Bitcoin Forum

Alternate cryptocurrencies => Mining (Altcoins) => Topic started by: cod3gen on June 24, 2018, 04:23:50 PM



Title: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: cod3gen on June 24, 2018, 04:23:50 PM
Hi folks!

Just as usual, whenever i receive a new miner - i always look at the inside of it. Its just my curiosity when it comes to electronics, need to deal with that in a proper way... And the only way is pop that thing straight open!! :D

Its very clear that with the latest miners, Bitmain have stepped up their game a bit. These chips and boards looks really professional when looking at them visually, thinking of how it all looked back in the earlier days of Antminer.. Damn, thats a big change! From using 100+ chips, down to a total of 12 chips is a big change. Wonder, is it actually only Equihash these chips can do?

There are no external memory, so memory needed for Equihash is onboard chip.



This time ive added watermarks on the images.



Lets start with the overall look of the miner:

https://preview.ibb.co/kMYU9o/DSC_0014.jpg (https://ibb.co/du2d28)

https://preview.ibb.co/coW5h8/DSC_0013.jpg (https://ibb.co/hDaWN8)

https://preview.ibb.co/hdZrN8/DSC_0012.jpg (https://ibb.co/fyFLFT)



It looks really nice, right?

Its small, but slightly noisy with the stock fan thats mounted on it.
Ive had this thing running at 750 Mhz for over 24hrs now, producing about ~16 kSol/s continously. Temps are about ~62c with fans at a static speed of 85%. On that time there have been no rejects reported either by miner, or by pool! And 0 HW errors.

Time to see whats inside!!



Overall frontside of PCB:
https://preview.ibb.co/gwfgN8/DSC_0001.jpg (https://ibb.co/eO4828)

Overall backside of PCB:
https://preview.ibb.co/c1hT28/DSC_0004.jpg (https://ibb.co/mdgz9o)

https://preview.ibb.co/gqBz9o/DSC_0007.jpg (https://ibb.co/eJaRpo)

https://preview.ibb.co/eAZ828/DSC_0008.jpg (https://ibb.co/ddzah8)

https://preview.ibb.co/hWGo28/DSC_0002.jpg (https://ibb.co/c7BMN8)



So, the PCB have a clean layout. Voltage regulation unit is very similiar, if not identical to B3. PIC16F1704 is used for communications, so it may be possible to adjust chip voltages very similiar to the L3 voltage script on this forum.

The chip used for the Z9 Mini is called BM1740, and this time they have used proper cooling paste (B3 only had cooling pads). There is no information or datasheets available for BM1740 chip as far as i know. There is no external memory, so the chip contains atleast enough memory for Equihash onboard.



https://preview.ibb.co/kYCWpo/DSC_0010.jpg (https://ibb.co/ibjNvT)

https://preview.ibb.co/gYENvT/DSC_0011.jpg (https://ibb.co/k9HLh8)



To get started ASAP with your own Z9:

Equihash Pool Status: https://www.powermining.pw/site/gomining?algo=equihash

Zencash(ZEN):
Code:
URL: stratum+tcp://pool.powermining.pw:2142
Worker: YOUR ZENCASH WALLET ADDRESS
Password: Any password to identify your worker

Zelcash(ZEL):
Code:
URL: stratum+tcp://pool.powermining.pw:2143
Worker: YOUR ZELCASH WALLET ADDRESS
Password: Any password to identify your worker

Zclassic(ZCL):
Code:
URL: stratum+tcp://pool.powermining.pw:2144
Worker: YOUR ZCLASSIC WALLET ADDRESS
Password: Any password to identify your worker

VoteCoin(VOT):
Code:
URL: stratum+tcp://pool.powermining.pw:2145
Worker: YOUR VOTECOIN WALLET ADDRESS
Password: Any password to identify your worker

Bitcoin Private(BTCP):
Code:
URL: stratum+tcp://pool.powermining.pw:2146
Worker: YOUR BTCP WALLET ADDRESS
Password: Any password to identify your worker

Example Config:
https://preview.ibb.co/jg9Vzo/z91_miner_config.png (https://ibb.co/duwAzo)

Pool Frontend( https://www.powermining.pw/?address=YOURWALLETADDR ):
https://preview.ibb.co/hdTOKo/zclassic.png (https://ibb.co/dYHHeo)



So there is that. Next up in line is E3, they should start shipping sometime next month if i remember correctly. Like my post? +1 Merit!


