Bitcoin Forum

I am looking to buy my fist miner. I see the s7 is pretty popular. Just wondering, and I am sure this has been asked but is it worth it? I looked at a bitcoin calculator and 4.8TH/s will make 370 a month not including electricity. If the electric is 100 a month then I will make my money back In 10 months. What I am not sure about is the technology in 10 months? Will the s7 be like the s5 in 10 months and not be profitable? What are my chances of at least making my money back? Nervous about spending 2500 dollars on my first miner. Any help is greatly appreciated!

where are you looking to mine? I am in a flat that doesn't have a spare room so I stuck with a bunch of S3s and smaller miners as they are quieter than the S5 and S7 models from my research. Don't want a mini jet engine if you don't have the space for it! Good luck to you!

The s7 is currently the best in terms of power, the similar spondoolies machines with similar hashrates use insane amounts of power compared to the s7.

Jacob :)

Hi man.
What people normally do is buy the miner in, mine until they see difficulty rise or see an announcement for a newer bigger miner and then list it on ebay, you make say £600 in 2 months and then sell the unit again for £40-70 less than you bought it for, rinse and repeat :)

The key is to not hold onto the miners that long, well it was successful in my experience, anyways.

Paulb787,

I currently have an S5 and an S7. My first was the S5 because the initial out of pocket expense was relatively low and I wanted to learn how it all worked without forking out a bundle until I got a good grasp on it. I've been trying different mining pools too. My current goal is eventually to run 3 S7 AntMiners at home. The S7 will still be profitable after the halving around mid-next year. The S5 is a close call and it will be profitable depending on the price of bitcoin or the difficulty. If the price drops and/or the difficulty increases and the profit is breaking even, you can under clock it a bit to lower the electricity costs to keep it going. I am saving for a 2nd S7 when batch 4 is released. I'll be saving for the 3rd S7 after that but I intend to sell the S5 somewhere around  a month away from the halving next year on ebay and I intend to use the proceeds toward that 3rd S7. I figure I can run on the S7 for quite a while after the halving, depending on the changing rate and difficulty level of course, and then look at this all again when the next ASIC chip and new miners are released.

Power, noise and heat are a real struggle. I am running an S7 with two EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 80+ GOLD, 1300W (10 yr warranty!) on a single 15 AMP circuit without any issues. My basement allows for tapping off several power circuits from other parts of the house or it would be a problem. The heat in a little basement is a problem. I just ordered a wall vent fan with a thermostat so I can push the heat out of the room into the garage so I can close the basement door. The noise has been a problem for me and my wife so we have worked together and just put in insulation in the basement ceiling and walls to dampen noise and that seems to have done the trick once I can keep the door closed when I get the wall fan. I've got room to add a 2nd wall fan and will do it if the temp is not good enough. My ultimate goal is to run three AntMiners and keep them cool and if the wife is happy, it's a win win! It's a heck of a science project and a whole lot of fun.

-Ondart

dude, you don't need two evga 1300 to run ONE s7.
Just order two of these below, connect them to SINGLE headed red cables and you will have 10 necessary connectors; it works like a charm.
http://www.amazon.com/JacobsParts-Express-Power-Splitter-Cable/dp/B00JLU0UQ4
or
http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-PCIEXSPLIT6-6-Inch-Express-Splitter/dp/B004NNTVT6

so, you will be able to run your second S7 without ordering more PSU (with $7 expense).

I knew I had plenty of power, I had not thought through splitting the cables out and use the 2nd PS for my next S7 for some odd reason. I really appreciate the input Paulb787. I'm going to order them right now.  ;D

not paulb787, but you are welcome.

Doh! Thanks!  :-[

you can do it in 5 months, if you sell it halfway the roi time will be halved, so i would say that if you have the electricity you should go for it

i doubt that in 5 months anything more efficient will come out

an addition if i might add make sure such are 16 awg wire and the same on your power supply end (should not be a problem on the 1300 psu units..but would def check the y connectors etc)

Antiminer S7 is a great little unit and if you can get one for a reasonable price, this is a great first unit. 

-D

Thank you so much for all of the input was a little worried about the power. I am in the US and am 120V. will these work as well?

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-6-Inch-Express-Adapter-LP4PCIEXADAP/dp/B0007RXDDM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446505806&sr=8-1&keywords=pcie+6+pin+adapter


Also would putting it in the garage be bad? with cooling in mind

No do not use molex to PCIE.... it's asking for trouble.  Molex is not going to be enough.   

Honestly get a better PSU.   It will last multiple generation of miners.  It's a good investment.

yeah they are great and because of this no one is selling them les than the market price, it appear to be the opposite, they are selling at a greater price

it was the case when the usb stick were presenteed to the public, new shiny thing are always sold above their real price

Is it ok to put it in a garage? Thanks

Next batch just went up.  You can get batches 5-6 ording now.  They are doing them a pretty good amount of time ahead.   

The schedule:
Batch 5 scheduled shipping date is in Nov. 23~Dec. 3. If shipping out 10 days later than the scheduled one, it won't be considered as delay.

So they are selling in advance possibly a month.

I'm trying to look at the new batches on their site but it's just timing out.. Just me?

That one is fine if you connect the molex connector from two different cables. The current will be split between two cables connecting to the two different socket of power supply.

Not sure if this is a serious question but just in case... Yes. It is safe, as long as safe means no one can get in there and steal them or you have water leaking all over the garage.

