Mini-DOGE II vs Antminer L7 for Home Mining: Quiet Desktop Box vs Industrial Scrypt Rig

Key Takeaways (Quick Decision)

• Mini-DOGE II is the realistic choice for almost all home users:
  • Around 420 MH/s at ~400 W (or ~335 MH/s at ~260 W in low-power mode).
  • Noise levels in the mid-30 dB range, similar to a quiet office.
  • Power draw in the same ballpark as a gaming PC.
• Antminer L7 is a farm-grade miner:
  • Around 9 000+ MH/s at roughly 3 200 W (exact numbers depend on model).
  • Noise around 70–80 dB, similar to a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer.
  • Continuous heat output comparable to a powerful electric space heater.

If you live in a normal apartment with neighbors, shared walls, and standard wiring, Mini-DOGE II is almost always the only realistic option. L7 only becomes viable at home if you have:

• A separate room, garage, or shed.
• Strong electrical infrastructure.
• Serious noise and heat management.

Hashrate and Efficiency (J/MH)

From an engineering perspective you look at two things:

1. How much hashrate do you get?
2. How much energy do you spend per megahash (J/MH)?

Mini-DOGE II

• Performance mode: about 420 MH/s at ~400 W
  • Efficiency ≈ 400 W / 420 MH/s ≈ 0.95 J/MH
• Low-power mode: about 335 MH/s at ~260 W
  • Efficiency ≈ 260 W / 335 MH/s ≈ 0.78 J/MH

Low-power mode reduces hashrate but improves efficiency and makes the device easier to justify as a small “always-on” box.

Antminer L7

• Typical variant: around 9 000–9 500 MH/s at roughly 3 200+ W
  • Efficiency ≈ 3 200 W / 9 000 MH/s ≈ 0.36 J/MH

On pure efficiency, L7 is the clear winner:

• Around 2–2.5× better J/MH than Mini-DOGE II.

However, home miners do not live in a data sheet. You have to combine efficiency with absolute power draw, noise, and practical constraints. That is where Mini-DOGE II becomes attractive despite being “less efficient on paper”.

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Noise and Heat: Can You Live with It?

Noise

Mini-DOGE II:

• Around 35 dB in normal operation.
• This is similar to:
  • A quiet desktop PC with a single 120 mm fan at low RPM.
  • A small network router or NAS in an otherwise quiet room.

In a living room or office, you will notice the fan if you sit close to it, but it does not dominate the room. In low-power mode it is even easier to ignore.

Antminer L7:

• Typical noise is 70–80 dB.
• That level is closer to:
  • A vacuum cleaner.
  • A hair dryer.
  • A loud server rack.

At this noise level:

• You cannot realistically share the same room for normal daily activities.
• Even with the door closed, you often hear the unit from neighboring rooms.
• Running it at night in a normal apartment is likely to disturb people in the same building.

Heat

Heat output is directly tied to power draw:

• Every watt of power becomes heat.

Mini-DOGE II:

• 400 W → a modest, continuous heat source.
• You will feel a warm airflow near the exhaust.
• Over time it will slightly warm up a small room, but it does not behave like a full space heater.

Antminer L7:

• 3 200+ W → a serious heat source.
• This is in the same league as a powerful electric heater.
• In a small room, the temperature can rise very quickly if you do not exhaust the hot air.

In a home context:

• Mini-DOGE II adds a small, pleasant amount of heat in cooler months.
• Antminer L7 absolutely requires a plan for hot air:
  • Ducting out of a window or wall.
  • A dedicated, ventilated space.

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Electricity Cost Comparison

Assume both devices run 24/7.

Mini-DOGE II (performance mode)

• Power: 400 W → 0.4 kW
• Daily energy: 0.4 kW × 24 h = 9.6 kWh per day

Antminer L7

• Power: 3 200 W → 3.2 kW
• Daily energy: 3.2 kW × 24 h = 76.8 kWh per day

Now combine this with typical electricity prices:

Tariff (€/kWh)	Device	kWh / day	Cost / day	Approx. cost / month (30 days)
0.10	Mini-DOGE II	9.6	€0.96	~€28.80
0.10	Antminer L7	76.8	€7.68	~€230.40
0.20	Mini-DOGE II	9.6	€1.92	~€57.60
0.20	Antminer L7	76.8	€15.36	~€460.80
0.30	Mini-DOGE II	9.6	€2.88	~€86.40
0.30	Antminer L7	76.8	€23.04	~€691.20

Key insights:

• At the same tariff, Antminer L7 costs exactly 8 times more to run than Mini-DOGE II.
• For many home users, paying a few dozen euros per month for a “fun” miner is acceptable, but paying hundreds per month is not.
• The higher your electricity price, the more attractive Mini-DOGE II becomes relative to L7.

