ANTMINER S3+ Discussion and Support Thread

[Phosphorous]

As mentioned previously in this thread (although not quoted), those compose of perhaps 10% of the price, or approximately $40. Why wait around or hang your hopes on getting an upgrade kit to save $40? Not to mention an old S1 is worth about $150 or so on the open market, and you lose the ability to sell it if you upgrade.

That's your estimate.  But why do you think that?  Shipping alone must be non-negligible, as Bitmain ships super-fast from China.  4xS3 Blades, could easily fit in a single S3 sized box and weigh considerably less.

Regardless, the real evidence is, Bitmain keeps saying they are going to do it.  What reason could they possibly have to tell potential customers that an upgrade is coming if it is not economical for them to do so.  Surely they don't want to prevent people from ordering entire S3's if they aren't planning to sell the upgrade.  Because it is very obvious that some people who would otherwise purchase S3's are waiting for upgrade kits.

Yes those are my estimates. What are yours? I know a little bit about manufacturing CCAs and production as that's what we do where I work. The bulk of the cost of the S1 or S3 is in the main boards. The controller cards are basically Raspberry Pis which can be bought retail for under $40, I'm sure Bitmains are less than that if sold separately. The aluminum frame is not pricey in mass production. You might have something with shipping. But here are the economic scenarios of where you'd be 2 months from now (ignore shipping times, assumed a wash for each scenario):

Scenario A: Order new S3, sell old S1. 0.66BTC ~= $383. Sell S1 for $150 after S3 arrives. Net result: -$233, with double or better mining efficiency at current difficulty level for 2 months.

Scenario B: Wait for an upgrade kit. Assume $250 cost w/ availability 1 month from now. No S1 salvage value. Net result: -$250, 1 month or longer using S1 at half the efficiency of S3. 1 month with S3 efficiency at future difficulty level(s).

So clearly to make an upgrade work, you'd probably need to have an upgrade kit sold at less than $200 and be made available within a month to even come close to breaking even vs ordering an S3 now and selling your S1 when the S3 gets here when factoring everything in.

I could be wrong, but I would be extremely surprised to see a $200 or even a $250 price on an upgrade kit in the near future when they are getting $383 for a full unit. Add in the headaches of support for helping some of us idiots tear apart our machines and do our own upgrades and the proposition doesn't seem to make much sense.

Bottom line, there really is no reason to wait for an upgrade kit. Make your life easy and order a new S3 and sell your S1 when it arrives.

[allcoinminer]

Quick question, in the cgminer stats, there are a few different difficulty values. Diff, Diff1#, DiffA#, and DiffR#. I think I've got them all figured except for DiffR#, suggestions?

You read R as Rejects.

[Biodom]

As mentioned previously in this thread (although not quoted), those compose of perhaps 10% of the price, or approximately $40. Why wait around or hang your hopes on getting an upgrade kit to save $40? Not to mention an old S1 is worth about $150 or so on the open market, and you lose the ability to sell it if you upgrade.

That's your estimate.  But why do you think that?  Shipping alone must be non-negligible, as Bitmain ships super-fast from China.  4xS3 Blades, could easily fit in a single S3 sized box and weigh considerably less.

Regardless, the real evidence is, Bitmain keeps saying they are going to do it.  What reason could they possibly have to tell potential customers that an upgrade is coming if it is not economical for them to do so.  Surely they don't want to prevent people from ordering entire S3's if they aren't planning to sell the upgrade.  Because it is very obvious that some people who would otherwise purchase S3's are waiting for upgrade kits.

Yes those are my estimates. What are yours? I know a little bit about manufacturing CCAs and production as that's what we do where I work. The bulk of the cost of the S1 or S3 is in the main boards. The controller cards are basically Raspberry Pis which can be bought retail for under $40, I'm sure Bitmains are less than that if sold separately. The aluminum frame is not pricey in mass production. You might have something with shipping. But here are the economic scenarios of where you'd be 2 months from now (ignore shipping times, assumed a wash for each scenario):

Scenario A: Order new S3, sell old S1. 0.66BTC ~= $383. Sell S1 for $150 after S3 arrives. Net result: -$233, with double or better mining efficiency at current difficulty level for 2 months.

