ANTMINER S3+ Discussion and Support Thread

[sixteendigits]

I'm having a hard time with this...

I certainly WANT to buy up a number of these...I even was ready to pull the trigger on another rack at my co-lo here for the hosting.

But running the numbers I'm having 0 luck making it make sense...
I'm seeing positive returns die after 4 months, with maybe 60-70% of the initial cost being recouped (after electricity costs) before they would need to be shut down. Even if I ran them at home with a slightly lower hosting cost it's a no-go.

Is anyone able to pull together numbers that make sense? Or are we rushing to buy these because we want new toys?

And remember...the argument of buying them in the hopes of BTC skyrocketing just means you may as well spend your money on more coins, or holding the ones you have...

Start mining as soon as you get the S3, and keep tabs on what they are selling for around the web... From my experience, mining for 50%-75% of the miners life on full tilt or OC'd if possible gives you enough coin (barring no crazy drops in value) that you can then sell the miner for some profit.. I have done this with a few 1TH+ machines and it has yet to fail. I'm hoping the same is true with smaller power, more in demand antminers..


Edit: this is my first time buying new, so it might not work out. In the past i've bought used, mined for a few weeks then flipped for the same price i paid on ebay. They  pay crazy prices over there, just factor in ebay and paypal fees.

This is pretty much my strategy with all ASICs.  If you want until it doesn't even pay for it's electricity anymore, NOTHING is gonna ROI.  Give your S3 a good home for a few months while the hashrate it offers is somewhat respectable, then sell it at an inflated price to some dummy on ebay who doesn't realize it is nearly obsolete hardware.  If you wait until it isn't paying for it's own electricity anymore, the market is flooded with them.  Gotta beat the other miners to the 2nd hand market.  Kinda takes a long time to see any sort of return and it's not much, but it gives me a new toy to play with for a few months and earns me a few hundred bucks or a fraction of a BTC in the end, so what the hell.

Of course this is tough to do if your goal is investing big in hardware.  I'm just a small time miner, it'll be easy for me to sell off my 2 S3's in a few months.  Now if you had hundreds of them.....yeah it's a pretty bad investment.

[bjalbert]

I'm having a hard time with this...

I certainly WANT to buy up a number of these...I even was ready to pull the trigger on another rack at my co-lo here for the hosting.

But running the numbers I'm having 0 luck making it make sense...
I'm seeing positive returns die after 4 months, with maybe 60-70% of the initial cost being recouped (after electricity costs) before they would need to be shut down. Even if I ran them at home with a slightly lower hosting cost it's a no-go.

Is anyone able to pull together numbers that make sense? Or are we rushing to buy these because we want new toys?

And remember...the argument of buying them in the hopes of BTC skyrocketing just means you may as well spend your money on more coins, or holding the ones you have...

Start mining as soon as you get the S3, and keep tabs on what they are selling for around the web... From my experience, mining for 50%-75% of the miners life on full tilt or OC'd if possible gives you enough coin (barring no crazy drops in value) that you can then sell the miner for some profit.. I have done this with a few 1TH+ machines and it has yet to fail. I'm hoping the same is true with smaller power, more in demand antminers..


Edit: this is my first time buying new, so it might not work out. In the past i've bought used, mined for a few weeks then flipped for the same price i paid on ebay. They  pay crazy prices over there, just factor in ebay and paypal fees.

This is pretty much my strategy with all ASICs.  If you want until it doesn't even pay for it's electricity anymore, NOTHING is gonna ROI.  Give your S3 a good home for a few months while the hashrate it offers is somewhat respectable, then sell it at an inflated price to some dummy on ebay who doesn't realize it is nearly obsolete hardware.  If you wait until it isn't paying for it's own electricity anymore, the market is flooded with them.  Gotta beat the other miners to the 2nd hand market.  Kinda takes a long time to see any sort of return and it's not much, but it gives me a new toy to play with for a few months and earns me a few hundred bucks or a fraction of a BTC in the end, so what the hell.

