Bitcoin Forum

One common problem with mining is the noise. Underclocking can significantly reduce that, but it also significantly reduces earnings. What if we could develop a motion sensor unit, based on Arduino, ESP8266, or similar, that tells the miners to throttle back when there are people to be disturbed by the noise but go back to full speed when the place is empty? I can see it being very handy for those who want to mine in dorms or apartments.

Even if this would go through, how is this helping earnings?

Because it would automatically crank back up to full speed when nobody was around to be annoyed. Earnings would be higher than if you left it on "I don't loathe this" full-time.

Well true. But it would still hurt earnings a little.
But great idea, I'm not totally against the idea.

I think people are a bit too obsessed with trying to squeeze out every possible penny from their mining equipment.  In my experience, how you handle the upgrade cycle, the ability to keep your equipment from dying, and the rate you pay for electricity is a much larger part of the equation than if you're able to squeeze an extra 10% in revenue out of your miners running them as hot and loud as you possibly can.  That is why I've suggested that Bitmain introduce a setting to underclock miners, allowing them to better survive various conditions, be more efficient, require less airflow, and be less of a noise annoyance.  The introduction of an underclock setting would also make an idea like automatic throttling software much easier to implement using a motion sensor, or clock, or whatever else you can think of.  Before someone suggests an R4, it is much harder to duct the airflow with that design, and a 1100-1200 watt miner is preferable to a 850 watt miner for many individuals.

You mean like having a second frequency setting that you can trigger by flipping a switch or something? Because if you mean "the ability to set the clock lower", it's not so much an introduction as a re-introduction since until recently all their gear had that option. I'd like to see the ability to adjust voltage too, but since circumventing planned obsolescence marginally injures their substantial bottom line it's not terribly likely.

Yes, I mean to bring back the frequency control that I have on my older R4 and S9 units currently (voltage control would be too nice to expect, but I'd love if that were included in an underclock mode also).  However, I realize that Bitmain doesn't trust us to be in control of frequencies, so instead of allowing us to set it, perhaps a compromise would be a simple software option to set it to a preset underclock mode.  That way Bitmain can keep forcing us to use their auto-tune they love so much, but with a lower frequency setting option that would please miners and increase efficiency, reduce noise, reduce airflow, reduce electrical usage, and increase the lifespan of the device.  

Frequency control is back already.  :)

Originally posted in R4 thread.

I've tried this on auto-tune S9 models unsuccessfully.  Has something changed, or has anyone else been able to confirm these results with a later batch S9? 

Ok  :-\
So you heard the beep in the start up and no change?

I wonder if this works only with certain R4s after all.

I don't remember to be honest, it was a while ago.  I do know it was sketchy getting it working again, so I'd have to see some confirmation from S9 users before making another attempt at it. 

What about using the /cgi-bin/minerAdvanced.cgi page to underclock? Does that no longer work? Last time I tried it, it said something about taking multiple hours, but it was up and mining in the regular 5-10 mins.

From my testing, changes on that page had no effect.