[Guide] Dogie's Comprehensive Bitmain Antminer S3 Setup [HD]

[dmwardjr]

Thanks Dogie! First-time miner here and got up and running in minutes using your guide. Only delay was a thin plastic coating on my paperclip keeping it from working on the PSU. Fixed it with a metal clip from my RC cars

Very familiar with the plastic paper clip covering.  I wasted approximately 6 hours [Along with a lot of hair pulled out] because of those damn things.  LOL  

By the way, I thought I would share my progress on my new mining closet built downstairs and offer details about the firmware updates and the advantages of getting your rig to the January 09, 2015 update to be able to under clock your S3 to make them more power efficient and to enjoy a much faster interface.  I updated 13 S3+'s and 5 S3's with approximately 4 hard resets required during the whole process of updating them all.

I was up until 8:00am this morning [All nighter!] installing the new fan, setting up the rack, PDU's, PSU's with PCI-e cords and rigs.  I still have more rigs to bring over into the new closet.  I'm waiting on a couple more 240 VOLT/30 AMP outlets to arrive from Amazon tomorrow so I can add another PDU.  Then I will be able to bring my router, switch and other rigs into the new closet.  I have to leave the door with grilles open at the moment to allow the 15 feet ethernet cords to reach from the switch to the rigs in the new closet.  I will be very happy to get those outlets in the mail so I can get that switch inside the closet to close the door with grilles.


Pictures of what I've done in the transition over to the new closet thus far [I will clean up the wiring with zip ties once all of the rigs are moved inside the new closet]:



Still working on it.  Please don't mind the mess.  I went ahead and pulled a spare 10/2 just in case.  That's the orange wire you see hanging down at the moment.  It will all be cleaned up after taxes.




Don't be fooled... The fan is not held up by zip ties [lol].  The next picture shows the clips holding it in place.  The entire fan is resting inside the circle I cut in the wood with a jig saw.  The clips are holding the fan in place while it rests on the wood.  I found there was no need to screw a bolt through the black hanger into the joist above.  The fan rests perfectly on the wood while it is pushed through to the outside approximately 6 inches to where the handle rests against the wood.  So I decided to attach the handle to the wood to hold the fan in place.

The reason I have more wood to the left of the fan is to allow space to mount my power outlets, etc.  I will mount the outlets in place later.  I was tired last night!



You see the clip I have on the handle in this picture to hold the fan in place.  I have to put some 3 inch wide aluminum duct tape around this fan to seal in the quarter inch gap around it.  This will keep out bugs that may want to come in.




The next two pictures show you how I hanged the IBM 2880W PSU's with tie wraps to keep them off of the SP20's.  

[Real-Duke]

By the way, I thought I would share my progress on my new mining closet built downstairs and offer details about the firmware updates and the advantages of getting your rig to the January 09, 2015 update to be able to under clock your S3 to make them more power efficient and to enjoy a much faster interface.  I updated 13 S3+'s and 5 S3's with approximately 4 hard resets required during the whole process of updating them all.


I also have older S3's [5 of them].  They too have the most recent firmware upgrade to allow adjustment of the frequency and voltage.  They average 370 GH/s at approximately .63 watts per GH/s.  I thought I would save space by not posting a screen shot of them as well.  Even your old S3's can be upgraded with the most recent firmware.  You have to make sure you upgrade the one dated for August first.  Then do the october update next and the January 2015 update last.  If you try to go out of order, you may brick an old S3.  If you get the following screen [screen shot below], do not panic.  Just do a hard reset to factory defaults [entering in your pools, etc...] and pick up where you left off in the order of the updates.  You may have to reboot once you're finished.  If you get that same screen again after reboot [shown below] do not panic.  Your old S3 should come back after a reset to factory settings.

Many thanks for sharing your experience dmwardjr, I have updated my 2 S3+ and my 2 S3 today to the newest firmware and copied your settings without any problems!
Miners running nice quiet now in my garage and I will have a look at the power consumption tomorrow after 24h running.

