Bitcoin Forum

The second HEX board from Technobit is ready and hashing. I had the chance to get one of the boards so here is a short summary of the miner.

Recently I presented you the first bitcoin miner from Technobit: HEX16A (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=303538.0) - avalon based board with a great pricetag. The board in focus today is very similar and shares the same concept. HEX16B is a 16 chip, BitFury based miner with hashing speed of over 40GH/s

http://t.imgbox.com/aduGOlAJ.jpg (http://imgbox.com/aduGOlAJ)

Technobit already had a BitFury solution, but it was based on c-scape design with stand alone miner and direct LAN connection while HEX16B relies on USB connection and simplified design. The main advantage of HEX16B to S-HASH is the price.
Here is a comparison of the recent products from Technobit along with November batch pricing from KnC:

http://i.imgbox.com/abgcvDHG.png
*yes = December delivery for HEX16B

http://i.imgbox.com/adstS79m.png

As you can see from the chart above HEX16B offers a very good price/performance ratio. Just a few weeks ago this offer did not look so appetizing, but with the crazy rally of bitcoin and prices of over $700 the only chance to get on that train seems to be mining.

http://t.imgbox.com/acvc3Uvk.jpg (http://imgbox.com/acvc3Uvk)  http://t.imgbox.com/abbnOLoh.jpg (http://imgbox.com/abbnOLoh)

The board is advertised with hash rates of 40GH/s which is by itself a good result compared to the "original (http://www.bitfurystrikesback.com/product/bfsb-h-card-v1-2/)" BitFury boards and their 25GH/s. With the stock settings for the board (540/835mV) the hashrate is exactly 40GH, however the Burnin's Fury (https://www.asic-hardware.com/product/bitburner-fury-incl-chips/) is capable of speeds upto 52GH/s. So I gave it a try and with a simple raise of the voltage HEX16B reaches 44GH/s

http://i.imgbox.com/adzX2PN8.jpg

http://i.imgbox.com/aciFNAy9.png

http://i.imgbox.com/acpyihLL.jpg
Keep in mind that the consumption is measured with NoName "Kill-A-Watt" device.

I don't recommend changing the bitrate, the results are unstable and sometimes the board "hangs" at 20-25GH/s rates. It needs full power cycle to recover.

http://t.imgbox.com/acliZo8h.jpg (http://imgbox.com/acliZo8h)  http://t.imgbox.com/aczXdc0U.jpg (http://imgbox.com/aczXdc0U)

You can order the miner either with terminal power connector or with a standard molex one. The board is consuming around 50 watts, almost half of what HEX16As, so no problem with the molex connector for this HEX board.

http://t.imgbox.com/admLfioy.jpg (http://imgbox.com/admLfioy)  http://t.imgbox.com/adtKCJUu.jpg (http://imgbox.com/adtKCJUu)

Cooling:
HEX16B is equipped with the same cooling solution as it's predecessor. If you need quiet miner you can easily switch the fan's connector from 12 to 5V, the massive heatsink is more than enough to cool down the board even at low fan speeds. However I'm planing to change the fan with Arctic F9 PRO TC (http://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/products/cooling/case-fan/arctic-f9-pro-673.html) and forget the money maker under the bed :)

Software:
Technobit's HEX line still lags proper mining software for Windows. You can only mine with their special HEXMiner, which has some improvements in the latest version 1.0.0.3 such as the automatic connection restart - that compensate the memory leak. But still if you connect more boards to the PC you need a lot of CPU power to handle board's work requests. I don't know the exact reason for that, but there are reports that with a slow Atom and 2+ boards you can only get around 30GH/s. For whatever reason you choose to mine on windows host, you'll need  thedriver (http://technobit.eu/index.php?controller=attachment&id_attachment=9) for the board and HEXMiner (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8082585/Bitcoin/HEXMiner.rar). The setup is similar to HEX16A so you can check nemercry's video tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9SgoVm16Sw) for Windows.

As with the previous HEX board I highly recommend that you get one TP-Link TL-MR3020 and flash it with the firmware from Technobit's website. You can also order it directly from them at slightly higher price, but pre-flashed and ready to rock. Of course if you have a linux host it will best to just compile cgminer with the latest patch from Technobit or download my build for Ubuntu x64 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=355323.msg3913578#msg3913578).

