Bitmain Announces the Antminer R4 and APW5 Power Supply, Designed for Silence

[klondike_bar_recovery]

the price was too low.  other then the short warranty it is an easy choice for a low power cost that needs to be quiet.

So buyers are gambling it won't break down.  I would have purchased one maybe two  but after my s-9's up and died I got scared.

A third one is acting up I will check on it today.

everybody is entitled to a opinion, and here is mine:

it was not low, but ourageously HIGH overpriced, hence not much buying.
90day warranty for a new untested item with a long rotating fan? the item that would breakeven in 400 days with low electricity rate?
Bitmain already knew that there was not much demand since they stopped adjusting btc prices (from $593) several days ago.
They need to decrease their take of the profit pie and give us more, percentage-wise, then units will flow.

i agree with pilip - this probably had a solid demand for it.

there are a lot of people in the forums who buy a single S7/S9 unit from bitmain, then post dozens of questions or "custom mod" threads as they try to figure out how to operate it in their living room. The answer is typically tat they cant, or that it has to be underclocked to <10TH

thats where this unit steps in. its quiet by default, and if you compare prices of a 10TH S9 againt this at 8.4TH they are about equal (in terms of TH/BTC)

sure, its not as profitable as running the S9 as hard (and overclocked) as possible, but not everyone has a garage/shed/datacenter to do that in. but a lot of people DO have "free"/subsidized electricity that could be put to use if there was a miner quiet enough to run in their home.

think of students - a dorm has free electricity but you would never get away with running an S9 there (you wouldnt be able to sleep in the same room, and possibly get noise complaints). The R4 might work well in tat situation though, and thus ROI in a year or less.

[1714821906]

1714821906

[not.you]

Without commenting on how well it did or didn't sell, it was pretty suspicious that the bitmain website basically stopped syncing with BTC\USD price when it went above $593 and then when it stayed higher than that, both the S9's and the R4 went to sold out within hours of each other.

[jermwerty]

Without commenting on how well it did or didn't sell, it was pretty suspicious that the bitmain website basically stopped syncing with BTC\USD price when it went above $593 and then when it stayed higher than that, both the S9's and the R4 went to sold out within hours of each other.

I love that us on this forum collectively can catch all these little tricks bitmain uses.  I'm sure they have all sorts of fail-safes built in to prevent accidentally giving buyers a real deal!

I remember when batch numbers actually meant something back in the Avalon days or early Bitmain days.  Now they just are around to make people feel a sense of exclusivity and scarcity.  I got suckered into Batch 2/4 S7s that finally ROI'd recently, IF I take electricity OUT the calculation (and I'm less than $0.07/KWH!), so the reality is I am still down overall.  Amazing how the S7 started above 5BTC and just a few months later was selling for less than a single BTC. 

I just see that same scenario playing out with the S9/R4, there is no "bottom" to the market.

[alh]

There was a rumor that Avalon was going to formally announce their A7 on September 7th. That appears to have been unfounded. Maybe Bitmain believed the rumor as well, and wanted to decide how they should price the S9 and R4?

Purely speculative on my part, no specific insight.

[sidehack]

Remember when they jacked up the S5 price about 20% in one day because they got some inside information on a competitor not coming to market?

[HerbPean]

Remember when they jacked up the S5 price about 20% in one day because they got some inside information on a competitor not coming to market?

I agree with you !

Avalon must coming out real soon.

And they do it on Sept 7 ? 

[ZoooN]

Good afternoon. My question to Antminer R4 offer power supply
APW5, 1300W-2600W PSU instead buy APW3 + -12-1600 PSU will work? And What of them more than noise?

[alh]

Good afternoon. My question to Antminer R4 offer power supply
APW5, 1300W-2600W PSU instead buy APW3 + -12-1600 PSU will work? And What of them more than noise?

While I have owned neither of these, I think I can comment on a couple of items:

For the APW3 (1600W) power supply to work you MUST supply it at least 208V or it won't even start. If all you have is 120V (common USA outlet), then the AWP3 noise doesn't matter since you can't us it.

My impression, though no direct experience, is that the AWP3 isn't a very quiet power supply. I am sure there are others that can comment from experience, but I expect the AWP3 might well be noisier than the R4 miner itself. The form factor, and small cooling fans (i.e. high RPM), usually result in a fairly loud power supply.

I expect that the two items above are what led Bitmain to produce the AWP5.

[ZoooN]

Good afternoon. My question to Antminer R4 offer power supply
APW5, 1300W-2600W PSU instead buy APW3 + -12-1600 PSU will work? And What of them more than noise?

While I have owned neither of these, I think I can comment on a couple of items:

For the APW3 (1600W) power supply to work you MUST supply it at least 208V or it won't even start. If all you have is 120V (common USA outlet), then the AWP3 noise doesn't matter since you can't us it.

My impression, though no direct experience, is that the AWP3 isn't a very quiet power supply. I am sure there are others that can comment from experience, but I expect the AWP3 might well be noisier than the R4 miner itself. The form factor, and small cooling fans (i.e. high RPM), usually result in a fairly loud power supply.

I expect that the two items above are what led Bitmain to produce the AWP5.

Perhaps the APW 3+ different from APW 3 low noise level, or
there are other differences? I did not find.

[SLEI]

R4 is back on sale but same 1395 price. I would like buy but price is insane ROI 1 year or something, warranty 90days and they don't seem to honor even that, mining GAMBLE.

