ANTMINER S3+ Discussion and Support Thread

[vulgartrendkill]

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?

That is correct however if you are someone with a small farm (anything under 20 or so TH I would say) you prsonally wouldnt make any real impact.  However, say for example everyone getting an s3 order pointed their units at a particular pool, that would make an impact.

[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.

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

Variance is variance and luck is luck, you can look at the stats posted in the BTC Guild's web page for yourself and see if they have found more or less blocks than where your at, I'm just giving a suggestion because you asked.

[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?

Variance is variance and luck is luck, you can look at the stats posted in the BTC Guild's web page for yourself and see if they have found more or less blocks than where your at, I'm just giving a suggestion because you asked.

Ok thanks i will check it

[freebit13]

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?

Yes basically, but as you add hashing power, so does everyone else... it's got more to with your percentage of the network. If you increase your hash power, but the network grows at a quicker rate, then your earnings decrease.

It's basically like buying more lottery tickets increases your chances of winning, but if someone buys even more tickets, it decreases your chances.

[Noruka]

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?

no it means gets a PSU that has 4 PCIE cables. Dont use two PSUs with 2 cables each

[vulgartrendkill]

I assume its ok to use both connectors on one cable?

[judypug1956]

I assume its ok to use both connectors on one cable?

no not really  melting cable is a threat.

[vulgartrendkill]

I assume its ok to use both connectors on one cable?

no not really  melting cable is a threat.

Ooooh ok.  I was thinking that might be a problem.

Thanks

[oskuro]

Hope they send S3s fast enough to have them mining ASAP

[vulgartrendkill]

I assume its ok to use both connectors on one cable?

no not really  melting cable is a threat.

Ooooh ok.  I was thinking that might be a problem.

Thanks

So each connector is rated is 75w so 2x this is way lower that what bitmain are saying is needed.  I must be mis calculating.

[visdude]

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.

Per Bitmain specifications, the S1 and the S3 draw about the same wattage at the wall (360WAC and 366WAC respectively at stock clocks).  In reality however, the S1 pulls around 385WAC and up to 395WAC on a very hot day with a CX500 (never complains and barely gets warm), an 80 Plus Bronze PSU (around 85% efficient at 75% load) similar to the CX750 which has a maximum of 744WDC (62A) on its single +12V rail as shown on the label.  Assuming that the S3 is subject to the same at-the-wall power consumption understatement by the manufacturer (all of them do) and draws around 390WAC, 2x S3 would require 663WDC (780WAC*85%) from the CX750, thereby exerting a load of 89% (663WDC/744WDC).  It has been the consensus that 80% load should be the maximum especially for a 24/7 operation with a constant high load.  The question is: are you comfortable with only an 11% headroom?  It's all relative to your personal tolerance.  Personally, the sweet spot for me is between 50% and 65%, closer to peak efficiency which is at 50% (less wasted energy, therefore less heat generated and longer PSU life).  I'd go as high as 70-75% if I have no other option.  I hope this helps.

Since I already have a bunch of CX500 PSUs, I'd use one for each S3 blade if I do decide to overclock.  But first, Bitmain has to price the S3 sensibly so I could pull the trigger.

[cesarm]

So, it´s possible to use molex to PCI-e adapter ?

[visdude]

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.

I couldn't agree with you more.

[contactlight]

So, it´s possible to use molex to PCI-e adapter ?

Yes it is possible as long as you are paying attention to your PSU's power specs.

[philipma1957]

So, it´s possible to use molex to PCI-e adapter ?

yes but melting cable danger with a shitty one.    you need one that has 2x molex to 1 pci-e  and you need to use each molex to a separate  psu molex cable.  many psu's have two molex cables with 3 or 4  connectors each.

[visdude]

So, it´s possible to use molex to PCI-e adapter ?

I'm not a big fan of converting molex to PCIe.  It would be adequate for general GPU/light gaming application which doesn't demand high loads 24/7 like an ASIC miner does.  A molex connector only has one +12V wire compared to PCIe which has three +12V pinouts.

[philipma1957]

So, it´s possible to use molex to PCI-e adapter ?

I'm not a big fan of converting molex to PCIe.  It would be adequate for general GPU/gaming application which doesn't demand high loads 24/7 like an ASIC miner does.  A molex connector only has one +12 wire compared to PCIe which carries three +12V pinouts.

I have a few molex to pcie adapters with  adequate wiring but most are flat out wrong.   plus you need to take into account the quality of the actual cable coming from the psu. 18 guage is rare  … if your psu has 18 gauge and you use two cables it may be okay if you are doing 4 cables into the s-3.

  for me  I am an overkill psu guy with over head to spare and good cables.


 I am more of buy  one these and don't worry anymore.  for 10 years!  long warranty

  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=591721.msg7639510#msg7639510

[visdude]

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 think the logic behind this statement is that if one overclocks the S3 and uses two PSUs for some reason, each PSU must "exclusively" power the same blade (i.e. two PCIe connectors from one PSU should be connected to the two PCIe ports on one blade and not two PSUs each splitting PCIe power connection between two blades).  This way, if a PSU fails, the other one would still be able to sufficiently power the other blade and keep it running and not be overloaded by two overclocked blades.

[grkmec]

Would this PSU support (3) S3's:

EVGA SuperNOVA 1300G2 ATX12V/EPS12V 1300W 80Plus Gold Power Supply 120-G2-1300-XR
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COIZTZM/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[contactlight]

Would this PSU support (3) S3's:

EVGA SuperNOVA 1300G2 ATX12V/EPS12V 1300W 80Plus Gold Power Supply 120-G2-1300-XR
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COIZTZM/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Yes, power specs-wise definitely. You can overclock them too.

Available PCI-e output-wise, probably. From the picture, I see that it has more than 4 PCI-e cables. That's good. There seems to be some more but I can't tell from the picture. Either way, this PSU would easily work for you.