Risks of Setting Higher Frequency - Antminer S7

[SaBit]

NewbyHi, I am new to this forum - If I have posted this in the wrong place- I apologise

I have tried to search but haven't found the answer - Perhaps I haven't looked hard enough?.

First Some Background   -- Sorry for the text wall

I am an absolute newb to mining. I have been using bitcoin for around 2 years for transactional purposes,

Being in South Africa, getting hold of Bitcoin is expensive. We have Forex control and it is very difficult to wire money internationally to business accounts, so in order to purchase Bitcoin you are limited to either using one of the expensive credit card processors, or buying on the local exchange "BitX" where it usually trades 15 to 20% higher than the prevailing international rate.

So I decided to buy a mining Rig for the sole purpose of getting my hands on some Bitcoin without paying excessive fees, and getting "foreign currency" without jumping through the regulatory hoops we have here in South Africa.

After you add the exorbitant shipping fees to South Africa, and Duties, Vat, clearance fees the S7 + Power Supply set me back R25000 ($1600) so I am under no illusion that I will EVER get a ROI, but the cost of the rig is irrelevant, I just see it that I bought a cool toy.

As long as my electricity cost +/- $0.11/KwH works out less than what I would pay locally for Bitcoin (bear in mind between 15% & 20% more than international price)  I am happy.

NOW FOR MY ACTUAL QUESTION

Obviously I want as much Bitcoin (Many Bitcoins?) as possible in the shortest possible time (Who doesn't?)  SO  I noticed that the S7 allows you to adjust the frequency -- so being a person that likes to tinker ,,,I jacked it up to 750,, and now the S7 runs at around 5.1thz   ---  Am I risking frying the rig by doing this?  Or is it just a case of potentially reducing the power efficiency?


Edit....., I now realise that in my laziness, I failed to ascertain that this should be in beginners section   - -  how do I move it?

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[philipma1957]

Leave it here.

The s-7 has an hw error % spot.

Set stock freq if you have a new batch 10 or 11 or 12 .

Freq 700 is stock.

Set fans at 60 %

Run the gear for 1 hour

Check your temps they should be no higher then 60c
Check you fan rpm they should be just about 3800 rpm
Check your hw error %. It should be under 0.0100

This should be baseline for you.

So how high should the fans go
Maybe 75 %. Which gives you rpm of 4000 to 4400 that is max fan.

Freq of 725 is a normal max speed.

Try that and see if temps stay under 62-66 c

See if hw error % is under 0.0300

The s-7 can go overclock to 750 if you are lucky. But if temps go over 65 c or errors go to 0.200 %

You are most likely wasting money.

I would even consider running it ate freq 675 rather then   725 or 750

since making the gear last longer may be smarter then  pushing it and risking burnout.

[notlist3d]

Phil is right with the newest batches they already are being pushed on frequency.  They took out chips... and pushed remaining chips harder.  This makes for cheaper production cost on miners.... but not a great miner for OC.  I personally would not OC any batch 8+ S7's.

What are you risking? Actually a lot, your giving up warranty if new.  And you could do damage.  So lots of down side to it.

[SaBit]

Thanks for the Replies Guys

I have had her running at 750  for around 24 hours now

HW 0.0037%  and 0.0038%  temperature 56 61 63 - I have two fans in the room creating extra airflow

Will take your advice and dial back on the frequency

[RichBC]

Thanks for the Replies Guys

I have had her running at 750  for around 24 hours now

HW 0.0037%  and 0.0038%  temperature 56 61 63 - I have two fans in the room creating extra airflow

Will take your advice and dial back on the frequency

I would say, and looking at Phil's advice above, that with those temps and HW error rates and with your current ambient and additional cooling you are ok at 750.

What is worth doing however is to measure the Watts at the wall and do a calculation for profit made for 700 & 750 with your current electricity cost. This might help in making the decision if it is worth running at 750?


Rich

[SaBit]

Thanks,, I will look if I can find a device to measure consumption at the plug,  dropped it down to 725 and its doing 4.9 at HW error of 0.0008% now

[RichBC]

Thanks,, I will look if I can find a device to measure consumption at the plug,  dropped it down to 725 and its doing 4.9 at HW error of 0.0008% now

Just have a look for a Kill A Watt or Power Monitor, ebay, Amazon etc, about $15 and an essential piece of kit when Mining.


Rich

[philipma1957]

Thanks,, I will look if I can find a device to measure consumption at the plug,  dropped it down to 725 and its doing 4.9 at HW error of 0.0008% now

that HW error rate is good.

 if your temps stay under 60c.

 you should be okay.

For you making the gear last longer has more value then other miners.
This is due to the laws of your country and the price of bitcoin purchase.

so keep your eyes on the temps and  725 looks to be the max without HW losses.

700
675

both may be better down the road.  750 is most likely too high.

Keeping the machine working is more important for you then squeezing every last drop out of it fast.

