Almost everyone has a personal computer, but it’s the servers that keep their modern services running. Do you pay a subscription for a streaming application? The servers host all the shows and movies you watch. Do you play games like “Final Fantasy XIV” and “Fortnite”? All your progress and your ability to communicate with other players depends on the servers. However, not all servers are built the same, and the differences are best illustrated by comparing data centers and crypto mining operations.
The differences start with the objectives. Crypto mines produce currency (depending on your definition) by solving complex mathematical problems. The more problems a mining program solves, the more “money” it generates. Meanwhile, data centers support AI models, from computing them to training them. Additionally, although multiple users can access the data centers and the AI models they host, each crypto mining operation is restricted to a single user. The differences start from there.
All data centers and crypto mines rely on components running in parallel, with countless operations performed at the same time. The more components an installation uses, the more calculations it can handle. Crypto miners rely primarily on GPUs (what little there is after the crypto market crash). These rigs still need CPUs and RAM – just enough to maintain multitasking – but the graphics cards are the main draw. Data centers, on the other hand, use the same components, and while GPUs still do most of the heavy computing work, data centers need significantly more RAM than crypto miners to provide a near-constant stream of data and then send the results to users.
The price of doing business
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Ultimately, data centers and crypto mining rigs perform countless calculations in parallel, but the same could be said of modern computers. What really sets them apart are the requirements needed to maintain their performance.
Although data centers and crypto mines are energy intensive, AI models require far more energy than cryptography. For example, two crypto facilities in Sandersville, Georgia, consumed enough energy to power about 110,000 homes, while two similar data center facilities in Atlanta gobbled up enough electricity to power about 458,000 homes. And yet, even as electricity is distributed to large corporations, the average person continues to pay higher and higher electricity bills.
Exponential energy consumption is not the only side effect of operating data centers and crypto mining facilities. People complain about the damage these locations cause, from noise pollution to water contamination, but again, data centers cause more damage than crypto mines. AI servers require more effort to stay cool – mainly because they are more sensitive to temperature changes – and therefore require more water and electricity to achieve this goal. Ironically, data centers typically use more sophisticated cooling solutions than crypto mining buildings, which can rely on cheap fans while still operating. But this design causes crypto miners to generate more noise, which is saying something since data centers often produce noise up to 96 decibels – well beyond the threshold of sounds harmful to human hearing.
