Iceriver, the first Kaspa (KASP) ASIC manufacturer, has announced the upcoming release of the KS0 PRO ASIC miner that is apparently set to replace their current entry level KS0 device. The original Iceriver KS0 miner is no longer listed on the official website, it was capable of 100 GH/s KAS mining hashrate with 65 Watts of power usage by default, though we’ve seen unofficial firmware that allowed users to overclock it up to 160 GH/s with 100+ Watts of power usage. The overclockability of the KS0 probably led to the official release of a KS0 PRO version that is capable of 200 GH/s at 100 Watts of power usage, or slightly more hashrate with less power usage than the OC option. Still, the Iceriver KAS KS0 PRO ASIC miners are doubling the official hashrate of the KS0 and with just about 50 percent power usage increase, so better than the OC results.
Of course, these replacing the original KS0 should come at the same price or even lower in order to be considered a worthwhile investment at the moment and the KS0 Pro to be considered a worthy update, especially now that there is unofficial overclock for the original miners and with the constantly increasing network difficulty. However, Iceriver has not yet revealed what the price will be for the successor of the KS0, namely the KS0 PRO. We are expecting something in the $500-$600 USD range as the most likely price per unit, though we might still be either pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised by the actual price. We’ll have to wait a bit more and see what Iceriver will reveal and when the actual orders for the new KS0 Pro devices will be opened.
Interestingly enough the new Iceriver KAS KS0 PRO miners are still passive (no active fan cooling), though for 100 Watts of power usage you should definitely consider adding a cooling fan or placing the miner in a well-ventilated room that has good constant airflow. It would’ve been nice if the new device had PCI-E power connector, so that we could utilize existing computer PSUs and not buy powerful laptop-type external power bricks. So, could Iceriver done better with the new KS0 Pro – probably, still it is nice to see that they are at least doing some improvements.