ANTMINER S2 Discussion and Support Thread

[bcollan]

IMO Bitmain has done themselves a disservice by trying to build a 1TH miner with their existing ASICS.
As an EE and embedded software engineer I see these problems:

1. Bus based systems using card edge connectors - unreliable (see original IBM PC)
2. Beagle board is hobbyist grade - unreliable, known for SD card problems
3. Too many ASICS - unreliable
4. Shipping problems because of #1 above.

The S1 is rock solid because it was designed that way.

1. Two blades solidly attached to a metal frame and connected with ribbon cables.
2. Commercial quality controller in the TP-link

I assume (hope) Bitmain cobbled this together as a stop-gap while they ready their next gen ASICs.

Bitmain responded to customer demand.  Quite a number of people had issues trying to colo the S1 because of its form factor and expressed a strong desire for a contained 4U 1TH unit.  They (Bitmain) delivered.

As per your other points:

1.  I agree that there are and were issues with card edge connetors, but the industry still uses them at large.  Manufacturing and electrical component characteristics have come a long way since the 70's and 80's.

2.  I agree.

3.  Greater number of chips allows for redundency.  You can have a single ASIC fail in an S2 and be okay, if you have a Cointerra or HF unit and a chip fails, that's a large percentage of the machines achievable hashrate and would warrant an RMA. In the world of Bitcoin mining an RMA is a death knell.

4.  The shipping issues aren't a result of the card edge connectors, it's a result of deficiencies in the mechanical design and packaging.  Computers ship all over the world everyday with card edge connectors in place and arrive just fine.  IMO there was inadequate support for the guide rails, poor clearances (loose) between card edges and guides, and no mechanical lock securing each card.

Card edge connectors are still problematic IMO. Especially considering they are expected to survive the trip from China with ten relatively large, heavy boards. They are only used because they are cheap. If Bitmain puts in the mechanical components to beef up the card cage and card restraint they will loose the pennies they save over ribbons and DIL connectors. Even the ASICMiner Cube, which used a much superior system of card connection and restraint, had issues with cards needing to be reseated after the trip from China. BTW, the reason I mentioned the number of ASICs is because of the number of large, heavy boards they require.

[1714703433]

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[1714703433]

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[Syke]

All Bitmain needs to do is ship the hashing cards uninstalled and bubble-wrapped. The S2 is not designed to be shipped.

[bitcoin4eva]

I'm waiting for the price to drop, it just feels overpriced. 2800€ for 1TH when I can get S1's for 200-250€ each in Finland. For 1000-1250€ I can get 1TH of hashing power with S1's.

[krfighter]

Has anyone tried undervolting these things just like S1s? Or it would be pointless on these chips?

[rodeoclownicp]

hi so i posted on this thread when i got my 1th/s miner. i liked it alot, so i decided to try and buy some of the new script miners. well i wanted to warn everybody, i got ripped off. stay away from asiabtc and lightningasic, lightningasic.com, they are not honest they took my btc and then told me they changed their minds but were keeping my btc. i paid a little more for my 1th/s then others did, but at least i got it... if for some reason things change i will get back to you guys and let you know it worked out, but for now all i got is 1th/s miner which works perfect

[freebit13]

All Bitmain needs to do is ship the hashing cards uninstalled and bubble-wrapped. The S2 is not designed to be shipped.

Exactly! That's all, nothing too difficult 

[tzortz]

All Bitmain needs to do is ship the hashing cards uninstalled and bubble-wrapped. The S2 is not designed to be shipped.

Exactly! That's all, nothing too difficult 

Like KNC did, huh?

[Soros Shorts]

Has anyone tried undervolting these things just like S1s? Or it would be pointless on these chips?

They are already running at half the frequency of the S1 (196 MHz), probably right at the bottom end of the voltage range for the chips. I doubt that there is much more room for significant undervolting.