Pros:

• Price per GH
• Software voltage control
• Cooling
• Stackable

Cons:

• no cgminer for Windows
• no CAN-Bus

Conclusion:
Apparently Tehnobit's trend is to continue the HEX series, as to offer competitive products in this wild race for hash power. Hopefully in the near future they will solve the problem with the software under Windows. I've been told that luke-jr is working on implementing HEX support to bfgminer. In conclusion I can say that we have a great digger, which could be easily put in the bedroom :)

Full gallery can be found here: http://imgbox.com/g/F4zzYCxUZZ

best
2GOOD

Beautiful
 ;)
Nice review. Thank you!

Looked up the fan. Awesome idea! Do you know the place to get them cheap?

Thats a great review. The photos are great.

Good Info! Thanks!  Does Technobit accept Bitcoin?

Thank you all for the good words :)


Link updated in the OP


Yes - BitPay

i have order this miner too, but its not delivered yet...

Ref was 1/2 of Nov.

Now we have 3/4 of Nov. and no update on shipping status.... so i dont can write a comment on my blog....

Will that work? It's a 4 pin PWM fan.

Nice review. Thanks.

TC stands for Thermal Control, only the PWM version of the fan is with PWM control

best
2GOOD

nice review and thanks for the great effort! these boards are the only ones i saw without HW errors... must be pretty good workmanship...

I think I read somewhere the HW errors are a dissabled metric it's not really zero.

Yes that is correct

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=307897.msg3623406#msg3623406

I'm thinking for buying one of these, to replace some fury's,

What type of power adapter does it use?
Can you post a link?

The board comes in two wersions:

1. As shown in OP - with terminal connector, i.e. you have to connect two wires to the board 12V and Ground - directly from you PC PSU. You can cut some Molex to Sata power cable
2. With standard molex connector - just plud it in your PC PSU ;)

I have found a big problem with my HEX16Bs (or at least one of them, I did not investigate further - didn't have the time).

The USB connector is powered from the board, which means that it is always at voltage and can feed 5V to the USB port if the PC is off. This can cause a lot of problems (depending on the motherboard design). A single diode is not expensive, especially for a ~500EUR device.

Maybe one one of my boards act like this - one seems to be tweaked after manufacturing (a diode soldered on the power connector etc), so maybe it is the one that provides power to all the rest.

Still, they hash just fine, as long as the control PC does not try to power its CPU from the 5V coming to the USB port, it should all be fine...

OK, this is my review of the Hex16B and ordering from Technobit.

http://s17.postimg.org/9r837pw23/DSCN4062.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/9r837pw23/)

Shipping / Ordering
19th Nov 2013, 1x Hex16B + TP-Link Router, for December Batch 1, was delivered Dec 13th, Paid PayPal, Shipping DPD €32
22nd Nov 2013, 1x Hex16B, for December Batch 1, was delivered January 22nd, Paid BitPay, Shipping €4 "larger order"
23rd Nov 2013, 4x Hex16B, for December Batch 1, was delivered January 10th, Paid BitPay, Shipping €4 "larger order"

PayPal order arrived on time, BitPay orders were late. Suggest paying the extra 5% for PayPal to get order early.
Combined shipping for "larger orders" does not work, and may delay your order, suggest adding shipping to each order.
There was no tracking number but all arrived in the UK around 7 days after the ordering system went from "payment accepted" to "shipped".

The TP-Link router did not arrive pre-flashed, but it's not hard to do it yourself.
I suggest using one because it becomes a 2W mining PC. If you want to know how to set one up check my old posts here...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=307897.msg3948133#msg3948133

http://s7.postimg.org/i4t9kjdef/P1160811.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/i4t9kjdef/)

It's not a standalone device you have to set it up with a PC PSU by shorting the green and black wires on the motherboard connector.
My Hex16B is hooked up to a molex connector for power, unlike the first one on this page, which is wired into the yellow/black wires.

http://s9.postimg.org/4gyxynoa3/Hex16_B_270_GH.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/4gyxynoa3/)  

The 6x Hex16B I have + TP-Link (running at 540/900) are pulling 415W at the wall for 270GH/s return.
That's a very impressive 0.65GH/W or 1.54W/GH at the wall!
I'm using 2x Enermax NAXN 350W (2x 150W +12v rails) PSU because they split all the molex out to 3 separate wires and are cheap < £30/$40.
Beware of putting too many units on the same wire as it could melt the cable!
These PSU are only 83% efficient so that makes my Hex16B miners around 56.44W at the board.