Scenario B: Wait for an upgrade kit. Assume $250 cost w/ availability 1 month from now. No S1 salvage value. Net result: -$250, 1 month or longer using S1 at half the efficiency of S3. 1 month with S3 efficiency at future difficulty level(s).

So clearly to make an upgrade work, you'd probably need to have an upgrade kit sold at less than $200 and be made available within a month to even come close to breaking even vs ordering an S3 now and selling your S1 when the S3 gets here when factoring everything in.

I could be wrong, but I would be extremely surprised to see a $200 or even a $250 price on an upgrade kit in the near future when they are getting $383 for a full unit. Add in the headaches of support for helping some of us idiots tear apart our machines and do our own upgrades and the proposition doesn't seem to make much sense.

Bottom line, there really is no reason to wait for an upgrade kit. Make your life easy and order a new S3 and sell your S1 when it arrives.

Someone just bought S1 for $160 on ebay (0.27BTC, 0.25BTC after ebay fees!). I am surprised-it sells on ebay for almost the same as 1 month ago (maybe $10-20 $ less).
People were selling S1 on BitcoinTalk for 0.22-0.23 a month ago-they were selling too cheap, obviously. Probably, low diff jumps played a role.

[Fahlcor]

DHL Seems to be moving quick. These are S3 B5 going to Central Canada.

10   Departed Facility in HONG KONG - HONG KONG   HONG KONG - HONG KONG   21:34   
9   Processed at HONG KONG - HONG KONG   HONG KONG - HONG KONG   21:24   
8   Customs status updated   CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA   07:56   
7   Clearance processing complete at HONG KONG - HONG KONG   HONG KONG - HONG KONG   18:51   
6   Arrived at Sort Facility HONG KONG - HONG KONG   HONG KONG - HONG KONG   12:21   
5   Customs status updated   HONG KONG - HONG KONG   06:10   
4   Departed Facility in SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   05:39   
3   Processed at SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   05:36   
2   Arrived at Sort Facility SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   05:03   
 
Tuesday, August 05, 2014   Location   Time   
1   Shipment picked up   SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   17:09

On another note I love to see the difficulty diving until my units arrive.  I got my PSU's  (CX850) yesterday and  all plumbed in and ready to hash.

Has anyone tried the wireless on them without pigtails?  just wondering what the real range is.  Otherwise I will run a chunk of copper to them.  I should likely just do that anyway.

Happy Hashing people...

I just wonder how good DHL brokerage fee and tax to Canada and anyone used UPS or EMS that wont charge crazy brokerage fee to Canada.

I talked to my CBSA friend and he said just taxes(GST/PST) would be due on the amount. I paid in BTC like everyone else so I guess it depends on what they put on the package for $$ will determine the duty.  DHL charges a flat $14 for brokerage apparently according to them.

Not sure what BITMAIN is putting for value on the packing slips?  anyone know??

Thx

Fahlcor

[MoreBloodWine]

DHL Seems to be moving quick. These are S3 B5 going to Central Canada.

10   Departed Facility in HONG KONG - HONG KONG   HONG KONG - HONG KONG   21:34   
9   Processed at HONG KONG - HONG KONG   HONG KONG - HONG KONG   21:24   
8   Customs status updated   CINCINNATI HUB, OH - USA   07:56   
7   Clearance processing complete at HONG KONG - HONG KONG   HONG KONG - HONG KONG   18:51   
6   Arrived at Sort Facility HONG KONG - HONG KONG   HONG KONG - HONG KONG   12:21   
5   Customs status updated   HONG KONG - HONG KONG   06:10   
4   Departed Facility in SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   05:39   
3   Processed at SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   05:36   
2   Arrived at Sort Facility SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   05:03   
 
Tuesday, August 05, 2014   Location   Time   
1   Shipment picked up   SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC   17:09

On another note I love to see the difficulty diving until my units arrive.  I got my PSU's  (CX850) yesterday and  all plumbed in and ready to hash.

Has anyone tried the wireless on them without pigtails?  just wondering what the real range is.  Otherwise I will run a chunk of copper to them.  I should likely just do that anyway.

