ANTMINER S3+ Discussion and Support Thread

[bluecityste]

Hopefully it will remove the cost of shipping for those who have ordered previously......although I doubt it!

Still don't understand the cost though i.e. Batch 11 v Batch 9

2 units (delivered to UK):-
Batch 9   cost 1.160 Btc, at $500  =  $580
Batch 11 cost 1.663 Btc, at $397  =  $660

So, they are making more money today per S3 than they were over a month ago despite the fact that there product has lost value (gone from being slightly profitable to loss making for the majority of users).

Cost should be a maximum of 1.46 Btc ($580/$397) assuming same dollar equivilent cost.

BITMAIN - any explanation?

[1714644031]

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[1714644031]

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[pekatete]

Hopefully it will remove the cost of shipping for those who have ordered previously......although I doubt it!

Still don't understand the cost though i.e. Batch 11 v Batch 9

2 units (delivered to UK):-
Batch 9   cost 1.160 Btc, at $500  =  $580
Batch 11 cost 1.663 Btc, at $397  =  $660

So, they are making more money today per S3 than they were over a month ago despite the fact that there product has lost value (gone from being slightly profitable to loss making for the majority of users).

Cost should be a maximum of 1.46 Btc ($580/$397) assuming same dollar equivilent cost.

BITMAIN - any explanation?

+1
Hear! Hear!

[cloh76]

Now that the Bitcoin price is recovering, you think Bitmain will give us free shipping on the Batch 10 S3s?

Bitmain - hint hint nudge nudge!!

Not sure it was ever "free" just added into the price. You want it added back in again, I get it... I guess.

Yup, but when it was built in, it was still cheaper overall per unit. 

[bspurloc]

coupon is being issued

to whom? don't see any in my account

dont see any coupons either!

WOW!
EVGA just really crippled their 750 B1's they removed the the 2nd PCI-E direct wired cable so now it only has 3 PCI-E, funny thing is they didnt bother to change the Modular plug descriptions, they still say VGA3 and VGA4 and on the Box the Spanish section still says 4 PCI-E cables where the english says 3.
4 20amp rails still...
lame!

[bspurloc]

Hopefully it will remove the cost of shipping for those who have ordered previously......although I doubt it!

Still don't understand the cost though i.e. Batch 11 v Batch 9

2 units (delivered to UK):-
Batch 9   cost 1.160 Btc, at $500  =  $580
Batch 11 cost 1.663 Btc, at $397  =  $660

So, they are making more money today per S3 than they were over a month ago despite the fact that there product has lost value (gone from being slightly profitable to loss making for the majority of users).

Cost should be a maximum of 1.46 Btc ($580/$397) assuming same dollar equivilent cost.

BITMAIN - any explanation?

the new fancier lower price @ $400 btc is a $15 drop, the s/h costs they added on are $120.
So I would want at least a $100 coupon...

[bspurloc]

Man I hate these 2 S3's I have that wont mine at 500gh/s.
I put them at 250 and they mine at 470ish, put them at 243 and they mine at 492.

But after a few weeks I stare at them and think, why dont I try 250 again! so I try it and bam 470ish, then I put them back to 243 and they sit at 480 until I start stop cgminer a few times then they go back to 492.
  Maybe I should try restarting cgminer with them at 250... in a few weeks...

[CryptoGuy]

Man I hate these 2 S3's I have that wont mine at 500gh/s.
I put them at 250 and they mine at 470ish, put them at 243 and they mine at 492.

But after a few weeks I stare at them and think, why dont I try 250 again! so I try it and bam 470ish, then I put them back to 243 and they sit at 480 until I start stop cgminer a few times then they go back to 492.
  Maybe I should try restarting cgminer with them at 250... in a few weeks...

That's not bad. I've got 2 stuck at 440GH and won't go above 218.5 without killing it's hashes.

[bspurloc]

Man I hate these 2 S3's I have that wont mine at 500gh/s.
I put them at 250 and they mine at 470ish, put them at 243 and they mine at 492.

But after a few weeks I stare at them and think, why dont I try 250 again! so I try it and bam 470ish, then I put them back to 243 and they sit at 480 until I start stop cgminer a few times then they go back to 492.
  Maybe I should try restarting cgminer with them at 250... in a few weeks...

That's not bad. I've got 2 stuck at 440GH and won't go above 218.5 without killing it's hashes.

Do you get X's? if so did you try and redo the thermal paste on the chips? Arctic MX-4 non conductive is what I used on the upgrade kits which all run at 500 easy.
I'm not going to both repasting these 2 as its only 20gh/s loss

[Moria843]

Man I hate these 2 S3's I have that wont mine at 500gh/s.
I put them at 250 and they mine at 470ish, put them at 243 and they mine at 492.

