ANTMINER S3+ Discussion and Support Thread

[hendrigo]

Update S3 sales news   

The First Batch of AntMiner S3 runs out of stock. we are ready to start to sell the Second Batch of S3 at 22:00 pm on July 1st (UTM +8 ), and drop the sales price to 0.74 BTC each with international shipping. The Second Batch is estimated to be delivered about 2-4 days after shipping of the First Batch of S3 for 0.75 BTC each, but still no later than July 20th.

Hi BITMAIN,
When is the sales open for upgrade from S1 to S3 ??
We need info for the installation and price please

[drmadison]

I see a lot of people asking about the S1->S3 upgrade kits...I don't think people are going to be very happy with them price-wise.

Think about it - the controller and base-board are about the only parts that would be shared. All of the ASICs are having to be replaced - that's where most of the cost comes in. So what, you save 0.1btc by buying the upgrade, but you lose the ability to sell the S1 (which are for quite some time going to continue selling for more than 0.1btc)

[GrapeApe]

Did I read correctly that it only needs 2 PCI-e cables connected to run as normal (not overclocked)?

[data55]

Did I read correctly that it only needs 2 PCI-e cables connected to run as normal (not overclocked)?

Correct. 2 for regular, 4 for OC'ing.

[RealMalatesta]

Did I read correctly that it only needs 2 PCI-e cables connected to run as normal (not overclocked)?

Correct. 2 for regular, 4 for OC'ing.

What I do not understand is this sentence: "Don’t parallel connected different DC input from different PSU into the same Hashing board." So does this mean you need two PSU if you're overclocking?

[philipma1957]

Did I read correctly that it only needs 2 PCI-e cables connected to run as normal (not overclocked)?

Correct. 2 for regular, 4 for OC'ing.

What I do not understand is this sentence: "Don’t parallel connected different DC input from different PSU into the same Hashing board." So does this mean you need two PSU if you're overclocking?

I would think the opposite just use 1 psu with 4  pcie cords not 2 psu each with 2 cords.  best to be careful  let some one else be the first tester of that

[oskuro]

Did I read correctly that it only needs 2 PCI-e cables connected to run as normal (not overclocked)?

Correct. 2 for regular, 4 for OC'ing.

What I do not understand is this sentence: "Don’t parallel connected different DC input from different PSU into the same Hashing board." So does this mean you need two PSU if you're overclocking?

I understand they mean dont use 2 PSU for same hashing board. Anyways, with 1 PSU u can connect 4 PCI-e so no problem

[grn]

Did I read correctly that it only needs 2 PCI-e cables connected to run as normal (not overclocked)?

Correct. 2 for regular, 4 for OC'ing.

What I do not understand is this sentence: "Don’t parallel connected different DC input from different PSU into the same Hashing board." So does this mean you need two PSU if you're overclocking?

only connect pci-e power from one psu to each board, dont take power from two separate psu to the same blade

[philipma1957]

Did I read correctly that it only needs 2 PCI-e cables connected to run as normal (not overclocked)?

Correct. 2 for regular, 4 for OC'ing.

What I do not understand is this sentence: "Don’t parallel connected different DC input from different PSU into the same Hashing board." So does this mean you need two PSU if you're overclocking?

I understand they mean dont use 2 PSU for same hashing board. Anyways, with 1 PSU u can connect 4 PCI-e so no problem

yeah this is most likely exactly what they mean.    


but with 2 psu's  each one doing one board each even thou it seems okay I will let some one else do it first.

[oskuro]

Did I read correctly that it only needs 2 PCI-e cables connected to run as normal (not overclocked)?

Correct. 2 for regular, 4 for OC'ing.

What I do not understand is this sentence: "Don’t parallel connected different DC input from different PSU into the same Hashing board." So does this mean you need two PSU if you're overclocking?

I understand they mean dont use 2 PSU for same hashing board. Anyways, with 1 PSU u can connect 4 PCI-e so no problem

yeah this is most likely exactly what they mean.    


but with 2 psu's  each one doing one board each even thou it seems okay I will let some one else do it first.