This table says nothing about revenue from LTC/DOGE; it only shows how hard each device hits your power bill. For profitability, you must recalculate with current coin price and difficulty.

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Home Setup and User Experience

Mini-DOGE II

• Runs from a normal wall socket (100–240 V).
• Small and light; you can place it:
  • Beside your router.
  • On a bookshelf.
  • On your desk or TV stand.
• Setup is straightforward:
  • Connect power and Ethernet.
  • Find the IP address on your router.
  • Log into the web interface, set your pool and wallet, and start mining.

Overall, it behaves like a slightly warm, slightly noisy consumer device. It does not transform the room around it.

Antminer L7

• Requires strong electrical infrastructure:
  • 200–240 V.
  • A circuit that can safely handle continuous 3 kW+ load.
• Heavy and bulky; typically lives:
  • On the floor in a dedicated room.
  • In a garage, basement, or shed.
  • In a sound-dampened enclosure.
• Setup is conceptually similar (power, Ethernet, web interface), but the physical part is much more demanding:
  • You must consider:
    • Heat exhaust.
    • Noise isolation.
    • Airflow to avoid overheating.

In a typical apartment, these requirements are extremely difficult to meet without disturbing other people or overloading circuits.

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Profitability Mindset: Hobby Box vs Farm Rig

Because network difficulty and LTC/DOGE price move constantly, you should treat any static profitability number as temporary.

What does not change:

• At the same electricity price:
  • Antminer L7 earns significantly more LTC and DOGE.
  • Antminer L7 is more efficient per megahash.

However:

• L7 carries much higher operational risk at home:
  • Large, constant power draw.
  • Huge heat output.
  • Very high noise.

Mini-DOGE II, by contrast:

• Has lower revenue but also:
  • Lower power cost.
  • Much lower noise.
  • Much easier integration into a normal home.

You can think of the two devices as representing different philosophies:

• Mini-DOGE II:
  • Long-term, low-impact Scrypt mining.
  • “I want to learn, experiment, and slowly accumulate coins without destroying my lifestyle.”
• Antminer L7:
  • Aggressive LTC/DOGE mining.
  • “I treat this like a small business and I have space and infrastructure like a small data center.”

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Which Miner Fits Which Type of User?

When Mini-DOGE II Makes More Sense

Mini-DOGE II is the right choice if you recognize yourself in most of the points below:

• You live in an apartment or shared house.
• You care about noise and want something that can run in a living room or office.
• Your electricity price is medium or high, and you want to keep the monthly cost manageable.
• You see mining primarily as:
  • A learning experience.
  • A hobby.
  • A long-term “set and forget” approach to stacking LTC/DOGE.
• You prefer a clean, small form factor that does not dominate the room.

In this scenario, Mini-DOGE II behaves like a “smart heater plus miner” at a modest scale.

When Antminer L7 Might Be Justified

Antminer L7 makes sense only if you can honestly say yes to items like:

• You have a dedicated mining room, garage, basement, or shed.
• You can install or already have:
  • Adequate ventilation and ducting.
  • Sufficient electrical capacity.
  • Some form of sound insulation if there are neighbors nearby.
• Your electricity tariff is relatively low, or you can use the heat in place of other electric heating.
• Your goal is to run a semi-professional or small-farm-style operation, not just a hobby box.
• You are comfortable investing in additional infrastructure (fans, ducts, sound boxes, monitoring).

Here the L7 is no longer a “home gadget”; it is the core of a small-scale Scrypt mining business that happens to be located at a residential property.

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Decision Matrix for Home Miners

Use this simple matrix as a final filter.

Choose Mini-DOGE II if:

• You need something:
  • Quiet enough to share a room with.
  • Small enough to sit on a shelf.
  • Cheap enough to run without stressing over the power bill.
• You prefer low-to-moderate risk, and you accept lower hashrate as the trade-off.

Choose Antminer L7 if:

• You have:
  • A separate space where noise and heat are not a problem.
  • Electrical capacity for a continuous 3 kW+ load.
• You are aiming for serious Scrypt hashrate and you treat mining as an investment or business, not just a hobby.

For the vast majority of true “home miners”, Mini-DOGE II is the practical winner. Antminer L7 belongs to a different category: powerful, efficient, and profitable in the right environ