ANTMINER U3 Discussion and Support Thread

[notlist3d]

Hi,

I'm wondering if this one:

http://www.benl.ebay.be/itm/Virtual-bitcoin-mining-machine-u3-USB-Miner-asic-in-hand-Antminer-Bitmain-BTC-/381552637401?hash=item58d64f35d9:g:1WIAAOSwAKxWUxeN

is a real U3 antminer or a fake one?

I don't think anyone has made a fake U3 that I know of.  If someone knocked it off that would be new.  The thing I don't understand is if the "Virtual" part of the auction as long as they are shipping you a U3 you should be good.   But other language + virtual needs someone else besides me to look at it.

Also before U3 read about zombies, and good methods to control them or it's going to be a pain.

[Mikestang]

is a real U3 antminer or a fake one?

Looks like someone is trying to sell "cloud mining" via a U3 that they host somewhere else?  Looks sketchy as hell to me.  U3 hash isn't worth anything unless you have one for fun, and even then they are not much fun because they always have problems and you basically have to buy an R1 an install custom firmware to get them to work reliably.

[notlist3d]

is a real U3 antminer or a fake one?

Looks like someone is trying to sell "cloud mining" via a U3 that they host somewhere else?  Looks sketchy as hell to me.  U3 hash isn't worth anything unless you have one for fun, and even then they are not much fun because they always have problems and you basically have to buy an R1 an install custom firmware to get them to work reliably.

I could not tell they mention virtual... I could not tell if virtual miner or saying BTC is virtual.  I tried my best through google translate.  They do mention shipping ... so part of it sounds like shipping a miner.  Other part virtual... it is either sketchy or my inability to read that language.

[justchill]

price looks also so cheap.

[RichBC]

is a real U3 antminer or a fake one?

Looks like someone is trying to sell "cloud mining" via a U3 that they host somewhere else?  Looks sketchy as hell to me.  U3 hash isn't worth anything unless you have one for fun, and even then they are not much fun because they always have problems and you basically have to buy an R1 an install custom firmware to get them to work reliably.

I could not tell they mention virtual... I could not tell if virtual miner or saying BTC is virtual.  I tried my best through google translate.  They do mention shipping ... so part of it sounds like shipping a miner.  Other part virtual... it is either sketchy or my inability to read that language.

I think it's just a sale of the U3. The "Virtual" word is I think just misleading.

Price is about right, and remember unless you have very cheap electricity it will loose money.

Rich

[justchill]

And what do they mean by gridseed miner?

[notlist3d]

And what do they mean by gridseed miner?

What does who mean?  Can you point to a link of this?

I just am not seeing gridseed being referenced.

[justchill]

So all depends on your situation and controller you use.  I personally liked my U3's after I got crazy guy's firmware on a R1.

What is this? Is this a firmware update for the antminer U3?

[RichBC]

So all depends on your situation and controller you use.  I personally liked my U3's after I got crazy guy's firmware on a R1.

What is this? Is this a firmware update for the antminer U3?

Not an upgrade for the U3 but an upgrade for the R1 Antminer firmware, which is then used to control the U3's

Rich

[zOU]

I think I've had enough with my U3.

My 2 S3+, my S5 and my 6 compac sticks will do.

[notlist3d]

So all depends on your situation and controller you use.  I personally liked my U3's after I got crazy guy's firmware on a R1.

What is this? Is this a firmware update for the antminer U3?

Not an upgrade for the U3 but an upgrade for the R1 Antminer firmware, which is then used to control the U3's

Rich

It's a huge upgrade if your going from no automation.  The R1 with crazy guy's firmware if it detects zombie it is able to try to fix and even restart R1 to get back up and running.   Compare that to when I had to babysit it seemed my U3's it was a great change.

I had 3 US's and before automation multiple times a day I got zombies.

[greenuser]

So all depends on your situation and controller you use.  I personally liked my U3's after I got crazy guy's firmware on a R1.

What is this? Is this a firmware update for the antminer U3?

Not an upgrade for the U3 but an upgrade for the R1 Antminer firmware, which is then used to control the U3's

Rich

It's a huge upgrade if your going from no automation.  The R1 with crazy guy's firmware if it detects zombie it is able to try to fix and even restart R1 to get back up and running.   Compare that to when I had to babysit it seemed my U3's it was a great change.

I had 3 US's and before automation multiple times a day I got zombies.

