Bitcoin Forum

Bitmain Antminer S5
Disclaimer: I was given this unit in exchange for my honest review.  P2Pool was used for hashrate testing.

https://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3QiMo.jpeg

My S5 was delivered by UPS and required a signature.  It was held in place with foam inserts and while it did get the job done, the case on the S5 is made of a thin plastic and only covers the sides leaving some parts exposed, which worried me a bit.  However, no damage was done so I was satisfied with the packing job.

https://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3Q8JT.jpeg

Setting up this miner was pretty easy.  While there is no url link to find the miner's ip like with Spondoolies, I did notice that the S5 accepts any pcie cable, and not just pcie cables with a centered clip on the back (the SP20 wouldn't take my 6+2pin pcie cables because the clip on the back isn't centered).  After your cables are plugged in, you power it on and hear the fan spin up and down a few times before it is ready to go.  The miner starts up fairly loud and doesn't have an adjustable fan setting, which may not make it ideal for home miners.  The interface gets the job done and once I got familiar with all the settings I was more than satisfied with it.  I wanted to get settings near what you would expect from an SP20 for this test, so I decided to test it at stock levels.  It should be noted that the S5 is easily underclocked and has the ability to beat the SP20 on efficiency with the proper settings.

Using the default frequency of 350M my S5 was able to get 1.13TH/s while using 661 watts (0.58W/GH) and exhausting 122 degree heat.  A frequency setting of 325M yielded 1.05TH/s while using 563 watts (0.53W/GH).

https://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3QKbl.pnghttps://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3QpS1.jpeghttps://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3QD3m.jpeg

Overall I would say this is a great miner and definitely competitive.  It's lower price tag than the SP20 makes it a good option for large scale mining operations, the budget miner that can deal with noise, or someone who wants to tinker with it and optimize the sound/efficiency levels.  The interface gets the job done and is simple enough that I think anyone could figure it out without needing a guide.

In conclusion, the Antminer S5 is a top tier miner.  It's cheaper & cooler than it's closest counterpart (SP20) and is available to ship from stock for as low as $480 on amazon.com.  I am definitely grateful to Bitmain for the opportunity to review this product and I will keep my eye on their offerings in the future.  If you are searching for a cheap, competitive mining product with lots of customization opportunities, you can't go wrong with the S5 from Bitmain.  I even purchased an additional unit for my mining operation at retail price and was happy to do so.

Bitmain Antminer S5
Using the default frequency of 350M my S5 was able to get 1.13TH/s while using 661 watts (0.58W/GH) and exhausting 122 degree heat.  A frequency setting of 325M yielded 1.05TH/s while using 563 watts (0.53W/GH).
https://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3QryD.pnghttps://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3Q1bf.jpeghttps://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3QcSZ.jpeg



Spondoolies SP20
Using a voltage setting of 0.62 my SP20 was able to get 1.2TH/s while using 640 watts (0.53W/GH) and exhausting 124 degree heat.
https://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3Qhs8.pnghttps://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3Qo93.jpeghttps://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3Q5Xw.jpeg



BFL Monarch
Using stock settings 2 Monarchs were able to get 1.2TH/s while using 1040 watts (0.84W/GH) and exhausting 152 degree heat.
https://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3Q7t9.png



Asicminer Prisma
Using stock settings my Prisma operates at 1.2TH/s while using 1240 watts (1W/GH) and exhausting 150 degree heat.
https://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3Q9cN.jpeghttps://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3QB0a.jpeg

Antminer design wins. Adding extra fan is possible.

Why bother advertising the scum bags that are bfl! I suppose it shows how wank their product is and it costs twice the price haha.

I don't trust nasty as far as I could spit, he sticks up for bfl far too much.

On subject, who'd have thought bitmaine and spondoodles would be the only decent companies in the industry. Knc suck and have issues(Neptune & titan cubes failing all over the place) cointerra are shocking and on life support from day 1 (now emersed in mineral oil to cool them), bfl were scam from day 1, luckily only got swindled for a single which will be a nice auniment and reminder in future.

Bitcoin industry looks real sick to me. Everyone's centralising it and we arnt changing how we work but trying change it to how we work, by centralised institutions so a few control it all. Yup, its real sick!

I'm not sticking up for BFL in any way.  I have Monarchs, so I posted the data in comparison.  The data shows that Monarchs are inefficient and overpriced compared to their competitors.  BFL owes me a ton of money and screwed me royally.  Don't confuse me owning a Monarch and posting the data for people to be able to access from a trusted 3rd party with me sticking up for BFL.  I will never send BFL or any organization that conspires with them a single cent of mine for as long as I live.  I advise that everyone else do the same.  How is that sticking up for BFL?

Bitmain on the other hand has proven once again they are able to produce and ship a top tier product without pre-orders.  Kudos to them.

Nice reviews...really cool to see a Monarch in the mix since they are so rare and all. I have to agree the only good companies left are Bitmain and SP-Tech. I am glad both compnies hand out review units now...see what us small scale guys think of them. I think I need to order up some S5's soon to join the club  8)

Cool review thanks.

What psu did you use?

I used this PSU: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ILWYT6

I may try underclocking and using a more efficient PSU to see if I can get it below 0.5W/GH when time permits.

Thanks.

Do you have any underclocking instructions?

Similar to S1-3?

You login and go to 'Miner Configuration' -> 'Advanced Settings' then turn down the frequency.  It's that simple.  :)

Thank you!!

By the way, lucky you with BFL Gear!!!  Great to see those pictures! 

(Want one of them...  yes i know it is more pricy when it comes to $/GH but it would be a cool item to have for a display in the future)

Waw, this is cool news.

