Bitmain Antminer S9 Review

[Tim@BQ]

For the past 12 months I have been studying up on crypto-currencies, especially bitcoin. And once I gained enough knowledge I decided to start mining bitcoin. My plan was to start with a small number of machines, and try to build up from there. So I purchased 16 Antminer S9’s, and built my mine. I have quite a lot of experience in IT networking so setting up a quality network was not an issue, and my business partner has the electrical experience to wire up our power needs. We also studied up on the air requirements, and designed a hot- aisle cold-aisle system, as well as figured out the best make-up air including the appropriate air pressures that would best serve the machines.

In my opinion, we setup an optimal environment for the machines to have a long life span, but the result was something quite different. Within a 2 week period of operations 16 out of 48 hash boards had died, and another 3 a couple of weeks later.

So I went through the warranty process with Bitmain, and the experience was a disaster. Not only did I have to pay for shipping to Hong Kong, but once Bitmain had tested the hash boards and decided that they were indeed faulty, they then sent us 16 used hash boards. I mean these hash boards had serious signs of deterioration, I thought I was being punked for sure, there were burn marks, significant build ups of dust and dirt, and really just awful all over. I sent them near new faulty hash boards, and they sent me years old pieces of trash that I admit did work, but many of which have died since, and not long after going back into operation.

Bitmain is the type of company that will sell you a faulty product to begin with, and replace it with used second hand equipment, from their own mine no doubt. But what’s amazing is that they think there is nothing wrong with that. In most western countries if you return a faulty product, the company will either repair it, or replace it with a new part. This whole experience just highlights the stark difference between the values of the west and east.

So in the end I won’t recoup all of my initial investment let alone make a profit with the machines, but it turns out that I’ve made money trading the mining rewards I have received, plus I’ve moved over into mining Dash instead, they are much better machines, and a much better crypto-currency as well. But a warning to anyone thinking about doing business with Bitmain, don’t! They will take your money gladly, and they'll even send you the machines, but you have no guarantee that the machines aren't faulty in the first place, and an absolute certainty that you'll get given crap in replacement of broken equipment. So just don’t expect them to have any basic sense of western business ethics or values.

I have also realized that many of the companies I have dealt with in China, but Bitmain especially, can be really quite arrogant. So don’t expect to be treated like an actual customer, expect something more along the lines of we’ll take your money, and then treat you like crap afterwards if you have any problems, much like an insurance company.

Oh, and if you happen to ignore my advice and end up speaking to a support person by the name of Quentin down the road somewhere, then I’m afraid you have reached the asshole that insurance companies usually throw at you when you make a claim. So best of luck with your endeavors either way!

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[kurbeks]

As always Bitmain at it's finest. Bitmain and it's owners ia cancer to all Crypto scene. Miners which break down like flies, Support for BU fork and list goes on and on., Feel bad for you and all who bought any of their recent miners (S9/T9/R4/L3)

[philipma1957]

As always Bitmain at it's finest. Bitmain and it's owners ia cancer to all Crypto scene. Miners which break down like flies, Support for BU fork and list goes on and on., Feel bad for you and all who bought any of their recent miners (S9/T9/R4/L3)

Bitmain has poor s9 and poor r4.

Can't say much about the t9 or l3 as

I do not own them.


As for the Bu fork or the segwit fork both are not so good .

And you should not bring it up in this thread.

[SA Bitcoin Brothers]

For the past 12 months I have been studying up on crypto-currencies, especially bitcoin. And once I gained enough knowledge I decided to start mining bitcoin. My plan was to start with a small number of machines, and try to build up from there. So I purchased 16 Antminer S9’s, and built my mine. I have quite a lot of experience in IT networking so setting up a quality network was not an issue, and my business partner has the electrical experience to wire up our power needs. We also studied up on the air requirements, and designed a hot- aisle cold-aisle system, as well as figured out the best make-up air including the appropriate air pressures that would best serve the machines.

In my opinion, we setup an optimal environment for the machines to have a long life span, but the result was something quite different. Within a 2 week period of operations 16 out of 48 hash boards had died, and another 3 a couple of weeks later.

