ANTMINER S4 Discussion and Support Thread

[neo9436]

1.47 BTC for a Prisma ASICMINER 1.4Th/s+ miner.  Not so sure about that research  

Could I buy one today at that price?

Yes

Not exactly. You pay today but it's a pre-order to be delivered sometime in October. Having said that, I bought one too, MIGHT have a chance at ROI if difficulty growth is slowing. S4 - not so sure. Power consumption between Prisma/S3/S4 is similar, if Prisma specs are to be believed. Cost per GH/s is much lower for Prisma.

it's less than half price of an S4 and uses less electric, i'd rather take a chance with 1.47 vs. 3.2. One note, you do need a controller with the prisma, it sells for .069 BTC and can control up to 8 I believe.

You're not comparing apples to apples man, and now it annoys me a bit that you were insulting my research.

You probably should be comparing what you are buying to 3 S3's.

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[neo9436]

1.47 BTC for a Prisma ASICMINER 1.4Th/s+ miner.  Not so sure about that research  

Power consumption is a big factor of that equation. How much power does your 1.4th/s consume?

Power consumption: ~0.67 W/G board-wise. On-wall power consumption relies on PSU
efficiency. (typically 1050-1100 W per full device, 0.75-0.78 W/G


This is the link:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=795477.0

So it's less efficient than the S4 and you still need to buy a PSU.

Let's call 1.47BTC $600 and $100 for a PSU. That's about 50 cents a gh. I paid about 65 cents a gh on the S4, but it's more efficient. A wash maybe?

No PSU and no controller for the Prisma IMO makes the Bitmain S4 a better buy.  I have been on the fence about it for a few days but the new 1250$ price closed the gap for me.

+1

[neo9436]

1.47 BTC for a Prisma ASICMINER 1.4Th/s+ miner.  Not so sure about that research  

Power consumption is a big factor of that equation. How much power does your 1.4th/s consume?

Power consumption: ~0.67 W/G board-wise. On-wall power consumption relies on PSU
efficiency. (typically 1050-1100 W per full device, 0.75-0.78 W/G


This is the link:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=795477.0

So it's less efficient than the S4 and you still need to buy a PSU.

Let's call 1.47BTC $600 and $100 for a PSU. That's about 50 cents a gh. I paid about 65 cents a gh on the S4, but it's more efficient. A wash maybe?

No PSU and no controller for the Prisma IMO makes the Bitmain S4 a better buy.  I have been on the fence about it for a few days but the new 1250$ price closed the gap for me.

The S4 takes more electricity which kills your ROI and is more expensive. I chose the Prisma, power supplies are very inexpensive.  I think in terms of ROI the Prisma is the clear winner. That's my 2 cents.

How is 0.69 W/G more than 0.75 - 0.78? Am I missing something?

EDIT: I think I was being generous when saying a PSU would be 100 bucks. You'd likely need a 1200W PSU for the Prisma which is probably 200 bucks, no?

[suchmoon]

Let's call 1.47BTC $600 and $100 for a PSU. That's about 50 cents a gh. I paid about 65 cents a gh on the S4, but it's more efficient. A wash maybe?

Depends on your power costs, but I think the difference between 0.69W (S4) and 0.75-0.78W (Prisma) would take a long time to make up for the difference in price.

PSU (and controller too) is indeed an extra cost but not for everyone. I'm reusing my PSUs and have spare USB ports on on some cgminer-capable hardware here, so I'm saving money on that.

Another factor is resale value, I think S4 has the advantage here.

[mrpark]

Let's call 1.47BTC $600 and $100 for a PSU. That's about 50 cents a gh. I paid about 65 cents a gh on the S4, but it's more efficient. A wash maybe?

Depends on your power costs, but I think the difference between 0.69W (S4) and 0.75-0.78W (Prisma) would take a long time to make up for the difference in price.

PSU (and controller too) is indeed an extra cost but not for everyone. I'm reusing my PSUs and have spare USB ports on on some cgminer-capable hardware here, so I'm saving money on that.

Another factor is resale value, I think S4 has the advantage here.

Since I am batch 1, I will post AMPs/Watts used and other information so we can compare to S4. Not sure how they can be the same one when is 1100W and the other is 1400W. Yes, and new power supply is $200 for a 1300W, but there are many 2nd hand here on the board for $100.

[neo9436]

Let's call 1.47BTC $600 and $100 for a PSU. That's about 50 cents a gh. I paid about 65 cents a gh on the S4, but it's more efficient. A wash maybe?

Depends on your power costs, but I think the difference between 0.69W (S4) and 0.75-0.78W (Prisma) would take a long time to make up for the difference in price.

