ANTMINER S2 Discussion and Support Thread

[wpgdeez]

Let me do a little napkin math for you.

S2 today with $400 coupon = 1989 Shipped

Group Buy shipping in 10 days = 1650 Shipped

1Thash in 10 days will bring in a max of $240.71 at today's prices.

$1989-$241= $1798

You will save yourself $148 minimum by using the group buy instead since the difficulty will go up about half way through the 10 day period by the time you receive your order placed today. I would expect savings to be closer to the $220 range.

Buying direct from Bitmain will be attractive once the S2 prices reach $2150 before coupon.

[nikolaz]

Exactly this.

But it is strange, when you know exactly the total cost of your product, when changing the final price, means:

-Cost changes on daily basis
or
-Markup on cost changes purposely on a daily basis

I cannot believe that their cost changes on a daily basis.
I think it is most probable that they decrease their markup daily.

I cannot understand , though,  this strategy.

They are reducing the price gradually... I rather see the price drop slowly overtime...
Considering the price of SP30 - $11,995 was sold $4,995 per unit in RoadStress' awesome group buy... that is a difference of $6,000... Right there is a huge profit margin...

These guys are running a business and not out to do you a favor... So I don't blame both of the companies, if there is a demand people will pay for it... Welcome to capitalism...

[bspurloc]

BITMAIN YOU KNOW THIS IS A PROBLEM DO YOURSELF AND YOUR CUSTMOMERS A FAVOUR AND SHIP THE CARDS UNINSTALLED.

exactly. wrap the cards separate to be installed on arrival. but of course that would require possibly more space and have them trying to jam all the wrapped cards into the case creating problems of the cars corners eating thru the packing and damaging other things.

you would think after 4 items arrive damaged they would hire an Ape to toss a shipping box around until the outcome is no damage.

[dropt]

BITMAIN YOU KNOW THIS IS A PROBLEM DO YOURSELF AND YOUR CUSTMOMERS A FAVOUR AND SHIP THE CARDS UNINSTALLED.

exactly. wrap the cards separate to be installed on arrival. but of course that would require possibly more space and have them trying to jam all the wrapped cards into the case creating problems of the cars corners eating thru the packing and damaging other things.

you would think after 4 items arrive damaged they would hire an Ape to toss a shipping box around until the outcome is no damage.

All that needs to be done is adding braces to the card cage at the mid-point and re-evaluating the tolerances between the cards and the card cage.  If one wanted to go the extra mile, one could use the black foam from B2 (or whichever) on the bar that locks the cards down.

[opieum2]

BITMAIN YOU KNOW THIS IS A PROBLEM DO YOURSELF AND YOUR CUSTMOMERS A FAVOUR AND SHIP THE CARDS UNINSTALLED.

exactly. wrap the cards separate to be installed on arrival. but of course that would require possibly more space and have them trying to jam all the wrapped cards into the case creating problems of the cars corners eating thru the packing and damaging other things.

you would think after 4 items arrive damaged they would hire an Ape to toss a shipping box around until the outcome is no damage.

All that needs to be done is adding braces to the card cage at the mid-point and re-evaluating the tolerances between the cards and the card cage.  If one wanted to go the extra mile, one could use the black foam from B2 (or whichever) on the bar that locks the cards down.

Right I suggested something similar. A crossbar and possibly some kind of plexiglass to cover the cards...which also helps with airflow as well as it ducts it better. Cooling is improved.

[Biffa]

actually you all misinterpreted my point entirely, i am not pissed off at the discounts as such.

im pissed that each time they are just small enough to barely make a difference.

NOT ONCE have i thought, what a bargain!! Im in!!

its always. ffs, might as well.

and let us be fair, these products barely make the 'good' grade.



what group buy??

Well you don't have to buy one every time there is a price drop, you can wait for a couple of price drops till its worthwhile.

[CroverNo01]

BITMAIN YOU KNOW THIS IS A PROBLEM DO YOURSELF AND YOUR CUSTMOMERS A FAVOUR AND SHIP THE CARDS UNINSTALLED.

exactly. wrap the cards separate to be installed on arrival. but of course that would require possibly more space and have them trying to jam all the wrapped cards into the case creating problems of the cars corners eating thru the packing and damaging other things.

you would think after 4 items arrive damaged they would hire an Ape to toss a shipping box around until the outcome is no damage.

All that needs to be done is adding braces to the card cage at the mid-point and re-evaluating the tolerances between the cards and the card cage.  If one wanted to go the extra mile, one could use the black foam from B2 (or whichever) on the bar that locks the cards down.

Right I suggested something similar. A crossbar and possibly some kind of plexiglass to cover the cards...which also helps with airflow as well as it ducts it better. Cooling is improved.

