One thing you can do is to download the image you think you want, and then try it out on one of you Pi's. You don't need to have the Avalon connected, not even the little USB dongle. Some things won't work right, but you can most certainly get into the Wed based GUI just fine and configure stuff as you want. I found this particularly convenient to do away from the miner, before my A6 had even arrived. Assuming that all boots and runs OK, you shouldn't run into any problems when actually connected to the miner itself.

In general, cartel's only work when there is no good substitute for a product that folks need or want.  For most of the world, Bitcoin isn't an actual factor in their lives. If the entire Bitcoin industry evaporated overnight, the overall effect on the world would me minuscule. OPEC was able to control a product for which there was no viable substitute, at that time. Fast forward some 45 years, and you find that OPEC doesn't have nearly the control they once did.

I realize that for some folks on these forums, Bitcoin is their livelihood, but they have to realize that their "product" (i.e. mining) is more akin to a commodity (lots of alternatives), or possible a luxury good (i.e. the FOMO crowd).

I wonder if there was ever a thought given to a "Tulip growers cartel" back a few hundred years ago?

Isn't there a label on the fan that exploded, or that you swapped in ? Virtually all Antminer gear requires a fan with high static pressure.  CFM and RPM don't tell the whole story on the required Fan characteristics. You can, and should, measure the old one to confirm dimensions, though the 120mm x 38mm sounds about.

You really should have the info you need.

Are there any actual E10 miners to touch and/or buy? I've seen some slides, but nothing to suggest that they actually exist. Unless they are actually for sale, and exist, it seems odd to compare existing miners to the E10, regardless of it's wonderful specifications.

Actually 11 is not too far off the mark. Consider the following:

Jul 2016 - Change to 12.5
Jul 2020 - Change to 6.25
Jul 2024 - Change to 3.125
Jul 2028 - Change to 1.5625

Unless there is a major downturn in hashrate, the above will probably be later than actual.

As for the impact, the price of BTC will determine the profitability, or lack thereof, for various folks. We've also seen a major uptick in the transaction fees which will likely be a huge offset in the block reward.

Lot's can change between now and middle of 2028 (as Raymond_B points out).

Just for grins, I followed up with the posted URL. The sale is actually for the S9 + 1600W AWP3 power supply. When you push on through to "Checkout" I found that the shipping is free. The two valid forms of payment are:

SEPA Bank Transfer - Available only for European Union residents

-or-

Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies

I declined to actually complete the order.  

This seems like a classic scam to me.....but I have no actual experience with these folks.

Is there any reason you can't include a URL for what you are looking at? "A distributor in Holland" isn't all that useful for most folks, particularly if you are looking for a recommendation.

The $1995 price sounds too low to me to be legit. Anybody that actually has a working S9 that they could ship today, would be asking more than Bitmain. What are their payment terms, and delivery schedule?

Looks like you updated you post as I was responding.

My visit to Blokforge today shows that they have NO Antminer S9's to sell. Yes the front page shows a $5k price for a 13.5 TH S9, and $3200 for a 14.0 TH S9. This pricing of course makes no sense. When you drill in further on each one, you find out they don't actually have one to sell. I don't see any good reason to get upset about a quoted price for a miner they can't actually ship to since they don't have any.

I think some of this is related to mediocre website maintenance rather than anything evil (aka greedy). Clearly if they actually had an S9 they could ship, then they should get a premium price compared to Bitmain which doesn't have any to ship (at this time).

You might also want to consider a solution with two or possibly three power supplies. I know that Parallel Miner used to have a kit with a 1200W and 750W power supply combination. See: https://www.parallelminer.com/

Three 750W supplies would also work.

No matter what, you obviously need to make sure you have adequate 120V wiring for this, with a dedicated 20 Amp circuit with a couple of outlets. If you go the multiple supply route, you do have to turn things on and off in the right sequence.

Given your experience and education, why would you start asking questions here? I am lost as to what you are seeking from a truly ransom collection of folks here.....

I am not a semiconductor guy, but just my discussions with folks that are suggest that the "design rules" and associated tool chains change on a regular basis as the node size shrinks. What that means to me is that the "rules and tools"  for a 40nm process don't work for a 28nm process which don't work at 16nm. I think that means that your idea of developing with "cheap" process and then shrinking down won't work since the Fab for 16nm can't use "masks" from a 40nm process. Voltages are all wrong, leakage current and a whole host of things that don't manifest at 40nm become hugely important at 16nm. I expect the testing and packaging also changes.

Go visit the caanan website, or blokforge.com. I think the current part is named A3212, but as VRobb pointed out, they aren't for sale individually.

With an unknown price, hashrate, or delivery date for an as yet un-announced S11, I think the risk is pretty low. Right now, FOMO is strong with Bitcoin. 

The only one that I am aware of would be Bitcoin Cash (aka BCH). Many folks here consider that an Alt-Coin (aka s**tcoin). I have dabbled with mining BCH on btc.com as the pool. It was easy to do, though I don't know if an S3 would be profitable.

Best of luck.

The old adage from the USA "Gold Rush" days were that the folks selling pans, pick axes and the like (i.e. mining hardware) did better than the folks actually mining for the Gold itself.

Just a thought......

Two weeks later and OP hasn't returned. Wonder if he/she ran into a dose of reality?

One more time: Mining is not for a laptop!

Put aside the questions of Windows, price, gaming or anything else. A laptop is not intended for 100% CPU load on a long term (i.e. 24 hour) basis. While absolutely true for Bitcoin, it's also true for other Alt-Coins. The quickest way to shorten the life of a laptop is to use it for something it wasn't designed for (i.e Crypto mining).

I wonder if perhaps the analogy of "building your own cell phone" might help with all the folks asking about how to build their own miner. After all, why can't they just order all the parts to assemble an Iphone?

Why are folks happy to buy a phone from Apple or Samsung, and yet feel they don't want to directly buy a miner from Bitmain or Caanan but would rather "build their own"?

Just wondering since I too grow tired of the repeating threads.....

In case you haven't already noticed, the price for an S9 will likely be closer to $3000 rather than the $1600 you included in you original calculations. With the current Bitcoin frenzy (see FOMO), this may not be the last price hike for the S9.

This will almost certainly get moved by a Moderator to the an Alt-Coin forum. Might want to read the "stick" posting at the top of this forum about it being Bitcoin only.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=401536.0