PSU (and controller too) is indeed an extra cost but not for everyone. I'm reusing my PSUs and have spare USB ports on on some cgminer-capable hardware here, so I'm saving money on that.

Another factor is resale value, I think S4 has the advantage here.

Since I am batch 1, I will post AMPs/Watts used and other information so we can compare to S4. Not sure how they can be the same one when is 1100W and the other is 1400W.

But one is 2 TH and one is 1.4 TH. You have to break it down.

[neo9436]

Let's call 1.47BTC $600 and $100 for a PSU. That's about 50 cents a gh. I paid about 65 cents a gh on the S4, but it's more efficient. A wash maybe?

Depends on your power costs, but I think the difference between 0.69W (S4) and 0.75-0.78W (Prisma) would take a long time to make up for the difference in price.

PSU (and controller too) is indeed an extra cost but not for everyone. I'm reusing my PSUs and have spare USB ports on on some cgminer-capable hardware here, so I'm saving money on that.

Another factor is resale value, I think S4 has the advantage here.

Since I am batch 1, I will post AMPs/Watts used and other information so we can compare to S4. Not sure how they can be the same one when is 1100W and the other is 1400W.

But one is 2 TH and one is 1.4 TH. You have to break it down.

Right, I just bought one prisma for experimenting. I already know what the S4 is, and I didn't want to pay over 3BTC and wait 6 months+ for ROI.

Then really, you don't want it for different reasons.

Now if you want to go real big, this is really the winner I think:

http://www.spondoolies-tech.com/products/sp35-yukon-power-november-batch-1

But the S4 is about as big as I want to get.

[mrpark]

Let's call 1.47BTC $600 and $100 for a PSU. That's about 50 cents a gh. I paid about 65 cents a gh on the S4, but it's more efficient. A wash maybe?

Depends on your power costs, but I think the difference between 0.69W (S4) and 0.75-0.78W (Prisma) would take a long time to make up for the difference in price.

PSU (and controller too) is indeed an extra cost but not for everyone. I'm reusing my PSUs and have spare USB ports on on some cgminer-capable hardware here, so I'm saving money on that.

Another factor is resale value, I think S4 has the advantage here.

Since I am batch 1, I will post AMPs/Watts used and other information so we can compare to S4. Not sure how they can be the same one when is 1100W and the other is 1400W.

But one is 2 TH and one is 1.4 TH. You have to break it down.

Right, I just bought one prisma for experimenting. I already know what the S4 is, and I didn't want to pay over 3BTC and wait 6 months+ for ROI.

Then really, you don't want it for different reasons.

Now if you want to go real big, this is really the winner I think:

http://www.spondoolies-tech.com/products/sp35-yukon-power-november-batch-1

But the S4 is about as big as I want to get.

SP35 will make $1000 in BTC a month, now minus about $350 from that for hosting/electricity/cooling.  $650 for the first month, then we have the difficulty jumps. At least 6 months JUST to get your money back. It's insane... (its even worse than this scenario, because of the delay in ordering this)

Now the S4, makes about $350 a month, minus electricity for that about $100. So let's say $250 a month is your profit. Its about 6 months to get back your initial investment if that with difficulty jumps.  Wouldn't it be better just to wait for a larger miner since you will be even in 6 months?

Spending 1.5 BTC is really not that significant to me, you can make the same arguments it wont pay off, but as I said Prisma is just an experiment.

[jimmothy]

Let's call 1.47BTC $600 and $100 for a PSU. That's about 50 cents a gh. I paid about 65 cents a gh on the S4, but it's more efficient. A wash maybe?

Depends on your power costs, but I think the difference between 0.69W (S4) and 0.75-0.78W (Prisma) would take a long time to make up for the difference in price.

PSU (and controller too) is indeed an extra cost but not for everyone. I'm reusing my PSUs and have spare USB ports on on some cgminer-capable hardware here, so I'm saving money on that.

Another factor is resale value, I think S4 has the advantage here.

Since I am batch 1, I will post AMPs/Watts used and other information so we can compare to S4. Not sure how they can be the same one when is 1100W and the other is 1400W.

But one is 2 TH and one is 1.4 TH. You have to break it down.

Right, I just bought one prisma for experimenting. I already know what the S4 is, and I didn't want to pay over 3BTC and wait 6 months+ for ROI.

Then really, you don't want it for different reasons.

Now if you want to go real big, this is really the winner I think:

http://www.spondoolies-tech.com/products/sp35-yukon-power-november-batch-1

But the S4 is about as big as I want to get.

If you do the math you will realize that the AM Prisma is a much better deal than the S4 and the SP35 is not even comparable.