Of course this is tough to do if your goal is investing big in hardware.  I'm just a small time miner, it'll be easy for me to sell off my 2 S3's in a few months.  Now if you had hundreds of them.....yeah it's a pretty bad investment.

Same thing here for the most part once 80 amp panel is maxed I swap out S1s for S3s. Sell on ebay for realized profit. I have been reinvesting BTC into equipment and it is a race to stay ahead. I mostly see money on stuff I sell except I have taken out a couple grand.

[contactlight]

I'm having a hard time with this...

I certainly WANT to buy up a number of these...I even was ready to pull the trigger on another rack at my co-lo here for the hosting.

But running the numbers I'm having 0 luck making it make sense...
I'm seeing positive returns die after 4 months, with maybe 60-70% of the initial cost being recouped (after electricity costs) before they would need to be shut down. Even if I ran them at home with a slightly lower hosting cost it's a no-go.

Is anyone able to pull together numbers that make sense? Or are we rushing to buy these because we want new toys?

And remember...the argument of buying them in the hopes of BTC skyrocketing just means you may as well spend your money on more coins, or holding the ones you have...

Start mining as soon as you get the S3, and keep tabs on what they are selling for around the web... From my experience, mining for 50%-75% of the miners life on full tilt or OC'd if possible gives you enough coin (barring no crazy drops in value) that you can then sell the miner for some profit.. I have done this with a few 1TH+ machines and it has yet to fail. I'm hoping the same is true with smaller power, more in demand antminers..


Edit: this is my first time buying new, so it might not work out. In the past i've bought used, mined for a few weeks then flipped for the same price i paid on ebay. They  pay crazy prices over there, just factor in ebay and paypal fees.

This is pretty much my strategy with all ASICs.  If you want until it doesn't even pay for it's electricity anymore, NOTHING is gonna ROI.  Give your S3 a good home for a few months while the hashrate it offers is somewhat respectable, then sell it at an inflated price to some dummy on ebay who doesn't realize it is nearly obsolete hardware.  If you wait until it isn't paying for it's own electricity anymore, the market is flooded with them.  Gotta beat the other miners to the 2nd hand market.  Kinda takes a long time to see any sort of return and it's not much, but it gives me a new toy to play with for a few months and earns me a few hundred bucks or a fraction of a BTC in the end, so what the hell.

Of course this is tough to do if your goal is investing big in hardware.  I'm just a small time miner, it'll be easy for me to sell off my 2 S3's in a few months.  Now if you had hundreds of them.....yeah it's a pretty bad investment.

Exactly my thinking.

[lowbander80]

See ebay item I dont know how but they have more pictures of the S3 than Bitmain itself

231272033301

Bitmain,

Any chance of getting some pics of the business end of an S3?  I would like to see the connectors, etc. so I am ready to plug in when they start shipping.

You guys are just kidding about the July 10 (if not later) date right?  You are really planning to box em up and ship on the 5th or 6th RIGHT?? lol

ig

[newguy05]

Hi, if my order says

Paid
Unshipped
Valid

That means it's all good right? just need to wait for bitmain to ship

[contactlight]

Hi, if my order says

Paid
Unshipped
Valid

That means it's all good right? just need to wait for bitmain to ship

Yes

[sixteendigits]

The fact that bitmain has included 2 extra pci-e connectors solely for purposes of overclocking, and they are hyping how cool, quiet, and efficient they are, leads me to believe these little guys may have a lot of headroom when it comes to overclocking.  S1 saw an increase in hashrate of around 10% when overclocked.  Say the S3 can overclock ~20% higher hashrate, now you are in the 560-570 ghs range.  That is starting to sound like a pretty good deal for .75 BTC.

Of course this is all conjecture, but plausible.  Hmmmm.....it is taking a lot of willpower to not open my BTC wallet and order 2 more right now.