I have a U3 running on windows 7 and i did have problems with it going Zombie every 24h but i switched to using high quality USB leads.  They need to be screened usb leads.  I used some i had from an old printer.  The leads have clear insulation so you can clearly see the screening braid.  They are  thick and chunky so i guess that they have wire with a greater cross sectional area than the flimsy ones you get supplied with the U3.  The leads have a ferrite filter on the USB B end too.

Also be sure to use a good USB HUB and an ATX PSU that can do at least 10A.  My ATX is just 160watt  from an old pentium 4 pc and powers the 5v hub as well as the 12v for the U3.
The U3 pulls around 4.4A under normal load but they can surge for short durations up to 8A.  (the psu bricks that come with them will catch fire and are dangerous)
Also use the latest cgminer4.9.2 (no over-clock code)
The U3 gets hot on the blue base too so i added a small 12v CPU fan to blow air underneath.  I hooked the cooling fan between the +5V and +12V rails of the ATX giving 7v. This way the 12V fan is not too noisy as it is not screaming flat out.

So no! they will not work well  “out the box”, Moreover: they are a 50gh/s miner not 63gh/s.  Over-clock at your own peril.
However, No baby sitting.  Fit and forget. And... you can get them for £30 second hand on ebay as people don't get on with them.
Mine just mines!

[Riseman]

So all depends on your situation and controller you use.  I personally liked my U3's after I got crazy guy's firmware on a R1.

What is this? Is this a firmware update for the antminer U3?

Not an upgrade for the U3 but an upgrade for the R1 Antminer firmware, which is then used to control the U3's

Rich

It's a huge upgrade if your going from no automation.  The R1 with crazy guy's firmware if it detects zombie it is able to try to fix and even restart R1 to get back up and running.   Compare that to when I had to babysit it seemed my U3's it was a great change.

I had 3 US's and before automation multiple times a day I got zombies.

I have a U3 running on windows 7 and i did have problems with it going Zombie every 24h but i switched to using high quality USB leads.  They need to be screened usb leads.  I used some i had from an old printer.  The leads have clear insulation so you can clearly see the screening braid.  They are  thick and chunky so i guess that they have wire with a greater cross sectional area than the flimsy ones you get supplied with the U3.  The leads have a ferrite filter on the USB B end too.

Also be sure to use a good USB HUB and an ATX PSU that can do at least 10A.  My ATX is just 160watt  from an old pentium 4 pc and powers the 5v hub as well as the 12v for the U3.
The U3 pulls around 4.4A under normal load but they can surge for short durations up to 8A.  (the psu bricks that come with them will catch fire and are dangerous)
Also use the latest cgminer4.9.2 (no over-clock code)
The U3 gets hot on the blue base too so i added a small 12v CPU fan to blow air underneath.  I hooked the cooling fan between the +5V and +12V rails of the ATX giving 7v. This way the 12V fan is not too noisy as it is not screaming flat out.

So no! they will not work well  “out the box”, Moreover: they are a 50gh/s miner not 63gh/s.  Over-clock at your own peril.
However, No baby sitting.  Fit and forget. And... you can get them for £30 second hand on ebay as people don't get on with them.
Mine just mines!

Are you saying it doesn't go zombie with the setup you described? How long is your U3's uptime so far?

[notlist3d]

So all depends on your situation and controller you use.  I personally liked my U3's after I got crazy guy's firmware on a R1.

What is this? Is this a firmware update for the antminer U3?

Not an upgrade for the U3 but an upgrade for the R1 Antminer firmware, which is then used to control the U3's

Rich

It's a huge upgrade if your going from no automation.  The R1 with crazy guy's firmware if it detects zombie it is able to try to fix and even restart R1 to get back up and running.   Compare that to when I had to babysit it seemed my U3's it was a great change.

I had 3 US's and before automation multiple times a day I got zombies.

I have a U3 running on windows 7 and i did have problems with it going Zombie every 24h but i switched to using high quality USB leads.  They need to be screened usb leads.  I used some i had from an old printer.  The leads have clear insulation so you can clearly see the screening braid.  They are  thick and chunky so i guess that they have wire with a greater cross sectional area than the flimsy ones you get supplied with the U3.  The leads have a ferrite filter on the USB B end too.