[SaBit]

Thanks for the replies guys!

  I just ordered a Kill-A-Watt on Amazon  $27  for international version  -- $42.25 with shipping & Customs to South Africa -- Shipping & Duties is always the killer

[notlist3d]

Thanks for the replies guys!

  I just ordered a Kill-A-Watt on Amazon  $27  for international version  -- $42.25 with shipping & Customs to South Africa -- Shipping & Duties is always the killer

Dang.... that kinda kills any type of deal.  Was major part shipping or customs?   Interesting to see other countries prices on things, but that is quite a bit compared to those of us use to prime on amazon.

[philipma1957]

Thanks for the replies guys!

  I just ordered a Kill-A-Watt on Amazon  $27  for international version  -- $42.25 with shipping & Customs to South Africa -- Shipping & Duties is always the killer

Dang.... that kinda kills any type of deal.  Was major part shipping or customs?   Interesting to see other countries prices on things, but that is quite a bit compared to those of us use to prime on amazon.

Yeah he has high costs. For his gear and for getting btc via purchase.

While you and I are in the USA which is pretty good price wise .

He is looking to get coins via mining not purchase them since he would have to pay twenty five percent premium to pruchases coins

[KeezAZA]

I am in the same boat as SABit.

Not enough Vaseline here in SA.
I am in two minds to get the Avalon 6 or wait and see what the 16/14nm chips have to offer and at what cost. Right now. the RSA/USD is 'stable'
 

[philipma1957]

I am in the same boat as SABit.

Not enough Vaseline here in SA.
I am in two minds to get the Avalon 6 or wait and see what the 16/14nm chips have to offer and at what cost. Right now. the RSA/USD is 'stable'
 

Well at least you have good weather most of the time.

If noise is an issue the Avalon 6 is a little better.

I own both the s-7 and the avalon 6 both are pretty good gear.


But nothing was better the the s-3 for antminer

and the avalon 4 for avalon

both ran really quiet.

[KeezAZA]

My s3 runs well. Sound levels are good. would be great if the S5 ran like that, but the S3 is a monster in summer. i could hear it two rooms away with the door closed at night.

[SaBit]

Thanks for the replies guys!

  I just ordered a Kill-A-Watt on Amazon  $27  for international version  -- $42.25 with shipping & Customs to South Africa -- Shipping & Duties is always the killer

Dang.... that kinda kills any type of deal.  Was major part shipping or customs?   Interesting to see other countries prices on things, but that is quite a bit compared to those of us use to prime on amazon.

$5 Duties, the rest shipping,, plus it has to be international version - 240v

I dropped the frequency Down to 675 been running on that for 22hrs average 4.5thz  and .000% HW errors - only 17 in 22hrs

[philipma1957]

Thanks for the replies guys!

  I just ordered a Kill-A-Watt on Amazon  $27  for international version  -- $42.25 with shipping & Customs to South Africa -- Shipping & Duties is always the killer

Dang.... that kinda kills any type of deal.  Was major part shipping or customs?   Interesting to see other countries prices on things, but that is quite a bit compared to those of us use to prime on amazon.

$5 Duties, the rest shipping,, plus it has to be international version - 240v

I dropped the frequency Down to 675 been running on that for 22hrs average 4.5thz  and .000% HW errors - only 17 in 22hrs

Under your circumstances the under clock is the way to go.

Try to hold some coin and sell some coin.  maybe 50-50   or 40-60 or 60-40 this method is the ½ a loaf is better then none method.

Good luck.

[notlist3d]

Thanks for the replies guys!

  I just ordered a Kill-A-Watt on Amazon  $27  for international version  -- $42.25 with shipping & Customs to South Africa -- Shipping & Duties is always the killer

Dang.... that kinda kills any type of deal.  Was major part shipping or customs?   Interesting to see other countries prices on things, but that is quite a bit compared to those of us use to prime on amazon.

$5 Duties, the rest shipping,, plus it has to be international version - 240v

I dropped the frequency Down to 675 been running on that for 22hrs average 4.5thz  and .000% HW errors - only 17 in 22hrs

Under your circumstances the under clock is the way to go.

Try to hold some coin and sell some coin.  maybe 50-50   or 40-60 or 60-40 this method is the ½ a loaf is better then none method.

Good luck.

What I do personally is sell amount to pay off electricity.  This keeps me from getting in to deep.  Some of these bills when i was very high in wattage it was a pretty good bill.  Also keeps you in check where your not running and making less then it makes.

It caused me to sell all last gen miners and only keep current gen miners, as I was better off selling and buying coins by far.  So I did that and have coins waiting till I decide to buy new miners.   

Funniest thing was when last gen miners were all sold my electricity dropped a decent amount.... power company came out and spent 20 minutes or more running checks making sure my meter was right.  They had no problem and never sent someone out as it went up.... but sudden drop caught their radar.