But after a few weeks I stare at them and think, why dont I try 250 again! so I try it and bam 470ish, then I put them back to 243 and they sit at 480 until I start stop cgminer a few times then they go back to 492.
  Maybe I should try restarting cgminer with them at 250... in a few weeks...

I see the same thing. Solution - leave at 243, they hash faster and use less power. 

[cloh76]

HOw much power does an S3 use at 243 and 250?

[CryptoGuy]

Man I hate these 2 S3's I have that wont mine at 500gh/s.
I put them at 250 and they mine at 470ish, put them at 243 and they mine at 492.

But after a few weeks I stare at them and think, why dont I try 250 again! so I try it and bam 470ish, then I put them back to 243 and they sit at 480 until I start stop cgminer a few times then they go back to 492.
  Maybe I should try restarting cgminer with them at 250... in a few weeks...

That's not bad. I've got 2 stuck at 440GH and won't go above 218.5 without killing it's hashes.

Do you get X's? if so did you try and redo the thermal paste on the chips? Arctic MX-4 non conductive is what I used on the upgrade kits which all run at 500 easy.
I'm not going to both repasting these 2 as its only 20gh/s loss

They're from an early batch so I wasn't too worried about it since they weren't guaranteed above that anyway. I do get X's if I overclock them though, just 1 or 2 usually.

[Xian01]

Man I hate these 2 S3's I have that wont mine at 500gh/s.
I put them at 250 and they mine at 470ish, put them at 243 and they mine at 492.

You think that's bad ? You could be a batch 1 buyer that had 50% of his units unable to perform stably at 218.75mhz.

Have 3 units that can only run stably at 212.5mhz. Plan on getting around to re-pasting them in the near future to see if I can't improve things.

Ask me how annoyed I am. Especially when I emailed Bitmain early on in the S3 process and they assured me they would not be updating the S3's in the future to resolve the performance problems... And lo-and-behold the S3+ arrives a month later.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Bitmain, and more than 50% of my hash power comes from their devices, but the S3 launch did not go as well as the S1 launch, it appears the S4 launch (Don't own one) has been problematic, and given anecdotes I'm reading here, seems the community consensus is confirming my gut-feel: Bitmain is losing it's way

Funny that I'm thinking of circling back to AsicMiner products for my next miner purchase...

[Stratobitz]

Does repasting them really make a huge difference?

We bought a large lot of batch 7-9 and none of the units, except 1 dud out of 90, (Props to BMT for quickly responding for RMA) have issues running at 225. Some go to 250, and many in between.  Most run at 237.5 or 243.75.

Would repasting increase rates on the units that don't seem to like higher than 225 or 237.5 settings?

Seems like a lot of work with little return difference. Even at 225 the units give a solid 450-500 Hashrate.

Thanks,

Strato

[Biodom]

Does repasting them really make a huge difference?

We bought a large lot of batch 7-9 and none of the units, except 1 dud out of 90, (Props to BMT for quickly responding for RMA) have issues running at 225. Some go to 250, and many in between.  Most run at 237.5 or 243.75.

Would repasting increase rates on the units that don't seem to like higher than 225 or 237.5 settings?

Seems like a lot of work with little return difference. Even at 225 the units give a solid 450-500 Hashrate.

Thanks,

Strato

All this re-pasting is hugely overrated.
People re-paste, then switch miner on-it reports better numbers for a first 12 hours-and these fellows post giddily about it. They don't post that later it goes back to the same numbers as before or worse (due to possible reassembly errors). However, if you switch the miner off for a half an hour, it ALWAYS comes back slightly more perky than before, so essentially the re-pasting effect=placebo effect. I've done repasting with several compounds-and in no case there was any long term effect.
Granted, if the miner did not perform from the get go, then repasting might improve it, but it does not improve slightly underperforming miners-that is in most cases something else than paste.

[bspurloc]

Does repasting them really make a huge difference?
We bought a large lot of batch 7-9 and none of the units, except 1 dud out of 90, (Props to BMT for quickly responding for RMA) have issues running at 225. Some go to 250, and many in between.  Most run at 237.5 or 243.75.
Would repasting increase rates on the units that don't seem to like higher than 225 or 237.5 settings?
Seems like a lot of work with little return difference. Even at 225 the units give a solid 450-500 Hashrate.
Thanks,
Strato

only if the original job wasnt done properly and the only way to know that is by taking them apart to look. and remember to not use conductive paste!
When I did several upgrade kits I saw that the paste applied to the S1's wasnt really how I would apply it... basically it looks like they have a machine that sprays it by hand and they just spray it where ever in lines.

