How many boards can I use on one controller? Antminer S7

[1969mets]

Could I run 4 or more hash boards from the same controller? I know that more than 4 or 5 it would overheat pretty quick, but is it actually possible? There are 9 ports to plug in boards, so it seems like it should be.

Edit: Just saw a post saying I can. Is there any benefit in doing this besides decreasing electricity cost? Will it increase hash rate?

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[NotFuzzyWarm]

You are going to have to find the old S7 thread and sift through it. I think the early batches were able to run all of ports with sockets on them. Just need long enough data cables to reach the hash boards, someone here (Finsky?) sells/sold some at one time. Later on firmware limited the number of boards but think it still supports at least 4, probably for troubleshooting.

It does not stress the Beagle Bone controller but the BB just can't keep up with running a lot. Plus, why would you want to? Just adds complexity and makes for one huge failure point when the controller goes tits-up....

[1969mets]

You are going to have to find the old S7 thread and sift through it. I think the early batches were able to run all of ports with sockets on them. Just need long enough data cables to reach the hash boards. Later on firmware limited the number of boards but think it still supports at least 4, probably for troubleshooting.

It does not stress the Beagle Bone controller but the BB just can't keep up with running a lot. Plus, why would you want to? Just adds complexity and makes for one huge failure point when the controller goes tits-up....

yeah I was thinking that. The post said it makes it more efficient? is that true? Would the hash rate be higher?

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Save power?
Um, the controller only takes about 5w to run. Totally insignificant vs the 400-500w watts each hash board is sucking in...
Does each board hash faster? No reason it should and as I said, too many board and the controller starts choking.

Is the machine as a whole faster? Of course. Until it chokes is now a s7+ the additional boards.

[1969mets]

Save power?
Um, the controller only takes about 5w to run. Totally insignificant vs the 400-500w watts each hash board is sucking in...
Does each board hash faster? No reason it should and as I said, too many board and the controller starts choking.

Is the machine as a whole faster? Of course. Until it chokes is now a s7+ the additional boards.

yeah thats what I thought. Some people seem to be saying that running 6 boards to one controller would make it hash faster than 3 boards each to two controllers.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Can't see any reason 1 controller vs 2 would make it 'faster'. Like with the Avalons, the pool just sees the one controller and treats it as one big fast miner (worker). As a result the difficulty of work sent to it goes up to maintain whatever worker share rate per-min the pool tries to hold. Yes each share processed is 'worth' more but same end result: The effective hash rate you get paid for is the same as adding together any 2 or more individual workers.