Behold, the Galaxy S5 Bitcoin mining rig. It’s more efficient than a PC

This takes repurposing old technology to a whole nother level. Got a bunch of old Galaxy S5s lying around collecting dust? Samsung sure does, so they threw together this Frankenstein rig which can mine Bitcoin more efficiently than a standard desktop PC.

You will need a LOT of Galaxy S5s though. Forty, actually.

Yep, this Bitcoin Miner Cluster is made up of 40 old Samsung Galaxy S5s and, according to the chart on display, can mine more efficiently than a “standard” desktop running an Intel Core i7-2600 CPU. Details around this rig are scarce, however, it does appear that they’re mining with just the CPU and not the GPU.

In any case, this Bitcoin mining rig was built by Samsung, running a new custom OS, as a showpiece for their Upcycling initiative. This initiative involves the repurposing of old devices like smartphones, and using them for something new. In contrast with recycling, which disassembles these devices into parts then reuses the parts, Upcycling is more like giving these devices new life.

Bitcoin mining isn’t the only thing that Samsung showed off. During a recent developer conference in San Francisco, Samsung also showed off an old Galaxy Tablet that was converted into an ubuntu-powered laptop, a Galaxy S3 fishtank monitor, and an old phone that had been reprogrammed with facial recognition software which can be used to guard the entrance to your house.

What’s more, the company reportedly plans to release all the software that’s used to unlock these phones for these projects, as well as various plans for the projects online for free, though a specific time-frame was not given. Still, this is a pretty interesting way to breathe new life into an old device.

What do you guys think of this? Let me know in the comments below.

[SOURCE, VIA]