So I went through the warranty process with Bitmain, and the experience was a disaster. Not only did I have to pay for shipping to Hong Kong, but once Bitmain had tested the hash boards and decided that they were indeed faulty, they then sent us 16 used hash boards. I mean these hash boards had serious signs of deterioration, I thought I was being punked for sure, there were burn marks, significant build ups of dust and dirt, and really just awful all over. I sent them near new faulty hash boards, and they sent me years old pieces of trash that I admit did work, but many of which have died since, and not long after going back into operation.

Bitmain is the type of company that will sell you a faulty product to begin with, and replace it with used second hand equipment, from their own mine no doubt. But what’s amazing is that they think there is nothing wrong with that. In most western countries if you return a faulty product, the company will either repair it, or replace it with a new part. This whole experience just highlights the stark difference between the values of the west and east.

So in the end I won’t recoup all of my initial investment let alone make a profit with the machines, but it turns out that I’ve made money trading the mining rewards I have received, plus I’ve moved over into mining Dash instead, they are much better machines, and a much better crypto-currency as well. But a warning to anyone thinking about doing business with Bitmain, don’t! They will take your money gladly, and they'll even send you the machines, but you have no guarantee that the machines aren't faulty in the first place, and an absolute certainty that you'll get given crap in replacement of broken equipment. So just don’t expect them to have any basic sense of western business ethics or values.

I have also realized that many of the companies I have dealt with in China, but Bitmain especially, can be really quite arrogant. So don’t expect to be treated like an actual customer, expect something more along the lines of we’ll take your money, and then treat you like crap afterwards if you have any problems, much like an insurance company.

Oh, and if you happen to ignore my advice and end up speaking to a support person by the name of Quentin down the road somewhere, then I’m afraid you have reached the asshole that insurance companies usually throw at you when you make a claim. So best of luck with your endeavors either way!

hi, can you please tell me what miners do you use for mining Dash? Thanks

[Tim@BQ]

For the past 12 months I have been studying up on crypto-currencies, especially bitcoin. And once I gained enough knowledge I decided to start mining bitcoin. My plan was to start with a small number of machines, and try to build up from there. So I purchased 16 Antminer S9’s, and built my mine. I have quite a lot of experience in IT networking so setting up a quality network was not an issue, and my business partner has the electrical experience to wire up our power needs. We also studied up on the air requirements, and designed a hot- aisle cold-aisle system, as well as figured out the best make-up air including the appropriate air pressures that would best serve the machines.

In my opinion, we setup an optimal environment for the machines to have a long life span, but the result was something quite different. Within a 2 week period of operations 16 out of 48 hash boards had died, and another 3 a couple of weeks later.

So I went through the warranty process with Bitmain, and the experience was a disaster. Not only did I have to pay for shipping to Hong Kong, but once Bitmain had tested the hash boards and decided that they were indeed faulty, they then sent us 16 used hash boards. I mean these hash boards had serious signs of deterioration, I thought I was being punked for sure, there were burn marks, significant build ups of dust and dirt, and really just awful all over. I sent them near new faulty hash boards, and they sent me years old pieces of trash that I admit did work, but many of which have died since, and not long after going back into operation.

Bitmain is the type of company that will sell you a faulty product to begin with, and replace it with used second hand equipment, from their own mine no doubt. But what’s amazing is that they think there is nothing wrong with that. In most western countries if you return a faulty product, the company will either repair it, or replace it with a new part. This whole experience just highlights the stark difference between the values of the west and east.

So in the end I won’t recoup all of my initial investment let alone make a profit with the machines, but it turns out that I’ve made money trading the mining rewards I have received, plus I’ve moved over into mining Dash instead, they are much better machines, and a much better crypto-currency as well. But a warning to anyone thinking about doing business with Bitmain, don’t! They will take your money gladly, and they'll even send you the machines, but you have no guarantee that the machines aren't faulty in the first place, and an absolute certainty that you'll get given crap in replacement of broken equipment. So just don’t expect them to have any basic sense of western business ethics or values.

I have also realized that many of the companies I have dealt with in China, but Bitmain especially, can be really quite arrogant. So don’t expect to be treated like an actual customer, expect something more along the lines of we’ll take your money, and then treat you like crap afterwards if you have any problems, much like an insurance company.