Happy Hashing people...

That's rough, one of my two orders shipped last night via UPS and shows on their site with expected delivery by end of business tomorrow in Carlisle PA USA.

Scheduled Delivery:
Thursday, 08/07/2014, By End of Day

Last Location:
Departed - Shenzhen, China, Wednesday, 08/06/2014

Special Instructions:
Signature Required

Shenzhen, China   08/06/2014   7:17 P.M.   Departure Scan
08/06/2014   4:15 P.M.   Export Scan
08/06/2014   12:42 A.M.   Arrival Scan
08/06/2014   12:40 A.M.   Departure Scan
08/06/2014   12:19 A.M.   Origin Scan
08/05/2014   9:55 A.M.   The package is awaiting clearing agency review. / The package is at the clearing agency awaiting final release.
Shenzhen, China   08/05/2014   7:33 P.M.   Pickup Scan
China   08/05/2014   7:03 A.M.   Order Processed: Ready for UPS

[bluecityste]

My Batch 4 order was for the full amount, with no deduction made for shipping.

I was a bit pissed off with Bitmain for this to be honest, 4 day shipping from China to the UK must have cost a lot of money, atleast $90 maybe more? So import tax at 20% of this was a kick in the teeth, as these will not make a return on investment as it is even without the $18 dollar of additional tax (converted from £ to $ as most people seem to be in USA).

[ftoole]

I talked to my CBSA friend and he said just taxes(GST/PST) would be due on the amount. I paid in BTC like everyone else so I guess it depends on what they put on the package for $$ will determine the duty.  DHL charges a flat $14 for brokerage apparently according to them.

Not sure what BITMAIN is putting for value on the packing slips?  anyone know??

Thx

Fahlcor

For USD its 950 for 2 but if its coming to the US then thier should be any taxes as its computer equipment i had 5 delivered no taxes.

[wlefever]

I got an issue with one of my S3s. It does not hash at all. I can connect to it no problem. This one appears to have an issue where the unit does not hash at all. All the settings are identical to the other ones (minus the IP addresses which are statically assigned. I can connect to it from within my lan to get to the web interface. cgminer appears to be running but not hashing. Anyone run into this? It seems like it would be a quick fix. Thanks

Did you open it up and check the cables from the blades to the controller? You could try to reseat the cables as well. If that does not fix it the next step would be to swap out controllers to determine if it is the blade/s or controller. I did not cover the power supply verification as I am sure you have already been down that road. Please let us know what you find.

I will give that a try. I checked on the IP conflict and that was not an issue. I statically assign everything in my network so I know thats not it. But just the same I checked just in case. I will open it up and check it. I  will post back if that was the problem.

Why after I statically assigned my ip address on my miner can i not pull the interface back up on the web browser?  

Did you set your subnet mask and dns settings correctly?

Yeah I matched my IPv4, subnet mask, and default gateway

10.8.201.103
255.255.255.0
10.8.201.1

But, cant seem to reach the miner again

I would be really surprised if the subnet mask on that network was really 255.255.255.0.  That IP is a class A address which (without any fancy subnetting) would be 255.0.0.0 for the mask.

You are right, 255.0.0.0 is probbably the right netmask, but that shouldn't be an issue since they are almost certanly within the same C class (first three dot separated numbers in IP address are the same), so machines would see each other even with the wrong netmask. The issue may be that he has collison on the network since he gave the same IP (10.8.201.103) to both his computer and the miner. If that's the case ask your network admin to give you another IP for the miner.

It's interesting to notice that people are avoiding to use DHCP with the S3s because they often run into problems not following proper DHCP network administration. Proper procedure would be to find your miners MAC address, and then reserving fixed IP address for that MAC address in your DHCP server settings. Your DHCP server is almost always on your router, find those settings through web interface of your router. This way you won't have to monkey around with DNS and other settings, and your S3 will have non-changing IP which you will always be able to find.