It's between two molex though... .molex to PCIe is not a good idea as most miners get a LOT out of the PCIe.

Your asking for heat problems on wire and possible burns on it or worse.  Don't get that adapter.

That doube-4-pin Molex to PCI-E adapter will almost definitely NOT handle the load a S7 would put on it - and it's doubtfull that your power supply puts enough current out on the "peripheral bus" +12V supply anyway.

 The wiring is WAY too light, will probably melt and short out.



 Garage should be fine, if it doesn't leak and if it's secure enough you don't have to worry about someone stealing your miner(s).
 You're also more likely to have at least one existing 220V outlet there to power an S7 with from a GOOD power supply.
 Many moons ago, I had a setup in a slightly modified storage shed (I added some airflow access, a breaker panel and outlets) running a bunch of computers - ran air in under the eves on the South side and out the East due to prevailing winds, worked fine and stayed dry and close to ambient temps. Solid metal walls, solid door, and a good lock in a backyard with a solid fence around it made the setup hard to notice, and the comps I had in it were older ones that weren't worth a lot anyway.


 Bitmain's site was up a couple minutes ago, they might have been doing a "price adjustment" and had it down for a short while earlier.


 *IF* the current Bitcoin price holds up, an S5 should barely be profitable after the halfing for a while, and an S7 somewhat but not greatly so for months, even with the diff increase rate I forsee between now and then - but neither is going to make a LOT after the halfing even at the current $400ish price, you had best plan to hit RoI on either by end of July IMO even if the Bitcoin price stays high.

 If the current Bitcoin price drops back down into the mid-$200s soon, the situation stays the same except RoI is a ton less likely and the S5 will probably NOT remain profitable at all after the halfing (the S7 will still be, but BARELY).

Thank you for agreeing with me on it  I can't believe someone said to use a molex to PCIe on mining equipment.

It is seriously asking for a fire if using cheap adapters like it.   Getting a better PSU is the best way.  To possibly kill a S7 over a hundred bucks or so makes no sense.

For some of the older lower-power miners that molex-to-PCI trick would be tolerable. I ran one of my Gridseed blades on 2 molex per side for a while, but that was less than 4 amps or so per side so only 2 per molex, which is well within their rating and the capability of the wiring.
It would be practical to run a 6-pin PCI-E power connector that is running within the PCI-E specs from 2 molex, but most miners are pushing the connectors to closer to the limits of the CONNECTOR, which is way outside what most 4-pin molex peripheral connectors AND THEIR WIREING are designed to handle.

If you have thick wire, it is OK to use the molex connector.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=62686.msg732348#msg732348

12V only:
"Molex" connector (PS-8981-4M*/4P*) - depending on wire gauge from 6 to 10 Amps per motherboard connector.
Sata connector - 1.5 Amps per contact (3 contacts per connector) = 4.5 Amps per motherboard connector.
PCI-E 6-pin connector - up to 13 Amps per each wire (3 12V wires per connector) = theoretically up to 39 Amps but ATX spec limits PCIe-PEG connectors to 75 W (6.25 Amps).

When in doubt, RTFS(1).

Notes:
(1) S standing for SpecSheet:
http://www.molex.com/catalog/web_catalog/pdfs/I.pdf
http://www.molex.com/molex/products/datasheet.jsp?part=active/0002081201_CRIMP_TERMINALS.xml&channel=Products&Lang=en-US
http://www.molex.com/molex/products/datasheet.jsp?part=active/0675810000_CRIMP_TERMINALS.xml&channel=Products&Lang=en-US
http://rhu004.sma-promail.com/SQLImages/kelmscott/Molex/PDF_Images/987650-3722.pdf

yeah i ran a 2 molex to 1 pcie splitter for awhile.. ran both molex lines separate from PSU to power 1 pcie connector on an avalon 4.1 and also BFL monarch before that

The problem is most adapters are not built up to this standard on molex adapters.  If you go to a computer store most are not good enough gauge I think it's safe to say.

There are a few on the forums though who do make very high quality adapters with proper gauge.  If you have to use a adapter I suggest getting it from one of the makers on this forum.

 Still have the issue with the limit of the PS on whatever +12v bus powers the "peripheral" connectors, and on an S7 you ARE talking about
 (1) Appx 400 watts or well over 30 AMPS per hash board, works out to about 13 AMPS per PCI-E if you're using all 3 of them per Bitmain specs.
 (2) limit of DO NOT POWER A SPECIFIC HASH BOARD FROM MORE THAN ONE PS.

 The issue isn't JUST the molex connector.
 In fact, it's more about limits of the Power Supply in this sort of case, though pulling over 6 amps through a peripheral-type Molex is marginal for reliability.
 It's not smart to assume the current draw will work out exactly equal, parallelling connectors tends to have a little imbalance on the contact resistances and makes the power draw somewhat uneven and makes those adapters even more marginal (to be fair, the imbalance would probably be on the order of 7 vs. 6 amps per connector *IF* both are making a good solid connection - but if one is NOT making a good solid connection, FRIED connector and probably fried S7 hashboard).


 You have to derate the connectors used in a PCI-E connector by quite a bit.
 Molex only specs them for 8 AMPs each max = 24 amps per connector = 288 watts in a PCI-E 6-pin connector, due to heat retention by the connector itself.
 Even though the pins THEMSELVES are rated for 13 amps max that's a FREE AIR rating.

 (Yes, I read ALL of those specs a while back - it's where Spondoolies came up with it's 288 watt max limit per connector in the SP20 web interface).