In the config file, there is a lower setting for 193 Mhz. If I got an S2 with a weak power supply I'd probably try this setting first before upgrading the power supply. 1 TH/s makes so little these days that a good $300+ PSU replacement could blow your ROI right out of the water.

[RoadStress]

price is still to high  

+1

S1s are now about $200 a pop. For those who are math challenged, that's $1200/TH unpowered or $1560/TH stock with ATX golds.

Sorry to say but price (including costs of PS) and power consumption is not the only means of comparison for product value between S1<>S2.

When Bitmain can also make the S2 as reliable as the S1 and ship it in working order to customers with a lower sale price then I will take notice.

IMO Bitmain has done themselves a disservice by trying to build a 1TH miner with their existing ASICS.
As an EE and embedded software engineer I see these problems:

1. Bus based systems using card edge connectors - unreliable (see original IBM PC)
2. Beagle board is hobbyist grade - unreliable, known for SD card problems
3. Too many ASICS - unreliable
4. Shipping problems because of #1 above.

The S1 is rock solid because it was designed that way.

1. Two blades solidly attached to a metal frame and connected with ribbon cables.
2. Commercial quality controller in the TP-link

I assume (hope) Bitmain cobbled this together as a stop-gap while they ready their next gen ASICs.

I still think S2 is the best option in the market considering the available options.

You really like to market your products. I think that the SP10 is a better choice versus S2. There!

[tzortz]

I cant believe anyone could compare the S2 to the SP10.

S2 is a hobbying product, that (if comes alive) you need to change every now and then a dozen SD cards and pray to wake it up.

Personally, I wouldn't mind much with that , rather than that Spondoolies has come cheaper with a better product.

I will stick with the SP10.

[nikolaz]

Guys, if you like to talk about SP10 vs S2, please start a new thread... Heck I might do that for you guys now... https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=600373

It is becoming very annoying to visit both threads for SP10 and S2, all I read is my dick is bigger than yours conversation.

[tzortz]

Nice idea.

[freebit13]

All Bitmain needs to do is ship the hashing cards uninstalled and bubble-wrapped. The S2 is not designed to be shipped.

Exactly! That's all, nothing too difficult 

Like KNC did, huh?

Sorry, I know nothing about KNC shipping, so I have no idea what you mean.

[tzortz]

All Bitmain needs to do is ship the hashing cards uninstalled and bubble-wrapped. The S2 is not designed to be shipped.

Exactly! That's all, nothing too difficult 

Like KNC did, huh?

Sorry, I know nothing about KNC shipping, so I have no idea what you mean.

Take a look here, http://youtu.be/UsPYcQlMlGk

Original message:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=170332.msg6601902#msg6601902

[freebit13]

^^^ That hurts ^^^

[elaramus]

I'm in for two of the batch 4 units... I'm hoping/praying/wishing for early shipment by Bitmain (remember the good old days?)

Received my tracking number this morning. No early shipping 

[nikolaz]

I am guessing my orders from yesterday will get processed and shipped tomorrow

[GaryL]

AntMiner I've ever seen doing the most beautiful rig, but also to sell the most expensive, mining back to this in the current difficult market situation.

[dlowings]

Has Bitmain come up with an Official response to all these issues I read about the SD card ? I would like 1 official guide on the Bitmain site that talks about handling this issue.. I have a S2 due to arrive any time and would like to be fully prepared to confront any issues I may have .

[BeZerKaNZ]

I must have been one of the last purchasers from Batch 3, I feel a little hard done by when they announce a 4th batch $600 lessor in price when they hadn't even dispatched my order yet... Anyway moving along, I don't if this has been raised but I'm curious about the Quality Assurance standards are with Bitmain. I just received my S2 and its been running for 8hrs now and I've been monitoring it for the last couple of hours and the hash rate has been falling about 10gh an hour for the last 3 hours and its now sitting @ 935GH/S (avg). What this the tolerance of hitting the target? Because >-5% doesn't seem acceptable.