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: whitebrow on June 24, 2018, 05:21:21 PM
nice work


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: joelitoup on June 24, 2018, 06:06:43 PM
great job. thank you


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: shibob on June 25, 2018, 03:43:05 AM
It looks cool mate. I heard that Z9 is a home mining version, is it true? Could you share a bit about its noise level? I expect its noise should be lower than 67dB.
I'm not going to purchase any asics miner in near future but it could be applicable for home mining, I will change my mind for sure :P


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: realaccountakira on June 25, 2018, 05:31:15 AM
It looks cool mate. I heard that Z9 is a home mining version, is it true? Could you share a bit about its noise level? I expect its noise should be lower than 67dB.
I'm not going to purchase any asics miner in near future but it could be applicable for home mining, I will change my mind for sure :P

I would also be interested in the noise and heat levels.

Previously owning a Antminer S9 which was a hell of a nightmare to run at a residential home (made too much noise even when placed inside a DIY cooler case), i'm hoping that this Z9 could be more suitable in the sense that i can actually live in my house while having this baby mining in one of my rooms.


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: cod3gen on June 25, 2018, 07:13:32 AM
Not sure i would call it home mining version.. It is noisy!

Do keep in mind that mine is overclocked, and set to a fan level of 85%. Its way to much noise to have in house, however it cannot be compared to units like S9, those have more noise. But running the Z9 stock, and removing stock fan and adding two silent fans i believe is possible.


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: adaseb on June 25, 2018, 07:34:23 AM
It looks cool mate. I heard that Z9 is a home mining version, is it true? Could you share a bit about its noise level? I expect its noise should be lower than 67dB.
I'm not going to purchase any asics miner in near future but it could be applicable for home mining, I will change my mind for sure :P

I would also be interested in the noise and heat levels.

Previously owning a Antminer S9 which was a hell of a nightmare to run at a residential home (made too much noise even when placed inside a DIY cooler case), i'm hoping that this Z9 could be more suitable in the sense that i can actually live in my house while having this baby mining in one of my rooms.

If you had any of the older Antminer S1 or S3 which used around 300-400 Watts or so those were possible to mod in a way to make them quiet enough so you could sleep in the same room.

With my old S3 I took some computer case fans off an KNCMiner Jupiter and put them in a push pull confiiguration and was able to run them a full fan speed and it was very silent.

The miner maybe ran 10C hotter than stock but it was still manageable.

However I have no idea what these new ASIC chips require. They might need a much lower temp for stable operation.


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: nimbosa on June 28, 2018, 12:49:44 AM
Thanks for the details man, appreciate it.. So it has no port/slot to add external memory? ???

Not sure i would call it home mining version.. It is noisy!

Do keep in mind that mine is overclocked, and set to a fan level of 85%. Its way to much noise to have in house, however it cannot be compared to units like S9, those have more noise. But running the Z9 stock, and removing stock fan and adding two silent fans i believe is possible.


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: JonnyRocket on June 28, 2018, 01:11:23 AM
I put one in my garage and while there is a whooshing sound of air moving, it is nothing like the high pitched whine from S9's. the noise is easily bearable and much better than the dual-fan miners. Thank god! Note I have it venting into an AC duct so that helps some but other than that it's open.