Okay I figured out what the IP of the first miner was because I set it up for DHCP and it assigned 10.8.201.178.  Now when I plug the 2nd miner to my laptop to connect I get a conflicting ip address notice.  What do I need to change now to be able to connect my laptop (10.8.201.103) to the second antminer s3 (192.168.1.99) to reach the interface screen and go through the settings to change to DHCP client so that it automatically assigns the 2nd miner an ip?

[Ski72]

In stock mode with the ASICs at 218.75, how much power does an S3 pull?  The OP says 366 watts, while dogie's guide says 340.  If it's 340 I should be able to run 4 S3's off of one regular 120v circuit right?  340x4 = 1360 watts.  That's about 75% utilization of power...  Should be within the safe zone..

On a 120V Grid Supply, you can run as much S3 as your money can buy.
What matters is the available Ampere to your house or farm.
For 120V the PSU efficiency is lower than 230V.
Multiply your 120V with the maximum available amps which allow through your breaker.
Make up your S3 power consumption to 125% and divide it from your above figure.
The number you got now is the maximum no of S3s you can run maximum or that's the maximum load you can have through that beaker.
For example if your house have 100A/120V and through a 20A breaker,
20A*120V=2400W
340W*125%=425W
2400/425=5.6 = 5 S3.

I'm in Virginia, USA.  I'm not exactly sure what my service is, but I'm running nine (9) S3's - stock clock ~, six (6) OC's KnC Jupiters ~900Gh/s, and three (3) Spondoolies SP10 Dawsons ~1.2Th/s. 

The power company came out to my house once to see why my bill was so high (approx. $800 a month).  The guy was interested in finding out more about Bitcoin.  I gave him some info. and he went on his way.

I am in the process of purchasing a small commercial space and will cut my electricity costs in half, plus have a long-term investment in the property.

[philipma1957]

Does anyone happen to know what the wattage usage is of the S3 at each frequency?  I'd like to put together a web form that takes the current Bitcoin price and the price you pay for electricity and then figures out what frequency would be best in terms of efficiency.  I could hook the units up to a watt meter and figure this out myself, but was curious if anyone had already done it and can save me the trouble?  (Or if there is a defined ratio, I could use that as well I guess.)

I'll make the site public and then potentially add other miners to it if they offer the same ability to change wattage/frequency and I have access to the numbers.   Maybe I'll call it Intelihash.   Haha...

my 2 s-3's on an evga gold 1300 watt at freq 237.5 pull 730 watts.

[dsheaffer]

Just got five Batch 5's. Added wifi antennas to all.  Configured exactly like S1s. Too early to give longer term stats, but...I have about 80% signal (@60 ft with 3 walls between miners and router - exactly the same as the S1's).  One hour hash rate is ~440 - 450GH/s.  

Wifi mod is less than 6 bucks a miner.  I didn't drill any holes...just ran the pigtail through the same slot as front fan wires and propped the antenna on the top of the fan case/face of the miner (not great, but I hardly touch the miners once running properly so this should be fine...no need for switch or network cabling -- Just configure, plug 'em in and mine)...even with the mod, I had all 5 up and running in about an hour and a half.  

I will update with longer term stats after a day or two. Only issue was one fan that had a pinched sensor wire (blue)...so the fan ran full blast...unpinched wire...all is good.  The S3s are MUCH quieter than the S1s (at least at stock clock)

Once again, BITMAIN ROCKS!

which wifi did you buy ? link or pic ? thanks

These work with virtually no effort

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DP64JRG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[faetos]

Bitmain,

Could you let us know about the upgrade kits for S1s and S2s? When will these be available? I'd like to upgrade all of my S1s. Also, will the DC/DC component be fixed in these?

Why bother? What cost savings are you expecting to realize from reusing an aluminum frame and maybe the controller? $40?

The benefit is not only coming from the $40 but the discount for upgrading blades.

What discount? And why would Bitmain charge less for blades use in an S1 upgrade vs an S3 purchase?

Because BitMainTech is a company doing "BUSINESS".

got it - thanks for your input. If it wasn't worth their while or worth making money off of I don;t think they would have offered in the first place. There is obviously some business sense for them to be able to turn a profit selling kits or they wouldn't bother suggesting it at all.