Or just ship them like ASICMiner - Nice foam in the blades and backplane - Nice bit of DIY hardly diy just simple plug and play but yeah they need to update there design team or package team so much for QC Checks.... Or how it

[cloverme]

I've ordered a lot of hardware from Bitmain in the past and now I've got like 12 coupons on bitmain (6 for the S1 and 6 for the S2) and I see there's a donate button, does that mean I can transfer them to someone else? Has anyone done this... sorry for the slightly off-topic post.

[Biffa]

I've ordered a lot of hardware from Bitmain in the past and now I've got like 12 coupons on bitmain (6 for the S1 and 6 for the S2) and I see there's a donate button, does that mean I can transfer them to someone else? Has anyone done this... sorry for the slightly off-topic post.

No I think its on topic. Wanna do a test? PM me your Reciever ID and I'll send you a S1 coupon, and then you can send it back

[pjcltd]

I've ordered a lot of hardware from Bitmain in the past and now I've got like 12 coupons on bitmain (6 for the S1 and 6 for the S2) and I see there's a donate button, does that mean I can transfer them to someone else? Has anyone done this... sorry for the slightly off-topic post.

No I think its on topic. Wanna do a test? PM me your Reciever ID and I'll send you a S1 coupon, and then you can send it back

I have 5 S1 and a few S2 if you want to trade ?
user id is pjcltd

[xingqiaoyin]

Exactly this.

But it is strange, when you know exactly the total cost of your product, when changing the final price, means:

-Cost changes on daily basis
or
-Markup on cost changes purposely on a daily basis

I cannot believe that their cost changes on a daily basis.
I think it is most probable that they decrease their markup daily.

I cannot understand , though,  this strategy.

The cost of an iphone is 10 usd per piece that is what apple paid foxconn.
The bulk of the 199-10 = 189 is in paying for marketting gurus and r&d engineers.

The cost of building electronic in china is simply unbeatable an antminer s2 will cost no more than 500 usd to produce. The PSU cost is actually quite large in proportion to the hashing boards, add 150 usd to that 500 still cost 650 maybe, they are doing what a good company should be doing that is value-based pricing. There were people who'd pay 3000 usd for s2 back in march, their batch 1 sold in less than 24 hours why sell for less ? Maybe should've asked for more... as diff increases they can lower it bit by bit and still profit.

Remember they're still using the 55nm chips, and who knows maybe they populated them in a huge board to test run it for a month before repopulate them again  into s1 and s2 double time.

[MrTeal]

Exactly this.

But it is strange, when you know exactly the total cost of your product, when changing the final price, means:

-Cost changes on daily basis
or
-Markup on cost changes purposely on a daily basis

I cannot believe that their cost changes on a daily basis.
I think it is most probable that they decrease their markup daily.

I cannot understand , though,  this strategy.

The cost of an iphone is 10 usd per piece that is what apple paid foxconn.
The bulk of the 199-10 = 189 is in paying for marketting gurus and r&d engineers.

Are you sure you're not thinking of the iPhrone, made by Grapple? Because an iPhone definitely doesn't cost $10, and they don't charge anyone $200 for it. $200 is pretty much their cost.
https://technology.ihs.com/410378/iphone-5-carries-199-bom-virtual-teardown-reveals

[opieum2]

Right now bitmain has the cheapest (arguably) 1THs miners. It makes sense for them to do things this way. And they are lowering prices MUCH faster than their competitors which leads to more people buying their hardware, Its a savvy business move and we benefit from the lowered price. Their hardware works just fine. Could be packed better but overall just works. And that is the most important quality in all this. The ASIC market at the 1THs+  level is relatively small in terms of actual players (not counting non-shipping pre-orders like BFL and such). There are only a couple of real players in the field. And price is a huge competitive advantage.

If spondoolies lowered their prices to something comparable to bitmain they would dominate the market. But not likley as they are still in the very early stages of growth. bitmain is an established player and has the momentum needed to stay. spondoolies still has not even hit their year mark benchmark. Other competitors are in the same boat. Bitmain simply are the better value right now from a straight price point. This is disregarding all the other considerations in Ghs per watt and such.

[Biffa]

I've ordered a lot of hardware from Bitmain in the past and now I've got like 12 coupons on bitmain (6 for the S1 and 6 for the S2) and I see there's a donate button, does that mean I can transfer them to someone else? Has anyone done this... sorry for the slightly off-topic post.

No I think its on topic. Wanna do a test? PM me your Reciever ID and I'll send you a S1 coupon, and then you can send it back

I have 5 S1 and a few S2 if you want to trade ?
user id is pjcltd

I donated you 1 S1 coupon, let me know if you got it.

