Does anyone have any info about whether Bitmain have a new miner in the works?

I understand the S9 is still the most efficient miner available from Bitmain, just wondering whether I should buy some or hold out for better tech.

Yes.

I've been running a Bitmain Antminer S9 (batch 7) 24x7 since 2016-07-25, which is 301 days at the time of writing. It's still hashing at spec and I haven't had any issues with it. I've left it on stock settings - I don't overclock my miners, they seem to last better that way.

I've been mining since June 2013 and the Bitmain S9 is one of the best miners I've ever owned. I only have one, and maybe I got lucky on the reliability front, but there you go.

I've also previously owned an Antminer S1 and an Antminer S2. The S1 was rock solid, and as far as I know would still work, I gave it away in fully working order to Techvana Museum (a computer museum in New Zealand). The S2 was ok, but the daughter boards tended to get dislodged during shipping so it wasn't as sold and fool-proof as the S1 form-factor - which the S9 and T9 are descendants of. Bitmain abandoned the "desktop PC" form-factor for miners, which in my opinion was a good move.

I've owned miners from other manufacturers too, but my review of them would be no use to you since none of those manufacturers still sell miners.

How many Bittmain AntMiner S9s would fit in one of these containers?

Also, why do some containers have a skirt on the bottom?

Thanks for this. I just got my S9 this week, and I'm happy with the hashrate, it's a great machine. Didn't notice that the third board had more HW errors than the others until I read this, but have checked and mine is like that too.

This is a shock for Bitcoiners in New Zealand.

The on- and off-ramp from bitcoin to NZD just got more difficult, also finding the price of bitcoin in NZD.

I'm very disappointed.

Thanks Bitmain for creating a next-gen product for home miners!

Sorry, I haven't read this whole thread, but is there an ETA yet for when the S7 will be available?

I've been mining on BTC Guild for two years. Sad to see it close. Thanks Eleuthria for the excellent service, best wishes for your future endeavours.

That article says KnC lost 30 million crowns in 2014... apparently these figures come from their annual report.

Does anyone have a link to their annual report?

Who from?

Oh crap:
http://www.coindesk.com/kncminer-deploys-next-generation-16nm-bitcoin-asic/

Not looking forward to the hashrate increase.

Taken from http://www.coindesk.com/21-intel-bitcoin-mining-strategy/

They are quoting 0.22 J/GH at the ASIC chip level, not total system draw at the wall. Competitor ASICS are fairly close, e.g. Spondoolies-Tech RockerBox at 0.35 J/GH (as featured in SP3X and SP20, see https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=521520.msg6519857).

After being frustrated with my Corsair AX1200i PSUs which kept shutting down randomly, I went out and bought an EVGA SuperNOVA Platinum 1600W.

Nice PSU: it can power three Neptune modules with plenty of juice to spare.

Today I noticed a burning smell (!), and immediately ran downstairs to my garage and switched off my Neppy (still haven't had time to get my bonus Neppy running yet). I'm gutted, two of my five modules have the bottom three pins burned out of the power connector. It also destroyed two of my PCIe 2-to-1 cables (luckily I have spares). Both of the burnt modules were powered by the EVGA, which claims to have Over Current Protection, but it obviously didn't kick in. Now I have more respect for my AX1200is, I was at my wits end with them, but all along they were just protecting the modules by cutting off with OCP (I didn't know that at the time, I just thought they were "dying"). This has only started in the last month or so, prior to that the Neppy ran like a trooper with no issues.

I have replaced those two burnt modules with bonus modules, and they seem to be working fine. However, the DC/DC avg temp on the bonus modules is about 10C higher than the original modules.

I was running all modules at 475MHz, and have been since July 2014. Now that I've suffered the loss of two modules, I have taken the precaution of down-clocking the original modules to 450MHz, and the bonus modules to 425MHz as their cooling isn't working as well as the originals. After doing this, the Neppy is still hashing at about 3TH/s, which I'm fairly happy with.

I'm not happy with two modules with burnt power connectors and one bonus module which was DOA due to a popped rivet on the bottom (it's on my to-do list to inquire about RMAing that bonus module).

As for the two modules with burnt power connectors, can I assume that the ASICs are still ok? Has anyone tried repairing a burnt power connector, and had success in reviving the module?

Well, this is fixed and now I have uploaded my avatar. Thanks!

Thanks to notthematrix and teslaman for their earlier posts about how to re-flash my Neptune controller.

I used a recovery SD to flash to RC6. Should I now upgrade to 1.06s?

What is the difference between RC6 and 1.06s? Is RC6 the initial version of the firmware (I seem to remember seeing RC6 when I first got my Neptune, before they came out with 1.00).

Thanks for the tips. Undervolt to 3.8TH/s? My old Neppy only gives 3.4TH/s @ 1990W... are the bonus ones more efficient?

Also: Damn, my old Neppy controller "died" last night. The display screen comes on, but remains blank and the system doesn't boot up.

Hopefully it's just a software issue. Is there a way to recover using a micro-SD card or something?

Two weeks after delivery and I have finally opened the box of my bonus 2-for-1 Neptune.

Just to confirm: my 2-for-1 Neptune is a new machine. It isn't an old Neppy from the Datorhall, there is not a speck of dust.

Ironically, I might have been better off with an old Neppy from the Datorhall, because apparently the new fans aren't as good as the old ones. I don't know yet because I haven't powered it on.

One annoyance: one of the modules is broken. The bolt that secures the heatsink to the case has sheared off from the case (leaving a hole in the case)... meaning that the heatsink is tipped over and not making contact with the ASIC.

Once I get some PSUs, I'll plug it in (4 modules). I'm not buying new PSUs, I will finally switch off some old machines (including a Jupiter and an AntMiner S1) and will use those PSUs. The Jupiter has been running 24x7 since 25th October 2013... it was my first decent miner.

1) Is it easy to remove the heat sinks from the old S2 hashing boards?
2) Is it easy to apply thermal paste to the old heat sinks and screw them to the new hashing boards correctly?
3) Any advice on what to do with the old S2 hashing boards?

Is anyone running a bonus 2-for-1 Neptune? I got mine a week ago, but haven't taken it out of the box yet. I'm planning to run it, I just don't have the Power Supplies yet.

Has anyone technical done a tear-down evaluation of the bonus Neppys? The quote above makes me worry about running it in my home...

I paid 9,995 + 255 shipping = $10,250 USD for a Neptune pre-order on 2013-11-28, which was delivered on 2014-07-12.

The Neptune I received on 2015-03-02 was a 2-for1 bonus Neptune (based on my original Customer Appreciation batch pre-order on 2013-11-28).

So depending on how you look at it, I either paid "nothing" for the bonus Neppy, or perhaps I paid $10,250 / 2 = $5,125 USD for it.

In any case, New Zealand Customs assessed my import duty (of ~226 USD) based on KnCMiner's declare value of $1,370 for the Neptune. I'd be interested to hear from other bonus 2-for-1 recipients as to what their Neptune's declared value is.