[sikke]

See ebay item I dont know how but they have more pictures of the S3 than Bitmain itself

231272033301

Bitmain,

Any chance of getting some pics of the business end of an S3?  I would like to see the connectors, etc. so I am ready to plug in when they start shipping.

You guys are just kidding about the July 10 (if not later) date right?  You are really planning to box em up and ship on the 5th or 6th RIGHT?? lol

ig

Looks like that is Bitmain factory ebay account.

http://www.ebay.com/usr/bitmain.antminer?

[allcoinminer]

The fact that bitmain has included 2 extra pci-e connectors solely for purposes of overclocking, and they are hyping how cool, quiet, and efficient they are, leads me to believe these little guys may have a lot of headroom when it comes to overclocking.  S1 saw an increase in hashrate of around 10% when overclocked.  Say the S3 can overclock ~20% higher hashrate, now you are in the 560-570 ghs range.  That is starting to sound like a pretty good deal for .75 BTC.

Of course this is all conjecture, but plausible.  Hmmmm.....it is taking a lot of willpower to not open my BTC wallet and order 2 more right now.

As per the datasheet values below, S3 can be overclocked to 504Ghs and further to 554Ghs.
The stock clock speed is set in between 225M and 250M and voltage per chip lies in between 0.72Vand 0.75V per chip (366W/S3).
When overclocking to 504Ghs it will be consuming around 390W at 250M Clockspeed.
And when overclocking to 554Ghs the clock speed might be 275M and power consumption around  488Watts.
Further overclocking may not be possible, everything lies in finding the sweet spot frequency.
Take a look at DC-DC converters, they are a lot in nos, do you have any idea? Even this new chip consumes lower voltage than S1.

S3 Datasheet Values
Voltage(V) | Hash Rate(GH/s) | Current(A) | Total power(W) | W/GH
0.72                14.18                 10.40             7.49             0.528
0.75                15.75                 12.24             9.18             0.583
0.80                17.33                 15.20            12.16            0.702
0.85                17.33                 20.00            17.00            0.981

Clock Freq. (M)|Hash rate (G)|Reg. value|Ideal delay (ms)|Recommend delay (ms)
100                      6.30              0783          42.6                    38
125                      7.88              0983          34.0                    31
150                      9.45              0b83          28.4                    26
175                    11.03               0d83         24.3                    22
200                    12.60               0782         21.3                    19
225                    14.18               0882         18.9                    17
250                    15.75               0982         17.0                    15
275                    17.33               0a82         15.5                    14
300                    18.90               0b82         14.2                    13
325                    20.48               0c82         13.1                    12
350                    22.05               0d82         12.2                    11
375                    23.63               0e82         11.3                    10
400                    25.20               08f2         10.6                     10

[sixteendigits]

The fact that bitmain has included 2 extra pci-e connectors solely for purposes of overclocking, and they are hyping how cool, quiet, and efficient they are, leads me to believe these little guys may have a lot of headroom when it comes to overclocking.  S1 saw an increase in hashrate of around 10% when overclocked.  Say the S3 can overclock ~20% higher hashrate, now you are in the 560-570 ghs range.  That is starting to sound like a pretty good deal for .75 BTC.

Of course this is all conjecture, but plausible.  Hmmmm.....it is taking a lot of willpower to not open my BTC wallet and order 2 more right now.

As per the datasheet values below, S3 can be overclocked to 504Ghs and further to 554Ghs.
The stock clock speed is set in between 225M and 250M and voltage per chip lies in between 0.72Vand 0.75V per chip (366W/S3).
When overclocking to 504Ghs it will be consuming around 390W at 250M Clockspeed.
And when overclocking to 554Ghs the clock speed might be 275M and power consumption around  488Watts.
Further overclocking may not be possible, everything lies in finding the sweet spot frequency.
Take a look at DC-DC converters, they are a lot in nos, do you have any idea? Even this new chip consumes lower voltage than S1.