Instructions for bringing up the cgminer screen are here...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=307897.msg4448429#msg4448429

http://s24.postimg.org/idgl5mo2p/DSCN4068.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/idgl5mo2p/)

The chips on my Hex16B are Bitfury clones they say "BioInfoBank" on them. http://bioinfobank.com/
I tracked the origin of these chips back to the BioInfoBank 100TH-mine project https://picostocks.com/businessplan/19.pdf
Then found out that http://www.bitfury.org was in England! Nice work guys on making 55nm as efficient as KnCs 28nm! 8)

http://s8.postimg.org/3kd8lbvj5/DSCN4070.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/3kd8lbvj5/)

I too have problems with power leaking out of the USB port. USB hubs with power/surge protection may refuse to work with some units!*
I have the molex versions and there is a resistor between the +12v and Ground, is this to stop 12v leaking out I wonder?
I just bunged the problem unit on a cheap $3 ebay hub without surge protection and it works okay.*
I'm using a cheap TP-Link router for mining, so it don't worry me, but I wouldn't risk connecting this to my PC/Laptop.

I'm happy with them, they're really well made, they are twice as efficient as the Avalon and BFL, but possibly there is a problem with Bitfury chip shortages at the moment and a miner that's not mining is just losing money, no matter how efficient it is.

* There's an update to my power leakage issue here later in this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=338790.msg4642613#msg4642613
The other 5x Hex16B I got didn't leak power but the one that did caused issues when I tried to use 2x PSUs. This is how I solved it.

And I can just splice the diodes in cables or the hub. But other people may just connect it to a PC and not figure out that it could cause problems because no other device does this.

Sorry, I'm a little noob to this, Am I right in thinking I just need a PSU unit (out of a old computer for example), and use the molex connectors on the end (which are male) to power the HEX16B boards? I presume you could power about 4 of the boards from one 250w PSU?

Also, I'd probably want to overclock, how is this done on these boards? How do I change the voltages?

Finally, does this have its own controller on it, so I can setup my pool through my lan connection to the board
or does it need to have a host computer (windows/linux)?

Thanks

Yes, you need a PC PSU. However, I would advise you use a relatively modern PSU because old units behave weirdly if they do not have load on the +5V line. Modern PSUs use the +12V line for regulation so they behave correctly when only +12V is loaded.
Also, the power of a PSU is specified as maximum power from all lines. The 250W PSU may only be able to do 100W on +12V (and 100W on +5 and 50W on +3.3). Some cheap PSUs have artificially increases ratings written. All power supplies have the maximum current for each line specified. Consider that HEX16B uses 5A and plan accordingly. A PSU is most efficient when it is loaded to about 50% of capacity.
just run cgminer with --hexminerb-voltage 900 option
You need a control PC with this. It can be Windows, but the software for Linux is better. You can also buy a TP-Link TL-MR3020 router and flash it with custom firmware to use the HEX miners.

It's done through the TP-Link or HexMiner interface (which is basically a GUI for a cgminer command line)

It comes pre-set at 540/900 and that should give you 44.2GH/s

540 clock is a high as it goes without crashing.
The power inductor in the center of the board is pretty hot already at 900mv.
http://katalog.we-online.com/pbs/datasheet/744355122.pdf
Not sure how far you can push it, the font in that specs PDF is messed up for me.
Looks like upping volts may be the way to go, might want to put a heatsink and fan on the bottom it so it don't melt though.
At your own risk, etc! ;)

how many btc is it producing a day?

Use the calculators dude average 45Gh per board

Is it possible to use different generations of HEX-boards on same controller?
Meaning that if I have tplink and few HEX16A2-boards can I chain HEX16B on same tplink?
Or do I need another tplink to control different kind of HEX-boards?

Yes
You can

Again more questions  :)

1. What are the dimensions of boards?
2. And positions of holes on the board?
3. How many Amperes of current (12V) is enough per board?