And why do you want to use 2 PSU´s to power just 1 S3? 2 vents = more noise i suppose and more wires. I will just use 1 PSU / S3, i think its better

[iglasses]

Did I read correctly that it only needs 2 PCI-e cables connected to run as normal (not overclocked)?

Correct. 2 for regular, 4 for OC'ing.

What I do not understand is this sentence: "Don’t parallel connected different DC input from different PSU into the same Hashing board." So does this mean you need two PSU if you're overclocking?

I understand they mean dont use 2 PSU for same hashing board. Anyways, with 1 PSU u can connect 4 PCI-e so no problem

yeah this is most likely exactly what they mean.    


but with 2 psu's  each one doing one board each even thou it seems okay I will let some one else do it first.

Depending on how the shipping goes I might be the guinea pig here. My understanding is that the reason, the only reason, to use two PSU's is to overclock. If you are not planning to OC one PSU is all that you should need. In my case my PSU army is a mix of   Corsair 750's and Thermaltake 850's so if I want to OC I am going to have to use the dual config.

[RealMalatesta]

Did I read correctly that it only needs 2 PCI-e cables connected to run as normal (not overclocked)?

Correct. 2 for regular, 4 for OC'ing.

What I do not understand is this sentence: "Don’t parallel connected different DC input from different PSU into the same Hashing board." So does this mean you need two PSU if you're overclocking?

I understand they mean dont use 2 PSU for same hashing board. Anyways, with 1 PSU u can connect 4 PCI-e so no problem

yeah this is most likely exactly what they mean.    


but with 2 psu's  each one doing one board each even thou it seems okay I will let some one else do it first.

Depending on how the shipping goes I might be the guinea pig here. My understanding is that the reason, the only reason, to use two PSU's is to overclock. If you are not planning to OC one PSU is all that you should need. In my case my PSU army is a mix of   Corsair 750's and Thermaltake 850's so if I want to OC I am going to have to use the dual config.

I've still got a couple of these here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=518013.0

So basically, I could use one for two S3s if not oc'd, correct?

[sergio]

NO ROI with the S3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even though the S3 seems to be the best miner out there, i am very disappointed at the price since it is clear that it will not ROI, why Bitmain decides to sell it at a price that it does not ROI ? The only logical reason I could think of is that they do not have the capacity to mass produce the S3, and therefore can make higher profit by selling only a little lower than everyone else but high enough so that there is no ROI.

I will post 2 calculators here use the one you prefer:
http://www.vnbitcoin.org/bitcoincalculator.php
https://bitcoinwisdom.com/bitcoin/calculator

after 125 days you are negative 0.2 btc, if you assume an increase of 20% which is very little since lately its been between 25 and 30%, and 20cents the kw/h

changing the kilowatt to 10 cents, you are 0.05btc negative.

If they sold for 0.5BTC it would be possible to make a little ROI, so why do they sell it at a price in which it will not ROI, I am certain the cost of the S3 is probably something like 0.2 BTC, so why such a huge mark up, just because others are worse it is not a good justification.

I was very optimistic about the S3, and still am, but I will not buy it if it will not ROI, I will not be working for Bitmain to make them all the profit, we the miners deserve some of the profit.

I will just have to wait and monitor the price it will eventually have to come down, specially if someone else starts selling cheaper which is bound to happen. I still remember the good old days of GPU in which the would ROI by a good margin, and they were not sold based on ROI.

I predict that in only 30 days after they start shipping, the S3 will cost less than half the current price in BTC, for 2 reasons 1: there will be 4 difficulty increases of about 30% since neptunes are being shipped 2: all the early buyers newbies will have purchased already leaving only the miners looking for ROI left to buy, no ROI no buy, so most likely we will see a big reduction in price in a short time most likely in a month, and in my case since I am planning to buy lots of S3 I rather wait till there is actually  ROI, if there is no ROI will just have to wait, since it defeats the purpose of buying.