S3 Datasheet Values
Voltage(V) | Hash Rate(GH/s) | Current(A) | Total power(W) | W/GH
0.72                14.18                 10.40             7.49             0.528
0.75                15.75                 12.24             9.18             0.583
0.80                17.33                 15.20            12.16            0.702
0.85                17.33                 20.00            17.00            0.981

Clock Freq. (M)|Hash rate (G)|Reg. value|Ideal delay (ms)|Recommend delay (ms)
100                      6.30              0783          42.6                    38
125                      7.88              0983          34.0                    31
150                      9.45              0b83          28.4                    26
175                    11.03               0d83         24.3                    22
200                    12.60               0782         21.3                    19
225                    14.18               0882         18.9                    17
250                    15.75               0982         17.0                    15
275                    17.33               0a82         15.5                    14
300                    18.90               0b82         14.2                    13
325                    20.48               0c82         13.1                    12
350                    22.05               0d82         12.2                    11
375                    23.63               0e82         11.3                    10
400                    25.20               08f2         10.6                     10

Ahhh...I hadn't seen this data sheet.  Thanks.

Well, it seems that 500ghs+ is virtually guaranteed.  So we are looking at a bare minimum of a terahash for 1.5 BTC, or approx. 975$ at the moment I am typing this.

It may not ROI, it may not be shipping for another 9 days, but if you want to buy a SHA-256 miner, there is nothing else on the market right now that can touch the S3.

[Pistachio]

The fact that bitmain has included 2 extra pci-e connectors solely for purposes of overclocking, and they are hyping how cool, quiet, and efficient they are, leads me to believe these little guys may have a lot of headroom when it comes to overclocking.  S1 saw an increase in hashrate of around 10% when overclocked.  Say the S3 can overclock ~20% higher hashrate, now you are in the 560-570 ghs range.  That is starting to sound like a pretty good deal for .75 BTC.

Of course this is all conjecture, but plausible.  Hmmmm.....it is taking a lot of willpower to not open my BTC wallet and order 2 more right now.

As per the datasheet values below, S3 can be overclocked to 504Ghs and further to 554Ghs.
The stock clock speed is set in between 225M and 250M and voltage per chip lies in between 0.72Vand 0.75V per chip (366W/S3).
When overclocking to 504Ghs it will be consuming around 390W at 250M Clockspeed.
And when overclocking to 554Ghs the clock speed might be 275M and power consumption around  488Watts.
Further overclocking may not be possible, everything lies in finding the sweet spot frequency.
Take a look at DC-DC converters, they are a lot in nos, do you have any idea? Even this new chip consumes lower voltage than S1.

S3 Datasheet Values
Voltage(V) | Hash Rate(GH/s) | Current(A) | Total power(W) | W/GH
0.72                14.18                 10.40             7.49             0.528
0.75                15.75                 12.24             9.18             0.583
0.80                17.33                 15.20            12.16            0.702
0.85                17.33                 20.00            17.00            0.981

Clock Freq. (M)|Hash rate (G)|Reg. value|Ideal delay (ms)|Recommend delay (ms)
100                      6.30              0783          42.6                    38
125                      7.88              0983          34.0                    31
150                      9.45              0b83          28.4                    26
175                    11.03               0d83         24.3                    22
200                    12.60               0782         21.3                    19
225                    14.18               0882         18.9                    17
250                    15.75               0982         17.0                    15
275                    17.33               0a82         15.5                    14
300                    18.90               0b82         14.2                    13
325                    20.48               0c82         13.1                    12
350                    22.05               0d82         12.2                    11
375                    23.63               0e82         11.3                    10
400                    25.20               08f2         10.6                     10

Based on this chart, could a Corssair CX750 with 62amp handle two of these without overclock? I am trying to see if I should try to double up.