Oh, and if you happen to ignore my advice and end up speaking to a support person by the name of Quentin down the road somewhere, then I’m afraid you have reached the asshole that insurance companies usually throw at you when you make a claim. So best of luck with your endeavors either way!

hi, can you please tell me what miners do you use for mining Dash? Thanks

I'm using the Baikal 900 MH machines, they are good quality. I haven't had any issues with them. The only thing I wish they supported was static IP addresses, they only support DHCP. But apart from that a very good machine.

[fanatic26]

I'm using the Baikal 900 MH machines, they are good quality. I haven't had any issues with them. The only thing I wish they supported was static IP addresses, they only support DHCP. But apart from that a very good machine.

I had to read that twice to make sure I read it right. No static IP support? That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard all day.

[Tim@BQ]

I'm using the Baikal 900 MH machines, they are good quality. I haven't had any issues with them. The only thing I wish they supported was static IP addresses, they only support DHCP. But apart from that a very good machine.

I had to read that twice to make sure I read it right. No static IP support? That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard all day.

I would trade Static IP Support for a stable functioning machine any day of the week. Setting up a DHCP Server is not rocket science.

[Tim@BQ]

There goes another quality Bitmain hash board. What a rort these people are!

[Tim@BQ]

As always Bitmain at it's finest. Bitmain and it's owners ia cancer to all Crypto scene. Miners which break down like flies, Support for BU fork and list goes on and on., Feel bad for you and all who bought any of their recent miners (S9/T9/R4/L3)

Thanks. You're definitely right though! They seem to be a blight on the industry. I wonder how Bitcoin will survive with these charlatans running a muck...

[GWhisper]

What makes you believe your original hash board were new?

[Tim@BQ]

What makes you believe your original hash board were new?

Good question! It's very possible that they weren't. I have long suspected that when Bitmain first manufactures their machines they run them in their own mine for a certain period of time, and then pass them off to their customers. Maybe the bigger miners get the least worked machines because they spend the most money, and the smaller purchasers get given the older machines with very little life span left. And if you claim warranty then maybe the boards they send you have even less life span, which seems to be the case with my replacements. It's a pretty good racket when you think about it. It's the perfect way to get rid of their old stock, because the machines are useless past a certain point.

I have heard that there is a lot of corruption in China, and I would not put something like this past Bitmain. They are either doing this, or just selling a very low quality product. Either way, they cannot be trusted.   

[kurbeks]

As always Bitmain at it's finest. Bitmain and it's owners ia cancer to all Crypto scene. Miners which break down like flies, Support for BU fork and list goes on and on., Feel bad for you and all who bought any of their recent miners (S9/T9/R4/L3)

Bitmain has poor s9 and poor r4.

Can't say much about the t9 or l3 as

I do not own them.


As for the Bu fork or the segwit fork both are not so good .

And you should not bring it up in this thread.

L3 is exactly same as you can read in forum. Also several users complained about T9 also.

[Dibblah]

What makes you believe your original hash board were new?

Good question! It's very possible that they weren't. I have long suspected that when Bitmain first manufactures their machines they run them in their own mine for a certain period of time, and then pass them off to their customers. Maybe the bigger miners get the least worked machines because they spend the most money, and the smaller purchasers get given the older machines with very little life span left. And if you claim warranty then maybe the boards they send you have even less life span, which seems to be the case with my replacements. It's a pretty good racket when you think about it. It's the perfect way to get rid of their old stock, because the machines are useless past a certain point.

I have heard that there is a lot of corruption in China, and I would not put something like this past Bitmain. They are either doing this, or just selling a very low quality product. Either way, they cannot be trusted.   

I would strongly doubt that, however, even if it was true they would be doing you a big favour from this.

The bathtub curve of failure is very real - especially with hot, dense, heavy things like the Antminer S7/9. I'd personally prefer that the heatsinks fall off in their datacenter than my house, for example. Although that hasn't been too much of an issue so far as I have seen recently (black goo is far better than white stuff).

