choosing between S9J or Avalon 851

[john139]

Hello Everyone.

It is 2 months since I have started mining ( 30 pcs of M3 ), now I am planning to add more 15 miners I narrowed down my choices regarding to my circumstances and result is: s9j or Avalon 851.

now I had some questions I will  be happy if u can help me about their quality and  performance ? ( without considering cost of electricity and miners price - I have done it my self just need some technical info )

1) which one of mentioned miners is more durable and reliable technically with less break down probability ? (I heard that s9 after few months face some problems like drop in the hashrate )

2) If you have used any of them please share your own experience ?

3) generally which one do u suggest and why ?

[PassThePopcorn]

1) Avalon's tend to be more durable and reliable. I've had far fewer problems with Avalons.

2) I've had fewer problems with Avalons to the point where I've only changed 1 fan out of 1000, out of new batches I do have a few that have board problems but haven't had a chance to investigate them, odds are a hashboard just needs to be re thermal pasted. S9's have been a crap shoot, I've probably had every problem you can think of with them, from fans to temperature sensors, sometimes the fix is easy sometimes it's not. I've even had half a batch of RMA's come back bad.

3) I'd suggest the Avalons for reliability, Bitmains tend to be a bit cheaper but if you can get them for around the same price definitely the Avalons.

[john139]

Well interesting point is that Avalons are cheaper, so no doubt best choice will be avalons.

[Daddy Cash]

i have both the s9 and avalon 851. i found the avalon 851 to be more finicky than the s9. more power hungry than the s9

[Artemis3]

Hello Everyone.

It is 2 months since I have started mining ( 30 pcs of M3 ), now I am planning to add more 15 miners I narrowed down my choices regarding to my circumstances and result is: s9j or Avalon 851.

now I had some questions I will  be happy if u can help me about their quality and  performance ? ( without considering cost of electricity and miners price - I have done it my self just need some technical info )

1) which one of mentioned miners is more durable and reliable technically with less break down probability ? (I heard that s9 after few months face some problems like drop in the hashrate )

2) If you have used any of them please share your own experience ?

3) generally which one do u suggest and why ?

For efficiency go with S9 with Braiins OS. The Avalons are less efficient, AND more finicky, AND require more effort setting (extra wiring, etc).

Obviously if you under-clock the S9 for maximum efficiency, it will probably last longer too. It is possible to downclock the Avalon as well, but its simply less efficient.

Since you mention M3s, i wonder why you haven't considered the M10, M20 and M21? Since you are already familiar with MicroBT...

[BitMaxz]

1) which one of mentioned miners is more durable and reliable technically with less break down probability ? (I heard that s9 after few months face some problems like drop in the hashrate )

I don't have much experienced on Avalon but in s9s it is still a good choice because my miner still alive and running. I think it depends on our hand how do we care our miner because I'm doing maintenance every 2 weeks removing all dust is very important because if your miner is full of dust the miner temp will become higher that might destroy any parts from your hashboards.

2) If you have used any of them please share your own experience ?

Just like what I said above I don't have experience on using Avalon miner but I'm sure other miners will recommend s9j because you can overclock it through SSH and reach 19th/s.

3) generally which one do u suggest and why ?

I already answered it above.

[john139]

Well, since I have access to cheap electricity, efficiency is the last thing I care about.

Importat factors for me are  being cheap and having higher TH as well as reliability and durability inorder to have better ROR , that is why I am not thinking about M20 , M10 or cutting edge miners, with same amount of  money I can buy few low efficiency miners which will sum up in more TH just I need more space to put them  which I am ok with it now.

[DaveF]

Depending on a few things the 841 might be better then the 851

If you look here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4811227.0 philipma1957 did a lot of testing on the 851, the 841 was just better all around.
Even if you have free power and free cooling it's still going to require more powerful psus

-Dave

[Steamtyme]

I tend to suggest Avalons personally. I've never had an issue with any that I bought new from distributor, and they have lasted me quite well. (741 and 841). They are also user friendly for repairs.

I never had/ran an 851, but they were much the same just poor efficiency and not as adjustable in the settings iirc. Bitmain has been given a poor name in quality, some out of the box some after running. It's hard to say how deserved it is, as they were the only show around for a while, so they obviously were the only ones getting trashed. That being said I have received a miner in less than ideal operating condition, and repairs weren't worth the extra cost.

I wanted to point out that it looks like you can buy 852's (never heard of the 852) good price for cheap electricity direct from Canaan . Normally there is a MOQ of 20 I believe for all their units but it doesn't show there at this time. Good luck with your venture.

[philipma1957]

The 841 was great gear
I sweated over the 851. And the 921

They both did not tune as well as the 841.

New firmware was made for both the 851 and the 921

Since I sold off my 851 I can not test it.

Since my 921 is 65 miles from my house and cost six dollars in tolls it will be a while before I test the new firmware if ever.

If it was a choice between s9 and 841  I would say either one is fine.

You need to look for info on the newer firmware.

Frodocooper may have the best info as he has kept up with the new software.

[PassThePopcorn]

The newest 851 firmware can get about 100w /th, still not as good as the S9 but awful close.

[Artemis3]

The newest 851 firmware can get about 100w /th, still not as good as the S9 but awful close.

And the S9 could do around 80w/th at 10T, using Braiins OS of course, as philipma1957 demonstrated already. (I somehow lost the post where he used 475Mhz @ 7.9v ish). the J model actually even has better yield asics...

IMO, and as much as i dislike Bitmain (but at least that is cured with Braiins OS) it is the better choice here, and because its used thats money they won't get anyway.

Avalon units don't like near 40°C ish ambient temperatures, and they officially lowered their max ambient temperature to 30°C. In the same place where several Avalon units failed, the S9s are still working. If your ambient temperature is never above 30°C, you have nothing to worry about.

[PassThePopcorn]

Haven't really messed with Braiins, but about to next week. Don't have many S9's but have plenty of Avalons. Their (S9's) average in LPM is around 95, this is with a sample of about 100 units, the Avalons seem to actually be doing better than 100, but power calculations are done on a large average so it's not the most accurate.

[kano]

IMO, and as much as i dislike Bitmain (but at least that is cured with Braiins OS) it is the better choice here, and because its used thats money they won't get anyway.

As the OP has stated, he has very low elec cost, so going for a lower hash rate wont be best for him ...

Well, since I have access to cheap electricity, efficiency is the last thing I care about.

Importat factors for me are  being cheap and having higher TH as well as reliability and durability inorder to have better ROR , that is why I am not thinking about M20 , M10 or cutting edge miners, with same amount of  money I can buy few low efficiency miners which will sum up in more TH just I need more space to put them  which I am ok with it now.

Though I think this thread has finished - he seemed to have pretty much decided.