No more SSH.

Yes, sir!

I'm not sure "lucky" is the term I would use, but I do indeed have Monarchs.  PM sent.

Hmm, I wonder if the 660W is due to the 110V or a lower quality PSU?
Here in Aus (240V), my S5 is doing a little over 1.1THs on my pool ( https://www.kano.is/ ) but at the wall it's only 600W
(default settings) but I'm using a Seasonic 1200W Platinum

OgNasty using Rosewill ATX 12V 750-Watt 80 PLUS BRONZE. The efficiency on 75% load is 85%.

Its got to be the PSU as I am running  mine at Freq 375 getting  1.23+GH and reading 635W at the wall with a RM1000 Corsair 115V.

Also the packing material changed on my batch 2 from foam packing to bubble wrap.

I'll switch it out for another PSU and retest later today.

RETEST:
I went ahead and hooked it up to a EVGA SuperNOVA 1300G2 80Plus Gold Power Supply.  I also downclocked it with the 325M frequency.  The results were...

1.05TH/s at 563 watts or 0.53W/GH

https://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/11/3QjMG.png

After 28 hours one board dropped and started showing x's, after a reboot that didn't help I  reset the freq back to default of 350 and its seems to be doing fine now. Getting 1155GH with temps at 48/47 fan 3480 and reading 592 watts at the wall. Not sure why that board dropped off at the 375 setting as the temps seemed fine at 50/49?

I've noticed similar behavior in my units (except they fall to 50% hashrate after about 2 days).  I suggested that Bitmain add an auto-restart if hashrate falls below x setting to the firmware, but I'm sure we'll see lots of stability improvements with the next firmware update.

I just flashed mine with the new firmware to see if that helps. I also set my freq back up to 375 but what I did notice at the default and higher freq, my miner has loss some hash compared to the original firmware. At the 375 it was getting 1235 GH before and now only 1210 GH but the temp is down a point or 2 also.
 

Hmm - had the same happen to me - on the old firmware.
I tried an OS reboot (ssh in then 'reboot') but that didn't ever get back up to full speed.
I've just done a full power cycle and that's not really helping either.
Maybe it's the heat here - it is the middle of summer :P
I cgminer API stat every miner once every minute ... forever :)
It shows the temp range (today last 13 hours) from 52.5 to 55.0 (a few readings lower during restarts)
Maybe give it a bit longer - coz you need to see from the pool since the old bitmain cgminer in there doesn't handle it.

Clicking the reboot option always fixes it for me. I haven't had to power cycle and my temps are sitting in the mid-low 60s. I'm going to have to try the new firmware.

I tried both and neither would get the one board running and was only reading half watts at the wall. That is when I put the freq back to default and it started working again. I am pretty sure it was not a temp issue. Since flashing the new firmware it has been running for 5 hours back at the 375 freq and will see what tomorrow brings.

I've had an similar issue with one of my boards as well. It just has issues getting going. I'll try a FW upgrade tomorrow.

Well mine is finally back up to over 1THs but with higher invalids.
Seems the full power cycle was certainly necessary for me (again, I'm using the original firmware)

I just upgraded to the new firmware.  It was a pretty simple process of downloading the file from the Bitmain website and then upgrading using the miner interface.  It's only been running for a few minutes, but so far so good.

Same for me. (First time for me to flash a Bitmain miner)

Any updates on new FW?

any changes or just bug fixes? I'm running good so hesitant to upgrade.

Seems to be running normal.  I haven't had to restart them yet, but it hasn't been very long either.

I think I'll maybe wait a few days if theres no change and i have no issues.

Its nice to see at least a change log to know what they did.

or if any new features are added

Someone could request an option to set fan speed or slow it down a slight bit.. My miner runs cool but that fan is so loud


Thanks for the reply though. following thread so i appreciate the updates

Hm...How loud is this monsta???I'm worry about that..

It's definitely loud.  You can replace the fans to make it quieter if you need to.

Its so loud, that if i open my garage up i can hear it from the other side of the street.  its really, really, really, really, you will not be able to live with this near you loud.  I'm biased though - i have an s3+ right beside it lol.

The following mod can control the fan noise on the S5, until a new firmware with fan speed is available.

https://i.imgur.com/Mhua6Dy.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/edKqNHV.jpg

The 660W is certainly due to the 80 Plus Bronze PSU. I've got 2 S5 and each were only using 580W at the wall using a EVGA 1300W Supernova 80 Plus Gold  PSU. I've now combined 2 S5 to 1 controller card and the 2 combined only pull 1170W at the wall, both running on the EVGA PSU.

Twin S5 using same controller. Modded Delta fans. 120CFM and 148CFM. The temps are 5C cooler with the box fan blowing on them, which also helps circulate the air in my crawl space. Combined the twin S5's are getting 0.508W/GH.
http://www.411px.com/twinS5-withFan.jpg

http://www.411px.com/miners1.jpg
http://www.411px.com/miners2.jpg

The 2 SP20 are running on a Rosewill 1300W 80 Plus Gold. They get about 0.54W/GH

@Goxed & huffdaddy5,

 Thanks for the picture!!

In your shoes I'd get a piece of plywood or similar about 16"x16". Place the on the big miner then stand your S5's up. I've read they can be stacked that way but it does negatively affect cooling.

You may want to look for stainless steel racks as they are open and usually adjustable. If you separated all that gear the airflow from your fan would be more efficient.

Mine is still running rock solid. :)

how much  i can mine with this miner? ( Daily)

Any number of calculators are out there to use, for example: http://www.coinwarz.com/calculators/bitcoin-mining-calculator

I recommend www.whattomine.com