Hardware doesn't "degrade" if it's used in a reasonable environment and isn't initially faulty - it fails because something goes wrong. Too much dust, too many power spikes, someone breathed on it the wrong way, etc. Or because a manufacturing flaw was exacerbated by any of the above.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

As always Bitmain at it's finest. Bitmain and it's owners ia cancer to all Crypto scene. Miners which break down like flies, Support for BU fork and list goes on and on., Feel bad for you and all who bought any of their recent miners (S9/T9/R4/L3)

Bitmain has poor s9 and poor r4.
Can't say much about the t9 or l3 as
I do not own them.
<snip>

L3 is exactly same as you can read in forum. Also several users complained about T9 also.

re: T9's
Just *where* has anyone had a complaint about the T9's aside from price/power/noise?
I've pretty much diligently followed the Bitmain T9 thread an cannot recall a single problem with them. That statement requires proof so link please?

[fanatic26]

As part of my job I follow all complaints/critiques/opinions about miners and take it into account when purchasing. The T9 complaints I have seen all fall under the category of user error and not hardware error. If anyone has an actual issue with T9s please let us hear about it.

[Tim@BQ]

I would strongly doubt that, however, even if it was true they would be doing you a big favour from this.

I seriously doubt they would be doing me a favour. The conditions of Bitmain's mine might not be operating in reasonable conditions, and such could cause degradation. And running the machines in their own mine for a certain amount of time could diminish the machines life capacity. Then sending the same machines off to a customer who does operate in a reasonable environment would be setting that customer up to fail. So in my mind there are no favours given.

But I take your point about the bathtub curve of failure, that is a possible reason for my situation. Or to quote NotFuzzyWarm from another post "To squeeze out the highest possible yield of the 16nm chips Bitmain has seriously widened the QA window for what are "usable" vs good vs Prime chips". This is another possibility. Whichever the reason, Bitmain in my view cannot be trusted to provide a quality product, or a quality customer service for that matter.   

[NotFuzzyWarm]

First off, The few times I've had to use Factory Warranty service it all went perfectly. One was a DOA s7, promptly replaced with a new one (yes I checked it out) after they got the dead one in China. 3 other times were dead boards, all promptly replaced.

Still, that said: Their Warranty policy is my prime complaint with them.
Specifically:
1) cost. Cheapest UPS International to them for 1 hash board was around $90. The DOA s7 - $140. Ouch.
2) The Declared Value for Customs issue. This is HUGE.
I understand *why* they say to declare under US $40. It's to drastically speed up processing into China. However if the package goes a-wandering... Yer boned.

Point-2 is why I now always use Bitmain Warranty in CO for repairs - even for miners still under Factory Warranty. Yes BW in CO is strictly PAID service however even with me having a board insured for full value of $450 it still only cost $25 to ship it to them. Don't care that a typ repair cost is around $140, full value coverage is worth it.

[Tim@BQ]

First off, The few times I've had to use Factory Warranty service it all went perfectly. One was a DOA s7, promptly replaced with a new one (yes I checked it out) after they got the dead one in China. 3 other times were dead boards, all promptly replaced.

It makes me wonder if the quality of service and product depends on the size of your purchase. Bitmain would no doubt be reluctant to send larger customers crappy products and they definitely wouldn't treat them like crap as well.

To your others points, yeah those are definitely issues that Bitmain should have sorted out long ago if they had any type of professionalism.

[mattymatt]

But a warning to anyone thinking about doing business with Bitmain, don’t!

I've been looking into setting up my own mining rig and I'm at the point of choosing a machine as well as which coin to focus on, but after reading your review and many other bad reviews, I think I'll stay clear of Bitmain. Do you or anyone else know of any other companies that sell bitcoin asics? That actually have a good reputation I mean...   

[Tim@BQ]

But a warning to anyone thinking about doing business with Bitmain, don’t!

I've been looking into setting up my own mining rig and I'm at the point of choosing a machine as well as which coin to focus on, but after reading your review and many other bad reviews, I think I'll stay clear of Bitmain. Do you or anyone else know of any other companies that sell bitcoin asics? That actually have a good reputation I mean...   

Bitmain's quality and customer service is definitely crap and your doing yourself a favor by staying away from them. As far as other sellers, I was originally looking at www.bw.com, but they wanted a minimum of 1 PH order from memory. I'm not sure if they still sell actual machines, I think they are getting into cloud mining now.