[kpitti]

The fact that bitmain has included 2 extra pci-e connectors solely for purposes of overclocking, and they are hyping how cool, quiet, and efficient they are, leads me to believe these little guys may have a lot of headroom when it comes to overclocking.  S1 saw an increase in hashrate of around 10% when overclocked.  Say the S3 can overclock ~20% higher hashrate, now you are in the 560-570 ghs range.  That is starting to sound like a pretty good deal for .75 BTC.

Of course this is all conjecture, but plausible.  Hmmmm.....it is taking a lot of willpower to not open my BTC wallet and order 2 more right now.

As per the datasheet values below, S3 can be overclocked to 504Ghs and further to 554Ghs.
The stock clock speed is set in between 225M and 250M and voltage per chip lies in between 0.72Vand 0.75V per chip (366W/S3).
When overclocking to 504Ghs it will be consuming around 390W at 250M Clockspeed.
And when overclocking to 554Ghs the clock speed might be 275M and power consumption around  488Watts.
Further overclocking may not be possible, everything lies in finding the sweet spot frequency.
Take a look at DC-DC converters, they are a lot in nos, do you have any idea? Even this new chip consumes lower voltage than S1.

S3 Datasheet Values
Voltage(V) | Hash Rate(GH/s) | Current(A) | Total power(W) | W/GH
0.72                14.18                 10.40             7.49             0.528
0.75                15.75                 12.24             9.18             0.583
0.80                17.33                 15.20            12.16            0.702
0.85                17.33                 20.00            17.00            0.981

Clock Freq. (M)|Hash rate (G)|Reg. value|Ideal delay (ms)|Recommend delay (ms)
100                      6.30              0783          42.6                    38
125                      7.88              0983          34.0                    31
150                      9.45              0b83          28.4                    26
175                    11.03               0d83         24.3                    22
200                    12.60               0782         21.3                    19
225                    14.18               0882         18.9                    17
250                    15.75               0982         17.0                    15
275                    17.33               0a82         15.5                    14
300                    18.90               0b82         14.2                    13
325                    20.48               0c82         13.1                    12
350                    22.05               0d82         12.2                    11
375                    23.63               0e82         11.3                    10
400                    25.20               08f2         10.6                     10

Based on this chart, could a Corssair CX750 with 62amp handle two of these without overclock? I am trying to see if I should try to double up.

It is my question as well, what PSU to choose? Any idea?

[allcoinminer]

The fact that bitmain has included 2 extra pci-e connectors solely for purposes of overclocking, and they are hyping how cool, quiet, and efficient they are, leads me to believe these little guys may have a lot of headroom when it comes to overclocking.  S1 saw an increase in hashrate of around 10% when overclocked.  Say the S3 can overclock ~20% higher hashrate, now you are in the 560-570 ghs range.  That is starting to sound like a pretty good deal for .75 BTC.

Of course this is all conjecture, but plausible.  Hmmmm.....it is taking a lot of willpower to not open my BTC wallet and order 2 more right now.

As per the datasheet values below, S3 can be overclocked to 504Ghs and further to 554Ghs.
The stock clock speed is set in between 225M and 250M and voltage per chip lies in between 0.72Vand 0.75V per chip (366W/S3).
When overclocking to 504Ghs it will be consuming around 390W at 250M Clockspeed.
And when overclocking to 554Ghs the clock speed might be 275M and power consumption around  488Watts.
Further overclocking may not be possible, everything lies in finding the sweet spot frequency.
Take a look at DC-DC converters, they are a lot in nos, do you have any idea? Even this new chip consumes lower voltage than S1.