S4 is $1250+150 shipping so about $700/TH compared to the AM prisma at $500/TH.

The difference in efficiency is about 100w/TH.

At $0.1/kwh 100W would cost $0.24/day or $87.6/year so it would take more than 2 years to make up for the cost difference.

SP35 is also $700/TH but it is shipping a month and a half later than the s4/prisma so it really doesn't even compare.

[neo9436]

Everyone has a different argument, but at the end of the day it really should boil down to ROI.

And compared to other investments in the world, 6 months to make all your money back (and potentially a lot more if you hold your BTC), is a pretty good investment if you ask me.

[jimmothy]

Everyone has a different argument, but at the end of the day it really should boil down to ROI.

And compared to other investments in the world, 6 months to make all your money back (and potentially a lot more if you hold your BTC), is a pretty good investment if you ask me.

What it really boils down to is $/gh and w/gh and delivery date.

ROI is all speculative but the simple fact is that if the S4's profit the Prismas will profit more.

[Prelude]

Just took delivery of my S4. Cost an extra $220 at the door for customs in Canada.

Nice looking box, kill-a-watt is reading 1308w on 240v.



Going to have to reverse the fans as the airflow won't work for my setup.

[neo9436]

Just took delivery of my S4. Cost an extra $220 at the door for customs in Canada.

Nice looking box, kill-a-watt is reading 1308w on 240v.

Going to have to reverse the fans as the airflow won't work for my setup.

$220? Damn, got that to look forward to as well. lol

EDIT: You set up a 240v circuit for your miner?

[Prelude]

Just took delivery of my S4. Cost an extra $220 at the door for customs in Canada.

Nice looking box, kill-a-watt is reading 1308w on 240v.

Going to have to reverse the fans as the airflow won't work for my setup.

$220? Damn, got that to look forward to as well. lol

EDIT: You set up a 240v circuit for your miner?

Yes I have, all my mining equipment runs on 240v.

[neo9436]

Just took delivery of my S4. Cost an extra $220 at the door for customs in Canada.

Nice looking box, kill-a-watt is reading 1308w on 240v.

Going to have to reverse the fans as the airflow won't work for my setup.

$220? Damn, got that to look forward to as well. lol

EDIT: You set up a 240v circuit for your miner?

Yes I have, all my mining equipment runs on 240v.

Any particular reason for going that route? I'm running 4 S3's right now and will be adding one of these in and maybe one more. Moving to a new place where I have the luxury to add in some new circuits if I want.

[suchmoon]

Just took delivery of my S4. Cost an extra $220 at the door for customs in Canada.

Nice looking box, kill-a-watt is reading 1308w on 240v.

Going to have to reverse the fans as the airflow won't work for my setup.

$220? Damn, got that to look forward to as well. lol

EDIT: You set up a 240v circuit for your miner?

Yes I have, all my mining equipment runs on 240v.

Any particular reason for going that route? I'm running 4 S3's right now and will be adding one of these in and maybe one more. Moving to a new place where I have the luxury to add in some new circuits if I want.

I can't speak for Prelude, but 240V gives you twice as many amps on the same wire gauge and in many cases slightly better PSU efficiency, so if you can do that at a reasonable cost - by all means.

[Prelude]

Just took delivery of my S4. Cost an extra $220 at the door for customs in Canada.

Nice looking box, kill-a-watt is reading 1308w on 240v.

Going to have to reverse the fans as the airflow won't work for my setup.

$220? Damn, got that to look forward to as well. lol

EDIT: You set up a 240v circuit for your miner?

Yes I have, all my mining equipment runs on 240v.

Any particular reason for going that route? I'm running 4 S3's right now and will be adding one of these in and maybe one more. Moving to a new place where I have the luxury to add in some new circuits if I want.

A few reasons, yes. 240v takes up half the amperage as 120v, so you can get more miners on the same circuit.

15A x 120V = 1800w -20% = 1440w of usable power
15A x 240V = 3600w -20% = 2880w of usable power

Power supplies are also typically between 1-3 percent more efficient running on 240V, so there is tiny power saving there. Less amperage also means less heat and stress on the PSU's components, so they may last longer under 24/7 heavy loads.

[neo9436]

Good to know, thanks for the pointers! I'll definitely look into setting up a new circuit when I get to the new place! 

[Prelude]

No problem, enjoy!

[Prelude]

Can we get actual proper specs on the included PSU?

Is this close?

1400w or 116.66A continuous 12v output? Assuming 88% efficiency, that should read as about 1591w at the wall if the miner is consuming 1400w DC correct? Who manufactures the PSU? I get a little nervous when I read "custom PSU".