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: Suslived on June 28, 2018, 04:17:55 AM
I put one in my garage and while there is a whooshing sound of air moving, it is nothing like the high pitched whine from S9's. the noise is easily bearable and much better than the dual-fan miners. Thank god! Note I have it venting into an AC duct so that helps some but other than that it's open.

Yeah, these Z9 are still actually bearable for home use especially if you compare them to the S9s. Even with a DIY cooler case my S9 would still drive me and my entire family crazy with the noise. It turned out to be a good thing though as I was able to sell my S9 for $2500 back then when they are now selling at around $750.


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: wobbzz on June 28, 2018, 04:57:56 AM
The Z9 is not nearly as bad when running at stock clock frequency as the fan only needs to operate at about 50% capacity indoors. If you overclock to 750Mhz you're looking at increased fan speeds which will start to remind you of the S9 days, but it's still not quite as bad. Max fan speed on these is ~6100RPM.


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: KoiMundi on June 28, 2018, 06:08:44 AM
Excellent and straight forward guide.  Thanks cod3gen!! ;D


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: cod3gen on June 28, 2018, 08:56:02 AM
so not good for home mining. i was suspecting that.  :-*

Does it have Ai chips inside? Tensor chips?

it look like other miners, so you looked at it. Do you think you can fork it to other algos like btcz or safecoin or zero? it would be great. I would have like to buy it but i fiinshed my money with baikals n. For baikal n can you fork to a cryptonight variant? So they are useless. how many money is making bitmain and baikal. what they will do with that money? i think they spend on AI . this will not be good . AI will terminate btc and humans

There is currently very little information out there on the chips, but they do not seem like tensor chips. No one knows before Bitmain releases Specs.


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: allenpanle on July 02, 2018, 05:19:24 AM
anyone know how to control the fan speed?


never mind, just realized it's built in now in the Miner configuration page


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: Firefight on July 02, 2018, 12:09:09 PM
I think upgrading these heatsinks would be an easy upgrade. At the very minimum you could run a copper base plate underneath the existing heatsinks.


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: Lancusters on July 02, 2018, 01:12:51 PM
Hi folks!

Just as usual, whenever i receive a new miner - i always look at the inside of it. Its just my curiosity when it comes to electronics, need to deal with that in a proper way... And the only way is pop that thing straight open!! :D

Its very clear that with the latest miners, Bitmain have stepped up their game a bit. These chips and boards looks really professional when looking at them visually, thinking of how it all looked back in the earlier days of Antminer.. Damn, thats a big change! From using 100+ chips, down to a total of 12 chips is a big change. Wonder, is it actually only Equihash these chips can do?

There are no external memory, so memory needed for Equihash is onboard chip.



This time ive added watermarks on the images.



Lets start with the overall look of the miner:

https://preview.ibb.co/kMYU9o/DSC_0014.jpg (https://ibb.co/du2d28)

https://preview.ibb.co/coW5h8/DSC_0013.jpg (https://ibb.co/hDaWN8)

https://preview.ibb.co/hdZrN8/DSC_0012.jpg (https://ibb.co/fyFLFT)



It looks really nice, right?

Its small, but slightly noisy with the stock fan thats mounted on it.
Ive had this thing running at 750 Mhz for over 24hrs now, producing about ~16 kSol/s continously. Temps are about ~62c with fans at a static speed of 85%. On that time there have been no rejects reported either by miner, or by pool! And 0 HW errors.

Time to see whats inside!!



Overall frontside of PCB:
https://preview.ibb.co/gwfgN8/DSC_0001.jpg (https://ibb.co/eO4828)

Overall backside of PCB:
https://preview.ibb.co/c1hT28/DSC_0004.jpg (https://ibb.co/mdgz9o)

https://preview.ibb.co/gqBz9o/DSC_0007.jpg (https://ibb.co/eJaRpo)

https://preview.ibb.co/eAZ828/DSC_0008.jpg (https://ibb.co/ddzah8)

https://preview.ibb.co/hWGo28/DSC_0002.jpg (https://ibb.co/c7BMN8)



So, the PCB have a clean layout. Voltage regulation unit is very similiar, if not identical to B3. PIC16F1704 is used for communications, so it may be possible to adjust chip voltages very similiar to the L3 voltage script on this forum.