Also be sure to use a good USB HUB and an ATX PSU that can do at least 10A.  My ATX is just 160watt  from an old pentium 4 pc and powers the 5v hub as well as the 12v for the U3.
The U3 pulls around 4.4A under normal load but they can surge for short durations up to 8A.  (the psu bricks that come with them will catch fire and are dangerous)
Also use the latest cgminer4.9.2 (no over-clock code)
The U3 gets hot on the blue base too so i added a small 12v CPU fan to blow air underneath.  I hooked the cooling fan between the +5V and +12V rails of the ATX giving 7v. This way the 12V fan is not too noisy as it is not screaming flat out.

So no! they will not work well  “out the box”, Moreover: they are a 50gh/s miner not 63gh/s.  Over-clock at your own peril.
However, No baby sitting.  Fit and forget. And... you can get them for £30 second hand on ebay as people don't get on with them.
Mine just mines!

But add up all you did to get that running.   Sounds pricy for 50 GH on new power brick for each U3.  There are some modified cables going to a PSU that you can use for multiple.  And add to this the ongoing use of a regular computer it sounds like as controller.  If all that for 50GH... it kills the long term lotto.  Your just speding to much.

I'm sure the power bricks are not amazing stock.  But they did the job for me, ran 3 for 2-3 months I'm guessing and no fire or hot issues.   I will admit my lotto miners were well cooled with extra cpu fan's ran from a fan controller.  But as controller used R1 and low power.  I don't think full PC is way to go with electricity cost.

[zOU]

I still have zombies with shorter and shielded USB cables...

[CryptoGore]

Hi guys is there any good third party review of these miners?

I would like to have an impartial impressions before buying some. Thanks in advance.

[notlist3d]

Hi guys is there any good third party review of these miners?

I would like to have an impartial impressions before buying some. Thanks in advance.

I'm pretty impartial.  I make 0 dollars if you purchase one or not.

If you get a R1 with crazy guy's firmware and run a few you will enjoy them.  No dealing with zombies, and a low power controller.  This is a good combination.

If you plan on running on a full sized windows computer.  You are going to have high power controller... not good long term.   Also you will grow to hate zombies, the more you purchase the more you will see it.  I had 3 on windows and grew to hate them.  The constant zombie issue is a pain and you have 0 lotto chance if they are zombied.

But got the R1 as said above and instantly it was better my little u3 farm of 3 ran great off of it and I no longer manually reset zombies.  So I think automation is key to if you enjoy them or grow to hate them.

[greenuser]

The U3 in question has an uptime of about 4 weeks at the mo.  That is how oftern i shut it down to clean it.  And as for cost.  I live on £60 per week state pension.  The PSU, Fan and leads were part of my Windows 98 / pentium 4 setup that i got second hand in 2001.  Its nice to see bits of it being used again.  The U3 is the only miner i have that was new.  My S3 and S1 was purchased on ebay as spares or repair and I rebuilt them.  I have built my rig from junk.  So no expense.  I only started mining as a way of heating the flat cheaply.  Its good at keeping the mould off the walls.
And as for how long it took.  Well i cant afford a tv licence, I don't work, i live in a rural area.  And its dark for 18 hour a day here in winter. Yes...I have too much time on my hands.

Also i dont run on a full PC,  It is a small HP mini 10inch screen ultraportable.  I took out the HHD and put windows on a USB stick.  I also took out the battery.  about 80 watts on the wall with the fans and two bifurys too.

[RichBC]

I am uncertain why anyone would buy a U3, or even run one if they were given it for free? It's 2, soon to be 3, generations of ASIC out of date and unless you have free electricity will loose money.

If you want to mine for fun or just learn about mining, go for the lowest running cost, regardless of hash rate, miner you can buy, which at the moment would be either an R1 or a Compac.


Rich

[notlist3d]

I am uncertain why anyone would buy a U3, or even run one if they were given it for free? It's 2, soon to be 3, generations of ASIC out of date and unless you have free electricity will loose money.

If you want to mine for fun or just learn about mining, go for the lowest running cost, regardless of hash rate, miner you can buy, which at the moment would be either an R1 or a Compac.


Rich

And you are right.  I did sell mine and go to compacs. I use a RPI and lotto mine with compacs at this point.  I sold my U3's and R1 for that matter. 

I have mixed feelings as they sucked on windows for me.  Once I got R1 with crazy guy's firmware it was actually not bad for me. I did like the compacs efficiency... so went to those only eventually on my lotto mining.