[sergio]

I noticed the S3 sold out already, so my theory about a small number of units being produced was correct.


The sad thing is that not only it does not ROI, but they are being sold in preorders not from stock.

so we will have to wait for 2 things to happen:
1. ROI
2. that sales from stock begin.

buying a preorder is very risky, it is a good guarantee to lose money.

Nevertheless the S3 is looking like one of the better options, I will be waiting for it, since a promise I made to myself is not to buy preorder, a preorder purchase it is really bad for miners.

[Pjones]

Bitmain probably has one of the best track records of shipping working products on time, but you should definitely wait until it's in stock before ordering if you don't feel like taking the risk.  You probably don't have to wait more than a month or so...

[contactlight]

I noticed the S3 sold out already, so my theory about a small number of units being produced was correct.


The sad thing is that not only it does not ROI, but they are being sold in preorders not from stock.

so we will have to wait for 2 things to happen:
1. ROI
2. that sales from stock begin.

buying a preorder is very risky, it is a good guarantee to lose money.

Nevertheless the S3 is looking like one of the better options, I will be waiting for it, since a promise I made to myself is not to buy preorder, a preorder purchase it is really bad for miners.

Bitmain is more dependable than other ASIC manufacturers but obviously no guarantees. I put an order for two because if used correctly, they will ROI. And if they don't, there is always eBay.

[sergio]

I agree that Bitmain is one of the better vendors and has a good track record, but in the past some that had a good track record turned out to be not so good.

So as a matter of principle we should all encourage sales from stock even if they have a good track record, it puts pressure on others to sell from stock, otherwise greed can take over and we have seen that not only once, but many times.

presales in most cases are scams by one reason or other, it is a situation that should be avoided.

As of this writing Bitmain is the most reliable asic hardware company, but not because they are reliable we should encourage bad behavior.

Last year KNC had a very good track record, and look at it this year, there is a big difference and it all started by bad behaviour, same with avalon, in regard to BFL its different from the start they were bad, and BFL reached bottom, it is very difficult to be worse then BFL.

I would say 3 things should be a priority of every miner:
1. ROI
2. no presales, eventually you will be burned.
3. A company does not mine, otherwise you compete against them end you end up with situations like Cointerra, BFL, avalon, KNC, etc, and also want to help decentralize the mining, not to centralize it.


I am getting away from presales it is not only a case of trust, since I trust Bitmain, but because in the long term it is bad, it is something that has no need to exist, unless people accept preorders, preorder would not exist.

Taking everything in consideration the S3 is probably the best miner out there for all the reasons above, but even then it does not ROI, but it comes very close, so in my opinion it is best to wait for the S3 to ROI and for sales  from stock to begin, then I will definitely get more than a few.

The S3 disappointed me a little at first for 2 reasons:
presales, not sold from stock
does not ROI

But I have to admit, I was very optimistic about the S3, until I saw the price and used the difficulty calculators which are fairly accurate.

But I think that situation may change fairly soon, as soon as S3 can ROI I plan to buy some, if they ROI or not depends on Bitmain.

[oskuro]

and what pool do you recommend for mining?
Right now i have my S1´s in bitminter and last 2 blocks.... 1 day and i think 14 hours or so.......... so frustrating.... 

[hurricandave]

and what pool do you recommend for mining?
Right now i have my S1´s in bitminter and last 2 blocks.... 1 day and i think 14 hours or so.......... so frustrating.... 

All the pools are hurting right now, the public can't compete with the factory farms and the growing private farms, but if you want a pool that's doing a little better than where you are now checkout BTC Guild.

[oskuro]

and what pool do you recommend for mining?
Right now i have my S1´s in bitminter and last 2 blocks.... 1 day and i think 14 hours or so.......... so frustrating.... 

All the pools are hurting right now, the public can't compete with the factory farms and the growing private farms, but if you want a pool that's doing a little better than where you are now checkout BTC Guild.

But i thought that the more hashing power, the more easy to find blocks. Isnt that correct?