[philipma1957]

R4 is back on sale but same 1395 price. I would like buy but price is insane ROI 1 year or something, warranty 90days and they don't seem to honor even that, mining GAMBLE.

Funny how it came back on sale once btc price dropped.  I would get one with a better warranty  but since I killed 2 of 18 s-9 boards  while running them on a down clock  the 90 warranty  simple does not work for me.

My first 2 s-9's lose their warranty in 2 days.
My second set of 2 s-9's lost their warranty in under 2 weeks.

My fifth s-9 has 50 days on warranty.

I can not afford an r4 with a 90 day  warranty.

So since I mine I will get one more gpu to mine more ETH to sell for BTC.

My 22 gpus and all the rest of the pc gear have 2 year warranties.  Bitmaintech's warranty policy makes it very hard for me to buy from them.

Avalon comes out with the model 7  if they simply give a 6 month warranty and does service for it  they could compete very well.

[fusion0389]

R4 is back on sale but same 1395 price. I would like buy but price is insane ROI 1 year or something, warranty 90days and they don't seem to honor even that, mining GAMBLE.

Funny how it came back on sale once btc price dropped.  I would get one with a better warranty  but since I killed 2 of 18 s-9 boards  while running them on a down clock  the 90 warranty  simple does not work for me.

My first 2 s-9's lose their warranty in 2 days.
My second set of 2 s-9's lost their warranty in under 2 weeks.

My fifth s-9 has 50 days on warranty.

I can not afford an r4 with a 90 day  warranty.

So since I mine I will get one more gpu to mine more ETH to sell for BTC.

My 22 gpus and all the rest of the pc gear have 2 year warranties.  Bitmaintech's warranty policy makes it very hard for me to buy from them.

Avalon comes out with the model 7  if they simply give a 6 month warranty and does service for it  they could compete very well.

Seeing a new Avalon offering anytime soon seems as likely as a watching purple unicorn do backflips while riding a motorcycle.

[toptek]

R4's no longer shipping free i was wondering how long they would let that ride sigh ....!!!


The shipping cost is not included in the retail price shown above. Please fill your desired quantity, shipping address and select your preferred shipping service while placing an order to learn the exact shipping cost.


Guess  they see they can get a way with selling it @ 1395.00 plus shipping .


no one should really complain either if you buy it ).

How silent are they asking those that bought it and have it, 52 db to me is not that silent.

[Tupsu]

R4's no longer shipping free i was wondering how long they would let that ride sigh ....!!!


The shipping cost is not included in the retail price shown above. Please fill your desired quantity, shipping address and select your preferred shipping service while placing an order to learn the exact shipping cost.


Guess  they see they can get a way with selling it @ 1395.00 plus shipping .


no one should really complain either if you buy it ).

How silent are they asking those that bought it and have it, 52 db to me is not that silent.

This mistake was also on the first day.

But still shipping fee for me

DHL 0.168 BTC
( 101.48 USD )

UPS 0.295 BTC
( 177.93 USD )

Fedex 0.188 BTC
( 113.45 USD )

[NotFuzzyWarm]

<snip>
for one it cost that wow

i also wonder how much they skim off shipping for there self most shipping is not that much, I know what they charge us to ship,I know they have to declare what they post to keep it legal , but how much is the real cost .whats there shipping discount we don't see and they don't pass on to us.
<snip>

Knowing the call, it, 'abbreviated', translations that Bitmain uses, let's call it more like shipping and handling.

Just like Infomercial products, the S&H is where good money is to be made. Most of the backers of companies you see on-TV own the distribution end of the business and get all the "& Handling" part of +S&H right off of the top.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

I saw that and agree
And just saw on CNN the SEC is looking into Wells Fargo...

[fusion0389]

I saw that and agree
And just saw on CNN the SEC is looking into Wells Fargo...

Seriously? For what?

[NotFuzzyWarm]

I saw that and agree
And just saw on CNN the SEC is looking into Wells Fargo...

Seriously? For what?

https://www.google.com/search?q=SEC+Wells+Fargo+unauthorized+accounts&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

[rupy]

How silent are they asking those that bought it and have it, 52 db to me is not that silent.

It's silent if you compare it to anything in the same ballpark performance wise, but the machine has it's special quirks.

1) You cannot force the fan lower than 1200 rpm, if you use a low-noise 4-pin cable the controller will stop mining. This is really unfortunate as it would be completely silent at 800 rpm and still give ~4TH@300MHz!

2) The fan has irregular oscillations in speed/noise which are annoying to listen to. This is due to the low speed I'm running mine at and the fact that the fan roll is large and heavy.

That said at high speeds it's noisy but VERY silent compared to anything moving the same amount of air. Basically it doesn't become louder when you spin it up, only the air blow noise gets louder and that's hard to avoid.

All in all I'm very happy to exchange FIAT (that I honestly do not know what else to do with) for something that converts FIAT to BTC without KYC while heating for "free".

Mostly I'll use this to maintain temperature during winter while I'm away, and then I'll heat with wood which is a sound I prefer to listen to.

Edit: Variations can be reduced by the old classic "reduce vibrations through support" method. Fire hazard is better than bad vibes.

[sidehack]

FIAT (that I honestly do not know what else to do with)

Boy I wish I had that problem. Right now I'm in the middle of eight practically-unfunded design projects.