And for all different board, HEX16A, HEX16A2, HEX16B, HEX8A1.
I assume boards to be same size and holes on same position?


I am waiting for few boards (january delivery  :-\ )
Waiting is killing me and I plan to use waiting time "wisely" building open case for boards and power supply.

Outer Dimensions of the 4 models are the same.
The holes are the same on HEX16xx
The hole pattern on HEX8A1 is different

For dimensions you can use this http://ge.tt/2B4qW051/v/0?c (http://ge.tt/2B4qW051/v/0?c)

HOW ?

1. Buy USB hub
2. Upgrade your tplink to latest FW from technobit
3. Connect all your hex boards to USB hub including nsanos if yo have any
4. Connect tplink to uplink of the hub
5. Enjoy

On the Technobit Downloads page the file - http://technobit.eu/0_1_3.rar does not seem to be there, opening or downloading just produces a File not found page.

Anyone else managed to get this file?

I just tried it
It works

Hello technobit, hello Marto, i placed an order in november 23, i haven't receive anything yet, no email from you. no reply.. at these difficulty increase i will never get back the bitcoin that i spent for your bitfury miners. there is possibility to have any refund ? many thanks

thanks technobit, you just shipped miners today.  :(

Can I put a HEX16B and Nanofuries on the same TP-Link MR3020 ? With a USB hub of course.

AFAIK with the latest firmware you can.

Arghh.. now I have 5/6 of my Hex16B order the noise is unbearable!

Beware the 3800rpm fans that come with the Hex units they do not stop rotating for fingers *looks at bloody hand*
Keep pets and children well away!

I looked at the Arctic Pro TC but the drawback will be that it makes the units un-stackable.

Before I waste money on a new fan has anyone got experience of running the Hex16B on the stock fan at 5v or 7v?

5v should be about 1600rpm and half the noise? Anyone tried it and confirm no issues?

Anyone tried getting 7v by moving the ground to 5v? Would prefer 2200rpm.

As a space heater it's a fail at the moment, it's just too cool!  ;)

At 5V the board is doing pretty well, didn't try 7 volts since I'm not sure if it will work or burn something, we have to ask Marto about this.

P.S.
====
The non PRO version of AC F9 is a normal fan and you can stack:
http://www.arctic.ac/media/wysiwyg/Products/F9_Series/features/ARCTIC_F9_Series_F01_1.png

I just removed a fan and holly crap the fans on my second shipment are 4.7W 4500RPM 75CFM 47dBA!!!

http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=70226025#tab=specs

They were only 2W 3000RPM 51CFM 34dBA Sunons on my last Hex16B.

Seriously these fans are dangerous at 4500RPM without a guard. Watch out for your fingers! Noisy as hell too.

UPDATE: Just set all the 4500RPM fans to 5v. They probably still do 1875 RPM 31CFM. Seem to be keeping things cool enough for now.

Got some Arctic F9 on order, just the regular 1800RPM 43CFM ones without temp control, cheap as chips.

Did you choose this fan? I noticed the PWM blue/yellow wires were chopped off to make it non-PWM  :P

It would probably be best to run them at 7v by plugging the ground into the 5v (+12V-+5V=7V), then it should be 2625RPM 43.75CFM, but I'm not sure how the board or other peoples PSU will handle it. Soldering in a resistor on the 12v line, or even better a variable resister with 3 settings for 12v-overclocker,7v-normal,5v-underclocked, probably the safest option.

The Arctic F9 (AFACO-09000-GBA01) non-PWM non-temp control fan is good combination of airflow/quiet/price/safety.

I am jealous because this fans are not on mine ;)

You won't be after you catch your finger on one. One slight touch and it's slice-slice!

Picture don't show it well but it put 2 slices in the end of my little finger.

http://s15.postimg.org/dyxol4fhz/finger.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/dyxol4fhz/)

It wAs not  pleasant experience for sure. You should be more careful next time
But any way I still do want them badly

Some lawyer type is gonna pop one day, if they ship enough of these out, because the Sunon fan spec sheet says it should be used with a fan guard to avoid injury, guess who they'll blame after some kid sticks a finger in it. ::)


You're crazy to want finger munching fans that sound like leaf blowers in you home! :D
But I'll let you know when I get them swapped out for Arctic F9s and put them up for sale.  

