Question about the s7

[Severus81]

So I'm new to mining and I've really been enjoying getting into bitcoins and whatnot.   Purchased my first s7 a couple weeks ago and have 2 more in the mail.

I went purchase another 5 today (I can run 8 with much electrical modifications in the basement) and the website has changed.

Batch 9 has been removed,  batch 8 is still for sale but unavailable (can't put it into cart and wire the money).   Batch 10 was added to the website about $150 cheaper than the batch 8.

The product description for the 8 says it's the last stable build,  this along with the lower price of 10 leads me to believe that 10 is inferior somehow.  Was does "stable"  mean in this context?    Should I possibly look to buy 5 more from eBay or Amazon (or another source)?

Two final questions,  I ordered 2 noctua fans to try and reduce noise levels,  anyone else have success doing this?

And finally I've been using slushes pool.   Do people generally favor other pools or are they all similar?

Thanks!

[notlist3d]

So I'm new to mining and I've really been enjoying getting into bitcoins and whatnot.   Purchased my first s7 a couple weeks ago and have 2 more in the mail.

I went purchase another 5 today (I can run 8 with much electrical modifications in the basement) and the website has changed.

Batch 9 has been removed,  batch 8 is still for sale but unavailable (can't put it into cart and wire the money).   Batch 10 was added to the website about $150 cheaper than the batch 8.

The product description for the 8 says it's the last stable build,  this along with the lower price of 10 leads me to believe that 10 is inferior somehow.  Was does "stable"  mean in this context?    Should I possibly look to buy 5 more from eBay or Amazon (or another source)?

Two final questions,  I ordered 2 noctua fans to try and reduce noise levels,  anyone else have success doing this?

And finally I've been using slushes pool.   Do people generally favor other pools or are they all similar?

Thanks!

On changing fan's out it will be quieter, but if you do it you void warranty.  So if caught you have no warranty if there is a problem.  May seem little thing, but you cant do anything really without permission anymore with them.

Chances are Ebay and Amazon are a decent amount higher then batch 10.  So it's really your own call if you can wait till batch 10 it is a decent amount cheaper then resellers I'm guessing.  Ebay you might get a deal all depends.

[raspberryseltzer]

You can't buy batch 8, because the start of the Chinese New Year festival.  It would basically be a rush to get the payment and have them ship it out to you by tomorrow morning in China (Feb 3).  I would recommend just go ahead and buy batch 10, and save the money - with the expectation that you would receive those the shipment sometime in the 3rd or 4th week of Feb.

I'd be hesitant buying these from resellers for now.  Of the S7 I've ordered, 1 in 4 have had some sort of problem.  If something goes wrong, it would be better dealing with the company rather than a reseller.

For dealing with the noise, I did:
- add 3 feet of flexible ducting on the front and back fans (see the posts from philipma1957 on this subject), and covered the actual units up with a heavy blanket
- set the fan speed lower (my environment is very cool, so I am able to set the fan speed to 30%, and still run the servers around 40 to 50C)

You can get a sound meter app on your smartphone to see how much of an impact any changes you make have on the actual noise produced by the machines.

[Severus81]

Thanks for the tips on the noise.

I realize it's the Chinese new year but if you go to their site you can put an order in for batch 10 and pay for it,  you cannot do this with 8.

Also you don't think the comment about batch 8 being the "last stable batch"  means anything?   You could see why that would make someone nervous buying it as it implies that batch 10 isn't stable.

[raspberryseltzer]

I wouldn't be too worried about the differences between batch 8 and 10.  I doubt that they would be releasing a later batch that is less stable.  I think the main reason they have them separated out into two different products is because of the difference in pricing.  All of the specifications of the S7 are exactly the same - you're just paying for an earlier place in line if you buy batch 8. 

[Entropize]

This concerns me since I have 2 batch 9s. What's the reason for the tiny batch? is something wrong with the s9s that they're just moving to a new batch rather than fixing this most recent one?

[notlist3d]

This concerns me since I have 2 batch 9s. What's the reason for the tiny batch? is something wrong with the s9s that they're just moving to a new batch rather than fixing this most recent one?

Batch 8 and 9 were the same to my knowlege.  I think some batch 9 got the 9 port IO board ( I could be wrong on that).  But that might be only difference is some getting IO board with 9 vs 3 ports.   

They both are the same less chip model with a higher freq of 700.   Some earlier ones had more chips and ran at less freq.  But I think design will be same from here on out unless they do a new model.

[RustyNoman]

I wouldn't be too worried about the differences between batch 8 and 10.  I doubt that they would be releasing a later batch that is less stable.  I think the main reason they have them separated out into two different products is because of the difference in pricing.  All of the specifications of the S7 are exactly the same - you're just paying for an earlier place in line if you buy batch 8. 

I think it is the difference in pricing. The price is getting cheaper lately as they are not as profitable as before.

[notlist3d]

I wouldn't be too worried about the differences between batch 8 and 10.  I doubt that they would be releasing a later batch that is less stable.  I think the main reason they have them separated out into two different products is because of the difference in pricing.  All of the specifications of the S7 are exactly the same - you're just paying for an earlier place in line if you buy batch 8. 

I think it is the difference in pricing. The price is getting cheaper lately as they are not as profitable as before.

I think that is the only difference I think batch 8 and up are all the same design.  The big thing is the design has less chips, which means less cost or should at least.  They managed to do less chips and higher frequency.  This allows them to sell for cheaper one would guess.

And difficulty is crazy right now so price will change likely a lot of this continues.

[alh]

I interpret the phrase "last stable build" to mean "in terms of design and specifications" (my emphasis here).  While I guess it could mean that Batch 9 and 10 will of lesser build quality, I don't think that's the case.

The pricing of the miner is one thing that Bitmain can adjust fairly easily. The engineering, design, and manufacturing are pretty well fixed now. They can, and will, adjust the price to reflect external factors. That includes demand (i.e. nobody will pay 5 BTC anymore, but would last September). If they get serious competition from say Bitfury, they might well adjust it down again. If for some reason bitfury and Avalon went out of business tomorrow, they might well increase the price. Bitmain can also "adjust" the price by deciding if they use a fixed BTC price, or a fixed dollar price. They have done that in the past, and could do so again.

[philipma1957]

the 8 9 10 should all be the same.

google translate is trying to convey this is the final design change and it is stable.

duct on the fans with a fire proof blanket over the miners works for sound nouctuas will not do the job.

others buy this cut 4 six foot pieces


http://www.lowes.com/pd_481274-85334-MEA-1225-6___?productId=50401806&pl=1&Ntt=flexible+duct

put a miner in the center of the 6 foot section  cut a small section to access wires drop a fire proof blanket over the four cut outs for the wires