[bspurloc]

Bitmain,

  Where are the coupons? I see nothing.

[bspurloc]

Man I hate these 2 S3's I have that wont mine at 500gh/s.
I put them at 250 and they mine at 470ish, put them at 243 and they mine at 492.

You think that's bad ? You could be a batch 1 buyer that had 50% of his units unable to perform stably at 218.75mhz.

Have 3 units that can only run stably at 212.5mhz. Plan on getting around to re-pasting them in the near future to see if I can't improve things.

Ask me how annoyed I am. Especially when I emailed Bitmain early on in the S3 process and they assured me they would not be updating the S3's in the future to resolve the performance problems... And lo-and-behold the S3+ arrives a month later.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Bitmain, and more than 50% of my hash power comes from their devices, but the S3 launch did not go as well as the S1 launch, it appears the S4 launch (Don't own one) has been problematic, and given anecdotes I'm reading here, seems the community consensus is confirming my gut-feel: Bitmain is losing it's way

Funny that I'm thinking of circling back to AsicMiner products for my next miner purchase...

That is why I have been trying to stay away from the inital batches!!

The C1's however....  1th/s  1BTC seems fair, 800watts.... makes those s2 2th/s way too much money of course.

[praeluceo]

     AntMiner S3+ Batch 11 opens sale now, price has dropped to 0.535btc per unit, coupon is being issued

Any word on which batches get coupons, and for how much? I haven't seen any applied to my account yet, but it's been a while since I ordered S3+s, maybe it's only for those who were charged shipping? Maybe too few people actually paid that price for their S3s, and so no-one is chiming in as being burned by not getting a coupon, or to have said they got it? All 10 of you who ordered Batch #10 got your coupons already eh? And none of you visit BitcoinTalk perhaps...

Anyway, the price is too stinking high still, but it's at least cheaper than...Batch 8 now. Ugh, Batch 8 was barely profitable, I can't justify this pricing. To be the same price as the Prisma Tube, S3s would have to be 0.48 BTC -this week- (shipping inclusive, or 0.38 BTC before shipping). I like the S3 better than the Prisma, but my purchasing decisions aren't driving by "like", they're driven by BTC/GH/Watt, and right now the S3 is just too high at 1.268 BTC/TH.

[praeluceo]

Man I hate these 2 S3's I have that wont mine at 500gh/s.
I put them at 250 and they mine at 470ish, put them at 243 and they mine at 492.

You think that's bad ? You could be a batch 1 buyer that had 50% of his units unable to perform stably at 218.75mhz.

Have 3 units that can only run stably at 212.5mhz. Plan on getting around to re-pasting them in the near future to see if I can't improve things.

Ask me how annoyed I am. Especially when I emailed Bitmain early on in the S3 process and they assured me they would not be updating the S3's in the future to resolve the performance problems... And lo-and-behold the S3+ arrives a month later.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Bitmain, and more than 50% of my hash power comes from their devices, but the S3 launch did not go as well as the S1 launch, it appears the S4 launch (Don't own one) has been problematic, and given anecdotes I'm reading here, seems the community consensus is confirming my gut-feel: Bitmain is losing it's way

Funny that I'm thinking of circling back to AsicMiner products for my next miner purchase...

That is why I have been trying to stay away from the inital batches!!

The C1's however....  1th/s  1BTC seems fair, 800watts.... makes those s2 2th/s way too much money of course.

For kicks, I threw the C1 into my spreadsheet, I get 1.048 BTC shipped to my mining facility in the USA. This does not include a PSU (which I don't include in my other calculations, which slightly inflates the relative cost of the S4 & S2) or the water pump. Assuming a customer buys the water pump Bitmain recommends (which you'd be dumb not to), it's $50 (let's call it 0.13 BTC today). The end result in BTC/TH is:

Block Erupter Tube (10x):   0.9875
Block Erupter Prisma (10x):   1.0642857143
Antminer S3+ (10x):      1.2682119205
Antminer S4 (1x):      1.8475
Antminer C1 (1x):      1.178
S2 – Used (1x):         0.9484897125

So yes, the C1 is cheaper than the S4, and even the S3, but still not as cheap as the Prisma, and requires a considerably more involved setup, with higher risk of failure. I might get one for the novelty, and as hashrates increase air-cooling may end up being insufficient to be competitive, but at the moment, air-cooled hardware is still more competitive on a BTC/GH ratio, but not on a GH/Watt ratio (but how much power do the pump and fans draw for that TH? That may tip it back in favor of the Prisma).

It's intriguing, but having seen Cointerras in action, I'm not entirely excited about the prospect.

[bspurloc]

got my coupons!