. Efficiency, the J/TH figure that decides what a terahash costs to run, moves only between 15.5 and 15.0.
Everything physical stays the same. Every size weighs 13.5 kg, takes the same shelf slot and the same cable. Hosting a bigger size does not take more room; it takes more electricity and earns more coins. The S21+ Hyd shows the same pattern: all four sizes are rated 15.0 J/TH, from 319 to 395 TH/s.
The price follows. The 202 TH/s size is $1,909, $9.45 a terahash. The 234 TH/s size is $2,260, $9.66 a terahash. The bigger size costs more in total, and a little more for each terahash, in line with its slightly better efficiency.
The sum for two sizes, a day at a time
On 15 October a petahash earned $38.89 a day on our hashprice chart, before pool fees. That is 3.9¢ for each terahash. Take the two ends of the M60S++ range and run them at 6¢ a kilowatt-hour, the rate at our Argentina and UAE sites.
The 202 TH/s size earns $7.86 a day and burns $4.51 of electricity, leaving $3.35. The 234 TH/s size earns $9.10, burns $5.05, and leaves $4.05. The bigger one has 16% more hashrate and 12% more power, and it leaves 21% more after power.
At Nigeria's 3.9¢ the same two sizes leave $4.93 and $5.81. The ranking does not change; cheaper power only widens what each one leaves. Output is not guaranteed, and these are today's figures.
A half-point of efficiency is worth about $60 a year
The sizes of the M60S++ split into two groups: the sizes up to 224 TH/s are rated 15.5 J/TH, and the sizes from 226 TH/s up are rated 15.0. It looks like a rounding detail. Over a year it is money.
At 15.5 J/TH one terahash uses 0.372 kWh a day, which costs 2.23¢ at 6¢ a kilowatt-hour. At 15.0 J/TH it uses 0.360 kWh and costs 2.16¢. On a 234 TH/s machine that gap is about 17¢ a day, or roughly $61 a year, for the same coins mined.
That is why the sizes with the better rating cost slightly more per terahash. The maker is charging for the saving, and the saving is real, but it is small next to the choice of model. Moving from a 15.5 J/TH machine to a 13.5 J/TH one cuts the electricity per terahash by 13%, four times as much as the half-point between two sizes.
Check which size a quote is for
A model name alone does not say what you are buying. A quote, an invoice or a hosting agreement should name the exact hashrate and the rated power, because the power is what the site is built around and what the electricity is counted against. Two sizes of one model share a name and not a power draw.
It also keeps the comparison honest. If one seller lists a 202 TH/s unit and another a 234 TH/s unit at similar prices per box, they are not offering the same thing, and the price per terahash is the number that puts them side by side. Our guide to the all-in price shows what else sits on top of the box.
Finally, sizes are nominal. A machine rated at 234 TH/s will read a little above or below that on its first day, and a few percent either way is ordinary. Judge it over a week of running, not an hour.
How to choose between the sizes
Start with efficiency, because it is the one number that does not scale with size. If two sizes of the same model differ in J/TH, the lower figure spends less electricity on every terahash for as long as it runs. Then compare the price per terahash, not the price of the box: the dearer size should be buying you either more efficiency or more hashrate for each dollar.
Then fit it to your budget and your slot. A bigger size earns more from the same shelf position, which is why it tends to leave more after power. A smaller one is a smaller first cheque. Both are the same machine, with the same repairs and the same parts.
Do not compare sizes of different models on hashrate alone. A 234 TH/s M60S++ is a 15 J/TH machine, and a 260 TH/s M70S is a 13.5 J/TH machine that makes a coin for less. The guide to what to check before you buy puts the order in one place.
What it means for a miner
The size you pick sets how many coins one shelf slot makes, and the efficiency sets what each coin costs to make. Choose the lowest J/TH you can find first, and then the biggest size your budget allows at a fair price per terahash. That is the order that leaves you with the most bitcoin to keep. Output is not guaranteed, but the order holds at every size.
Efficiency first, then price per terahash, then size.
Disclosure
Firsthand Bitcoin sells and hosts mining hardware, including this machine. No manufacturer, distributor or affiliate programme paid for or reviewed this page and we take no commission on the links above. Historical figures are computed from daily bitcoin price and network hashprice, each day valued at its own prices. Nothing here is investment advice.