Have a nice evening (in Germany its 21.14 now) 

[dmwardjr]

By the way, I thought I would share my progress on my new mining closet built downstairs and offer details about the firmware updates and the advantages of getting your rig to the January 09, 2015 update to be able to under clock your S3 to make them more power efficient and to enjoy a much faster interface.  I updated 13 S3+'s and 5 S3's with approximately 4 hard resets required during the whole process of updating them all.


I also have older S3's [5 of them].  They too have the most recent firmware upgrade to allow adjustment of the frequency and voltage.  They average 370 GH/s at approximately .63 watts per GH/s.  I thought I would save space by not posting a screen shot of them as well.  Even your old S3's can be upgraded with the most recent firmware.  You have to make sure you upgrade the one dated for August first.  Then do the october update next and the January 2015 update last.  If you try to go out of order, you may brick an old S3.  If you get the following screen [screen shot below], do not panic.  Just do a hard reset to factory defaults [entering in your pools, etc...] and pick up where you left off in the order of the updates.  You may have to reboot once you're finished.  If you get that same screen again after reboot [shown below] do not panic.  Your old S3 should come back after a reset to factory settings.

Many thanks for sharing your experience dmwardjr, I have updated my 2 S3+ and my 2 S3 today to the newest firmware and copied your settings without any problems!
Miners running nice quiet now in my garage and I will have a look at the power consumption tomorrow after 24h running.

Have a nice evening (in Germany its 21.14 now)  

You're welcome...

My Kill A Watt meter burned out on me a couple of days ago.  I got a buddy of mine to do the same things with his S3's and he has a Kill A Watt meter.  It turns out my reading on my Kill A Watt meter was defective.  The rigs are still more efficient at the new settings.  They just are not as efficient as I had first anticipated because of a defective meter.  That' 2 Kill A Watt meters gone bad on me now.    

Anyhow... I'm glad I could be of help.  I wasn't sure if all of the firmware updates had to be done in order to get the rigs to work properly.  I just heard so many stories of people jumping straight from their present firmware to the most recent with sob stories.  So, I thought I would just go up the ladder [in order] and everything worked fine with all 18 S3's [Some of them older S3's and not S3+'s].  I'm absolutely loving the faster interface with these now.

[Real-Duke]

I don't have power meter on my own but what did your mate found out on your setup?

[dmwardjr]

I don't have power meter on my own but what did your mate found out on your setup?

I copied only the portion where he mentioned it.  Here it is:

Anyways, I was running the numbers using some kill-a-watts and when I downclock the S3's to 175Mhz and lower the voltage to 0.68, they seem stable at about 340-360Gh/s but still run about 270watts each. When I run them slightly overclocked at 237.5Mhz, I get around 460-500Gh/s and uses 380watts.

So after calculating it (I pay $0.12 per Kwh here in CT) I make an extra %40-50 income per day.
The larger SP20's I can run with no electricity costs, so that should be much better.

[dmwardjr]

I don't have power meter on my own but what did your mate found out on your setup?

I HAVE DRAWN THE CONCLUSION IT IS NOT WORTH UNDER-CLOCKING THE S3 or S3+ [At least at present price of bitcoin].  In fact, the more over-clocked they are the better.  I don't know that it would ever be worth under clocking it?  I can see under-clocking to make more power available to add more rigs with a higher hash rate to your present set up.  That's about the only advantage.  As well as having a faster interface with the new firmware upgrade.


S3 @ 270 watts [under-clocked at 175 MHz @ 0.68 volts (0680) and 340 to 360 GH/s (I chose 350 GH/s for the math)]

$0.106 (10.6 cents) per kWH power costs for 270 watts:

Cost Per Hour:   $0.028620
Cost Per Day:   $0.686880
Cost Per Week:   $4.808
Cost Per Month:   $19.23
Cost Per Year:   $250.02

Power costs at $0.106 (10.6 cents) per kWH for 380 watts:

Cost Per Hour:   $0.040280
Cost Per Day:   $0.966720
Cost Per Week:   $6.767
Cost Per Month:   $27.07
Cost Per Year:   $351.89

With BTC @ $273.471 & Difficulty at 46,684,376,316 and S3 tuned to 175 MHz @ 0.68 volts for 350 GH/s @ 270 watts:

Mined Per Hour:    0.0001571  BTC   $0.04296  USD - $0.028620 pwr. costs = $0.01434 per hour
Mined Per Day:     0.00377  BTC       $1.031  USD - $0.686880 pwr. costs = $0.34412 per day
Mined Per Week:   0.02639  BTC       $7.217  USD - $4.808 pwr. costs = $2.409 per week
Mined Per Month:  0.1131  BTC         $30.93  USD - $19.23 pwr. costs = $11.70 per month

With BTC @ $273.471 & Difficulty at 46,684,376,316 and S3 tuned to 237.5MHz @ 0.725 volts for 480 GH/s @ 380 watts:

Mined Per Hour:    0.0002155  BTC   $0.05893   USD - $0.040280 pwr. costs = $0.01865 per hour
Mined Per Day:     0.005171  BTC     $1.414       USD - $0.966720 pwr. costs = $0.44728 per day
Mined Per Week:   0.03619  BTC      $9.897       USD - $6.767 pwr. costs = $3.13 per week
Mined Per Month:  0.1551  BTC       $42.42       USD - $27.07 pwr. costs = $15.35 per month

The following screen shot shows what is mined in BTC with 350 GH/s:



The following screen shot shows what is mined in BTC with 480 GH/s:

[mara2]

Did you try 150MHz?

[dmwardjr]

Did you try 150MHz?

No, I did not.  You?

[ToQcHista]

why is this wire Necessary ?

https://i.imgur.com/URnhwPH.jpg


that dont will make? what happened ?

[dogie]

why is this wire Necessary ? https://i.imgur.com/URnhwPH.jpg

that dont will make? what happened ?

It allows the power supply to turn on without a motherboard.

[ToQcHista]

why is this wire Necessary ? https://i.imgur.com/URnhwPH.jpg

that dont will make? what happened ?

It allows the power supply to turn on without a motherboard.

thanks answer.

I do that don't will do this wire,  what will happen?

[dogie]

why is this wire Necessary ? https://i.imgur.com/URnhwPH.jpg

that dont will make? what happened ?

It allows the power supply to turn on without a motherboard.

thanks answer.

I do that don't will do this wire,  what will happen?

I dont understand

[ToQcHista]

why is this wire Necessary ? https://i.imgur.com/URnhwPH.jpg

that dont will make? what happened ?

It allows the power supply to turn on without a motherboard.

thanks answer.

I do that don't will do this wire,  what will happen?

I dont understand

I that this wire dont will make , what happen ?

Without wire that will turn on antminer this antiminer will working ?

[dmwardjr]

why is this wire Necessary ? https://i.imgur.com/URnhwPH.jpg

that dont will make? what happened ?

It allows the power supply to turn on without a motherboard.

thanks answer.

I do that don't will do this wire,  what will happen?

I dont understand

I that this wire dont will make , what happen ?

Without wire that will turn on antminer this antiminer will working ?

It is hard to understand what you are trying to say.

See if you can find someone else who understands English a little better to explain what you want to know.

No disrespect intended.  Only trying to help!

David

[ToQcHista]

Ok then correct.

This proces that i dont will do , what  will happen?
Talking about wire.

Will working psu ? If i don't conect this wire working  if dont working antminer and psu.

Dont is hard understand.

[ToQcHista]

This wire is necessary ?

[dogie]

This wire is necessary ?

Yes. The antminer will not turn on without it.

[Ecnad]

The wire IS necessary. If you do not do it the power supply will turn off as it is expecting to be controlled by a computer. Putting the clip in tricks it into staying on to power the miner without a motherboard.

[valkir]

ToQcHista you really need to find a way to express yourself in a better way. Try google translate from your original language to english.
Its hard to understand you and its hard to answer your question.

The wire (paper clip) need to be done to power the PSU. When you plug you ATX psu into a computer, you use power button to power on the psu. This is the same think with this wire. It will power on your PSU.

Hope it help. 

[ToQcHista]

This wire is necessary ?

Yes. The antminer will not turn on without it.

Any wire may is ?

If this 20pin dont have my psu , what do i?
This 20 pin that will dont connect psu