[TKKP]

which wifi did you buy ? link or pic ? thanks

These work with virtually no effort

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DP64JRG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Nice, thank you for the link.. is this the same one you got ? each S3 require only 1 antenna or 2 ?

[DebitMe]

received my 10 S3's yesterday and got them up and running. no problems once I figured out that one of them didn't change off of 192.168.1.99 which has an S2 running on it.  anyway, 10 perfectly running S3's makes me very happy!

still waiting on my other couple ordered from batch 5, no tracking received for those.

[dsheaffer]

which wifi did you buy ? link or pic ? thanks

These work with virtually no effort

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DP64JRG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Nice, thank you for the link.. is this the same one you got ? each S3 require only 1 antenna or 2 ?

Exact same one I used.  I have five S3s up and running for nearly 24 hours...should average right at 440GH/s (stock clock) on WiFi in two separate locations in a fairly large house. Each miner only needs one pigtail/antenna. $11 gets you two pigtails and two antennae.  The only issue is that unless you drill a hole in the miner case and properly mount the antenna end of the pigtail, it could be pretty easy to break the pigtail or yank it off the comm board. Since I just set mine up and let 'em run, I'm not worried about it...I just route the pigtail through the cutout for the front fan wires and prop the antenna on the top of fan case/front of the miner.

[bsanders]

I have two Antminer S3 that are both hashing at 440GBs. They both are running at the stock frequency of 218.75 but one if the miners has 20% HW errors. I have read many people are lowering the frequency to 215 or 212.75 to lower power consumption. I was hoping maybe reducing the frequency might help my HW errors. However I cannot find where to lower the frequency. I have done scrypt mining, but this is my first sha256 mining. If someone could help explain to me how to lower the frequency I would greatly appreciate it.

[jpchrist]

I have two Antminer S3 that are both hashing at 440GBs. They both are running at the stock frequency of 218.75 but one if the miners has 20% HW errors. I have read many people are lowering the frequency to 215 or 212.75 to lower power consumption. I was hoping maybe reducing the frequency might help my HW errors. However I cannot find where to lower the frequency. I have done scrypt mining, but this is my first sha256 mining. If someone could help explain to me how to lower the frequency I would greatly appreciate it.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=699064.msg7898821#msg7898821

[dsheaffer]

So..my five S3s have been up just short of a full day.  The variability in hash rate is significantly larger than the S1s.  On the left of the graph below are seven S1s (note the tight range in which they hashed)...on the right are five S3s...big difference in hash rate variability...anyone have a theory as to why this is so?

[WheresWaldo]

Thursday, August 07, 2014    Location    Time    
8    Processed at HONG KONG - HONG KONG    HONG KONG - HONG KONG    01:31    
7    Clearance processing complete at HONG KONG - HONG KONG    HONG KONG - HONG KONG    01:31    
6    Arrived at Sort Facility HONG KONG - HONG KONG    HONG KONG - HONG KONG    00:37    
Wednesday, August 06, 2014    Location    Time    
5    Customs status updated    HONG KONG - HONG KONG    23:29  
4    Departed Facility in SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    22:31  
3    Processed at SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    22:09    
2    Arrived at Sort Facility SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    21:50    
1    Shipment picked up    SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    19:04


Is this package moving along normal or is this a not so good delay in Hong Kong?

[hurricandave]

Thursday, August 07, 2014    Location    Time    
8    Processed at HONG KONG - HONG KONG    HONG KONG - HONG KONG    01:31    
7    Clearance processing complete at HONG KONG - HONG KONG    HONG KONG - HONG KONG    01:31    
6    Arrived at Sort Facility HONG KONG - HONG KONG    HONG KONG - HONG KONG    00:37    
Wednesday, August 06, 2014    Location    Time    
5    Customs status updated    HONG KONG - HONG KONG    23:29  
4    Departed Facility in SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    22:31  
3    Processed at SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    22:09    
2    Arrived at Sort Facility SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    21:50    
1    Shipment picked up    SHENZHEN - CHINA, PEOPLES REPUBLIC    19:04


Is this package moving along normal or is this a not so good delay in Hong Kong?

looks good so far.... see if it updates by dinner with a delivery estimate for tomorrow..