[Biffa]

Right now bitmain has the cheapest (arguably) 1THs miners. It makes sense for them to do things this way. And they are lowering prices MUCH faster than their competitors which leads to more people buying their hardware, Its a savvy business move and we benefit from the lowered price. Their hardware works just fine. Could be packed better but overall just works. And that is the most important quality in all this. The ASIC market at the 1THs+  level is relatively small in terms of actual players (not counting non-shipping pre-orders like BFL and such). There are only a couple of real players in the field. And price is a huge competitive advantage.

If spondoolies lowered their prices to something comparable to bitmain they would dominate the market. But not likley as they are still in the very early stages of growth. bitmain is an established player and has the momentum needed to stay. spondoolies still has not even hit their year mark benchmark. Other competitors are in the same boat. Bitmain simply are the better value right now from a straight price point. This is disregarding all the other considerations in Ghs per watt and such.

Also I imagine its a LOT more expensive to manufacture in Israel than it is in China. I think the markup on the Chinese units is substantially higher as well. This includes the A1 Dragon miners and the Bitmain ones.

[Biffa]

actually you all misinterpreted my point entirely, i am not pissed off at the discounts as such.

im pissed that each time they are just small enough to barely make a difference.

NOT ONCE have i thought, what a bargain!! Im in!!

its always. ffs, might as well.

and let us be fair, these products barely make the 'good' grade.



what group buy??

Well you don't have to buy one every time there is a price drop, you can wait for a couple of price drops till its worthwhile.

Closer but still not quite....


my point is... the discounts are so small that they pretty much cancel out the slight increase in profit by 'waiting' for a better deal.


its too fine basically.

i dont knock him/them for doing it, i would probly do the same.

 but its having your nose rubbed in the fact that 'he/they can do what they like'

and if you buy now its hardly worth it, and if you wait for the price to drop, the profit will have dropped too so they essentially cancel each other out.


AND - my batch 2 just started beepin out of teh blue while batch 4 and half a dozen S1 carried on regardless.

ive rebooted, ive reseated, i've reconnected, ive power cycled, ive dusted, ive pulled the sd, ive replaced the sd with the 1l1l1l1l1l1l img file...


it boots ok but no beep and 0GH & 0C

Didn't you also have trouble with one of you S1's not hashing?

Could be a network issue, I had trouble early on when I had a large farm of S1's and various other bits running on a Powerline network, they kept killing their own network connections and I'd have ants beeping all over the place.

[bonerfly]

If anyone would like an S2 $400 coupon, let me know your username on Bitmain and I'd be happy to shoot it over

[Biodom]

How much noise is produced by S2 at 1-2 ft distance? Preferably in db (using iOs or Android app).
Any high pitch noises?
Thanks.

[Biffa]

the S1s come and go. but pretty stable.

i have one that likes to hang and go bright solid green led on me - still uncertain what it means but its rare so i dont worry.

the s2 has been solid since i got it going and just as im typing this the fkr comes back to life for about 3 seconds...

up until today i was happy with its stability over anything else.

now its beeping at me again....

its annoying cos if it was the network it would affect them all.

and its just this one.


so far....

support told me the PSU's can overheat quite easily in the earlier batches, try running it with the PSU outside the case. Or with the case open and a fan pointed directly into the innards,

[eightcylinders]

First of all, let me say that I have been in this situation… The customer "IS" or needs to be responsible for a clear line of communication… Bitmain gave me their account number to do my RMA .. I all so found out that this was not acceptable in the US in order to generate a return label. I promptly emails Bitmain back and gave them a run down on the situation and they generated the return label on their end .. I was out only a 24 hour loss in return time.. The key to this whole mess is "communication" , and don't give up on that very critical key.. What I found is that Bitmain is their to help you IF you help them help you …….. Now you can be bull headed and say that its all on Bitmain but I'm sorry, in this situation if you want to get results you will have to do some of the leg work in the communication department .. I have several S1's and an S2 … I am happy with my product other then the fact that their is a VERY small ROI that I was well aware of Bitmain is by far better then a KNC or BFL in my opinion .. The only thing that was wrong with my S2 was a bad thermal reader on one card, and I can live with that… I do wish Bitmain had a local US parts house, but all in all I'm very happy with their service ..

I had the exact same issue on my RMA (previous post pages ago).  After getting a non-response from Bitmain I posted here and sent another e-mail, this time copying info@bitmaintech.com as well as the customer service rep who failed to respond.  Within a few hours they fixed the issue.

Bitmain's RMA procedures need to be improved (they should know to provide UPS labels for example, and tracking codes to include in the box so they know when they get the return back - my return somehow got lost in customs!).  

But agree with the above that Bitmain's customer service is excellent and always has been.  There are glitches like what I experienced and what the last few posters experienced, but keep at them and when you get the attention of the right person all will be resolved.