Actually SUNON Maglev PF92251V1-000U-S99 is the best fan for HEX16C. You can touch the heatsink on chip area without get burn.
But since i need to take it to my bedroom then the noise will make problem.
Arctic F9 is good for replacement but i can't find it in my country so i end up buying zalman F2 LED. Zalman F2 LEd had 2800 rpm & good enough cause my bedroom had air conditioner.
Now i regret buying zalman since i can make PWM controller for SUNON Maglev PF92251V1-000U-S99.
With PWM controller i can set it at 3000 rpm at night  & 4500 rpm at daylight  ;D

Got the fans replaced with 1800RPM/43CFM Arctic F9s, wow what a difference that makes!

Unlike the Sunon 4500RPM I cannot hear them in the next room, never mind the floor above!

Saved about 3W per miner too and I don't have to worry about the kids putting fingers in them!

They don't cost much either, I got the Arctic F9's for sub £3/€4/$5, with a bulk buy deal on Amazon/eBay.

The wire is a bit thin and fiddly though compared to the Sunons.

http://s28.postimg.org/3vndhn7zt/Under_Table.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/3vndhn7zt/)

134GH Stack of Hex16B running under a dining chair nice and quiet.

Has anyone been able to get these to co-exist with HEX16A2's?

When i added a 16B to my 2x A2+tplink+hub the 16B starts hashing and the A2's are detected but don't hash. Power is not an issue as the 16b is from a different PSU. THe tplink is running 1.3 but changing to 1.5 did not seem to help. Any idea's?

With the latest firmware they should work.

I use 2 power supplies and have problems with the 5v power leaking from one of the Hex16Bs and competing over a shared cheap USB and TP-Link.

It was the first one I got which has 2 Power blocks on the board and 2000rpm fan, so it's easy to identify, the 5 other good Hex16B only have 1 power block and 4500rpm fans.

It would cause the miners on 1 power supply to fail soon after starting mining. They would run okay as long as I kept everything separate.

So either put them on separate TP-links and hubs or this is what I did...

Swapped my cheap £2/$3 no-name Chinese hubs (which worked even if something was leaking power) for my branded Chinese Orico hub with power protection.

I knew this Orico had problems disabling the first miner I got, but the rest seemed okay, so I taped out the 5v and ground in the USB connector for the bad one and it all worked!

Now on this hub (which has power protection) the whole rig runs more stable.
Running 25 days+ no issues 1x TP-Link + Orico 10 Port Hub + 6xHex16B + 2x350W PSUs.

The moral of this story is always use a power protected USB hub!

Thanks i ordered a separate TP-Link but in the meantime some fiddling around with boot orders and it seems to be stable now.

Also replaced stock fan with arctic F9's and what a difference. Heatsink runs about the same temperature as the 16A2's where before it was cold but it was like having a jet turbine in the room!

Have some questions:
1. Is this the same on there website where they are claiming 60 gh/s with OC and shipping April 8th?
2. If it is, how did you get your hands on it early? Review unit?
3. Can I run multiple of these off of a rasp pi and USB powered hub?
4. If so, what software will I need to run it? 1000w to run 10 of them? Molex connectors to board right (one per)?

Dude, read the OP slowly so you not confused & check the post date.

This review is for HEX16B with bitfury rev1 chips.
The name of the board is the same as far the board is almost the same

Hi Martin,

what is the exact power consumetion from your HEXB V2 board?
Please add the watt of your Homepage!

Best Steffen

Oh okay, my bad.

The Official 60GH Hex16-Bitfury2 thread is here...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=519198.0

Alright thanks xD

Hello again all

I am running hexminerc at voltage 1100 and options 16:1500 and a hexminerb at voltage 900 and options 16:540

I was thinking of stepping them up to higher settings can someone tell me what they are and if I should or is it a bad idea?

I also have bitburner set at 1300 voltage and options 115200:32:10:50:256 can you do this board as well?

Many Thanks for any advice

For
hex16a2(C), 1100/1500 is the max with this HW setup, If you put 4500 rpm fan you can go up to 1150/1600
For HEX16B 900/540 is optimum , if you go up you'll loose some GHs and drain more power , so it is pointless.

Thanks for reply marto