Bitaxe Upgrade Kits and Mods

Kit or ready-made

If you already own a Bitaxe, an upgrade kit replaces the stock cooler. If you are buying new, a Performance or copper model arrives with the stronger cooling already fitted.

• Bitaxe Upgrade Kit Stage 1: ICE Tower cooler with Noctua fan for every Bitaxe model. Cooler and quieter, around 12 dB.
• Bitaxe Upgrade Kit Stage 2: ICE Tower Low Profile cooler with a 60 mm Noctua fan for the Bitaxe Gamma, stable up to 2 TH/s.
• Bitaxe Gamma Performance: the Gamma on a performance cooling base, up to 1.5 TH/s.
• Bitaxe Performance Stage 2: the BM1370 overclocked to 2 TH/s with Stage 2 cooling.
• Bitaxe Gamma Copper Pro and NerdQAxe Copper Pro: chips on solid copper, for people who set frequency and voltage themselves.

Bitaxe cooling: stock cooler, ICE Tower, low profile

Every Bitaxe turns almost all of its power into heat on one small chip. The cooler decides how warm that chip runs, how hard the fan has to work and how much headroom you have if you ever raise the frequency. There are three levels in our range.

Stock cooler

A Bitaxe Gamma ships with a heatsink and a standard fan, or with a Noctua fan if you choose that option when you order. At stock settings that is all the miner needs: 1.3 TH/s at 17 W, and with the Noctua fan under 12 dB. If you run the Gamma the way it arrives, you do not need a kit.

ICE Tower: Upgrade Kit Stage 1

The Bitaxe Upgrade Kit Stage 1 replaces the stock cooler with an ICE Tower, an aluminium and copper tower cooler with a Noctua fan, and fits every Bitaxe model. The chip runs cooler and the fan stays around 12 dB. In the box: the cooler, the Noctua fan, thermal paste, a PWM Y-splitter cable for a second fan, a 3D-printed carbon socket that aligns the cooler on the chip, and four mounting pins. No tools needed.

ICE Tower Low Profile: Upgrade Kit Stage 2

The Bitaxe Upgrade Kit Stage 2 is made for the Bitaxe Gamma. Its ICE Tower Low Profile cooler has four heat pipes and a 60 mm Noctua fan, keeps the same 12 dB and holds the Gamma stable up to 2 TH/s. The accessories are the same as in Stage 1: thermal paste, Y-splitter cable, carbon socket and mounting pins.

Both kits measure 5.5 x 4 x 4.5 cm and are fitted in a few minutes. Which one to take: Stage 1 if you want any Bitaxe cooler and quieter at stock settings, Stage 2 if you want to push a Gamma towards 2 TH/s. Buying new instead? The Bitaxe Gamma Performance (1.5 TH/s at 20 W) and the Bitaxe Performance Stage 2 (2 TH/s at 30 W) arrive with the stronger cooling already fitted.

Replacement fan for the Bitaxe

We do not sell the fan on its own. If the stock fan on your Bitaxe has become loud or has stopped, the two upgrade kits are the way to a new fan: each one includes a Noctua fan matched to its cooler, plus a PWM Y-splitter cable so that a second fan can share the fan header. A new Gamma can be ordered with the Noctua fan from the start, which saves the swap later.

If you want more airflow around the board rather than on the chip, the Bitaxe Performance Case has mounts for a 40 x 20 mm fan on top and a 40 x 10 mm fan at the back (fans not included), M3 threaded inserts to screw the board in place and cable channels that keep the path of the air clear.

Heatsink upgrade: what changes

A bigger heatsink does not add hashrate by itself. It moves the heat away from the chip faster, so at the same settings the chip runs cooler and the fan can turn slower. The hashrate only changes when you raise frequency and voltage in AxeOS, and that is where the cooler matters: it gives you the headroom to do so without the chip running hot.

• Lower chip temperature at the same settings.
• Less fan noise, around 12 dB with the Noctua fans in both kits.
• Headroom for tuning: the Low Profile cooler holds a Gamma stable up to 2 TH/s.
• No change in hashrate until you change the settings yourself.
• More power draw once you overclock. The ready-made Performance models show the scale: 17 W at 1.3 TH/s for the Gamma, 20 W at 1.5 TH/s for the Gamma Performance, 30 W at 2 TH/s for the Performance Stage 2.

Before you overclock

Higher frequency and voltage mean more heat and more power draw. The stock settings are the safe ones; everything above them is at your own risk. Raise the frequency in small steps in AxeOS, watch the chip temperature and use a power supply that holds its voltage under load. Random restarts are almost always a tired power supply.

A kit does not change the setup: the Bitaxe Setup Guide applies to every model. Cases are in Accessories. Hashrate, power and J/TH of every miner we sell in one table: miner comparison.