Intro: Hey guys, as part of the Spondoolies SP20 legendary promotion, I was sent a SP20 unit free of charge, with the agreement that I would write a review about my experience with the machine.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=887807.0this is a link to the photos in the thread, if you want to see them larger:
http://imgur.com/bi0Q12Z,1iHRoCp,izPBwI8,VMRGqDO,aLl5ugr,iZes4YJ,MYWvQ5rAs a general mention, I will note, my feedback is completely accurate to my experience with the machine and in no way biased. While I am pleased to have received my test unit, I will do my best to explain various features that I have experienced. In the end, Spondoolies wants customer to buy their hardware, but they don't want people purchasing units that they won't be completely satisfied with. Having unhappy customers is worse than having no customers. I hope to provide potential buyers with the information that they are looking for so they will know with complete confidence whether Spondoolie products and by extension Mining, is for them.
I have never been a big miner, but my introduction was with GPU mining. In addition, I have used every generation of Asic from various companies. As far as my total mining experience goes, I'd say I am proficient in setting up and operating mining equipment. I have operated various Antminer, Asicminer, Zeusminer, and BFL Asics, but no more than a few machines at a time in the past.
Shipping/Packing: Shipping straight from their Israel location to the East Coast US, I received my SP20 in 3 shipping days. The packing was impeccable, very sturdy yet it didn't require a plasma cutter to open it.
The Setup Process Overview: 1) Obtain and Jump your power supply by connecting the green and black wires of your 20 or 24 pin Mobo connector. This allows the power supply to supply power via its PCIE 6pin Molex connectors without being connected to a standard computer Motherboard.
2) Plug in four 6 pin PCIE connectors into the Asic (Shown in pictures below)
3) Plug in your ethernet cable to both the Asic and your router
4) Turn the power supply(s) on and let the juice flow! ITS ALIVEEEEEE!
5) Log into the Miner's Web UI by typing
myminer.io into your browser
6) Navigate to "Go To Miner"
7) You are in, tinker around with settings as desired.
Hardware Setup It took me 3 minutes and 46 seconds to Open the box, Pull out the Miner, hook it up to a wireless router that I had prepared prior to receiving the unit, unpack two Corsair 850W PSUs (I will mention this in a moment) plug everything in, and access the UI interface.
Software Setup/Results After everything is connected, you can enter
myminer.io into any browser which redirects you to a Web UI list of all of the Spondoolie miners on your local network.
After clicking on "Go To Miner" you are brought to your miner's overview which shows your miner's current status.
The User interface is incredibly handy, giving the owner a huge amount of customization options to fit their needs.
Noise: One of the most important features now a days when considering the purchase of an Asic, is the noise. Unless you have a data center, you don't want to be kept awake at night or irritated during daily activities by a box of roaring metal and chips. The place I chose to place the SP20 is my utility room. It is approximately a 10x12 foot room right off of my living room. I took a series of measurements to read exactly how loud the unit was. The measurements that I read are for a SP20 that has been running stable for a few hours, at 80% stock fan speed.
From a distance of one foot away, I read
59 dBFrom six feet, I read
55 dBFrom 8 feet (the doorway of my utility room)
50 dBFrom 8 feet away with the door closed
35 dBAnd my house's ambient noise was
31dBAnd as a comparison, I measured the volume of my Television from 8 feet on medium low volume
41dBMy Experience and Notes:So here is what I'm sure you really wanted to see, my opinions, and individual experience setting the SP20 up. As I mentioned, shipping time and quality of packaging is unmatched. Setup time was quick, taking only 3 minutes and 46 seconds. Something I will mention however, is that tinkering with the settings is mandatory. Its not difficult, but straight from the box, minor tweaking (no pun intended) is needed. When I first hooked the miner up, I used two Corsair 850W PSUs (overkill I know) with completely stock settings. I was getting 1.6-1.8+ Thash, however it was unstable, shutting down every hour or so which required a hard reset. While I can't be completely sure it wasn't one of my PSUs misbehaving, I believe it had more to do with overheating. Stock settings are set at a maximum of 288W per PCIE, 80% fan speed, .69 min Volts and .75 Max. When I changed it to 250W max per PCIE and switched in my Corsair 1250W PSU, stability improved incredibly. I have maintained a constant 1.6 THash hash rate at 1000W (slightly underclocked) for 12+ hours. As far as the noise goes, it is bearable. I am currently about 15 feet away from it with the door to my utility room closed, and it is almost unnoticeable. I would not recommend putting it in your bedroom or living spaces, but if you have a little space to tuck it away, it is very doable inside of a home.
Overall I'm very pleased with the SP20, a small profile with very reasonable hashrate and powerdraw, while it does require a bit of tinkering to get it working to its best potential, the very clean UI and ease of Over/Underclocking makes it a very versatile machine. If you have that data center or an isolated basement where noise isn't an issue, overclock away. If you need to keep it close to your habitation areas, you can keep it stock or underclock it to keep the noise and power draw down. I'm glad that I was given an opportunity to test the SP20, and can safely say it is the overall nicest Asic that I have used so far. I am currently considering purchasing another
If you have any questions at all, I'd be happy to answer.