The chip used for the Z9 Mini is called BM1740, and this time they have used proper cooling paste (B3 only had cooling pads). There is no information or datasheets available for BM1740 chip as far as i know. There is no external memory, so the chip contains atleast enough memory for Equihash onboard.



https://preview.ibb.co/kYCWpo/DSC_0010.jpg (https://ibb.co/ibjNvT)

https://preview.ibb.co/gYENvT/DSC_0011.jpg (https://ibb.co/k9HLh8)



To get started ASAP with your own Z9:

Equihash Pool Status: https://www.powermining.pw/site/gomining?algo=equihash

Zencash(ZEN):
Code:
URL: stratum+tcp://pool.powermining.pw:2142
Worker: YOUR ZENCASH WALLET ADDRESS
Password: Any password to identify your worker

Zelcash(ZEL):
Code:
URL: stratum+tcp://pool.powermining.pw:2143
Worker: YOUR ZELCASH WALLET ADDRESS
Password: Any password to identify your worker

Zclassic(ZCL):
Code:
URL: stratum+tcp://pool.powermining.pw:2144
Worker: YOUR ZCLASSIC WALLET ADDRESS
Password: Any password to identify your worker

VoteCoin(VOT):
Code:
URL: stratum+tcp://pool.powermining.pw:2145
Worker: YOUR VOTECOIN WALLET ADDRESS
Password: Any password to identify your worker

Bitcoin Private(BTCP):
Code:
URL: stratum+tcp://pool.powermining.pw:2146
Worker: YOUR BTCP WALLET ADDRESS
Password: Any password to identify your worker

Example Config:
https://preview.ibb.co/jg9Vzo/z91_miner_config.png (https://ibb.co/duwAzo)

Pool Frontend( https://www.powermining.pw/?address=YOURWALLETADDR ):
https://preview.ibb.co/hdTOKo/zclassic.png (https://ibb.co/dYHHeo)



So there is that. Next up in line is E3, they should start shipping sometime next month if i remember correctly. Like my post? +1 Merit!
I like your post but I think that +1Merit doesn't deserve it because you write that the speed of your Z9 mini ~16 sol/s. But in the screenshot you provided I see only 12.1 sol/s. Where is the error? Declared power ~10 kSol / s. My works is ~11.95 kSol / s. Maybe you can adjust your comments?


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: cod3gen on July 02, 2018, 02:54:01 PM
You have to OC it to do 16kSol/s. And it takes a while before pool have your exact hashrate.

https://preview.ibb.co/bYrbpy/Screenshot_31.png (https://ibb.co/bHQfGd)


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: percy_tc on July 02, 2018, 06:28:26 PM
nice infos, thanks


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: xxoanser on August 03, 2018, 06:01:18 PM
Quote from: cod3gen ...

So there is that. Next up in line is E3, they should start shipping sometime next month if i remember correctly. Like my post? +1 Merit!
[/quote

I reversed the fan airflow and i get a pretty low temps, i don't know if it's possible that the sensors give incorrect information?


Title: Re: The Inside of Antminer Z9`s
Post by: BitCoinTa|k on October 01, 2018, 04:23:21 PM
Thanks for the details man, appreciate it.. So it has no port/slot to add external memory? ???

Not sure i would call it home mining version.. It is noisy!

Do keep in mind that mine is overclocked, and set to a fan level of 85%. Its way to much noise to have in house, however it cannot be compared to units like S9, those have more noise. But running the Z9 stock, and removing stock fan and adding two silent fans i believe is possible.

Most devices are not user friendly if not impossible in upgrading memory unless its a motherboard.