S3 Datasheet Values
Voltage(V) | Hash Rate(GH/s) | Current(A) | Total power(W) | W/GH
0.72                14.18                 10.40             7.49             0.528
0.75                15.75                 12.24             9.18             0.583
0.80                17.33                 15.20            12.16            0.702
0.85                17.33                 20.00            17.00            0.981

Clock Freq. (M)|Hash rate (G)|Reg. value|Ideal delay (ms)|Recommend delay (ms)
100                      6.30              0783          42.6                    38
125                      7.88              0983          34.0                    31
150                      9.45              0b83          28.4                    26
175                    11.03               0d83         24.3                    22
200                    12.60               0782         21.3                    19
225                    14.18               0882         18.9                    17
250                    15.75               0982         17.0                    15
275                    17.33               0a82         15.5                    14
300                    18.90               0b82         14.2                    13
325                    20.48               0c82         13.1                    12
350                    22.05               0d82         12.2                    11
375                    23.63               0e82         11.3                    10
400                    25.20               08f2         10.6                     10

Based on this chart, could a Corssair CX750 with 62amp handle two of these without overclock? I am trying to see if I should try to double up.

It can run but that will be an overkill. Should allow some margin of safety when running 24/7.
So not recommending that psu for 2 S3-s.
More over in any case if you want to overclock that PSU will become a bottleneck.
Better buy a new one or an additional one if you already have CX750.
I think bitmain underclocked that miner to show a good J/Ghs so normal might be 504Ghs/390W.
Don't take a chance.

[Trillium]

Wow. Using bitcoinwisdom calculator.. even with low estimate of difficulty increasing (10% per jump) and my $0.27/kWH (heavily discounted) domestic power rate, there is no way I'd even make back half of the investment cost buying one of these. I guess we'll leave it up to those with dirt cheap / free power.

[allcoinminer]

It is my question as well, what PSU to choose? Any idea?

A lot of PSUs are available to select.
You some PSUs and post the community will help you.
Watch the PSUs efficiency rating and take a look at the +12V single rails current rating.

[Searing]

Wow. Using bitcoinwisdom calculator.. even with low estimate of difficulty increasing (10% per jump) and my $0.27/kWH (heavily discounted) domestic power rate, there is no way I'd even make back half of the investment cost buying one of these. I guess we'll leave it up to those with dirt cheap / free power.

yeah it is gonna be equip Armageddon from now till 1st of the year (2015) imho

www.coinbase.com is looking pretty good vs say in fall 2015 15k for equip that does like 4 coin or some such ..I don't care if coin is 2k at that point
I just mentally won't be able to make the hurdle on that (my oct 550gh jupiter KNC will make 49 coin EOL)....now I know how the CPU and GPU guys
feel like and why they mostly just buy coins...heh

Searing
 

[allcoinminer]

Wow. Using bitcoinwisdom calculator.. even with low estimate of difficulty increasing (10% per jump) and my $0.27/kWH (heavily discounted) domestic power rate, there is no way I'd even make back half of the investment cost buying one of these. I guess we'll leave it up to those with dirt cheap / free power.

I'm not saying you are right or wrong But,
how come the 0.27KW/H become a heavily discounted rate?
Where you live? Normally its .15 to.19 or lower for most.
BTC exchange rate need also to be included in it.
Also run the S3 overclocked.

[Searing]

Wow. Using bitcoinwisdom calculator.. even with low estimate of difficulty increasing (10% per jump) and my $0.27/kWH (heavily discounted) domestic power rate, there is no way I'd even make back half of the investment cost buying one of these. I guess we'll leave it up to those with dirt cheap / free power.

I'm not saying you are right or wrong But,
how come the 0.27KW/H become a heavily discounted rate?
Where you live? Normally its .15 to.19 or lower for most.
BTC exchange rate need also to be included in it.

well mine is 0.15c per kwh and I come out even steven buying bitcoin vs the miner...no diff...I think this is gonna be the norm (neck and neck) till 1st part of 2015 esp
with the big PH farms springing up...gonna get ugly

Searing

[Slaine]

Disappointed that minimum order quantity is 2, my S1 has just scraped enough btc to get a single S3 to keep me tinkering.

But not willing to invest in 2 and have to get another PSU as well.  

[kpitti]

No way to order S3 now. It seems that Batch 1 is sold out.